Thursday, January 2, 2025
It is Thursday, January 2, 2025. Here are today’s top stories.
———
New Orleans attack updates
There are now 14 victims from the New Orleans truck attack on the morning of New Year’s Day. The first news reports said 10 people died, then that number was updated to 15, but now the FBI has confirmed that it’s 14 victims.
They include a 18-year-old who planned to start college this month, a father of two, a mother, and a University of Alabama student. They were simply enjoying the New Year’s Eve celebrations on Bourbon Street when they were hit by a speeding truck.
The FBI said the killer, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was inspired by ISIS. He is a Texas-born U.S. citizen and served in the Army with a tour in Afghanistan. Law enforcement has several video recordings that show Jabbar talking about wanting to kill his family and wanting to join ISIS. He was killed by police after the truck attack.
Law enforcement said they are trying to understand how he went from a military veteran to a terror suspect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/01/us/new-orleans-attack-victims.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/01/us/shamsud-din-jabbar-suspect-new-orleans-attack/index.html
———
Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion
On Wednesday, a Tesla Cybertruck that was parked outside of the Trump Tower in Las Vegas exploded.
Law enforcement said the driver of the truck was a former U.S. army Green Beret who rented the vehicle and packed it with fireworks and gas canisters, apparently with the intention to cause terror. His name was Matthew Livelsberger (37) and he was killed in the explosion.
Seven bystanders were injured. The Trump hotel was not damaged. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, said the Cybertruck “contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards” and called the driver an “evil knucklehead” for picking the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack.
There were two coincidences between the Las Vegas explosion and the New Orleans truck attack: both vehicles were rented through Turo, an online car rental service, and both men had served at the same army base in the past in North Carolina, although their times on the base did not overlap. It raised questions on whether both events were coordinated but so far, law enforcement said there’s no link.
Livelsberger served many years in the military and at the time of his death, was a special operations soldier. Law enforcement is investigating what motivated Livelsberger to carry out the attack and they’ve pointed out that there is a political connection because of the location of Trump Tower and the use of the Cybertruck.
Livelsberger’s wife said he had been out of the house since around Christmas due to a dispute over allegations of infidelity. She said he was a supporter of Trump.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/02/cybertruck-explosion-driver-las-vegas
—---
[Sponsored video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
—---
Montenegro gunman kills 12
In Montenegro, a small country near Serbia, a gunman killed 12 people, including two children, before killing himself.
ABC News said the shooter was a 45-year-old man who was in a bar brawl. He went home and came back with a weapon.
He killed four men at the bar, then went to other locations and killed eight others, including the children of the bar owner and his own family members.
When police located him and surrounded him, he turned the gun on himself.
Montenegro is now in three days of national mourning and its government is now considering imposing a ban on weapons.
ABC News said the country has a “gun culture” and many people traditionally have weapons. The shooter had a previous conviction for violent behavior.
———
119th Congress begins Friday
CBS News said the 119th Congress will begin Friday with Republicans in full control of the House and Senate. New members, who won elections, will be sworn in.
There will be over 60 new House members and twelve new senators.
There will be a leadership vote to determine whether House Speaker Mike Johnson will keep his leadership position. We’ll see if it will be a short process or a long process like what happened in 2023 when it took 15 rounds of voting for Republicans to pick Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. Johnson needs nearly all Republicans to support him because they have a narrow margin over Democratic members. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-congress-2025-what-to-know/
———
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.