Thursday, November 17 top stories
It is Thursday, November 17. Here are today’s top stories.
GOP wins House; Pelosi to step down as leader
It is official — Republicans will take control of the House when the new year begins. Axios news said, “Republican wins in California and New York helped the party clinch the 218 seats needed for a House majority.”
This means House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have to pass the gavel to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif), who was chosen by his colleagues as the next Speaker of the House.
Pelosi said she would step down as a Democratic leader. This means she will not seek to be the House Minority Leader. She will remain a Congresswoman, but will not have a position of power. It is the end of her historic leadership that lasted 20 years. She is the first woman to control the House of Representatives.
Democrats in the House will now need to decide who their next leader is.
Updates on Idaho slayings
Police in Idaho said they do not have a suspect in the slayings of four University of Idaho students on Sunday. Police said the students were killed with a sharp weapon in a “targeted attack” and that they believe there is a person out there who committed the murders.
Police said two other roommates were at the home at the time the four students died but did not name them as suspects.
Two of the four victims were last seen alive ordering from a food truck at about 1:41 a.m. on Sunday.
The murder is very much a mystery to the local community. The father of one of the victims expressed frustration with law enforcement, imploring them to share more information.
Marriage equality bill advances in Senate
The Senate advanced a bill to codify the right to same-sex marriage and interracial marriage in a 62-37 vote. 12 Republicans voted with all 50 Democrats to have the bill proceed to a debate.
The 62 votes show that there is enough support in the Senate to stop any efforts to torpedo the bill by a filibuster.
The House, which is in its last few weeks of being controlled by Democrats, is expected to pass the bill once they get it from the Senate.
President Biden said he would sign the bill, saying “Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love.”
Members of Congress started working on this bill in July after the Supreme Court and its conservative supermajority signaled that they may overturn a previous decision in 2015 that legalized same-sex marriage.
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
—------
[Advertisement from Disaster Distress Helpline: After a disaster, you may be at risk for emotional distress. Warning signs can include feeling isolated, anxious, having trouble sleeping and more. If you or someone you know is Deaf or hard of hearing, the Disaster Distress Helpline offers a direct videophone option. This free service for ASL users is answered 24/7 by trained crisis workers fluent in ASL and can be accessed using any videophone-enabled device and dialing 1-800-985-5990 or at disasterdistress.samhsa.gov.]
———
Teens may have hearing loss from loud music
The Guardian reported that “an international team of researchers estimate that 24% of 12- to 34-year-olds are listening to music on personal listening devices at an ‘unsafe level.’”
The researchers said over 1 billion young people are “at risk of hearing loss.” Another factor that may cause hearing loss is attending loud music venues.
The researchers encouraged governments to “implement safe listening policies.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 400 million people worldwide currently have “disabling hearing loss.”
Darrell Brooks sentenced to life in prison
Darrell Brooks, who drove his SUV into a Christmas parade in Wisconsin last year and killed six people, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Brooks represented himself during his trial and had to be removed twice for making outbursts that disrupted the proceedings.
Judge Jennifer Dorow said, “this community can only be safe if you are behind bars for the rest of your life.” She said she believes that Brooks chose a path of evil.
Photo of newly forming star
The James Webb Space Telescope took this photograph of a newly forming star. This is called a protostar, which is a contracting mass of gas that will lead to a star being formed.
This photograph is of protostar L1527. The future star is in the neck (middle) of the hourglass. Gas and dust are clumping together. This protostar is about 100,000 years old, which is very young in space-time.
Axios said the powerful telescope allows scientists to better study how stars form and in turn understand how our Sun and solar system began billions of years ago.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/16/respect-for-marriage-act-senate-vote
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/nov/16/police-to-hold-afternoon-press-conference-on-killi/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/us/university-of-idaho-killings-thursday/index.html
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/09/midterm-election-results-2022-senate-control
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/17/nancy-pelosi-announcement-stepping-down
https://abcnews.go.com/US/darrell-brooks-sentenced-deadly-christmas-parade-attack/story?id=93337175
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/im-human-being-not-monster-213201341.html
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/17/protostar-james-webb-space-telescope