Historic winter storm death toll hits 50, China races to vaccinate elderly: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Death toll in historic winter storm hits 50

A blizzard has left dozens dead and led to thousands of flight cancellations. Plus, USA TODAY Money Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald looks at what's next for taxing money from online platforms, China races to vaccinate its elderly against coronavirus, Washington state sees outages in the latest attack on power substations, and USA TODAY Education Enterprise Reporter Chris Quintana explains how colleges can help cash-strapped students with job-ready clothes.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 27th of December 2022. Today, a rising death toll and mass flight cancellations after historic winter weather, plus a look at tax returns and online platforms like Venmo. And China races to vaccinate its elderly against COVID.

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The death toll has risen to at least 50 after historic winter weather across the US in recent days. 28 deaths have been recorded in Western New York alone, where nearly four feet of snow fell in some areas. The dead have been found in their cars, homes, and in snow banks. And the count may continue to rise as some remain without power and hazardous road conditions continue. Warmer temperatures are forecast for later in the week, but not before another six to 12 inches of snow was expected to fall in Buffalo through today. Officials in the area have compared this week to a January 1977 storm, widely known as Buffalo's worst blizzard ever.

Meanwhile, thousands of flights have been canceled in recent days around the country. In particular, those on Southwest Airlines. According to The New York Times, some 2,600 flights have already been canceled for today, including 60% of all Southwest flights. That's after nearly two thirds of Southwest flights were delayed or canceled yesterday. Southwest passenger, Beenish Saleem, echoed the experience of thousands around the country.

Beenish Saleem:

The flight from Phoenix got delayed by seven hours, then they canceled my flight from Phoenix to Houston, so I'm here stuck at the airport. They were supposed to get my luggage back. I've been looking since last night, luggage is nowhere to be found and just stuck here.

Taylor Wilson:

A Southwest spokesperson said the airline was experiencing disruptions across its network because of the storms. It's not clear when normal service will be restored. The US Department of Transportation said yesterday that it would look into the Southwest issue and was concerned by what it called an unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays.

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2023 was supposed to be the first year where people who earned at least $600 from online platforms like eBay, Etsy, Venmo, and Cash App were required to file a tax return. But then right before Christmas, the Internal Revenue Service announced it wouldn't make e-commerce platforms send an income tax form known as 1099-K to businesses that earned at least 600 bucks in 2022. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with USA TODAY Money Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald to find out more.

PJ Elliott:

Elisabeth, thanks so much for hopping on the show.

Elisabeth Buchwald:

Thanks for having me on.

PJ Elliott:

So let's start with this. What is the limit for 1099-K reporting in 2022?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

So it's going to be what it was the year before that, which is for these third party platforms like Etsy, eBay, Venmo, it's if you earn $20,000 in payments from over 200,000 transactions during the entire year.

PJ Elliott:

So why is the reporting threshold being lowered to $600?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

So it was going to be lowered to $600, but then the IRS said that they weren't going to be doing that. And essentially that whole new threshold came into effect after the American Rescue Plan passed in 2021. And the idea was to make up for some of the taxes that the government isn't able to collect for people that aren't earning a ton of income from these third parties, but are earning some that they could collect enough taxes from them. But it was going to create a whole lot of headaches for accountants and tax prep centers that the IRS said, "Okay, we're going to give you guys a little bit more time, and 2023 is going to be a transition year."

PJ Elliott:

What about personal use? If I were to send you 50 bucks for splitting a check for dinner, would Venmo have to report that to the IRS?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

I reached out to Venmo and ask that exact question and they said they try not to report that types of stuff. Of course, there's always things that could be unclear, but they say when it's just a family to a friend payment or the other way around, that it doesn't get reported. They are, however, required to report business payments. So even if someone doesn't meet that threshold, they still have to report it. And you might not get the form that requires you to pay taxes, but it's still going to the IRS, they have that information.

PJ Elliott:

Elisabeth, thanks for doing this.

Elisabeth Buchwald:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

China is racing to vaccinate its elderly citizens against coronavirus, but many are reluctant. Some are put off by potential side effects of Chinese made vaccines, and the government hasn't announced testing results on people in their 60s and older. Many older people have also felt little urgency because of low case numbers through much of the pandemic, thanks in part to China's Zero COVID strategy. That approach involved mass quarantines and travel restrictions, amid widespread testing.

But as China has lifted some of those restrictions, cases are surging in recent weeks, often overcrowding hospitals. China now wants to convince its most vulnerable that vaccination is the path forward. Officials are going door to door and promising people over the age of 60 money to get a two-dose vaccination and a booster. More than nine in 10 people in China have been vaccinated, but only two thirds of those over the age of 80.

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Thousands in Washington state saw power outages on Christmas Day after a series of vandalisms at different power substations, according to The Guardian. The outages are the latest on a growing list of similar incidents in the US. There were six attacks across power stations in the Pacific Northwest earlier this month after a similar incident in North Carolina. There are still no suspects in recent attacks, and it's not clear if they're related. In Washington state, a sheriff's office said someone vandalized equipment causing a fire. In January of this year, the Department of Homeland Security warned that domestic extremists have been developing credible and specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020.

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Attending college already means a mountain of unexpected expenses, like the cost of books, lab fees, and parking permits. But low-income students may also be blindsided by the cost of fitting into the workplace when it comes to their wardrobe. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with USA TODAY Education Enterprise Reporter Chris Quintana to find out about how colleges can help cash-strapped students with job-ready clothes.

PJ Elliott:

Chris, thanks so much for jumping on the podcast.

Chris Quintana:

My pleasure.

PJ Elliott:

How important is it for employees to have the right clothes for the job? Let's begin there.

Chris Quintana:

I think that's an open question of discussion. I think in the past, it used to be when we went into work in the office every day, the expectations for what people wore were probably a little bit higher, it's the traditional model. These days, with working from home and a lot of telework, it really depends on the industry you're in. So folks who are in the finance industry, banking, that kind of thing, those roles haven't changed all that much. But even just in my own life, I noticed that I'm wearing non-collared shirts when I work.

PJ Elliott:

Exactly. I'm sitting here in a beanie and a hoodie. Yeah, absolutely.

Chris Quintana:

But when I go out in public, I always put on a collared shirt and slacks, and when I go into the office I tend to dress up as well. So it's really a little bit of a moving target these days.

PJ Elliott:

So that leads to a problem, potentially, that college students are facing once they graduate. A lot just don't have proper clothes, do they?

Chris Quintana:

That's totally correct. And we talk a lot about college being this sort of engine of social mobility. You go to college and you get your degree and you can change your life. But to do that, you need to help with a lot of the unexpected expenses that come along the way, so transportation's a good example, medical costs are a good example, and so is professional clothing. And so I talked recently with a lot of students at Texas Christian University who just didn't have any experience buying professional clothing, and honestly, it was not high on their list of priorities. I talked with a mom of five, any extra money she has is going to her children. And the place where colleges may be able to help is to provide some of this professional clothing, whether that's new or through gently used or other means.

PJ Elliott:

So you wrote about how low-income students are even more impacted by this. How far should colleges go to make sure that those students, they're set up to succeed?

Chris Quintana:

I think that's a question every college is going to have to grapple with themselves, but I think if the college sets the expectation of, "We're going to have these business mixers, or if you're in a business class, we want you to wear a suit or a jacket and a coat," it seems like the college should think about how students are going to be able to get that clothing. Not every student is coming from a middle or upper middle class in background, and many students will come to campus without traditional professional clothing and I talked with several students for whom that was the case.

And when they don't have it, it's really anxiety-inducing. They spend so much time thinking about, "Oh, I've got to go bother my friend to get a jacket." Or when they do get the clothes, the shoes don't fit. And so can you imagine trying to be up in front of a class of 200 folks or something and your shoes don't fit. And so people will disagree about how much the college should intervene, but I think they should be asking the question and certainly listening to their students about what they need.

PJ Elliott:

Chris, thanks so much for the time. I really appreciate it.

Chris Quintana:

Thank you so much for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. We're here every morning of the week right here, wherever you're listening right now. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 50 dead in winter storm, China rushes to vaccinate elderly: 5 Things podcast