News

The New York Times reports: Seeking an end-run around an investigation by the New York attorney general, the National Rifle Association said Friday that it was declaring bankruptcy and would reincorporate in Texas. The gun group was set up in New York after the Civil War. The group’s effort to circumvent New York’s legal jurisdiction raised immediate questions from Letitia …

The Washington Post reports: Metro will shut down more than a dozen stations near the U.S. Capitol and Mall for days around the presidential inauguration because of the possibility of violent protests. Starting Friday, the transit agency will begin closing 13 stations through the following Thursday, the day after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on the steps of the Capitol. …

ABC News reports: As hospitalizations climb, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) directed ambulance crews not to transport patients with little chance of survival to hospitals and to conserve the use of oxygen. Before the pandemic, when healthcare workers and resources were more readily available, patients who were unlikely to recover could be transported by ambulance to …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is poised to win her fourth term as House speaker on Sunday, but a narrower Democratic majority and uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic will make for little wiggle room. Pelosi has spent time in recent weeks shoring up support among Democrats to be able to carry a majority of those …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: A record 3 million Georgia voters cast their ballots before early voting ended for the U.S. Senate runoffs, setting up a showdown that will be decided on election day Tuesday. The high turnout so far reflects the national importance of the dual runoffs, which will determine control of the Senate. Republican U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and …

Via press release from the FDA: On December 30, 2020, Midwestern Pet Food, Inc. announced a recall of certain lots of Sportmix pet food products after FDA was alerted about reports of at least 28 dogs that have died and eight that have fallen ill after consuming the recalled Sportmix pet food. Multiple product samples were tested by the Missouri …

The Victor Harbor Times reports: Sydney has largely banned crowds for its world-renowned pyrotechnic display, while Melbourne’s fireworks are cancelled. NSW restrictions were tightened further on Wednesday as the state battles to control its growing outbreak. Residents in Greater Sydney, including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains, will be restricted to hosting five visitors in their homes, including children. And …

Gothamist reports: Under a soaring vaulted skylight and a massive Art Deco clock, Governor Andrew Cuomo formally unveiled the new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station Wednesday with an official—and socially distanced—ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This is a work of art that we don’t build anymore. It’s too breathtaking and ambitious to ask, ‘Can we really do that?’ Many doubters said it …

The New York Times reports: For more than half a century, New Yorkers have trudged through the crammed platforms, dark hallways and oppressively low ceilings of Pennsylvania Station, the busiest and perhaps most miserable train hub in North America. Entombed beneath Madison Square Garden, the station served 650,000 riders each weekday before the pandemic, or three times the number it …

The BBC reports: Argentina’s Congress has legalised abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy, a ground-breaking move for a region that has some of the world’s most restrictive termination laws. Senators voted in favour of the bill after a marathon session with 38 in favour, 29 against and one abstention. Until now, abortions were only permitted in cases of …

The New York Times reports: Pierre Cardin, the visionary designer and licensing pioneer who invented the business of fashion as it is conducted today, has died. He was 98. His death was confirmed on Tuesday by the French Academy of Fine Arts. He died at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris, his family said. He clothed the famous …

CBS Los Angeles reports: As more people die from coronavirus, capacity at funeral homes in Southern California is also being impacted. Bob Achermann, the executive director of the California Funeral Directors Association, said the influx of patients in hospitals and intensive care have caused funeral homes to prepare for increases of their own. “I talked to one funeral home today …

CBS News reports: A law enforcement source told CBS News at least one person of interest has been identified in connection to the recreational vehicle that exploded on Christmas morning, rocking downtown Nashville. Multiple sources confirm that Anthony Quinn Warner, a Nashville area resident, had a similar make and model RV as the one in photos released to the public. …

The New York Post reports: “Club Kid Killer” Michael Alig — the famously flamboyant party promoter who ended up busted for murder — has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment, officials said Friday. The 54-year-old former scene fixture and convict was discovered by a friend just before midnight Christmas Eve in his Washington Heights …

The Washington Post reports: Civil rights groups and the U.S. Postal Service struck a deal late Wednesday on speedier ballot-handling procedures, avoiding a court fight before the Jan. 5 runoff elections in Georgia that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. The Postal Service and its Justice Department lawyers agreed to treat ballots still in processing plants within three days …

The Washington Post reports: Israel’s fractious coalition government collapsed Tuesday night, forcing the country into its fourth round of national elections in less than two years. The immediate cause was the failure of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to pass an annual budget by a midnight deadline, one of many basic acts of lawmaking that have gone undone since right-wing and …

Washington DC’s NBC News affiliate reports: A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that represented Virginia in the U.S. Capitol for 111 years has been removed. The statue was removed from Statuary Hall overnight, the office of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced early Monday. A commission formed by the General Assembly decided that Lee was not a fitting symbol …

The Tennessean reports: Tennessee Department of Health officials announced Sunday that the state could “break” its hospital system if a Christmas surge of COVID-19 cases matches that of Thanksgiving. Commissioner Lisa Piercey said there have been multiple household gatherings where people have been affected statewide, as Thanksgiving surges proved. “We know how this happens,” she said. “We want to preserve …

Politico reports: After a disastrous November election for the polling industry, when the polls again underestimated President Donald Trump (who lost regardless) as well as GOP candidates down the ballot, pollsters are mostly sidelined in the run-up to the Jan. 5 Georgia elections, which most observers regard as toss-ups. The public polls that drove so much of the news coverage …

The New York Times reports: United Airlines said on Friday that it was working with health officials to contact passengers who might have been exposed to the coronavirus by a male passenger who died after a medical emergency on a recent flight. The four flight attendants who responded to the emergency on board the flight, United 591, also went into …