Is U.S. headed to a Recession? Consumer confidence lags; COVID emergency to end May 11; Trump sues Bob Woodward; NY A.G. says Trump & kids lie; DeSantis kills DEI at Universities; Alec Baldwin charged
Pelosi attacker calls TV media from jail; Marie Kondo gives up being tidy; woman took $1.5 million in chicken wings from schools; CVS, Walgreen and Walmart pharmacies to cut hours; BBB stores close
Good Wednesday morning! Happy hump day!
My take: One of those issues I said what constantly..Let’s start with Marie Kondo. She is giving up on all that organization. She now has kids. Do you feel like she was just selling a book?..That Illinois school district worker stole $1.5 million in chicken wings. What did she do with them?..Is there really a difference on when we end COVID emergency rules — now or in May? Not to me…Southwest Airlines continues to cancel flights. Is it all weather or has this airline gone to pot?…The former President is suing journalist Bob Woodward for over $40 million. Didin’t a judge tell him to stop with the suits?…Trump announced — I never had an affair (with Stormy Daniels). Sounds like a Clinton. “I did not have sex with that woman.”…The NY AG’s office says Trump and his family are testifying on the same questions different answers in different trials. Are they that stupid? I shouldn’t ask if I know the answer…A $100 repair bill triggered a guy to kill people in San Francisco. Wow…David DePape, Paul Pelosi’s attacker, called a California TV station from jail. Is anyone watching this guy?..I think I will stay out of California.
Now to your “1 to…”
Big smile: Marie Kondo revealed she's 'kind of given up' on being so tidy. People freaked out.
What? Illinois school district worker accused of taking $1.5 million in chicken wings: report: District food service director allegedly ordered 11K cases of chicken wings, which were picked up in a district cargo van during the pandemic.
Is the U.S. economy really heading for a recession? Here's what economists think: There's never been an aggressive fight against inflation that hasn't been accompanied by a rapid economic slowdown, as in the 1980s. Could this time be different?
US consumer confidence lags as 2023 gets under way: American consumers are kicking off 2023 a bit less confident than they were at the end of last year as inflation and the possibility of a recession loom. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index slipped to a still-optimistic 107.1 in January, down from 109 in December. Last month’s reading was the highest the index has reached since April.
Biden to end COVID-19 emergencies on May 11: President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared. The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies' normal authorities.
Breaking: House ignores White House objections, votes to end COVID health emergency: Biden's White House urged opposition to the GOP-led bills
These benefits will disappear when Biden ends the Covid national and public health emergencies in May: President Joe Biden intends to end the Covid-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, the White House said Monday. That means that many Americans could have to start paying for Covid-19 testing and treatment after the declarations cease. The White House, in a statement of administration policy announcing opposition to two House Republican measures to end the emergencies, said the national emergency and public health emergency authorities declared in response to the pandemic would each be extended one final time to May 11. “This wind down would align with the Administration’s previous commitments to give at least 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the (public health emergency),” the statement said.
In letter to Biden, 24 Senate Republicans vow no debt ceiling hike without spending cuts: A group of two dozen Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Friday vowing to vote against any bill to increase the debt ceiling that does not include "real structural spending reform that reduces deficit spending and brings fiscal sanity back to Washington."
More than 1,000 US flights canceled as winter weather snarls travel: More than 1,000 Monday flights have been canceled in the United States as winter weather moves through the middle of the country. Most of the cancellations so far are affecting Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International airports in Texas.
As of about 5:30 p.m. ET, just over 1,000 flights within, into or out of the US had been canceled Monday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware, with more than 4,100 delays. About half of those cancellations are Southwest Airlines flights. The Dallas-based airline, which had an operations meltdown over the holidays, had canceled about 12% of its Monday schedule -- about 480 flights, according to FlightAware.
Trump sues Journalist Bob Woodward for releasing interview recordings: Suit seeks $49 million in damages, alleges copyright violation. Trump has a track record of suing reporters and news outlets
'I NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR': Trump denies having sex with 'Stormy "Horseface" Daniels' and accuses 'radical' Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg of focusing on his 'hush payments' over violent crime in New York. Witness testimony in the case is set to begin this week in Lower Mahattan. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker was seen entering the building. Daniels alleges she had a brief fling with then-married Trump in 2006 .
Stormy Daniels thanks Trump for ‘admitting’ their affair: Stormy Daniels publicly thanked Donald Trump for acknowledging something transpired between them after years of denying their alleged affair and hush money payments that are currently the subject of a grand jury presentation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. “Thanks for just admitting that I was telling the truth about EVERYTHING,” the porn star-turned-reality show host tweeted on Tuesday in response to a Truth Social post in which Trump claimed, “With respect to the ‘Stormy’ nonsense, it is VERY OLD & happened a long time ago, long past the very publicly known & accepted deadline of the Statute of Limitations.” Daniels then proudly embraced the former president’s insulting nickname for her, adding, “Guess I'll take my ‘horse face’ back to bed now, Mr. former ‘president’. Btw, that’s the correct way to use quotation marks.”
N.Y. AG's office: Trump and kids 'falsely deny facts they have admitted': Both the former president his children “falsely deny facts they have admitted in other proceedings,” Kevin Wallace, senior enforcement counsel in the Attorney General’s office, said in a letter.
DeSantis to defund diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Florida universities: UF student attests to ‘woke-ism’ on campus.
3 Memphis EMTs fired for their response to the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols: Fire personnel who responded to the scene "failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment," the Memphis Fire Department said Monday.
The Half Moon Bay shooting was prompted by a $100 repair bill, local prosecutor says: A farmworker charged with killing seven people at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms reportedly told investigators he was spurred to carry out the shootings after his supervisor demanded he pay $100 to repair a forklift damaged at work. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe confirmed to the Bay Area News Group Friday that Chunli Zhao was enraged by the equipment bill, saying that a co-worker was to blame for the collision between his forklift and the co-worker's bulldozer.
Ukraine war: Joe Biden rules out sending F-16 fighter jets.
Justice Department denies GOP request for nonpublic information on Biden docs probe: A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused the Justice Department of "playing politics" after it rejected the panel's request for additional info.
House Oversight chair calls for reform on handling of classified docs: 'There's a problem': James Comer says GOP probe into President Biden's handling of classified documents of 'utmost importance'.
George Santos withdraws from House committees amid spiraling scandal: New York Republican congressman under investigation over his largely made-up résumé and current campaign finance filings.
16 hours with George Santos: Dunkin’ Donuts, 27,000 steps and a scolding: Our intrepid reporter camped outside the office of Congress’ most scandal-plagued freshman, so you don’t have to.
Paul Pelosi attack suspect calls California TV station from jail: Hours after a San Francisco court released body-camera video of a man attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, QAnon extremist David DePape, the suspect in the attack, made a surprise call from jail to a Bay Area news station expressing regret that he didn’t go further. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them,” he said in the call, which was recorded and released by KTVU. “It’s my own fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared.” The Friday call was made to Amber Lee, a KTVU reporter who originally reached out to DePape last year after his arrest. She said the conversation, which lasted more than five minutes, sounded scripted.
Utah becomes first state to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth in 2023: Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill Saturday that bans hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth, making Utah the first state in 2023 to ban such care. Senate Bill 16 provides new restrictions on trans youth seeking medical care in Utah, specifically banning "hormonal transgender treatment to new patients who were not diagnosed with gender dysphoria" before the bill went into effect, and "sex characteristic surgical procedures on a minor for the purpose of effectuating a sex change."
Cook County prosecutors to drop all charges against R. Kelly, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announces.
At least 10 people wounded in Lakeland, Florida, shooting, police say: At least 10 people were wounded Monday afternoon in a drive-by shooting in Lakeland, Florida, police said, and two are in critical condition. A dark-blue Nissan four-door sedan pulled up at the scene of the shooting, Lakeland Police Department Chief Sam Taylor said. “The vehicle slowed, did not stop, and the four windows went down. It appeared to be occupied by four shooters in the vehicle,” Taylor said. “They started firing from all four windows of the vehicle and shooting males on both sides.”
The U.S. on Israel’s far-right government: It is what it is: Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel this week shows how, given challenges such as Iran, the Biden administration has decided engaging Israel's new leadership is the best approach.
Pakistan Suicide bombing death toll rises to at least 100: Rescuers work through the night to pull victims from the rubble of a collapsed mosque.
Australian nuclear body joins search for missing radioactive capsule: Authorities have now been on a weeklong search for the capsule, which is believed to have fallen from a truck that made a 870-mile journey in Western Australia.
NASA spies Martian rocks that look just like a teddy bear: A broken hill, an ancient crater and the human tendency to find faces everywhere may explain the teddy bear on Mars.
Millionaire spends over $2 million in an attempt to make his body young again: So far it looks like an incredibly expensive diet plan.
The last 747 gets delivered today: Boeing's last commercial 747 is set to be delivered today, more than 50 years after the iconic plane helped change air travel forever. The last "Queen of the Skies," as they're sometimes called, is a freighter variant made for cargo operator Atlas Air. The 747 — the world's first twin-aisle passenger jet — came to symbolize the era in which mass travel by air became not just possible, but commonplace. Yet advances in airplane design and engine technology eventually led airlines to favor more efficient twin-engine designs, like Boeing's 777 and Airbus' A350. "On the ground, it's stately, it's imposing," Iron Maiden lead signer and — fun fact! — 747 pilot Bruce Dickinson told Reuters. "And in the air it's surprisingly agile."
Pfizer reports record revenue, expects Covid-19 vaccines to be commercialized later this year: Company executives said they estimated 2023 would be a transition year as the company pivots to a commercial market instead of a government market.
Folding iPad will launch in 2024, top Apple analyst Kuo says: Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said he thinks the company will launch a foldable iPad with a carbon fiber kickstand in 2024. Kuo’s prediction matches an October report from CCS Insight, which said it expects Apple to launch a foldable iPad instead of a foldable iPhone.
CVS, Walmart and Walgreens to reduce pharmacy hours as staffing challenges persist: CVS and Walmart are reducing their pharmacy operating hours across the U.S. to improve employees' work-life balance as the chains continue to struggle with staffing shortages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. CVS said it will be "adjusting hours in select stores" come spring, as part of a periodic review of "operating hours to make sure we're open during peak customer demand." The move will affect around two-thirds of the company's approximately 9,000 retail pharmacies beginning in March, a company spokesperson said iA federal appellate court on Monday rejected Johnson & Johnson's attempt to shed its baby powder liabilities by transferring them to a subsidiary and placing that subsidiary in bankruptcy. J&J faces some 38,000 lawsuits from people and their survivors claiming that the company's talc-based powder caused cancer — an allegation that J&J has repeatedly denied. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that LTL Management — the subsidiary J&J created for the purposes of housing the liabilities and filing for bankruptcy — is not eligible for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That means J&J will have to find an alternative way to deal with its liabilities — which may total in the billions of dollars — unless this ruling is reversed by the Supreme Court. The plan was controversial because it would have protected the bulk of the financially healthy J&J's corporate assets from the legal claims. Critics said the company can afford to pay off alleged victims.n a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Google created an AI that can generate music from text descriptions, but won’t release it: An impressive new AI system from Google can generate music in any genre given a text description. But the company, fearing the risks, has no immediate plans to release it. Called MusicLM, Google’s certainly isn’t the first generative artificial intelligence system for song. There have been other attempts, including Riffusion, an AI that composes music by visualizing it, as well as Dance Diffusion, Google’s own AudioML and OpenAI’s Jukebox. But owing to technical limitations and limited training data, none have been able to produce songs particularly complex in composition or high-fidelity.
Johnson & Johnson's talc bankruptcy is rejected by Third Circuit Court: A federal appellate court on Monday rejected Johnson & Johnson's attempt to shed its baby powder liabilities by transferring them to a subsidiary and placing that subsidiary in bankruptcy. J&J faces some 38,000 lawsuits from people and their survivors claiming that the company's talc-based powder caused cancer — an allegation that J&J has repeatedly denied. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that LTL Management — the subsidiary J&J created for the purposes of housing the liabilities and filing for bankruptcy — is not eligible for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That means J&J will have to find an alternative way to deal with its liabilities — which may total in the billions of dollars — unless this ruling is reversed by the Supreme Court.
Bed Bath & Beyond announces 87 more store closures: Bed Bath & Beyond told Nexstar Monday that it will be closing 87 additional stores, an announcement that comes days after the beleaguered home goods chain said it had defaulted on its loans. The company also plans to close five buybuy BABY stores as well as all of its Harmon beauty locations. Bed Bath & Beyond said the closures are being done to increase efficiency as the company works with advisors to “consider multiple paths” as the retailer tries to turn the business around. “This store fleet reduction expands the Company’s ongoing closure program of approximately 150 lower-producing Bed Bath & Beyond banner stores,” a spokesperson told Nexstar. “We will update all stakeholders on our plans as they develop and finalize.”
Poop-covered van Dyck painting found in NY shed sells for $3M: t seemed like a lot of money for such a crappy painting. An Anthony van Dyck piece found in a shed in upstate New York — where it was originally purchased for a paltry $600 — has sold for a staggering $3.1 million at auction. The long-lost work was auctioned off at Sotheby’s “Master Paintings Part 1” sale on Thursday, alongside pieces by Agnolo “Bronzino” di Cosimo, Titian and Melchior d’Hondecoeter.
Oprah celebrates 69th birthday with Kim Kardashian, J. Lo and more celebs: Oprah Winfrey celebrated her birthday weekend in style! The TV personality turned 69 on Jan. 29, and attended a star-studded event the night before at the Anastasia Beverly Hills 25th anniversary celebration. She got lots of love and birthday wishes from her fellow guests and even got a sweet gift from the hosts: a delicious birthday cake.
Marilyn Manson faces more sex abuse allegations: Lawsuit filed in New York accuses musician of ‘childhood and adult sexual abuse’, among other allegations, in mid-1990s.
Alec Baldwin has been formally charged in ‘Rust’ shooting: District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN earlier this month she would charge Baldwin and the film’s armorer with involuntary manslaughter, accusing them of failing to perform safety procedures that could have prevented the accident that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Cindy Williams, best known for her role as Shirley in ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ dies at 75: Williams died peacefully after a short illness Wednesday in Los Angeles, her family said.
Annie Wersching, 'Bosch,' '24' and 'Runaways' actress, dead at 45: Actress diagnosed with cancer in 2020.
‘King of the Hill’ revival officially a go at Hulu: Creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels will be joined by showrunner Saladin Patterson and five of the original voice castmembers.
A too-early look at the Super Bowl matchup: The first Super Bowl with two Black quarterbacks. The first set of brothers to vie for a title. The Andy Reid Bowl. A championship game between Kansas City and Philadelphia will be noteworthy.
Trumpy Knicks owner taps Hope Hicks for PR clean-up: New York Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan, who cant seem to stay out of the news lately, has been utilizing Donald Trump’s former communications director Hope Hicks for PR advice, the New York Daily News reports. The CEO of Madison Square Garden reemerged in the spotlight recently over his use of facial-recognition technology to identify and keep his critics and legal enemies from attending games. Dolan, a fervent Trump supporter, bumped heads with the state’s liquor authority over his actions and threatened a “dry night” last week. It’s not clear if Hicks was already on board by then, but the 34-year-old is no stranger to cleaning up after a messy boss.
NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, the Golden Jet, dies at 84: When Bobby Hull got the puck, he was tough to stop. He had blazing speed, a hard slap shot and tons of confidence. Long before today’s biggest stars took the ice, “The Golden Jet” put on quite a show. Hull, a Hall of Fame winger and two-time NHL MVP who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961, has died. He was 84.
40 baby names that are no longer trendy: Sorry in advance to the Princess of Wales, Bradley Cooper and Katherine Heigl.
28 ways your pet is trying to say I love you: They may not be able to speak but that doesn’t mean they can’t tell you how much they care about you!
Have a great Wednesday!