Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022
Good Tuesday morning. Here’s what is happening:
Fort Worth Star Telegram: Inside the 11-hour hostage standoff at Colleyville Beth Israel synagogue in Texas.
The hostages’ escape — planned delicately all day, through discreet steps toward the exit door and whispers to one another — would come quickly.
Things had begun to “devolve,” Cytron-Walker would later recount.
“He was screaming, ‘I am going to put a bullet on each one of you,’” Cohen said. “At that point, he was looking toward me. I looked him right in the eyes. I stared at him. I made my face very strict. And I think I shook my head, or I mouthed ‘no.’”
Akram backs down and goes to pour himself a soda. He might have set the gun down. Suddenly, Cytron-Walker throws a chair at Akram. The rabbi yells for them to run. Cohen sprints for the door, practically picking up the other hostage as he runs because he worries the man wouldn’t make it quickly enough. Cohen bursts through the exit door, Cytron-Walker right behind him.
As he runs, Cohen stumbles and hits the ground. He climbs into hedges nearby as he hears Akram at the door behind him.
A video taken by WFAA-TV’s Josh Stephen shows the moment the three escape. The video captures Akram, carrying what appears to be a handgun and wearing a backpack, briefly step out the door and return inside.
Dozens of agents in tactical gear surround the synagogue. A dog barks in the background. About 37 seconds after the gunman steps back inside, four gunshots are heard on the other side of the building. An explosion, more gunshots and officers’ shouts follow. A car alarm blares, and agents rush in a line to the side of the building where the gunshots are coming from. The hostage team breaches the synagogue.
Nearby reporters are told to hit the ground, Dallas Morning News reporter Jamie Landers tweets at 9:13 p.m. Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter James Hartley tweets at the same time that he hears “what sounds like gunshots and a much louder bang, possibly a flash grenade.”
Akram is dead.
At 9:55 p.m., Colleyville police say the SWAT situation is resolved. At 10:15 p.m., law enforcement hold a news conference outside the Catholic church.
Surrounded by cameras, Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller and FBI Special Agent DeSarno describe the efforts of the day. Authorities have not said how Akram died.
DeSarno says the rescue of the hostages and the death of the hostage-taker “was a result of a long, long day of hard work by nearly 200 law enforcement officers from across this region.”
In the hours that follow, groups from around the world send messages of support to Beth Israel.
At 4:44 a.m. Sunday, Cytron-Walker posts on Facebook. “I am grateful that we made it out,” he writes. “I am grateful to be alive.”
The Associated Press: The FBI now says the hostage taking in Texas was targeting the Jewish community, contradicting statements made after the victims escaped.
Authorities identified the hostage-taker as 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram, who was killed Saturday night after the last three hostages ran out of the synagogue in Colleyville around 9 p.m. The first hostage was released shortly after 5 p.m.
The FBI on Sunday night issued a statement calling the ordeal “a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted” and said the Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating. The agency noted that Akram spoke repeatedly during negotiations about a prisoner who is serving an 86-year sentence in the U.S. The statement followed comments Saturday from the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas field office that the hostage-taker was focused on an issue “not specifically related to the Jewish community.”
Akram could be heard ranting on a Facebook livestream of the services and demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.
“The last hour or so of the standoff, he wasn’t getting what he wanted. It didn’t look good. It didn’t sound good. We were terrified,” Cytron-Walker told “CBS Mornings.”
Note: We published the AP’s reporting from the FBI in our Sunday edition. The news organization has now updated their reporting and clarified tweets.
AccuWeather: A winter storm hammering the Eastern U.S. turned deadly, creating travel nightmares and knocking out power to thousands.
An intense and deadly winter storm, the first major weather system this season to hit some parts of the eastern half of the United States, triggered warnings in more than a dozen states and wreaked havoc on the roadways, causing hundreds of accidents, leading to at least two fatalities and spurring hundreds of thousands of power outages.
The storm started before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in the Midwest. Des Moines International Airport received 14.3 inches of snow while surrounding areas in Iowa got at least a foot of snow. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, multiple accidents occurred on Interstate 35 early Saturday morning,and many other vehicles spun out or stalled as the snowstorm created treacherous driving conditions on the roadways.
As the weekend got underway, heavy snow was reported in Arkansas, with multiple areas in the state picking up more than 5 inches of snow by lunchtime Saturday. While no snow accumulated, light snow flurries were recorded as far south and west as Dallas, Texas.
The highest Southern snowfall total was recorded in Valley Springs, Arkansas, with a total of 14 inches of snow. Some other areas in the South recorded more than a foot of snow, including East Flats, North Carolina. Leesburg, Mississippi, picked up 9 inches of snow, while Clarksville, Georgia, recorded 5.6 inches. Higher elevations played a big role in snow accumulations across parts of the south-central U.S. The National Weather Service in Little Rock, Arkansas, reported 1.6 inches of snow on Sunday morning, while just down the street from its offices, at a lower elevation, only a trace of snow accumulated.
Power outages, plane cancellations and accidents all soared to dramatic numbers as the winter storm continued to drop a wintry mix of snow, sleet and ice. In North Carolina, authorities said the storm played a role in the death of two people in a crash Sunday afternoon, NBC News reported. A vehicle carrying a driver and a passenger traveling southbound on Interstate 95 veered off the road and struck several trees in a median. Both the driver and passenger were pronounced dead at the scene.
More than 200,000 customers were without power in the eastern U.S. as of Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.US. Both North and South Carolina topped the list for the most power outages, with both states reporting more than 31,000 customers without service. By the evening hours, more and more customers saw their power return as crews continued their work.
CNN: Monday turned out to be another travel nightmare as airlines cancelled more than 1,200 flights amid winter weather.
US airlines have canceled more than 1,200 flights Monday as a powerful winter storm packing rain, sleet and snow slammed the East Coast on the holiday weekend and made travel difficult. On Sunday, roughly 3,000 flights were canceled.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, an American Airlines hub, continues to be the hardest hit. More than 400 flights were canceled there Monday and 85 delays were reported according to flight tracking site FlightAware. The airline preemptively canceled 1,100 flights Sunday across its mainline and regional operations after canceling 90 Saturday.
"This weekend's winter storm is expected to have a significant impact on our operation, especially at Charlotte International Airport," American said in a statement. It also issued a travel notice allowing customers affected by the weather to rebook flights without a fee.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is the second-most affected airport, with 38 cancellations reported Monday.
ABC News: The state of Hawaii will require visitors to have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster if they want to skip quarantine rules.
Currently, under the rules of the state's "Safe Travels" program, travelers who don't want to quarantine for five days must either be fully vaccinated -- meaning two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine -- or have a negative COVID-19 test within one day of travel
However, the program is changing the definition of "fully vaccinated" to include booster shots, Gov. David Ige announced at a news conference last week.
This means fully vaccinated travelers who haven't received a booster shot will have to quarantine in Hawaii for five days.
Ige said changes to the program will not occur for at least two weeks so people traveling to Hawaii can adjust their plans accordingly.
"We know that the community needs time to react to that, so we would have to provide at least two weeks for those who may not be up-to-date to go to have the opportunity to go and get vaccinated if they need to," he said, according to Hawaii News Now.
During the news conference, Ige also said he was speaking with mayors and other local leaders about requiring booster shots to dine in restaurants and participate in other activities and events. However, he said he will leave that decision up to individual counties.
Last month, Maui Mayor Michael Victorino revealed booster shots would be required for locals to be considered fully vaccinated.
The rule was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 8 but was delayed until Jan. 24 so people have time to schedule booster shots, reported KHON 2.
Times of Israel: The world’s first trial studying a 4th dose of the COVID-19 vaccine found it is ‘not good enough’ against Omicron.
“The vaccine, which was very effective against the previous strains, is less effective against the Omicron strain,” Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead researcher in the experiment said.
“We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said. “However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose. Granted, a bit less than in the control group, but still a lot of infections,” she added.
“The bottom line is that the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta [variants], for Omicron it’s not good enough,” she said.
Regev-Yochay added that it is still probably a good idea to give a fourth shot to those at higher risk, but intimated that perhaps the current campaign, which also offers the jab to the over-60s, should be amended to only include even older groups. She did not elaborate.
The hospital did not release more specific data. Regev-Yochay said the results of the research are only preliminary, but indicated that she was providing the initial information since there was high public interest in the matter.
POLITICO: Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has tested positive for Covid, according to his spokesperson, just days after being in contact with President Joe Biden.
Milley, who attended Gen. Raymond Odierno’s funeral on Jan. 12 with Biden, tested negative every day leading up to Sunday’s positive test, a statement said. He is working remotely and isolating after he tested positive on Sunday.
“He is experiencing very minor symptoms and can perform all of his duties from the remote location,” Col. Dave Butler, the Joint Chiefs spokesperson, said in the statement issued Monday. “He has received the COVID-19 vaccines including the booster.”
The statement also noted that all the other joint chiefs, except for one, had tested negative. The other positive test was Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger, a Marine Corps spokesperson, Maj. James Stenger, confirmed to POLITICO.
“The performance of his duties will remain unaffected,” Stenger said.
The latest positives among high-ranking Pentagon officials come after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin contracted the virus earlier this month. Austin, who also reported mild symptoms, has recovered.
The military has seen a sharp uptick in cases since the holiday season. The Defense Department reported about 33,000 Covid infections across the military as of Wednesday, roughly 2.5 times the number of cases the prior week.
Fox News: Ghislaine Maxwell is no longer fighting to keep secret the identities of eight people who were named in a now-settled civil lawsuit.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre's efforts to reveal the names of several "John Does" could soon be green-lighted after Maxwell conceded to the longtime accuser’s efforts to unseal their identities, according to a letter submitted by Maxwell’s attorney late last week. The decision is now in the hands of New York federal court Judge Loretta Preska whether seven of those names will be released.
Last week, an attorney for Giuffre inquired about Maxwell’s previous objections to the unsealing of certain identities.
"Now that Maxwell’s criminal trial has come and gone, there is little reason to retain protection over the vast swaths of information about Epstein and Maxwell’s sex-trafficking operation that were originally filed under seal in this case," wrote Sigrid McCawley.
Maxwell, through her attorneys, had objected to the unsealing of the identities of eight John Does – known in court papers as "Does 17, 53, 54, 55, 56, 73, 93, and 151." But on January 12, Maxwell attorney Laura Menninger said her client no longer wanted to pursue the objections, noting that seven of those eight individuals had already submitted objections through their own attorneys.
"After careful review of the detailed objections submitted by Non-Party Does 17, 53, 54, 55, 73, 93 and 151, counsel for Ghislaine Maxwell writes to inform the Court that she does not wish to further address those objections," Menninger’s letter states.
The letter continues: "Each of the listed Does has counsel who have ably asserted their own respective privacy rights. Ms. Maxwell therefore leaves it to this Court to conduct the appropriate review consistent with the Order and Protocol for Unsealing Decided Motions."
Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for recruiting teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, her longtime love. She is set to be sentenced on June 28.
New York Post: Prince Andrew likely dated Ghislaine Maxwell, according to a friend and ex-royal guard who claims she was a frequent visitor to Buckingham Palace.
Reuters: A bipartisan group of senators traveled to Ukraine to meet with the country’s president, promising solidarity and weapons as Russia prepares for a possible invasion.
A bipartisan group of United States senators promised solidarity and weapons on a visit to Kyiv on Monday while warning Russian President Vladimir Putin against launching a new military offensive against Ukraine.
Kyiv and its Western allies have sounded the alarm after Russia massed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's borders and pressed the United States for security guarantees, including a block on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.
Russia denies planning a new military offensive.
The United States has been Ukraine's most powerful backer in its standoff with Moscow after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of the war in eastern Ukraine.
"I think Vladimir Putin has made the biggest mistake of his career in underestimating how courageously the people of Ukraine will fight him if he invades," Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters.
"And we will impose crippling economic sanctions, but more important we will give the people of Ukraine the arms, lethal arms they need to defend their lives and livelihoods," he said after the delegation met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
These weapons could include Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger missiles, small arms and boats, he said.
"And so our message is: there will be consequences if he chooses to violate the sanctity of this democracy," Senator Amy Klobuchar added.
ABC News: Family members of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched in D.C. Monday, demanding action on a voting rights bill in the Senate.
As voting rights legislation remains stalled in Congress, Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, and his 13-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, were among a coalition of civil rights activists who led the annual Peace Walk in Washington on Monday to honor the legacy of the civil rights icon and demand action on voting rights.
"What we want is for Americans to be engaged," King III told ABC News anchor Linsey Davis, adding that the need for federal safety guards is more urgent than ever. "This year, we are laser focused on getting the right to vote sustained and getting the right to vote empowered."
The march comes as lawmakers are expected to take up a vote to change the Senate rules as early as Tuesday that encompasses both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Some would say it's about time the Congress takes up a debate on voting rights in the Senate.
Without the support of 10 Republicans needed to overcome a GOP filibuster to block the legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to raise a rules change vote as early as Tuesday, according to a Democratic aide familiar. But with conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema making clear they will not vote to end the Senate's filibuster -- even though both support the underlying legislation -- the fate of the reforms that activists are demanding action on is unclear.
"Let the Senate hear you! Let the White House hear you all! Spread the word!" said King's granddaughter before her family led hundreds of marchers across a snow-capped Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.
Yolanda Renee King had sharp words for lawmakers, calling out Senators Manchin and Sinema by name.
"Sen. Sinema, Sen. Manchin, our future hinges on your decision and history will remember what choice you make. So join me in demanding action for today, tomorrow and generations to come," Yoland Renee King said.
She added, "For all the elected leaders out there who are tweeting, posting and celebrating my grandfather, Dr. King, today, my message to you is simple do not celebrate, legislate!"
Manchin released a statement Monday celebrating the life and legacy of King, but made no mention of voting rights.
Axios: Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday she is ‘not going to absolve’ any member of the Senate who will not take action to pass voting rights legislation.
POLITICO: A federal appeals court is sending the Texas abortion ban case to state’s Supreme Court, leaving in place for now a law that has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed.
A divided federal appeals court panel Monday rebuffed Texas abortion clinics’ plea to send what remains of their challenge against the state’s privately enforced abortion ban back to the lower court that previously blocked the law, instead directing the case to the Texas Supreme Court for further interpretation.
The move by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals effectively prolongs the litigation over the unusual anti-abortion statute, leaving in place a law that has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in the state since the measure took effect in September.The 2-1 court decision held that there was too much ambiguity around the meaning of the Texas law to allow federal courts to continue to act on the legal challenge without definitive guidance from Texas’s top court.
“The unresolved questions of state law must be certified to the Texas Supreme Court,” wrote Judge Edith Jones, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, in an opinion joined by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, who was appointed by President Donald Trump.
Attorney Marc Hearron with the Center for Reproductive Rights gave POLITICO a bleak assessment of the path forward for abortion rights advocates in a conversation following the early January arguments at the appeals court.
“The Supreme Court gave the green light to this vigilante scheme and said if a state wants to pass a law that infringes on a constitutional right and delegate enforcement to the general public, federal courts can’t do anything to stop that. That’s the core of the case,” said Hearron, after he took part in the 5th Circuit argument session in New Orleans.
“There’s a part of our case left against these licensing officials, and it’s an important part of the case, but people need to understand that even what’s left is being delayed and strung out while patients across Texas are denied their constitutional rights,” he said.
CBS News: The ex-girlfriend of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has been given immunity in the ongoing federal investigation of sex trafficking.
Prosecutors granted immunity to an ex-girlfriend of Representative Matt Gaetz before she testified last week in front of a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigation of the congressman, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Gaetz has been under investigation to determine if he violated sex trafficking laws and obstructed justice in that probe. Gaetz has previously denied all wrongdoing, and has said he has never paid for sex nor had sex with an underage girl.
The woman, who CBS News is not naming to protect her privacy, testified in front of a federal grand jury in Orlando last Wednesday. She is viewed as a potential key witness, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. One of the sources said she has information related to the investigation of both the sex trafficking and obstruction allegations.
"This may be a willing participant who has a smart lawyer who sought an immunity deal from the government," said former prosecutor and CBS News legal analyst Rikki Kleiman. "The government does not give immunity blindly, they know what they're getting in exchange."
Isabelle Kirshner, an attorney for Gaetz, told CBS News in a statement last week that "we have seen no credible basis for a charge against Congressman Gaetz. We remain steadfast in our commitment to challenge any allegations with the facts and law."
A source told CBS News last week that as a part of an obstruction probe, investigators are looking into whether Gaetz had a phone call with the ex-girlfriend, and another woman, who was already a witness in the federal investigation.
Multiple sources told CBS News that the ex-girlfriend and the other woman traveled to the Bahamas with Gaetz in 2018, along with a third woman with whom Gaetz was in a sexual relationship. That third woman was 18 at the time of the Bahamas trip, but investigators are also looking into whether she was 17 when the sexual relationship began.
Investigators are trying to determine if any of the women were paid and were illegally trafficked across state or international lines for the purpose of sex with the congressman.
Axios: The CEOs of several airlines Monday called for Biden administration's ‘immediate intervention’ in 5G deployment.
They said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other top federal officials ahead of the C-Band 5G service's deployment Wednesday that "the nation's commerce will grind to a halt" and "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas."
They're calling on the Biden administration's "immediate intervention" in the matter to "avoid significant operational disruption" and ensure "that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways" at affected airports, according to the letter, first reported by Reuters.
"Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded," states the letter, from CEOs of firms including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
The Federal Aviation Administration cleared about 45% of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings "at many of the airports where 5G C-band will be deployed on Jan. 19," per an FAA statement.
There's been an ongoing dispute between wireless carriers and the aviation industry over the 5G service, Axios' Margaret Harding McGill notes.
The FAA has warned previously that potential interference from 5G signals, especially in bad weather, could cause flight cancellations or force planes to divert to different airports.
Verizon and AT&T have previously committed to creating buffer zones around certain airports for six months to reduce interference risks, along with other safety measures.
They also delayed the planned deployment of the services following a request from Buttigieg to address airline industry concerns.
Representatives for Verizon and AT&T and the Biden administration did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal: Activision Blizzard has fired or pushed out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct allegations.
Activision Blizzard Inc. has fired or pushed out more than three dozen employees and disciplined about 40 others since July as part of efforts to address allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct at the videogame giant, according to people familiar with the situation.
A summary of those personnel actions was scheduled to be released by Activision before the winter holidays, but Chief Executive Bobby Kotick held it back, telling some people it could make the company’s workplace problems seem bigger than is already known, the people familiar with the situation said.
Activision’s moves follow sustained pressure from shareholders, staff and business partners for more accountability over its handling of misconduct issues. The recently completed summary also says Activision had collected about 700 reports of employee concern over misconduct and other issues—in some cases separate reports about the same incidents—since July, when a California state agency filed a lawsuit against the company over harassment claims.
An Activision spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky, confirmed that 37 people have “exited” and 44 have been disciplined as part of the company’s investigation. She disputed the 700 figure. In a statement, she said employee comments included statements on social media, and the issues raised ranged from what she described as benign workplace concerns to “a small number” of potentially serious assertions, which the company has investigated. She said “the assertion regarding Mr. Kotick is untrue,” and “our focus is making sure we have accurate data and analysis to share.”
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision, the maker of popular game franchises including Candy Crush and World of Warcraft, has been under intensified scrutiny since a Wall Street Journal investigative article in November showing that Mr. Kotick, who has served as CEO for more than three decades, didn’t inform the board of sexual misconduct allegations that he was aware of, including rape, against managers across the company.
The Nov. 16 article, citing interviews and internal documents, also detailed misconduct allegations against Mr. Kotick, including when an assistant complained in 2006 that he had threatened in a voice mail to have her killed.
Activision has said the Journal’s reporting gave a misleading view of the company and its CEO. Mr. Kotick has said he was transparent with his board, which issued a statement supporting him. An Activision spokeswoman has said that he wouldn’t have been informed of every report of misconduct and that Mr. Kotick regrets the alleged incident with his assistant.
Gallup: Political party preferences changed greatly in 2021 with voters shifting from a nine-point Democratic advantage to five-point GOP edge.
On average, Americans' political party preferences in 2021 looked similar to prior years, with slightly more U.S. adults identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic (46%) than identified as Republicans or leaned Republican (43%).
However, the general stability for the full-year average obscures a dramatic shift over the course of 2021, from a nine-percentage-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter to a rare five-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter.
These results are based on aggregated data from all U.S. Gallup telephone surveys in 2021, which included interviews with more than 12,000 randomly sampled U.S. adults.
Gallup asks all Americans it interviews whether they identify politically as a Republican, a Democrat or an independent. Independents are then asked whether they lean more toward the Republican or Democratic Party. The combined percentage of party identifiers and leaners gives a measure of the relative strength of the two parties politically.
Both the nine-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter and the five-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter are among the largest Gallup has measured for each party in any quarter since it began regularly measuring party identification and leaning in 1991.
The Democratic lead in the first quarter was the largest for the party since the fourth quarter of 2012, when Democrats also had a nine-point advantage. Democrats held larger, double-digit advantages in isolated quarters between 1992 and 1999 and nearly continuously between mid-2006 and early 2009.
The GOP has held as much as a five-point advantage in a total of only four quarters since 1991. The Republicans last held a five-point advantage in party identification and leaning in early 1995, after winning control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the 1950s. Republicans had a larger advantage only in the first quarter of 1991, after the U.S. victory in the Persian Gulf War led by then-President George H.W. Bush.
The Detroit News: The Michigan Democratic Party deleted a Facebook post and apologized for saying parents should not have a say in what their children are taught in public schools.
The Michigan Democratic Party has deleted a weekend Facebook post that questioned the role parents have in deciding what is taught in public schools and drew criticism from conservative and school choice groups.
The Democratic Party post, which appeared to be a screenshot, indicated the purpose of public education was to teach students "what society needs them to know."
And parents who want more input on what their kids are learning, the post said, "have the option to choose to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense."
"The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public," according to the post.
In a Monday social media message, the party said it had deleted the post from its Facebook page. Before it was taken down, the Facebook post had been shared about 2,500 times.
"Parents need to have a say in their children’s education, end of story," the Democratic Party said Monday. "The post does not reflect the views of Michigan Democrats and should not be misinterpreted as a statement of support from our elected officials or candidates."
Republicans blasted the message over the weekend, noting that Michigan's revised school code said determining and directing the education and teaching of a child is the "natural fundamental right of parents and legal guardians."
CNN: China will not sell tickets for the Winter Olympics to the general public due to COVID-19 concerns.
Tickets for the upcoming Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing will not be sold to the general public in response to Covid-19 but will instead be distributed by authorities, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced Monday.
"In terms of the grim and complex situation of epidemic prevention and control [and] in order to protect the health and safety of Olympic personnel and spectators, we have decided to change the original plan of public ticket sales," the committee said.
Groups of spectators will be invited on site throughout the Games and will be required to "strictly comply with Covid-19 prevention and control requirements before, during and after watching the Games."
In a statement on Monday, the International Olympic Committee said those in attendance will be residents of China's mainland who have the required "Covid-19 countermeasures."
The announcement comes after Beijing reported its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant on January 15.
The Beijing Winter Olympics are set to begin on February 4, before the Paralympic Winter Games start March 4.
Organizers intend to hold Beijing 2022 in a closed loop system which will only be accessible for Games participants -- a plan that has remained in place amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Yahoo News: Olympics athletes are being told to leave their phones at home to avoid spying while in China.
New York Post: A minority owner of Golden State Warriors is under fire to telling a podcast, ‘Nobody cares’ about the Uyghur genocide in China.
Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist who owns 2 percent of the NBA franchise, expressed cold indifference to the plight of the Uyghurs, an ethnic Muslim minority that has been persecuted in China, on his “All In” podcast over the weekend.
When co-host Jason Calacanis said President Biden’s statement about the Uyghurs was one of the stronger things he’s said, Palihapitiya interjected that nobody cares about them.
“Let’s be honest, nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs,” Palihapitiya said. “You bring it up because you really care, and I think that’s nice that you care. The rest of us don’t care.
“I’m telling you a very hard, ugly truth. Of all the things that I care about, it is below my line.”
CNBC: Walmart is quite preparing to enter the metaverse and create its own cryptocurrency.
Walmart appears to be venturing into the metaverse with plans to create its own cryptocurrency and collection of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.
The big-box retailer filed several new trademarks late last month that indicate its intent to make and sell virtual goods, including electronics, home decorations, toys, sporting goods and personal care products. In a separate filing, the company said it would offer users a virtual currency, as well as NFTs.
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Walmart filed the applications on Dec. 30.
In total, seven separate applications have been submitted.
In a statement, Walmart said it is “continuously exploring how emerging technologies may shape future shopping experiences.” It declined to comment on the specific trademark filings.
“We are testing new ideas all the time,” the company said. “Some ideas become products or services that make it to customers. And some we test, iterate, and learn from.”
This day in history: In 2001, outgoing-President Bill Clinton delivered his farewell address. Read the full speech courtesy of ABC News.
It was this day in 1990 that Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested in an FBI string. The incident, which included Barry using cocaine, was caught on hidden camera. When arrested, he said, "b-tch set me up!" referring to his former girlfriend Rasheeda Moore, an FBI informant.
In 1991, Eastern Air Lines ceased operations. The New York Times reported that its machinists union had been on strike since March of 1989.
As word filtered out Friday night that Eastern Airlines would shut, some members of its machinists union, which has been on strike since March 1989, rejoiced.
Some passengers and communities served by Eastern, as well as other employees, lamented the end of a 62-year-old airline that for a time dominated the routes between the Northeast and the sun, but the strikers celebrated a victory.
Not only had they forced Frank Lorenzo, the former chairman of the Texas Air Corporation, which owned Eastern, to give up control of the airline in April, but the thousands of non-union pilots, flight attendants and machinists that he had hired to break the strike are also out on the street. At the Heart of the Shutdown
The hatred and passions stirred by the long strike of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers lie at the heart of why Eastern was forced to park its 190 planes and begin selling its assets.
Certainly, other pressures weakened Eastern over the years, notably the competition brought by deregulation. When the Government began in 1979 to allow airlines to fly wherever they wanted, loosened the rules on fares and made it easy for new airlines to enter the business, upstart rivals like People Express and Air Florida forced Eastern to charge fares that did not cover its costs.
Those problems were compounded when the management at the time, led by Frank Borman, miscalculated and ordered a large number of planes, loading the company with debt when most other carriers were more appropriately cautious.
And the final blow for Eastern probably came in August, when the price of aviation fuel surged after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, greatly increasing operating costs and making it impossible for Eastern to get a grip on its debts.
