Storm moving East: An estimated 17 million people in the Midwest are facing up to two feet of snow today from the fast-moving storm that dumped up to five feet on mountain sections of the West. The storm is expected to bring heavy snow to sections of the Northeast beginning tomorrow, with coastal sections getting mixed precipitation or all rain.
Bankman-Fried arrested: The former CEO of the cryptocurrency firm FTX, which went bankrupt, has been arrested in the Bahamas to be extradited back to the U.S. where he’ll face charges filed by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sam Bankman-Fried is accused of fraud in diverting billions of dollars from FTX investors for his own purposes. It’s alleged he took money from FTX and put it into his own hedge fund, Alameda Research, then used the money to benefit himself.
Statue taken down: Richmond, Virginia, yesterday removed the last of the Confederate monuments that had once been displayed on its city property. It was a statue of Confederate General A.P. Hill. He was famous as commander of the Third Corps of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia that fought at Gettysburg.
Musk disbands council: As part of the sweeping changes he’s been making at Twitter since buying it, Elon Musk yesterday disbanded Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council. It was a group of about 100 advisors on human rights, free speech, preventing child exploitation and related areas designed to help combat use of the Twitter platform for nefarious purposes.
Putin says ‘nyet’ to news conference: Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the first time in 10 years, has decided not to hold his annual end of the year news conference. A Kremlin spokesman refused to say why Putin made the decision. It’s believed by some Kremlin watchers that he doesn’t want to deal with questions about the war he started against Ukraine.
