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Good Thursday morning. Here’s what is happening:

ABC News: President Joe Biden will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday amid heightened tensions over Ukraine.

The call, which the Biden administration said comes at Putin's request, is the latest effort to defuse those tensions diplomatically.
But tens of thousands of Russian troops remain near Ukraine's borders, and bellicose rhetoric from Russian officials and state propaganda have Western officials on edge still.
The U.S. and European allies have threatened unprecedented economic penalties for Moscow if it attacks Ukraine, nearly eight years after its forces seized the Crimean Peninsula and sparked a war in Ukraine's eastern provinces known as Donbas.
Sanctions and other penalties have not brought that conflict to an end, with approximately 14,000 people killed and Russian-led separatists still fighting Ukrainian forces. U.S. officials say it's unclear if Putin has decided to attack again in an all-out invasion, but Biden has already made clear U.S. forces will not come to Kyiv's aid on the battlefield.

The Associated Press: Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

The verdict capped a monthlong trial featuring sordid accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14, told by four women who described being abused as teens in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s palatial homes in Florida, New York and New Mexico.
Jurors deliberated for five full days before finding Maxwell guilty of five of six counts. With the maximum prison terms for each charge ranging from five to 40 years in prison, Maxwell faces the likelihood of years behind bars — an outcome long sought by women who spent years fighting in civil courts to hold her accountable for her role in recruiting and grooming Epstein’s teenage victims and sometimes joining in the sexual abuse.
As the verdict was read, Maxwell was largely stoic behind a black mask. Afterward, she could be seen pouring herself water as one of her attorneys patted her back. She stood with her hands folded as the jury filed out, and glanced at her siblings — faithfully in attendance each day of the trial — as she herself was led from the courtroom. She did not hug her lawyers on the way out, a marked change from previous days during which Maxwell and her team were often physically affectionate with one another.
No sentencing date was set.
The Associated Press @AP
Four women testified at the trial, detailing how Maxwell recruited and groomed them as teenagers. Maxwell’s lawyers said she’d wrongly been scapegoated for crimes committed by Epstein, who killed himself in 2019. Ghislaine Maxwell convicted in Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse case: Live updates | AP NewsNEW YORK (AP) — The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.apne.ws
December 29th 2021
93 Retweets388 Likes

Axios: Former President Donald Trump says the Jan. 6 panel is "seeking evidence of criminal activity."

Former President Trump's legal team on Wednesday accused the House committee investigating the Capitol riot of seeking to uncover evidence that would support a criminal referral against him.
Last week, Trump's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to block the release of documents and records from his administration, arguing that their release would undermine certain presidential special privileges.
The select committee is acting as “an inquisitorial tribunal seeking evidence of criminal activity,” Trump lawyer Jesse R. Binnall wrote in the brief, adding that such action is “outside of any of Congress’s legislative powers.”
“The Washington Post has confirmed what was already apparent — the Committee is indeed seeking any excuse to refer a political rival for criminal charges, and they are using this investigation to do so," Binnall added.
The select committee is expected to file a response to the request to the Supreme Court on Thursday, per the Post.

CNN: A federal judge has denied Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's request to stop a vaccine mandate for the military.

Oklahoma National Guard members must get vaccinated against Covid-19, a federal judge has ruled, denying a request from the state's Republican governor and others to halt the military's vaccine mandate.
The ruling Tuesday comes as GOP governors from six other states have also challenged the requirement.
Judge Stephen Friot from the Western District of Oklahoma denied Gov. Kevin Stitt's request for an injunction against the vaccine mandate, writing in his ruling that Defense Department regulations "leave no doubt that the department's vaccination protocols must, and do, apply as fully to the statutory reserve components (including the Guard) as to the active-duty forces."

The New York Post: Dr. Anthony Fauci says a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot is ‘conceivable’ for Omicron.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday it’s “conceivable” that a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine will be recommended to protect against the Omicron variant — though more research is needed about how well the current boosters prevent severe disease.
“Before we start talking about a fourth shot, it would be very important for us to determine the durability of protection, particularly against severe disease for the third-shot booster of an mRNA [vaccine] and the second shot of a [Johnson & Johnson],” Fauci said at a White House COVID-19 task force press briefing.
But Fauci said it’s possible that more protection will be necessary against the variant.
“It is conceivable that in the future, we might need an additional shot, but right now, we are hoping that we will get a greater degree of durability of protection from that booster shot,” Fauci said. “So we’re going to take one step at a time, get the data from the third boost and then make decisions based on scientific data.”
Fauci warned that Omicron has been better at evading the immunity provided by vaccines, causing breakthrough infections.

WRC-TV: DC Public Schools students and staff members must show a negative COVID-19 test results before returning to schools next week after winter break.

Without test results, students cannot return to schools on Wednesday, Jan. 5, DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee and Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
“We’re expecting all of them to take a test and report a test on Tuesday,” Bowser said at a news conference.
Students whose families have not provided COVID test results will not be allowed to enter schools.
“We may need to turn some students away, and we’re prepared to do that,” Ferebee said.
The announcement on the school district of nearly 50,000 students comes as the D.C. area is watched nationally as a hot spot for COVID infections.

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he will mobilize an additional 1,250 members of the Ohio National Guard to assist as the state hits a record 5,356 hospitalized.

"We are so maxed. We are tired and we are frustrated and we want the best for all of our patients," said Jennifer Hollis, a critical care nurse at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, on the worsening situation. She added: "Please get vaccinated."
Ohio also set a new record for daily reported COVID-19 cases Wednesday, at 20,320 cases.
There are already 1,050 National Guard members deployed to hospitals and other facilities, including 150 who are nurses or EMTs. Most are assisting with support services, such as transportation and food services.

NBC News: The CDC is defending their new isolation guidance amid a surge in omicron cases.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Wednesday defended the agency's new isolation guidance for people who test positive for Covid-19.
Her remarks, made in a series of interviews with television networks and at a White House Covid-19 Response Team briefing, comes as the Biden administration grows concerned that a surge in cases, fueled by the fast-moving omicron variant, could lead to masses of Americans being out sick, disrupting society.
But the new CDC guidance, which shortens the recommended isolation time from 10 days to five days for people without symptoms, has come under harsh criticism from some health experts who say it was not based on "science" and could cause still infectious asymptomatic people to transmit the virus to others.
"I don't think there's any big change in science that justifies a change in guidance," said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. The guidance "has much more to do with societal function than to do with science."
The Recount @therecount
CNN's @kaitlancollins: "It sounds like this decision had just as much to do with business as it did the science." @CDCDirector Dr. Rochelle Walensky: "It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate."
December 29th 2021
148 Retweets407 Likes

FOX News: The Biden administration has asked Supreme Court to review a ruling on the 'Remain in Mexico' policy.

The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday if it is required to continue the Trump-era policy that mandates asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border wait in Mexico until their cases are heard.
Established by the Trump administration in January 2019, the "Remain in Mexico" policy, or Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), returned migrants to Mexico to await asylum hearings instead of keeping them in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memo to formally end the program in October, and DHS stressed to reporters at the time its view "that MPP has endemic flaws, imposed unjustifiable human costs, pulled resources and personnel away from other priority efforts, and failed to address the root causes of irregular migration."
Earlier this month, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that MPP had to be reinstated and that the DHS memo had no legal effect.

NBC News: Two Iowa teens ambushed their teacher on her daily walk and dragged her into the woods after killing her in November, officials say.

The county attorney prosecuting the case of two southeast Iowa teens charged with murder in the death of their high school Spanish teacher said in court documents they surveilled her pattern of life, ambushed her along her daily walk and dragged her into the woods, returning later to better hide her lifeless body.
Those additional details of the death of Nohema Graber in early November were revealed in a Thursday filing in the case of a 16-year-old suspect. He is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder with a classmate, also 16. Attorneys for both teens have asked a judge to move their case to juvenile court.
Hearings on the requests are scheduled for Jan. 27.

KUSA-TV: Among the dead in Monday’s shooting spree in Denver are two tattoo artists and a hotel clerk.

Friends and family of the victims are struggling to deal with the loss after a shooting spree in Denver and Lakewood ended with five people dead and two others injured.
Alicia Cardenas, the owner of Sol Tribe tattoo shop, was killed.
Danny Scofield, "Dano Blair," who worked at Lucky 13 Tattoo & Piercing, was killed.
Sarah Steck, who worked at Hyatt House, was killed.
Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado, who worked at Sol Tribe, was killed.
Michael Swinyard, 67, was killed inside his home near Cheesman Park.
Jimmy Maldonado, who worked at Sol Tribe, was shot but is expected to survive, according to police.
Lakewood police officer Ashley Ferris, who was shot before she shot and killed the gunman, according to police.
Kyle Clark @KyleClark
Police in Lakewood, CO just released this photo of Agent Ferris who, while wounded, shot and killed the mass shooter who had ranted online about the weakness of women.
December 30th 2021
319 Retweets2,090 Likes

The Colorado Sun: The Denver shooting suspect self-published books depicting a tattoo shop shooting and named two of the victims.

Two years before Lyndon James Mcleod went on a shooting rampage across Denver and Lakewood, killing five people and wounding at least two others, he wrote about an assassin clad in all black barging into a 6th Avenue tattoo parlor and fatally shooting tattoo artists and their clients.
Two people killed in the second book of a self-published trilogy rife with violent fantasies and rants against women, diversity and globalization, have the same names as people who died in the shooting spree Monday.
The book also names Sol Tribe, the tattoo studio near West First Avenue and Broadway where Mcleod began the rampage by killing its owner and another tattoo artist. Mcleod also shot at people near a tattoo studio at West Sixth Avenue and Cherokee Street.

KARE-TV: A juror in the Kim Potter trial is opening up about the guilty verdict of the former suburban Minneapolis police officer.

One juror shared details of the deliberation with KARE 11. He asked to remain anonymous because of the amount of public animosity involved with the case. KARE 11 reporter Lou Raguse covered the entire case, was inside the courtroom for two days of the trial, and was able to verify the juror's identity.
Immediately following closing arguments, the juror believed Potter was guilty on both counts, but said his opinion fluctuated during the course of their discussions as other jurors challenged him to look deeper at the language of the law.

TMZ: The remains of MMA fighter David Koenig have been found two years after he went missing.

Former MMA fighter David Koenig's remains were found in a wooded area of Missouri last week, roughly two years after he went missing ... cops announced on Monday.
According to the Branson Police Department, a man searching for deer antlers on Dec. 22 discovered the skeletal remains ... and an ensuing investigation revealed they belonged to Koenig.
The ex-mixed martial artist had been reported missing back in early 2020 -- after his family and friends say he disappeared from a Peach Tree Inn in Branson and later sent disturbing messages asking for help.
Authorities say they searched for Koenig for "thousands of hours" following his disappearance.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A man has been arrested in the fatal shooting of Illinois sheriff's deputy after a two-state manhunt.

Authorities arrested a Kentucky man Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of an Illinois sheriff's deputy, a two-state manhunt and a series of carjackings, shootings and robberies in Missouri.

Axios: The Smithsonian is temporarily closing four museums due to COVID-19.

The closures will "allow the Smithsonian to reallocate staff and keep all other museums open for the remainder of the week," the Smithsonian said in a release on Wednesday.
The museums affected are the National Museum of African Art, the National Postal Museum, the Anacostia Community Museum and the National Museum of Asian Art.
They are scheduled to reopen Jan. 3rd.

WESH-TV: A Florida man was attacked by tiger after entering an enclosure at a Naples Zoo.

According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, the man who is in his 20s entered an unauthorized area near a tiger that was inside its enclosure. The cleaning company is responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, not the animal enclosures.
The sheriff’s office says preliminary information indicates that the man was either petting or feeding the animal.
Initial reports say the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the enclosure.

UPI: A Virginia dad on a chocolate milk run for his kids won a million dollars in a lottery jackpot.

Dennis Willoughby of North Chesterfield told Virginia Lotteryofficials he stopped at the 7-Eleven store in Richmond to buy some chocolate milk for his kids, and while inside the business he decided to buy a $1,000,000 Platinum Jackpot scratch-off ticket.
Willoughby scratched the ticket off and was shocked to discover he had won the $1 million top prize.
The winner decided to take his winnings as a one-time lump-sum payment of $640,205 before taxes, instead of the full amount in annual payments over the course of 30 years.
The Virginia Lottery said Willoughby is the second top prize winner for the $1,000,000 Platinum Jackpot game, leaving one $1 million ticket remaining in circulation.

This day in history from HistoryNet: 1922: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established; 1972: After two weeks of heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam, President Nixon halts the air offensive and agrees to resume peace negotiations with Hanoi representative Le Duc Tho.; 2006: Saddam Hussein, former Iraq dictator, is executed by hanging for crimes committed against his own people during his rule.

Birthdays: NBA star LeBron James turns 36, golf legend Tiger Woods is 45 and former “Today” host Matt Lauer is 63.

Enjoy your Thursday. Just two more days until 2022.

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Bulletin

Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021