Need2Know will be off on New Year's Day. Have a great end-of-year and we'll see you in 2024! |
Maine's secretary of state removed former President Donald Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot over his participation in the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Maine is the second state to disqualify Trump, but the ruling, and those in all other states, will be superseded by whatever the Supreme Court decides in the appeal of Colorado's high court decision to disqualify Trump. For now, at least, he's not the GOP's Maine man. SLAVERY QUESTION: Nikki Haley walked back her comments on what caused the Civil War after she didn't mention slavery when offering her opinion at a New Hampshire Town Hall hours earlier. "Of course the Civil War was about slavery," she said Thursday morning. It's unclear how this misstep might affect the Republican presidential candidate's bid for the White House. |
Haley is trying to become the leading GOP alternative to Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) |
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Barring a court order, in March Texas police can start arresting migrants they suspect have entered the U.S. illegally. However, increases in border crossings since a 2021 law authorizing some arrests show the limits of that approach to deter people desperate to start a new life in the U.S. The federal government promises to sue Texas if officials there don't change their minds. |
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UNEMPLOYMENT: New claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, but the four-week average continues to fall and the jobless rate remains below 4%. HOMEBUYING: The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in the U.S. fell to 6.61% this week, the lowest level since May but still more than double the average of 3.11% two years ago. Besides making it more expensive to borrow, high rates lower housing supply, because existing homeowners don't want to sell and lose their low rate when they borrow for a new home. |
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A bipartisan effort in Congress would let Medicare cover Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs as obesity rates grow among older adults. Lifting the 2003 ban could help improve quality of life, and potentially heart health, for many enrollees, of whom 40% are considered obese. But with a cash price of up to $1,300 a month, the weekly injectable drugs could harm Medicare's financial health. |
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5. MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT |
Independent lawyers on Thursday took over prosecution of serious crimes in the military, including sexual assault, under a law passed to keep commanders from intervening on behalf of alleged perpetrators. Reported assaults, which have been growing each year, increased 13% in 2021. |
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calls independent prosecutors "the most important reform to our military justice system" since 1950. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) |
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Nearly 5 million portable blenders were recalled by BlendJet because their blades can break off and cut you or even make the unit catch fire. Our story has links to the recall page and the BlendJet page where you can enter a serial number to see if your BlendJet 2 is affected. If it is, stop using it and follow the steps to get a free partial replacement. If BlendJet blades fly off, we're a little worried what the blades on our Ninja blender might do. |
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7. FIRST AMENDMENT TABOOS |
The former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, said he was fired Wednesday because regents were uncomfortable with him producing and appearing in porn videos. The university system's president said the First Amendment doesn't mean Joe Gow had a "free pass to say or do anything that he pleases." Gow said regents never told him what policy he violated and that he may file a lawsuit.
Please praise our restraint for resisting a cheap joke here.
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NFL players playing flag football? For Team USA? In the Olympics? It could happen in 2028, when the sport debuts at the Summer Games in Los Angeles. |
Sonya Chalil of the all-girls flag football team Texas Fury flies high during practice this month in Austin. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) |
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Is one of your New Year's resolutions to be a little fancy? Or perhaps make a new ritual? Or maybe even to occasionally use those beautiful china tea sets from your grandma? High tea is a charming and relatively inexpensive way to do any or all of the above. Learn how high tea is done from Arlo Hotel, which is hosting high teas over the long New Year's weekend in New York. |
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… to a new parent company. Cheddar News has been bought by the media company Archetype, which also owns Historynet, the travel and lifestyle brand Sunset, and federal- and military-focused news outlets like Military Times. Our paystubs will change, but you can keep expecting the same great Need2Know. |
We're not moving offices, thankfully. (Giphy) |
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One thing we love: Seeing our families get excited by their gifts. One thing we hate: The Uber/Lyft pickup zone at JFK. We're convinced it's actually run by psychologists measuring how miserable humans can become. One thing we ate: It would be easier to list One Thing We Didn't Eat. |
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