Big Wins, A New Barbie, and Cookie Comebacks

Episode
Written By Tracy Kaplan

10 Things You Need to Know: Episode 623

10 Things You Need to Know

1. ✊🏾 Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026

2. 🏈 Hoosiers Make History

3. 👩‍⚖️ Sports & the Supreme Court

4. 🤩 New Barbie on the Block

5. 🕹️ The Latest at Nintendo

6. 🌦️ New Year, New California?

7. 🍦 Blazing Temperatures Calls for Treats

8. 🐶 Dog-gone Smartypants

9. 🔭 New Discovery at NASA

10. 🍪 It's Girl Scout SZN

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TRANSCRIPT

INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO

PAM: Ummm, Ry, isn’t it a little early in the morning to be eating popsicles? 

RYAN: Pam, if animals at the Rio De Janeiro zoo can eat popsicles, I can too. 

PAM: Yeah but they’re dealing with scorching hot weather–

RYAN: Why are we talking about popsicles when astronomers discovered a brand new cosmic object?!

PAM: Ahh yes, they’re calling it Cloud 9! There’s a lot of cool stuff we gotta talk about… 

RYAN: Good gravy let’s go! I’m Ryan Willard.

PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland, it’s Thursday, January 22nd.

RYAN: This is Ten Things You Need to Know.

PAM: This past Monday was an important day, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The federal holiday is observed on the third Monday in January to honor Dr. King, one of the most influential civil rights leaders in history. Dr. King was a leader who fought for fairness and equal rights in the 1950s and 1960s. He organized peaceful protests and gave powerful speeches, like his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. More than 15 years after his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1986. And today, this day reminds us all that peaceful action and kindness can help create big change. 

RYAN: Also kicking off the week was the College Football Playoff championship game between the Indiana University Hoosiers and the University of Miami Hurricanes. <SFX Stadium Crowd Roar> Once known for holding the record for the most losses in Division I college football history, the Hoosiers came out on top with a final score of 27-21. This win not only capped off a perfect 16-0 season for Indiana but also earned the program its first-ever national championship. It’s a year IU fans won’t forget, especially 9-year-old Jack Gibson, who even wrote to Governor Mike Braun asking for a two-hour delay on January 20th so students like him could stay up and watch the game. Unfortunately, Jack’s school district didn’t get the delay, but their team did get the dub! 

PAM: It’s been quite the week for sports, from the football field to the Supreme Court. Yup, that’s right. For the first time, the Supreme Court is weighing in on the national debate of whether transgender girls should be able to participate in girls’ and women’s sports. In cases from the states of Idaho and West Virginia, justices are hearing arguments about federal courts blocking state laws that would stop trans girls from participating on teams that match their gender identity. Lower courts have already blocked the bans, but the Supreme Court’s decisions will determine whether these laws and other rules will stand in 27 other states. In the 2024-2025 season, there were more than 8 million high school athletes. And according to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, there are an estimated 122,000 transgender American teens who participate in high school sports across the nation… so this could affect A LOT of kids in sports. A final decision is anticipated by the end of June this year. 

RYAN: Up next, Mattel is making moves to make its iconic doll line even more inclusive. After adding Barbies with Down syndrome, a Barbie and Ken with vitiligo, and a blind Barbie, among many others, Mattel recently introduced an autistic Barbie. In partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Mattel spent over 18 months developing the doll to create a Barbie that reflects some of the ways that autistic people experience and process the world around them. This new Barbie showcases diversity and inclusion and represents the autistic community through physical features and accessories. For example, the doll is dressed in an A-line dress with short sleeves and a flowy skirt that reduces fabric-to-skin contact, which can sometimes be a sensitivity for people with autism. The Barbie also includes a finger-clip fidget spinner, noise-canceling headphones, and a tablet, like the devices used by some autistic people who struggle to communicate verbally. 

RYAN: And in Nintendo news, <SFX 1Up!> My Mario is making its debut in the United States next month! The My Mario collection will officially launch in stores on February 19th at Nintendo New York and Nintendo San Francisco. This collection lets kids and their grown-ups explore new adventures and play alongside their favorite Mario characters. The My Mario set includes items like: 

  • A stop-motion animation series called “It’s Me, Mario!” that’s actually available now on the My Mario website and the official Play Nintendo YouTube channel. 

  • An interactive “Hello, Mario!” board book 

  • Soft toys like a super cuddly Mario plush, and more!

  • Two wooden block sets featuring Mario himself and other items from the Super Mario series.

RYAN: And now… I want to play with some toys.

PAM: Fair enough. Let’s take a quick break! Hey Ten’ers, International Lego Day is on January 28th… I’m going to do some epic builds, but I’m curious, what’s your favorite Lego set that you’ve built? Send us an email, hello@thetennews.com or leave us a review or comment and we might shout you out on the show! Speaking of…back to it!

RYAN: Aaaand, we’re back in time for… <SFX Weather or Not…>

PAM: For about a week beginning December 20th, parts of Northern California were drenched with up to 7 inches of precipitation, and southern parts of the state received roughly 4 inches. 

RYAN: I was in California that week, I couldn’t believe how much rain there was!

PAM: And, on New Year’s Day, California received another round of heavy rain and flooding, pushing the state’s 17 major reservoirs to 129% of their average levels. While this may sound like some bad weather, it’s actually great news! These winter storms have made the state of California completely free of drought for the first time in 25 years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. December 2000 was the last time that California had no regions in drought or considered “abnormally dry.”

RYAN: Wild weather continued: it’s summer in Brazil, and the temperatures are blazing. Last week, temperatures in Rio de Janeiro reached over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), prompting a Level 3 heat alert that warned residents of the health risks of prolonged exposure to the high temperatures. But the people of Rio de Janeiro weren’t the only ones affected; animals were too! At the BioParque Zoo, animals were given popsicles and frozen treats to help stay cool. They received an iced diet tailored to their species’ needs, like jaguars getting to fish out ground-chicken popsicles from their water tank. And monkeys were given watermelon popsicles to enjoy! Wait, I love watermelon popsicles… <SFX Monkey screams>

PAM: Up next, some dog-gone smarty pants. According to a new study from the journal ‘Science”, a rare group of “genius” dogs that already know the names of a lot of toys can learn brand-new words just by overhearing people talk! For instance, these gifted doggos, especially border collies, can learn the name of a new toy without even seeing it, as long as their human is looking in the direction of where the toy is hidden. Researchers think this shows that a few special canines can understand words by using social cues, just as kids learn language! 

RYAN: Dogs are just plain AWESOME. Speaking of awesome… There’s a new type of astronomical object on the block that may help experts learn more about how galaxies are formed and the development of the early universe. NASA is referring to the object as ‘Cloud-9’ and describing it as a ‘starless, gas-rich dark-matter’ hydrogen cloud and part of the universe’s early formation, about 14 million light-years from planet Earth. And, it’s the first time something like this has been confirmed to exist, according to NASA. 

PAM: It was actually discovered three years ago, but it wasn’t until recently that the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that there were no stars inside Cloud-9. Instead, its core is made up of neutral hydrogen and is estimated to measure one million times the mass of the sun! According to NASA, astronomers plan to conduct additional surveys of Cloud-9 to learn more about dark matter, the early universe, and failed galaxies. 

RYAN: I used to think I wanted to go to Cloud 9, but now that I know that it’s dark matter, I think I’m okay just looking at pictures. And for the last thing you need to know, let’s go to our Trivia Master, Owen. 

<What is going on Trivia intro>

OWEN: Thanks Ry! Girl Scout cookie season is BACK! 

RYAN: YES YES YES! LET’S GOOOOO!

OWEN: But there’s one cookie that has held the title of all-time best-seller. Do you know which one that is? Is it:

  1. Tagalongs

  2. Caramel deLights

  3. Thin Mints, or

  4. Samoas?

The answer is… C! Thin mints are the best-selling Girl Scout Cookies. But, that could change this year with a new flavor entering the chat: Exploramores. These new sandwich cookies are a tribute to Rocky Road ice cream; chocolate cookies filled with almond creme and stamped with the Girl Scouts logo. 

PAM: And that was Ten Things You Need to Know. 

RYAN: Okay, I need to Exploramore of these Girl Scout cookies. Do you got any hookups?

PAM: Yeah, I know a girl. 

RYAN: It’s cookie time it’s cookie time it’s cookie time! Right after some Ten News Snaps. 

PAM: But first, here’s a quick note for the grownups. 

<AD BREAK>

RYAN: Time for Ten News Snaps!

PAM: We got a 5 star review on Apple podcasts from Norapaige888. “I love listening to this show!!!!!! If u like this show then read the magazine the Week Junior.” Thank you so much Norapaige, and we do read the Week Junior and love it!

RYAN: And another Ten’er named James left a review and said, “Ryan i got a Switch 2 for my birthday and it’s insane. It runs so much better than my OLED. And Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. It’s so good, I love 10 things you need to know. It’s probably, like one of my favorites. Please put me on Ten News Snaps. PS I think butterflies are strange and weird.” I COULDN’T AGREE MORE ON ALL ACCOUNTS MR. JAMES! Btw I just beat Metroid Prime 4 and I just played 4 player Mario Kart World all weekend. 

PAM: And two extra notes for the grown-ups, you can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Ten’ers Club on our website. 

RYAN: And if you want to help support the Ten News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes. The whole team thanks you for your support!

PAM: “The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.

RYAN: The Ten News creative team is ordering ALL of the Girl Scout cookies and includes Tracey Not a Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas, the Duke of Earl Davis, and Carson Not So Harry Potter. Big thanks to Owen, Not Slowin Down for Anybody. 

PAM: Our Production Director is Jeremiah “On Fyaaah” Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald “Albright, Albright, Albright!” and show creator Tracy Takes the Leeds Kaplan. I’m Pamela Kirkland.

RYAN: And I’m Ryan Willard, thanks for listening to the Ten News!

Tracy Kaplan
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