News

Science News reports: Astronomers have spotted a second repeating fast radio burst, and it looks a lot like the first. The existence of a second repeating burst suggests there could be many more of the mysterious signals in the cosmos. The burst, called FRB 180814.J0422+73, is one of 13 newly discovered fast radio bursts, or FRBs — brief, bright signals …

Variety reports: With a 29.3/47 in metered markets results on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, Pelosi and fellow Democrat and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer’s live rebuttal topped Trump’s Oval Office speech on the government shutdown and his demand for a wall on the southern border. Across the seven nets and down 4 from the opposition, …

The Hill reports: President Trump considers the declaration of a national emergency to circumvent Congress and begin construction on a border wall to be on the table, his top spokesperson said Wednesday. Though Trump didn’t mention the possibility of a declaration during a primetime address to the nation Tuesday night, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News that …

Bloomberg reports: Google’s battle against French proponents of a worldwide “right to be forgotten” enters a decisive phase at the European Union’s top court on Thursday, in a case that highlights the growing tensions between privacy, freedom of speech and state censorship. Ahead of a ruling later this year, an adviser at the EU Court of Justice will on Jan. …

The New York Post reports: “Becoming,” the memoir by former first lady Michelle Obama, has emerged as the bestselling hardcover book in 2018, with 3.4 million copies sold, despite its November release. According to stats released by NPD Bookscan, which tracks about 80 percent of the retail market, Obama’s book surged, with 712,000 sold in the week before Christmas. That …

The Daily Beast reports: Airport security screeners forced to work without pay during the government shutdown have been calling out sick. But now the mad-as-hell workers are actually quitting their jobs. “Some of them have already quit and many are considering quitting the federal workforce because of this shutdown,” Hydrick Thomas, head of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA …

CNN reports: Patience is beginning to wear thin among Senate Republicans for a prolonged government shutdown, with a growing number at risk of revolting if the fight over funding President Donald Trump’s border wall drags out indefinitely. “I think we can walk and chew gum,” GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said on Tuesday, adding she’s “amenable to a process …

“Anybody who honestly looked at what was said tonight, this was a win for the president, and on several fronts. The president did something he doesn’t do very often, and I thought he did it, for him, very well, which was to show a softer side, to make a more compassionate argument, and to tone down the rhetoric. We need …

ABC News reports: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave his role in the coming weeks, multiple sources familiar with his plans told ABC News. Rosenstein has communicated to President Donald Trump and White House officials his plan to depart the administration around the time William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, would take office following a Senate …

Charles Pierce writes at Esquire: In Tuesday’s Washington Post, Max Boot, the former imperialist cheerleader now d/b/a Never Trumper extraordinaire, addressed one of the nation’s pressing problems: the popularity of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, rookie congresswoman from New York and subject of a current conservative obsession bordering on a full-on manic episode. I admit, I was dubious about AOC. But then, for …

NBC New York reports: New York City will begin guaranteeing comprehensive health care to every single resident regardless of someone’s ability to pay or immigration status, an unprecedented plan that will protect the more than half-a-million New Yorkers currently using the ER as a primary provider, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. NYC Care is expected to launch in the Bronx …

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a lower court order requiring an unnamed foreign-owned corporation to comply with a subpoena said to be part of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The court dissolved a temporary stay that had been put in place by Chief Justice …

Politico reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ripped Senate Democrats on Tuesday, comparing their plan to prevent the chamber from taking up legislation to a “partisan tantrum.” “Now they’re threatening to shut the Senate down, too. They’re threatening to shut down efforts to protect our allies and strengthen our relationship with Israel. Something they all recently claim to support,” …

TMZ reports: R. Kelly is being criminally investigated in Georgia and it’s all because of Lifetime’s docuseries, TMZ has learned. Sources connected to the case tell us the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation into allegations made against the singer in “Surviving R. Kelly.” We’re told the probe was launched over the past few days as a …

The BBC reports: Departures at Heathrow have been stopped after a drone was sighted, the airport says. A Heathrow spokeswoman said the airport was working with police to “prevent any threat to operational safety”. She said: “As a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate. We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience this may cause.” It comes after …

Talking Points Memo reports: Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with then-candidate Donald Trump’s inner circle, was charged last month with obstruction of justice, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. Prosecutors accuse Veselnitskaya of lying about her cooperation with a “Senior Russian prosecutor” in drafting “supposed investigative findings” for an asset forfeiture case …

CNBC reports: Sears has rejected Chairman Eddie Lampert’s bid to save the company, setting the storied retailer on a path to liquidation, people familiar with the situation tell CNBC. Sears plans to announce its liquidation plans this morning, the people said. Lampert had put forward a $4.4 billion bid to save Sears and 50,000 jobs by buying it out of …

NPR reports: Tuesday is a historic day in Florida. Under an amendment passed by the voters in November, as many as 1.4 million former felons are regaining the right to vote. The referendum overturned a 150-year-old law that permanently disenfranchised people with felony convictions. Before the change, people who served their time could apply for clemency to a board headed …

CNN reports: Following news that the networks would air Trump’s immigration address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement that they should be given an equal amount of time to respond. “Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will …

Axios reports: President Trump is curious — and White House aides, alumni and reporters are anxious — ahead of the Jan. 29 publication of the tightly embargoed “Team of Vipers,” a delicious, unsparing memoir by former Trump aide Cliff Sims. ABC News has won a fiercely competitive effort to score the first broadcast interview with Sims, whose book deal was …