5 things to know for Jan. 9: Los Angeles wildfires, Carter funeral, Presidential immunity, School safety, Winter virus season
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Wind-driven wildfires are pushing through Los Angeles County, forcing residents to flee their homes by the tens of thousands. Learn how you can help the evacuees and firefighters impacted by this unprecedented disaster. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. At least five people have died as several major fires in Los Angeles County remain mostly uncontained. The seaside neighborhood of Pacific Palisades has been devastated, with many residents and reporters describing the area as “apocalyptic” and a “ghost town.” Officials say the Palisades Fire has exploded to more than 17,200 acres with zero containment. It has destroyed at least 1,000 structures, making it the most destructive ever in Los Angeles County. The other massive blaze, the Eaton Fire, is overtaking homes across Altadena and has ballooned to more than 10,000 acres. With wind speeds easing, crews say that air tanker planes will be better able to drop water and fire retardants today to hopefully contain the fires and protect property. Former President Jimmy Carter will be honored today in Washington, DC, at his official state funeral. Carter, the 39th president of the US, died at age 100 on December 29. President Joe Biden declared January 9 as a national day of mourning in an executive order and is expected to deliver a eulogy. President-elect Donald Trump told reporters that he plans to attend the service. Many businesses will be operating as usual but the US Postal Service will suspend regular operations. All federal departments and agencies will also be closed. As for the stock market, the New York Stock Exchange will not trade and the Nasdaq will close all of its equities and options markets. Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to pause his sentencing in the hush money case set for Friday, a highly unusual request that relies in part on the court’s decision last year to grant him broad immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records over payments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse a $130,000 hush money payment made to an adult film star to keep her from speaking out about an alleged affair before the 2016 election. Trump has denied the affair. Trump’s request to the Supreme Court is unusual because his criminal case isn’t fully resolved by New York courts. A New York appeals court judge recently rejected Trump’s demands to stop the Friday sentencing. A 14-year-old student has been arrested after bringing a gun on Wednesday to Apalachee High School, the same Georgia high school where a shooting in September killed two teachers and two students and wounded others. The student was taken to a juvenile detention facility and charged with two counts of possessing a weapon on school grounds, theft and being a minor in possession of a gun. Wednesday’s arrest comes as students, teachers and parents across the US have urged local officials to enhance security on school campuses. More than 80 school shootings took place in 2024, surpassing 2023 for the most school shootings in a single year since CNN began tracking such incidents in 2008.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.