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1. Stimulus
President-elect Joe Biden has put forward a $ 1.9 trillion proposal to boost the U.S. economy and provide aid to those suffering from the pandemic. Named the American Rescue Plan, it includes enhanced stimulus controls, improved unemployment benefits, an eviction moratorium, and more aid for small businesses, states, and schools. The detailed plan will be one of the first tests of Biden’s power. Conservatives are likely to face its cost, mostly because Biden plans to present a follow-up recovery plan that will include billions more in spending. But Biden’s more progressive peers will likely keep up the pressure for more spending and widespread help.
2. Coronavirus
When Biden takes office as president next week, 400,000 people across the country could be killed by Covid-19, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts. Some hospital systems are now completely overflowing and health workers are looking for places to store remains and asking their communities to stay home to curb the influx of patients and the rising death toll. In the UK, hospitals are so full that nearby hotels are turning flats into Covid-19 recovery rooms. The UK has also banned arrivals from some Latin American and Portuguese countries following reports of a new variant of the coronavirus in Brazil.
3. Riot of the Capitol
“FBI agents come to see you.” That’s the message FBI Director Chris Wray received yesterday for the Capitol’s violent insurgents. The Justice Department announced about ten new charges related to last week’s riots, including those of two people who allegedly injured police officers and a man who surprised many by carrying a Confederate flag inside the Capitol. Police officers at the Capitol break-up site have shared terrible accounts of the violence. One said the rioters grabbed the gun and shouted, “Kill him with his own gun.” As a result, some members of Congress have said they have had threats and fear for their lives. In the Department of Defense, long-running efforts to eradicate military extremism have taken on a new urgency after it became clear that veterans were involved in last week’s violence.
4. Federal execution
Another federal prison inmate was executed yesterday after the Supreme Court denied his legal team’s last effort to suspend execution. Corey Johnson’s lawyers argued that he had an intellectual disability and that executing him while recovering from Covid-19 would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Johnson was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing seven people in 1992 as part of drug trafficking in Virginia. As Biden prepares to take office, dozens of members of Congress are pushing for the abolition of the death penalty in all jurisdictions. Biden himself has pledged to abolish the federal death penalty, which was renewed in practice by the Trump administration. One more person, Dustin Higgs, is scheduled to be executed during the Trump presidency. The execution of Higgs is scheduled for today.
5. Belgium
Violent protests erupted yesterday in the Belgian capital of Brussels over the death of a man in police custody. Brussels prosecutors say they have opened an investigation into “involuntary manslaughter” after a 23-year-old black man lost consciousness at a police station shortly after his arrest. He later died in a hospital. The cause of the man’s death is unclear. His family was told he had a “heart abnormality,” but that the disease would not be the sole cause of death. Toxicology reports also did not reveal anything that explained the death. Some protesters carried Black Lives Matter posters and shouted, “We want the truth.” About 100 people were arrested during the demonstrations.
EXPLORE BREAKFAST
Jacksonville Jaguars hires Urban Meyer as head coach
Hereinafter referred to as the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A statue of Dolly Parton can be erected at the Tennessee Capitol
It would be an inspiration for all those moments when you find an unglamorous problem and think, “What would Dolly do?”
Patrick Dempsey discloses details about the sequel to ‘Enchanted’
Details don’t matter, just give them to us. Give it to us now!
Electric eels hunt in packets, according to research
“Alexa, add, ‘Being chased by a packet of electric eels’ on my list of irrational fears.”
The number of new skyscrapers has dropped amid a slowdown in the pandemic
Too bad, because it looks like they would be great at social distance.
THIS ONLY …
North Korea shows a submarine missile
Pyongyang during a military parade unveiled a new ballistic missile launched by submarines. The North Korean state news agency considered the missile to be “the most powerful weapon in the world.” Leader Kim Jong Un likes to display or discuss his country’s weapons, as a show of strength or as a threat.
TODAY’S ISSUE
9
This is how many Chinese companies in the U.S. Department of Defense added to a list of companies that the agency claims are owned or controlled by the Chinese military. Listed companies are subject to severe restrictions, including a ban on U.S. investment. This latest round of business includes smartphone maker Xiaomi.
TODAY’S BUDGET
“I didn’t want to be the next George Floyd.”
Jacob Blake, the black man who was shot and seriously injured in August by Kenosha, Wisconsin police. Blake was paralyzed from the waist down after the encounter, and the incident sparked widespread protests. Blake described the ordeal during his first interview since filming, with “Good Morning America.”
TODAY’S WEATHER
Check out the local forecast here >>>
AND FINALLY
Do you ever just want to …
It’s Friday! It’s time for a well-deserved nap. (Click here to see it.)