U.S. and world news for Jan. 8

Supreme Court: Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block Trump’s sentencing scheduled for Friday in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan is expected to establish that Trump is a convicted felon but not impose jail time. Trump was found guilty by a jury on 34 felony counts in connection with the hush money paid to Daniels to cover up a sexual encounter she said she and Trump had. The Supreme Court has given prosecutors until tomorrow to file their response to Trump’s emergency petition.

Lies: Donald Trump’s hour-long news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort yesterday was full of lies according to fact-checking by CNN. Among Trump’s falsehoods according to CNN: claiming that none of the members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 carried guns; claiming that European countries don’t allow U.S. cars to be sold; claiming that European countries provide less aid to Ukraine than does the U.S. ; claiming that inflation in the U.S. is at an all-time high when actually it’s the lowest it’s been in years.

Questions: In a new book Politico’s national political reporter Alex Isenstadt says that Fox News told Donald Trump’s advisors in advance the questions Trump would be asked when he appeared on a town hall news show. Isenstadt was reported to have conducted more than 300 interviews and reviewed internal documents in preparing the book. Isenstadt says that about a half hour before the program was going to be on the air a Trump advisor started receiving text messages from someone inside of Fox that contained the questions Trump was going to be asked by hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Fires: At least three major wildfires are out of control in Los Angeles county. Winds gusting up to 100 miles an hour have spread the flames. Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes. Some roads have been gridlocked as a result of people abandoning their cars and trying to get away on foot. Firefighters have used bulldozers to push abandoned cars out of the way so their trucks can get in to battle the flames. The National Weather Service says the high winds will continue today.

Merger: Getty Images Holdings, Inc. and Shutterstock have announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine their visual content companies. The combined company would be valued at approximately $3.7 billion and would be named Getty Images Holdings, Inc. The combination is expected to have first-year revenues of more than $1.97 billion. Getty Images’ CEO Craig Peters will serve as CEO of the combined company. Shutterstock will designate four members of the new company’s eleven-member board of directors.

Peter Yarro: Peter Yarro of the singing group Peter, Paul and Mary, has died at age 86. He had been battling bladder cancer. His family was with him in New York City when he died. Peter, Paul and Mary first became popular in the 1960s and had several singles and albums that topped the charts. The group won five Grammy Awards. Their hits included “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” and “If I Had a Hammer.”