Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Wake-Up Call: GOP Mutiny Stalls The House


House Republicans will open the second day of the new Congress much like the first — with leader Kevin McCarthy trying to become House speaker despite losing in multiple rounds of voting that threw the new GOP majority into chaos. It was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote, but McCarthy appeared undeterred by the gravity of the moment. Instead, he vowed to fight to the finish, encouraged, he said, by former President Donald Trump to end the disarray and pull the Republican Party together. The House is scheduled to convene Wednesday after the stalemate essentially forced all other business to a standstill, waiting on Republicans to elect a speaker.

🏈NFL'S HAMLIN REMAINS CRITICAL: NFL player Damar Hamlin remains in critical condition. The Buffalo Bills safety who collapsed in the first quarter of yesterday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals spent last night in the ICU, according to his team, which said earlier that he’d suffered cardiac arrest and had his heartbeat restored on the field. The NFL said the suspended game won’t resume this week. The nationally televised Bills-Bengals match-up holds enormous playoff implications and comes just days before the final weekend of the NFL season.

Jeremy Renner
➤JEREMY RENNER POSTS HOSPITAL SEILFIE: Marvel actor Jeremy Renner has thanked well-wishers for their 'kind words' in his first post on social media since his snow plowing accident on New Year's Day. Renner suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries in a snow plow accident in Reno, Nevada, on Sunday and remains in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery. A publicist for Renner said in a statement that the 51-year-old “Avengers” star is in an intensive care unit following surgery on Monday. “Jeremy’s family would like to express their gratitude to the incredible doctors and nurses looking after him, Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, Washoe County Sheriff, Reno City Mayor Hillary Schieve” and others, read the statement. “They are also tremendously overwhelmed and appreciative of the outpouring of love and support from his fans.” Authorities and Renner’s representative haven’t said how the accident occurred. The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said late Sunday that Renner had to be flown by helicopter to a hospital for treatment.


Whiting and Hussey
🎥'ROMEO AND JULIET' ACTORS SUE: The stars of 1968's 'Romeo and Juliet' are suing over the nude scene they filmed when they were just 15 and 16 years old. Olivia Hussey, 71, and Leonard Whiting, 72, filed a lawsuit Friday in Santa Monica Superior Court accusing the studio of sexual harassment, fraud, sexual abuse, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Hussey and Whiting say director Franco Zeffirelli originally told them there would not be any nudity in the film but on the last day of filming, he allegedly said the film 'would fail' unless they performed a scene nude while wearing body makeup. The pair are seeking damages 'believed to be in excess of 500 million.'

➤AL ROKER WILL RETURN TO THE ‘TODAY’ SHOW THIS WEEK: On Tuesday’s (January 3rd) episode of the Today show, co-host Hoda Kotb told viewers Al Roker would be returning to the show later this week. “We have some great news to share this morning: Al is coming back to the show,” co-host Savannah Guthrie said. Kotb added, “[People] was like, ‘When, when?’ Well, we have our day: He’ll be here Friday. He’ll be right here in Studio 1A.” Roker temporarily left the show in November, when he was hospitalized due to blood clots in his legs and lungs.

➤CRYPTO KID PLEADS 'NOT GUILTY': Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to fraud and other criminal charges.  the FTX founder’s trial is set to begin Oct. 2 in Manhattan federal court. He’s accused of stealing billions of dollars of customer funds, defrauding investors and lenders to his trading firm, Alameda Research, and violating campaign-finance rules with illegal political contributions. Bankman-Fried has previously said he didn’t intend to commit fraud but has acknowledged making mistakes.

➤OREGON GOVERNOR ERASES ABOUT $1.8M IN FINES FOR ROUGHLY 7,000 DRIVERS: Two new measures in Oregon and Nevada turned minor traffic offenses from criminal matters into civil matters at the stroke of the new year. The result is many thousands of drivers will be able to restore suspended driving licenses, have bench warrants cleared, and not worry that an inability to pay civil fines in the future will land them in jail.

➤PASADENA MAN INTENTIONALLY DROVE TESLA OFF NORCAL CLIFF IN CRASH THAT HURT 2 KIDS AND 1 ADULT: A California man intentionally drove a Tesla off a 250-foot cliff in an attempt to kill his family. The driver, his wife and children survived and were rescued Monday at Devil's Slide in San Mateo County. Dharmesh Arvind Patel of Pasadena, was arrested and will be booked on attempted murder and child abuse charges once he is out of a hospital.

Brian Pottenger, the incident commander for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said that it was “very, very rare” for people to survive such a steep fall and that the children's car seats may have saved their lives.

➤WOMAN SENTENCED TO 20-YEARS FOR SELLING BODY PARTS: A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law.

➤GOOGLE CHROME WILL STOP WORKING PROPERLY ON MILLIONS OF WINDOWS PCs NEXT WEEK: Business owners and employees that are still using Google’s Chrome browser on an older version of Windows will need to upgrade their Windows as soon as possible. Google is getting ready to stop technical and security support for the browser running on Windows 7 next week.  Google initially had plans to halt support on July 15, 2021, but due to Covid-19, it pushed the deadline back first to January 15, 2022 and then to January 10, 2023.


➤OMICRON OFFSHOOT XBB.1.5 COULD DRIVE NEW COVID-19 SURGE IN U.S.: The CDC estimates that XBB.1.5 has more than doubled its share of the Covid-19 pie each week for the last four, rising from about 4% to 41% of new infections over the month of December. In the Northeast, the CDC estimates, XBB.1.5 is causing 75% of new cases.

🏈FANS GIVE MILLIONS TO DAMAR HAMLIN'S TOY DRIVE FOR KIDS: Damar Hamlin wanted to raise $2,500 online to buy toys for needy kids. It took about two years but on Monday, when the Buffalo Bills safety was critically injured during a nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He instantly became one of the biggest stories in sports, and thousands of people found his GoFundMe page. In the first 21 hours since his injury, the GoFundMe page as raised over $5 million, and the number is still climbing.

🏀ZION WILLIAMSON OUT AT LEAST 3 WEEKS WITH HAMSTRING STRAIN: New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain, the team announced Tuesday evening. Williamson will be reevaluated in three weeks. Williamson has played in 29 of a possible 37 games this season for New Orleans. He missed two games in late October with a lower back/right hip contusion after a hard fall against the Utah Jazz.

➤NCAA RECOMMENDATIONS CALL FOR BIGGER CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS: The NCAA Division I transformation committee concluded its work with a 22-page report released Tuesday that recommends a variety of changes to the top level of college sports, but only one likely to catch the attention of the average fan.  The committee is recommending allowing 25% of teams in sports sponsored by at least 200 schools to compete in championship events. That opens the door to possible expansion of the March Madness basketball tournaments from 68 to as many as 90 teams each. Expanding the tournaments is not imminent and might not even be likely in the near future even if the recommendation is adopted.

🏈PANTHERS OWNER AND JIM HARBAUGH TALKED ABOUT COACHING JOB: Panthers owner David Tepper has had a conversation with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh about the opening Carolina will have for the head-coach position once the 2022 season ends. However, the conversation was not characterized as an interview. Interviews will not begin until after Carolina (6-10) finishes the season under interim coach Steve Wilks when the Panthers face the New Orleans Saints.

⚾RED SOX, 3B RAFAEL DEVERS AGREE TO 1-YEAR, $17.5M DEAL: Star third baseman Rafael Devers and the Boston Red Sox agreed on a one-year, $17.5 million contract to avoid arbitration on Tuesday. Devers is set to reach free agency following the 2023 season, but after losing homegrown stars Mookie Betts via trade and Xander Bogaerts via free agency, the Red Sox are motivated to strike a deal that would keep Devers in a Boston uniform well into his 30s.

🏀NBA SCORES:
  • Milwaukee Bucks 123 Washington Wizards 113
  • Oklahoma City Thunder 150 Boston Celtics 117
  • Sacramento Kings 117 Utah Jazz 115

➤BRUTAL STORM AIMS AT S-F: A "brutal" storm system building over the Pacific Ocean is poised to slam across Northern California on Wednesday, battering a region already struggling from a weekend of record rains and flooding. The storm could drop as much as 8 inches of rain in some areas, falling on already overflowing rivers and saturated ground, according to the National Weather Service in San Francisco, which provided an image of what's approaching.  "The impacts will include widespread flooding, roads washing out, hillside collapsing, trees down (potentially full groves), widespread power outages, immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life," the weather service warned in a statement. "This is truly a brutal system that we are looking at and needs to be taken seriously."



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