Good morning, everyone.
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With that, here’s the news:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott filed an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court to remove Democratic Rep. Gene Wu for leading a walkout that broke quorum to block a GOP-drawn congressional map that could secure Republicans up to five new seats, with Wu defending the move as fulfilling his oath while legal challenges loom.
Gene Wu responded saying: "This office does not belong to Greg Abbott, and it does not belong to me. It belongs to the people of House District 137, who elected me. I took an oath to the constitution, not a politician's agenda, and I will not be the one to break that oath."
Top Trump officials, including VP JD Vance, AG Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy AG Todd Blanche, are meeting Wednesday to coordinate the administration’s Epstein strategy, weighing whether to release over 10 hours of Blanche’s recent interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, possibly alongside a press conference or high-profile interview.
The deliberations come as the House Oversight Committee issues subpoenas for Epstein-related files, amid concerns the release could revive the controversy; Trump has said he wants all “credible evidence” made public but stressed avoiding harm to uninvolved individuals, while denying any current plan to grant Maxwell clemency.
The US Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced it will terminate 22 federal mRNA vaccine contracts worth nearly $500 million — including Moderna’s bird flu vaccine deal — citing safety concerns without presenting scientific evidence, a move criticized by medical experts as undermining biosecurity and innovation amid a rise in Covid cases.
Democrat Stefano Famiglietti won a Rhode Island state Senate special election in a landslide 82%–16%, outperforming Harris’s 2024 margin by over 50 points and marking the second-biggest Democratic overperformance of the year.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorney confirmed they’ve approached the Trump administration about a potential pardon after his conviction on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution; acquitted of more serious RICO and sex trafficking charges, Combs faces up to 20 years in prison with sentencing set for October 3 while his defense plans an appeal.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $4 billion from FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, siding with 20 Democrat-led states that argued only Congress can redirect the disaster-preparedness funds, which support infrastructure projects to mitigate storm damage.
An FBI report shows violent crime in the US fell 4.5% in 2024 — with murders down 14.5% and at their lowest levels since the 1960s — contradicting Donald Trump’s campaign claims of a Biden-era crime wave, though experts caution the data reflects only reported crimes and may undercount certain offenses.
US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Moscow for three hours, just two days before Trump’s Friday deadline for Russia to agree to a Ukraine peace deal or face new sanctions, with discussions reportedly touching on potential halts to long-range strikes but no sign of major concessions from the Kremlin.
Honda’s quarterly operating profit fell 50% to 244bn yen ($1.2bn) as Trump’s tariffs and US electric vehicle losses hit earnings, with the carmaker estimating tariffs will cost 450bn yen this fiscal year—less than feared—partly offset by US price hikes, while ongoing reliance on Mexican and Canadian factories leaves it vulnerable to trade policies.
The New Zealand air force completed a high-risk 19.5-hour midwinter mission to evacuate three US McMurdo Station staff—one needing urgent medical care—navigating -24°C temperatures, constant darkness, and icy landings, with no diversion options, in what US officials called one of the most technically demanding operations an aircrew can face.
OpenAI is in early talks to sell current and former employee shares in a deal that could value the ChatGPT maker at $500bn—surpassing SpaceX—amid competitive pressure from rivals like Meta and Anthropic, ongoing negotiations over shifting to a for-profit structure, and plans to release GPT-5 and expand into AI hardware.
Former New Orleans child abuse detective and convicted sex offender Stanley Burkhardt, 74, was jailed again on charges of violating parole by improperly using social media to leave suggestive comments on young men’s photos, with prosecutors reviving a 2019 case tied to his past offenses; he has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 10 years in prison per charge.
A Deep Science Ventures report warns chemical pollution—driven by over 100 million synthetic “novel entity” chemicals, thousands of which are found in human bodies—is a threat on par with climate change but far less recognized, linking substances like PFAS and pesticides to serious health risks, and calling for greater awareness, funding, and consumer demand for safer products.
Satellite images show last week’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula damaged a floating pier at the Rybachiy nuclear submarine base, a key Pacific fleet hub, though no major destruction beyond the pier was reported.
Gaza:
An Israeli security cabinet meeting on Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed “full occupation” of Gaza was postponed amid doubts over the plan’s feasibility, as ceasefire talks with Hamas stalled and officials floated an expansive offensive to take full control of the territory after 22 months of war.
The UN warned that any expansion of Israeli military operations across Gaza would be “deeply alarming” and risk “catastrophic consequences,” potentially endangering remaining hostages, according to assistant secretary general Miroslav Jenča.
US president Donald Trump declined to take a position on Israel potentially seizing Gaza, saying his administration’s priority was increasing food access and aid distribution with help from Israel and Arab states, without elaborating on broader policy.
Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem cautioned that if Israel escalated attacks on his group, the Iran-backed faction would resume missile strikes on Israel, as Lebanon’s cabinet met to discuss the group’s disarmament.
Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed 26 people on Tuesday, including 14 near an aid distribution site, with eight of those killed while waiting for assistance near Khan Younis.
Good news:
Helsinki marked a full year without a traffic fatality, credited to lower speed limits, improved public transport, safer street design, expanded cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and automated speed enforcement, building on decades of efforts to reduce road deaths from around 30 annually in the 1980s to zero in the past 12 months.
British adventurer James Ketchell has set sail from Hampshire aiming to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe by land, air, and sea, embarking on a solo 30,000-mile, nine-month voyage after previously cycling around the world in 2013 and flying a gyrocopter around it in 2019.
After his death at 92, former Marine and avid reader Dan Pelzer’s meticulously kept list of 3,599 books read since 1962 was digitized into the website what-dan-read.com and honored in an Ohio library archive and display, inspiring readers with his lifelong commitment to finishing every book he started.
See you this evening.
— Aaron
