Employment numbers: Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 216,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged from November at 3.7%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in government, health care, social assistance, and construction, while transportation and warehousing lost jobs. The number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged from November at 6.3 million at the end of December. A year earlier the jobless rate was 3.5% and the number of unemployed persons was 5.7 million.
Iowa shooting: Police in Perry, Iowa, say that the 17-year old student who went on a shooting spree at a local school yesterday killed himself after killing a sixth grade student and wounding five other people. The Perry High School principal was among those wounded. Authorities said that in addition to two guns, the shooter had a homemade bomb with him. The shooter reportedly had been a victim of bullying by other students and his sister recently was bullied.
Tesla recall: China says that Elon Musk’s Tesla has recalled more than 1.5 million electric vehicles that were sold in China. The problem has to do with operation of the automatic steering systems. Tesla says it can fix the problem by uploading new software to the vehicles and it will not be necessary for owners to take the cars to a dealership. The problem is essentially the same one that forced the recall of more than 2 million Tesla vehicles in the U.S. last month.
Justice Thomas: Democratic U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland, Gerald Connolly of Virginia, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Dan Goldman of New York and Hank Johnson of Georgia are calling on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from ruling on a case brought to the court by Donald Trump. Trump’s attorneys asked the Supreme Court to rule that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment ban on people involved in an insurrection running for president doesn’t apply to Trump. The representatives told in a letter Thomas that he has a conflict of interest because his wife was involved in organizing the Jan. 6 rally and march on the Capitol and previously had pushed false conspiracy theories that Trump had won the election. Other elected officials such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut previously have called on Thomas to recuse himself.
Importing drugs: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today authorized Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to begin taking the first steps in a program for importing prescription drugs from Canada. The FDA will be receiving quarterly reports to help it determine whether cost savings have been produced and the quality of imported drugs has been unaffected. The FDA hopes the data Florida will provide can help it determine whether importing drugs from Canada will significantly reduce the cost of drugs for American consumers without imposing additional risk to public health and safety. The FDA’s action allowing Florida to go ahead with its plan was taken in accordance with an executive order issued by President Biden that directed the FDA to work with states and Indian tribes on plans that could reduce drug costs.
Town halls: Republican Presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis appeared in televised town halls on CNN last night and both warned Iowa Republicans that nominating Donald Trump again would mean the Republicans will again lose the presidency. DeSantis promised voters that if he’s elected he would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and institute a flat tax rate for everyone. Haley pointed out that chaos follows Trump wherever he goes and that the U.S. won’t survive another four years of Trump’s chaos.
Glynis Johns dies at 100: Glynis Johns, the South African-born actress whose stage and screen career spanned six decades in the U.K. and the U.S., passed away on Jan. 4 at the age of 100. Johns received an Academy Award nomination for playing an Australian pub owner in “The Sundowners” (1960), and her most popular roles included the free-spirited suffragette Mrs. Banks in “Mary Poppins” (1964) and the faded actress Desiree in the original 1973 Broadway musical production of “A Little Night Music”; composer Stephen Sondheim created the song “Send in the Clowns” for specifically for Johns and he would later state her interpretation was his favorite.
Cover photo courtesy of The Walt Disney Company
