Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 21, 2021

Are you one of those people who checks prices at all the local gas stations before settling on the lowest? You probably don't wanna live in California then. Turns out the average price of gas in the US is $3.20 ...while the average price for gas in California is $4.39 these days. FOX News says there's even a gas station in Mendocino which charges $6.74 a gallon. Which station has the lowest price for gas near you?

First it was Texas which banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court declined to overturn that law, and now the court is being asked to hear arguments in a lawsuit against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. Mississippi officials argue that Roe v. Wade should be overturned because of it’s outdated viability standards and that abortions should be banned after 15 weeks to protect women’s health and that of unborn children. The court will hear arguments on December first.

Congrats to a pair of Japanese sisters. The identical twins have been certified by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living identical twins. Their age? Over 107 years and 300 days. UMENO SUMIYAMA and KOUME KODAMA were born back in November of 1913.

As you know, after Pluto was declared to be a "dwarf planet," our solar system only has eight planets in it. But now, astronomers at the California Institute of Technology say they may have found a new, ninth planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. The CalTech professors, MICHAEL BROWN and KONSTANTIN BATYGIN, say they've found evidence of a massive object altering orbits of other objects in the Kuiper Belt, which is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger and out past the orbit of Neptune. They think that planet could possibly be around 10 times the size of the Earth and orbiting the sun 20 times farther than Neptune. PS: It was Brown's research back in 2006 which was used to demote Pluto, to a dwarf planet. And the beat... or orbit... goes on.

COVID update: Good news yesterday when Pfizer and its partner, BioTech, revealed that small doses of the Pfizer vaccine --about a third of the dose used for adults-- which was given to children ages 5 to 11 appeared to produce strong antibody responses and comparable side effects to those seen in older age groups. The data now goes to the FDA, which will likely take several weeks to review it, making the earliest date you could get your 5-to-12-year-old vaccinated around the end of October.

Like you care: QUEEN ELIZABETH now has 12 great-grandchildren, after her granddaughter, PRINCESS BEATRICE, gave birth Saturday to a baby girl. Beatrice is the daughter of PRINCE ANDREW and SARAH FERGUSON. So what about the chances of the new baby girl becoming Queen someday? Well, PRINCE CHARLES is the heir to the British throne, and PRINCE WILLIAM would follow his father. The new baby is 11th in the British line of succession.

Fast food: IHOP is celebrating fall and Halloween by serving brand-new Reese’s Pieces Pancakes. They're also bringing back the Scary Face Pancake and Pumpkin Spice Pancakes as well for the season. In case you're interested, the Reese’s Pieces Pancakes have Reese’s Pieces Pancakes buttermilk pancakes topped with Reese’s peanut butter sauce, chocolate sauce plus Reese’s Pieces candy and a whipped topping. FYI: Plain Reese's Pieces Pancakes reportedly have 560 calories. You're welcome.

Want something with more sugar? They are also bringing back Caramel Apple à la Mode Pancakes made with their fluffy buttermilk pancakes loaded with apple cinnamon compote, a drizzle of caramel sauce and one scoop of vanilla ice cream. 740 calories.