Thursday, December top stories
It is Thursday, December 1. Here are today’s top stories.
Gas prices lower than $3.50
AAA said the national average cost of a gallon of gasoline is $3.47. Axios said that’s below the prices of gas before Russia invaded Ukraine, which caused energy prices to increase worldwide.
The day before the Russian invasion was February 24. Gas prices were $3.54 on average.
The worst gas prices we’ve seen this year in the U.S. was during the summer when averages were above $5 a gallon.
GasBuddy said it is possible that prices could go below $3 by Christmas.
College Football Playoff to expand to 12 teams in 2024
The College Football Playoff will expand from four to 12 teams in 2024. This would provide more collegiate programs with a chance to compete for the championship and extend the college football season.
The College Football Playoff organization previously set a goal of expansion to 2026, but they moved it back two years to 2024. The organization said “This is thrilling. A new era of college football is about to begin.”
House committee now has 6 years of Trump taxes
CNN reported that a House committee has six years of Donald Trump’s federal tax returns. It is an end to a years-long court battle between Democrats and Trump over access to taxes.
Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene in his favor but they recently declined.
The committee will meet today to discuss their next steps. Their leader did not say if they would release the taxes to the public. We’ll see what happens with the taxes.
When Trump ran for the presidency in 2016, he promised that he would release his taxes after his audit was over, but he never followed through after he won the election.
The New York Times reported that Trump did not pay any federal taxes in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000 because he reported that he lost more than he made.
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
———
Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX provides comments
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX recently collapsed and filed for bankruptcy gave several interviews recently.
FTX was once valued at $32 billion but that’s gone. Many people lost their entire investments in cryptocurrency. News reports said FTX used customer money to create risky investments and when they didn’t pan out, it caused a $10 billion hole.
Sam said it’s “on him” that a lot of people got hurt. He said he failed to manage risk and admitted that he was not even thinking about risk management.
Sam said he only has $100,000 in his bank. He once had an estimated wealth of $26 billion.
Jerry Jones photo controversy; LeBron James calls out media
Last week a photo from 1957 surfaced online that showed Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, among a crowd of white high school students blocking several Black students from entering the school during desegregation efforts.
Jones was 14 at the time. The picture shows Jones looking at white students confronting Black students. This was in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Jones is now 80. He commented last week that he was a curious kid who “didn’t know at the time the monumental event that was going on.” He said, “I’m sure glad we’re a long way from that.”
There was controversy over the photo, especially because Jones was outspoken in 2017 against NFL players who wanted to kneel or protest during the national anthem.
Last night NBA star LeBron James called out members of the media for not asking him for his comments on the photo. He said he feels a different energy from the media compared with the Kyrie Irving antisemitism controversy. LeBron said he received many questions and there was extensive media coverage but the Jones situation just went away.
He said Black people have been through many things and that Jerry Jones photo is one of those moments so he was disappointed that he didn’t get questions about it because he is a Black athlete with power and a platform.
Congress reaches deal to avoid rail shutdown
The House passed a bill on a rail agreement between freight railroad companies and their workers, which is aimed to satisfy demands and avoid a strike. The Senate said today that they have a deal and would vote to pass it.
One of the main issues that railroad workers want is better sick leave coverage. If there is no agreement, a rail strike could happen on December 9 and it would cause supply chain disruptions in the U.S.
I’ll provide an update on where we are with the rail situation tomorrow.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/01/gas-prices-aaa-russia-ukraine
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/01/college-football-playoff-expansion-2024-cfp
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/29/sam-bankman-fried-100000-ftx-cftc-regulation
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/politics/senate-rail-vote/index.html