5 Things posted Jun 23, 2021 @ 08:00am by Josh Duncan

5 things you need to know this morning: June 23, 2021

Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.

Five things you need to know

1. US projected to miss July 4 goal of partially vaccinating 70% of adults

Earlier this year, Joe Biden’s administration set a goal of having 70% of American adults partially vaccinated by July 4. It looked good for a while, but the United States is now projected to miss that goal. In addition, the Delta variant has become the predominant strain of the virus in the US and Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that the variant presents the greatest threat to the country’s efforts to contain COVID-19.

The White House says more than 70% of Americans age 30 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That's even though President Biden will fall short of his goal of giving a shot to the same percentage of all U.S. adults by July 4th. https://t.co/56rM87IWeV

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 22, 2021

2. Bitcoin falls below $30,000 USD

Bitcoin holders and supporters were over the moon earlier this year when the price of the cryptocurrency surged above $60,000 USD. Since early May, however, it’s been a steady fall for bitcoin, which fell below $30,000 USD on Tuesday for the first time since the last days of 2020. That means all the gains that were made in the first four months of 2021 have been erased in the last six weeks.

Bitcoin breaks below $30,000. Here’s why @novogratz says he’s not nervous. https://t.co/QXEFw10z8y pic.twitter.com/gJSxQFOPP6
— CNBC (@CNBC) June 22, 2021

3. Elton John announces final tour dates ever

When the COVID-19 pandemic began last spring, Elton John was in the middle of a massive multi-year tour that was meant to be his last. Obviously it was put on hold for the last 16 months, but the legendary musician is ready to restart his farewell tour. He announced the new dates today, which includes a stop in Vancouver on Oct. 21, 2022.

Here they are - my final tour dates ever in North America and Europe! This has been an incredible tour so far and I'll be going out in the biggest possible way. I can't wait to see you all on the road one last time 🚀🚀🚀

🎫 → https://t.co/fEQsOiiRjO #EltonFarewellTour pic.twitter.com/rlXs6cHsA7
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) June 23, 2021

4. New York Times does a deep dive into Subway tuna, if you can call it that

There’s been plenty of discussion in recent years about Subway chicken. The fast-food chain even faced legal action after it was discovered that their “chicken” was basically half soy. Now, Subway’s tuna is under fire thanks to a deep dive from the New York Times. It found that no amplifiable tuna DNA was present in a sample of “tuna” from Subway.

Is Subway’s tuna actually tuna?

We sent more than 60 inches worth of Subway tuna sandwiches to a commercial food testing lab to find out.

Here’s what we found.https://t.co/XSMMFIcWUT
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 23, 2021

5. Canadiens 1 win away from Stanley Cup Finals

The Montreal Canadiens just continue to impress. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Eric Staal, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki all scored on Tuesday to lead the Habs to a 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in game six of the conference finals. That means the Canadiens return to the Bell Centre with a chance to win on home ice Thursday night and book their spot in the finals.