January 3 top stories
It is January 3. Here are today’s top stories.
Man breaks into Colorado Supreme Court building
In Colorado, police said a man named Brandon Olsen broke into the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday early morning at 1 a.m. and fired shots inside the building and set a fire in a stairwell. Police said they don’t believe that there is a connection to the court’s decision in December to remove Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot. Police explained that before the break-in, Olsen was in a car accident and fled the scene before breaking into the court building, where he confronted a security guard at gunpoint and took his keys. There was one woman working in an office and she left the building when she heard a fire alarm. The security guard ran away. Neither were injured but there was a lot of damage in several areas in the building. Olsen was eventually arrested by Denver Police and may be charged with several felonies. Olsen’s ex-wife said he isn’t a political person and was going through a mental health breakdown after getting in an argument about not being able to see their children.
Harvard president Claudine Gay resigns
Harvard President Claudine Gay announced she is resigning from her role. She was the university’s first Black president and became the leader last summer. In December, Gay and the leaders of two other Ivy League institutions, U of Penn and MIT, gave testimony before Congress on what they were doing to combat antisemitism on campus. There was a lot of criticism levied against the leaders from those who felt they were weak with their responses. The U of Penn leader resigned quickly afterwards. Gay stayed on as a leader, but there was a new controversy — people accused her of plagiarism in several of her academic papers. A Harvard investigation said they found that Gay didn’t give enough credit on some of her published work but didn’t believe it was deception or recklessness. Gay said she is resigning because it’s in the best interests of Harvard and shared that she went through a lot of personal attacks and racist threats. There are various reactions to the resignation, from those who feel it’s about time and from those who felt Gay was unfairly targeted.
Trump asks Maine state court to overturn ballot ban
Donald Trump officially asked a Maine state court to overturn a decision by Maine’s top election official to remove his name from the ballot in the 2024 presidential election over his actions surrounding the Jan 6. attack on the Capitol — for insurrection. Trump said the election official, who is a Democrat, was a “biased decision maker” and does not have the legal authority to remove him from the ballot. Trump is also expected to appeal the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked his name from the 2024 ballot for similar reasons. Many are expecting the U.S. Supreme Court to eventually make a ruling on whether states can remove Trump’s name from their ballots for insurrection. The process could take some weeks but there’s not much time as the primary election season is fast approaching.
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103 killed by explosions in Iran
At least 103 people were killed in Iran by two explosions that happened at an event that honored the Iranian general who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2020, Qassem Soleimani. Iranian officials said it was a terrorist attack but did not say who could be behind them. There are concerns that the incident could cause more tensions in the Mideast region, which is already high with the Israel-Gaza war.
Man accused of trying to push McDonald’s worker into deep fryer
A news report from North Carolina said a husband of a McDonald’s employee punched and tried to push another McDonald’s worker’s head into a deep fryer because he was angry about the coworkers disrespecting his wife. Police said footage from a surveillance video showed the incident and that several coworkers pulled the husband off the victim, who had several injuries to his face. The husband, who is a pastor and a semi-truck driver, was charged with assault. The McDonald’s franchise owner said the wife is no longer an employee.
Early animations of Mickey Mouse’s copyright expires
The earliest animations of Mickey Mouse, from 1928’s “Steamboat Willie,” are now available to the public in the U.S. after Disney’s copyright expired. Anyone can use these animations without permission or cost. But the modern version of Mickey is still covered by copyright. BBC News explained that Disney still holds a trademark on Mickey as a brand identifier and this means the public cannot start making merchandise with the Mickey face on it and sell them if it causes people to think that they’re buying Disney products. A filmmaker said he wants to direct a horror-comedy film based on Mickey’s cartoon and is working with a legal team to make sure they don’t violate laws. Disney, the company, said it will sue if people perceive a certain product to be affiliated with Disney.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.denverpost.com/2024/01/02/colorado-supreme-court-breakin-denver-police/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/03/us/colorado-supreme-court-shooting-what-we-know/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67869363