These are the headlines you Need 2 Know. * **Bezos v. Enquirer:** Jeff Bezos has accused The National Enquirer and parent company AMI of extortion and blackmail. The Enquirer published an expose on the relationship between the Amazon CEO and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, prompting Bezos ー who also owns the Washington Post ー to hire private investigators to look at whether it was politically motivated. Bezos claims in a Medium post that the Enquirer threatened to publish his nude photos; he, in turn, published emails that appear to show the publisher attempting to extort him into backing off an investigation into how it obtained his texts. Read more [here](https://medium.com/@jeffreypbezos/no-thank-you-mr-pecker-146e3922310f). * **Virginia Scandals:** A fourth official in Virginia, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, has come under fire after it was revealed that he was the editor of a yearbook that contained images of people in blackface and racist language. This revelation follows admissions by the state’s governor and attorney general to wearing blackface and follows a sex assault accusation against the state’s lieutenant governor. Read more [here](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/top-va-senator-tommy-norment-swept-state-blackface-scandal-n969021). * **Green New Deal:** House Democrats formally unveiled a “Green New Deal” proposal that would seek to make the U.S. carbon-neutral by 2030 and create millions of new jobs and a universal healthcare system. The measure was drafted in part by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has made climate change policy a rallying cry for progressives. Read more [here](https://www.cheddar.com/media/what-is-a-green-new-deal-anyway-2). * **Lion of the House:** John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, has died at 92. The Michigan Democrat, who retired in 2015, was known for fighting against corruption and for consumer regulations, for and helping to pass many of the landmark laws of the last 60 years. He had been called the most powerful man in Washington who never became president. Read more [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/politics/john-dingell-dead-longest-congressman.html). * **Grad School Decline:** For the second year in a row, fewer international students are choosing to pursue their graduate degrees in the U.S. The Council of Graduate Schools says there’s no single reason why applications are down 4 percent, but the political climate is a concern for students from certain countries. Read more [here](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-number-of-international-students-coming-to-the-us-for-grad-school-declined-for-the-second-year-in-a-row-2019-02-07?mod=personal-finance). * **Sears Saved:** Sears has been saved from liquidation after a federal judge approved a last-minute deal to sell the company’s major remaining assets to its chairman. Read more [here](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/02/07/sears-kmart-eddie-lampert-esl-investments-sears-bankruptcy/2804797002/). * **NBA Trades:** The NBA trade deadline has passed with a flurry of last-minute deals. Among the blockbuster trades: the Clippers traded Tobias Harris to the 76ers and the Knicks dealt their star Kristaps Porzingas to the Mavericks. Anthony Davis was not traded from the Pelicans as he requested, but it’s likely he will be over the summer. Read more [here](https://www.sbnation.com/2019/2/7/18210686/nba-trades-2019-deadline-recap). * **Spotted:** Robert De Niro hiding behind newspapers while yelling at his driver via cell phone outside a New York City courthouse. The actor was in court amid a custody battle for his 7-year-old daughter. See the pics [here](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6679431/Robert-Niro-hides-two-newspapers-leaves-divorce-court.html). * **Meet the Biebers:** Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin opened up about their “passionate, not-always-easy, but absolutely all-in” marriage for a Vogue cover story, the first time the couple has spoken at length since they got hitched in a Manhattan courtroom last fall. Bieber admitted to having struggled with his early fame, including problems with drugs, sex, and depression. The pop star said he was celibate for a year until marrying Baldwin. Read more [here](https://www.vogue.com/article/justin-bieber-hailey-bieber-cover-interview). * **Internet Killed the Pop Star:** No, you’re not the only one who thinks pop music used to be better. That’s the takeaway from a study in the journal PLOS One, which found millennials are more likely to prefer music from their parents’ generation than contemporary pop music. Songs from the 1960s to 1990s also remain more recognizable to millennials than hit songs from the last 20 years. Read more [here](https://phys.org/news/2019-02-previous-musical-era-millennials-recognition.html). Cheddar's Jill Wagner gets into the latest. Subscribe to the Need 2 Know newsletter [here](https://theneed2know.com).
