News

The Los Angeles Times reports: TJ Cox defeated three-term Republican Rep. David Valadao on Wednesday, giving Democrats a gain of seven House seats in California and 40 nationwide — the party’s strongest midterm showing since the Watergate era in the mid-1970s. Cox clinched his victory more than three weeks after election day, when updated results from Fresno and Kings counties …

The Daily Beast reports: Michael Avenatti sued Donald Trump for defaming Stormy Daniels against her wishes, Daniels told The Daily Beast in a statement on Wednesday. Avenatti also started a new fundraising site to raise money for her legal defense fund without telling her, Daniels said. She said she is not sure whether or not she will keep Avenatti on …

NBC News reports: Nancy Pelosi has been chosen by House Democrats to lead them in the new Congress, but she still faces a showdown vote for House speaker when lawmakers convene in January. Pelosi ran unopposed as the nominee for speaker in a closed-door Democratic caucus election Wednesday despite unrest from those clamoring for new leadership. The California Democrat faces …

Forbes reports: For the first year ever, Judy Sheindlin—more commonly known as Judge Judy—reigns supreme not only in her own courtroom, but also across all of television. Pocketing $147 million pretax last year, Sheindlin is the world’s highest-paid television host, out-earning all others. The sharp-talking daytime judge takes the top spot thanks to her even sharper deal-making skills: Last year …

CNBC reports: It’s been a year in the making, but CVS Health finally closed Wednesday on its acquisition of Aetna, creating a new health-care powerhouse. The merger combines CVS’ pharmacies with Aetna’s insurance business, blurring traditionally distinct lines in hopes of lowering costs. CVS also has one of largest pharmacy benefits managers through CVS Caremark and a major Medicare Part …

The Guardian reports: The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said that downgrading US ties with Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi would be a mistake for national security and would not push Saudis in a better direction at home. After repeated calls from members of Congress for a strong US response, Pompeo and the defense secretary, …

USA Today reports: The Senate again blocked an expedited vote on legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired. Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; Chris Coons, D-Del., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., urged brisk debate on the legislation in an effort to prevent President Donald Trump from firing Mueller. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah objected to the request, …

The Catholic Crux reports: Fully automated and autonomous lethal weapons systems must be banned now before they become a reality in tomorrow’s wars, a Vatican representative said. The development of robotic weapons or “killer robots” will provide “the capacity of altering irreversibly the nature of warfare, becoming more detached from human agency, putting in question the humanity of our societies,” …

Buzzfeed News reports: Author Margaret Atwood announced Wednesday that she is writing a sequel to her highly-acclaimed book The Handmaid’s Tale which was published in 1985. Atwood said the forthcoming book, titled The Testaments, will be published in September 2019. Atwood said the sequel will be set 15 years after the final scene in The Handmaid’s Tale featuring the book’s …

ABC News reports: A man who suffered a heart attack shortly after Hawaii mistakenly issued an alert about a ballistic missile has filed a lawsuit against the US state. The false missile alert and the state’s failure to cancel it in a timely manner was a substantial factor in causing James Sean Shields’s heart attack on January 13, the lawsuit …

ABC News reports: Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter and a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, defended her use of a private email account while transitioning to an administration job, insisting to ABC News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday “there’s no connection between” her situation and Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. “All of my emails are stored and preserved. There …

CNBC reports: Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will win Mississippi’s Senate election, holding a GOP seat despite comments that stoked racial tensions in the state and sparked backlash from donors, NBC News projects. The GOP senator will defeat Democratic former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in the special election runoff, the final 2018 congressional race. Hyde-Smith will serve the remainder of GOP …

CNN reports: Democrat Xochitl Torres Small has defeated Republican Yvette Herrell in one of the nation’s last outstanding House races, New Mexico’s secretary of state certified Tuesday afternoon. The official result brings the total number of Democratic gains in the House to 39 seats, with one race outstanding, according to CNN’s count. Herrell claimed victory in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional …

Variety reports: Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the megahit Nickelodeon cartoon series “SpongeBob SquarePants,” died on Monday. He was 57. The cause of death was ALS, which Hillenburg revealed he had been diagnosed with in March of last year. “We are incredibly saddened by the news that Steve Hillenburg has passed away following a battle with ALS,” Nickelodeon said in …

Boston’s NPR affiliate reports: Asked about news reports that President Donald Trump wanted the Justice Department to investigate him, Comey responded that he never disclosed classified information. “I am a little bit numb to the president’s threats and tweets because there is nothing there,” Comey said. “Then I stop myself, because it’s wrong for me or anybody else to become …

Politico reports: Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway claimed Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s warnings of violent migrants making their way towards the U.S. were vindicated over the weekend by clashes at the Mexican border, even though no U.S. law enforcement officers were seriously injured amid efforts to block crowds of migrants attempting to cross the border into California. “Everything …

CBS News reports: NASA has released the first image of the spacecraft InSight from the surface of Mars after it successfully reached the planet after almost seven months travelling through space. The Mars Odyssey orbiter relayed images of the spacecraft from its landing site, known as Elysium Planitia. The US space agency tweeted one photograph, showing part of the InSight …

Reuters reports: Nancy Pelosi was expected on Wednesday to become the Democratic nominee for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, giving her the inside track to reclaim the House’s top job in January, unless critics in her own party block her. The 78-year-old San Francisco liberal, a frequent target of Republicans on the campaign trail, faces a small faction …

Cross Country Magazine reports: A jaw-dropping video clip of a tourist tandem flight gone wrong in Switzerland has been posted to YouTube, revealing the terrifying ordeal of a pilot and passenger in Interlaken this summer. The passenger in the “Swiss Mishap” video that has gone viral in pilot circles is Florida-based Chris Gursky, an auto-parts manager and photographer. On 26 …

TechCrunch reports: The mysteries lying beyond our planet have puzzled and inspired scientists throughout the centuries. But today, the scientific community (and many others) have their eyes on Mars, where NASA’s InSight lander is set to touch down on the Red Planet. The whole thing is going down at 3pm ET today, and you can follow along with the exhilarating …