Good morning and welcome to KidNuz. I’m Tori. Today is Thursday, December 19th, 2019 and we begin with….

A somber vote, but no surprises, from Capitol Hill. Last night, as expected, the US House of Representatives voted along party lines to impeach President Trump on two articles: one, for abusing his power for personal gain and the other for obstructing Congress when it tried to investigate. The outcome sets up a showdown in the Republican-led Senate as early as next month. Mr. Trump is only the 3rd American President ever impeached. The other two, Bill Clinton in 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868. Both were ultimately acquitted – or cleared – and remained in office.

Instagram has a new push to stop cyberbullying. Starting this week, the social media platform is expanding its use of artificial intelligence aimed at finding and flagging mean-spirited content. Just like it did with comments, the company will now employ super sleuth computer programs to identify potentially offensive captions before they even see the light of day. If a user tags a photo or video with something the computer considers abusive, Instagram will send a warning message to reconsider. The caption can still get posted, but the user would risk having their account disabled. In the meantime, anyone experiencing bullying can still use the “restrict” feature, which allows users to block comments from specific accounts.

If you’re among the millions who bundled up before leaving the house today, this news may be hard to believe. Australia has just recorded its hottest day ever. Nearly three weeks into its summer, the average maximum temperature across the country peaked at 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, toppling a previous record set in 2013. And that was cool compared to Ceduna, a town in the southern part of the country, which hit 114 degrees. The blazing temps are blamed for about a hundred active fires in the region, with even hotter weather expected this week. Authorities are pointing the finger at climate change for both the dry conditions and the record-breaking heat wave.

“The snack that smiles back” is joining the plant-based food craze. Goldfish Crackers is introducing two new vegetable flavors; one, Sweet Carrot and the other, Cheesy Tomato. Both beat out other potential newcomers like broccoli and cauliflower to join a list of around 30 existing flavors. The new carrot variety is made with carrot powder and the tomato contains tomato paste powder. The multigenerational favorite is actually no stranger to fruits and veggies. Beets, watermelon and sweet red peppers are already used to colors its red, green and orange crackers. Pepperidge Farm introduced the original cheddar snack back in 1962.

It was a close encounter of the wildest kind. Less than an inch of glass is all that separated a California man and his dog from a giant, brown bear in Sequoia National Park. Karo and his 3-year-old husky, named Ice, were on their way out of the park when Karo spotted the bear and slowed down to take a look. In the blink of an eye, the bear was on the car’s hood, swiping at the windshield —or perhaps at the dog, who was riding shotgun. Ice made good on his name and kept his cool. Karo did as well and managed to video their entire brush with the bear, which he called “completely unexpected” and “awesome.”

And that’s it for KidNuz. Now, our KidNuz quiz.

1. What historic vote happened last night in the US House of Representatives? The House voted to impeach President Trump.


2. What is Instagram’s latest tactic to fight cyberbullying? Notifying users that their captions may be objectionable before they are posted.


3. Goldfish is introducing two new vegetable flavors. What are they? Sweet Carrot and Cheesy Tomato.


4. How hot did it get this week in the Southern Australian town of Ceduna? The hottest temperature recorded was 114 degrees.

And in one for the road…Who needs an oven when you’ve got a car? An Australian man took advantage of the country’s record setting heat by cooking dinner in his Datsun. Perth resident Stu Pengelly left three pounds of pork and a thermometer .. inside his car, where the temperature reached a whopping 177 degrees Fahrenheit. After ten hours, dinner was served. The chef/driver posted pictures of his meal on Facebook along with a warning– never leave anyone or anything precious in a hot vehicle.

Before we go, we’re spreading birthday joy to Moses in Corpus Christi, Texas, Sophia in Ephrata, Washington and Lily in Hillsboro, Oregon. We’d also like to say hello to Mrs. Young’s 4^th grade class at Providence Elementary School in New Providence, Pennsylvania. Thanks for listening, everyone! If you’d like to sign up for a birthday shout-out, just go to our website and join our KidNuz Club. We hope you tune in for more KidNuz tomorrow morning.

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