News

Durham’s ABC affiliate reports: It will be another day of waking up in total darkness for people in Moore County. Residents there are dealing with a third day of impacts from an attack on the power grid. More than 35,000 customers still don’t have power, according to Duke Energy. This after two substations were shot at over the weekend causing …

Reuters reports: Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations. Neuralink Corp is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed …

The Associated Press reports: Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously passed a long-awaited revision of the country’s penal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside of marriage for citizens as well as foreigners, prohibits promotion of contraception and bans defamation of the president and state institutions. Rights groups criticized some of the revisions as overly broad or vague and warned that adding them …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: Former celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti, who rose to fame representing adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her litigation against former President Donald Trump, was sentenced in Orange County today to 14 years in federal prison for tax and wire fraud. U.S. District Judge James Selna said Avenatti’s sentence will run consecutively — or on top of …

CNN reports: With no suspects or motive announced, the FBI is joining the investigation into power outages in a North Carolina county believed to have been caused by “intentional” and “targeted” attacks on substations that left around 40,000 customers in the dark Saturday night, prompting a curfew and emergency declaration. The mass outage in Moore County turned into a criminal …

The Associated Press reports: Bob McGrath, an actor, musician and children’s author widely known for his portrayal of one of the first regular characters on the children’s show “Sesame Street” has died at the age of 90. Sesame Workshop tweeted Sunday evening that it “mourns the passing of Bob McGrath, a beloved member of the Sesame Street family for over …

The New York Times reports: Iran has abolished the morality police, according to an announcement by the attorney general carried on state media, following months of protests set off by the death of a young woman who was being held by the force for supposedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress laws. The decision, reported by state news outlets late …

Congress Minutes reports: Seventy-three soon-to-be members gathered in the Cannon Caucus room to pick from a box that held slips of paper numbered 1-73. The order of the slips dictates who picks their office first, second and so on. After the member-elect selects their slip, the members then line up to choose their offices — a process that begins in …

Axios reports: A bipartisan group of senators plans to attach significant marijuana legislation to “must-pass” year-end bills, Axios has learned. The group, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), has the Justice Department’s blessing for legislation letting cannabis companies access banking institutions, and creating grants for state expungement of past marijuana convictions. In an email reviewed by Axios, the …

CNN reports: One passenger was killed and four injured when a “rogue wave” hit their cruise ship during a storm earlier this week. The passengers had been taking an Antarctic cruise aboard the Viking Polaris when it was hit by the storm as it sailed towards Ushuaia, Argentina. The storm caused a giant wave that broke several panes of glass …

NPR reports: It’s official: 2023 is the year of magenta. That’s according to the Pantone Color Institute, the authoritative consultancy that’s christened an “it color” every year for more than two decades. Its latest pick is none other than Viva Magenta 18-750, which it describes as “a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a …

Florida Politics reports: Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has placed Police Chief Mary O’Connor on administrative leave, pending an investigation into a traffic stop in which O’Connor flashed her badge and asked for leniency. Body camera video shows O’Connor on a golf cart identifying herself as the Tampa Chief of Police and telling the Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy she hoped he …

Yet another New York City story about rats: On Wednesday, the city published a job listing for a director of rodent mitigation, which a City Hall spokesperson described as a “rat czar.” Based in City Hall, the individual will report to Meera Joshi, the deputy mayor of operations, and will be paid a salary between $120,000 to $170,000. New York …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate on Thursday adopted a measure that forces a deal between warring national freight railroads and their unions, averting a potential Dec. 9 strike that could have crippled U.S. travel and commerce ahead of the busy holiday shopping season. The overwhelmingly bipartisan, 80-15 vote sends the measure to President Biden’s desk, as he requested earlier …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday delayed a decision on whether to grant President Joe Biden’s bid to implement his student loan forgiveness plan, announcing instead that it will hear full oral arguments on an expedited basis. In a brief order, the court said it would hear arguments in February with a decision soon to follow. In the …

Axios reports: The average cost for a gallon of gas in the U.S. has dropped below the price it was before Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, according to AAA. It is the first time since February that gas prices cost less than $3.50 per gallon, a significant decrease from record prices in the summer. A gallon of regular gas …

The Guardian reports: New York was the world’s most expensive metropolis in 2022, sharing the unwanted title with Singapore, as soaring energy prices doubled the inflation rate across the major global cities, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual survey. Last year’s leader Tel Aviv dropped to third, while Sydney snuck into the Top 10 and Moscow and St Petersberg …

Atlanta’s Fox affiliate reports: With early voting reaching record numbers, a new poll says that the race to be Georgia’s next senator is deadlocked. The new survey from FrederickPolls, COMPETE Digital and AMMPolitical shows both Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Challenge Herschel Walker tied at 50 percent each ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff. According to the poll, 97 …

Gothamist reports: The shirts, which were listed at $48 on Only NY’s website, featuring a rat running scared, feature a phrase made famous by Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Standing outside City Hall on Oct. 17, Tisch unveiled a proposal to shorten the amount of time trash bags sit on the street in hopes of giving city rats less garbage to …

CBS News reports: House Democrats elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York as their next party leader in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, ushering in a generational shift as Democrats prepare to relinquish control of the lower chamber in January. Long considered a rising star in the party, the 52-year-old Jeffries will make history as the first Black party leader …