The Staten Island Advance reports: Temperatures were in favor of the 2,000 brave individuals who plunged into the icy waters off Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn for the annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge on Sunday. Some individuals stripped down to their ‘birthday suits’ and swimming attire, while others took a run for the water fully clothed. The Polar …

The New York Post reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers want to invite Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to the inauguration or arrange a meeting of the two leaders before then, a source close to the transition said. Transition leaders led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner have been aggressively courting Netanyahu and want him to attend the Jan. 20 festivities, the source …

The Associated Press reports: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took his oath of office minutes after midnight Sunday morning, getting an early start on his duties amid bitter partisan politics in the state but saying he believed there is a way forward. Joined by a small group of family, friends and colleagues, the Democrat was sworn inside the old House …

Vanity Fair reports: Book publishing company Simon & Schuster caused a stir earlier this week when it was reported they’d struck a deal with “alt-right” provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, whose anti-immigration, anti-Islam writing for Breitbart News has made him something of a cult figure within the resurgent white nationalist movement. (The Donald Trump supporter is perhaps best known for getting himself …

From the Hollywood Reporter: The Hollywood sign was vandalized to read “Hollyweed” early Sunday morning. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said in an apparent New Year’s prank, someone was able to climb onto the mountaintop and place tarps over the sign for it to read “Hollyweed.” The incident was caught on surveillance cameras and LAPD is investigatgating …

The Hill reports: Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Sunday that he expects more major announcements from President-elect Donald Trump to come via Twitter. “You know, with all due respect, I think it freaks the mainstream media out that he has this following of over 45 plus million people that follow him on social media, that he can …

Entertainment Weekly reports: Mariah Carey didn’t sing throughout most of her performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, explaining that she couldn’t hear the music. As the last pre-midnight performer on the ABC special, Carey took the stage in New York City’s Times Square to sing a medley of hits. But seconds into her performance of …

The New York Times reports: President-elect Donald J. Trump, expressing lingering skepticism about intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the election, said on Saturday evening that he knew “things that other people don’t know” about the hacking, and that the information would be revealed “on Tuesday or Wednesday.” Speaking to a handful of reporters outside his Palm Beach, Fla., club, …