So long, California: Major county votes to study secession
One of California’s largest counties will consider whether to secede and establish a new state, a largely symbolic move driven by economic stress and frustration with state government. Voters in San Bernardino County approved an advisory ballot measure that directs officials to study secession. Some believe that the county east of Los Angeles is being shortchanged potentially billions of dollars in state and federal funding. The county is home to 2.2 million people. There have been more than 220 attempts to break up California over its 172-year history, all of which have failed. Secession requires approval by Congress and the Legislature, which is highly unlikely.
QAnon follower who chased officer on Jan. 6 gets 5 years
An Iowa construction worker has been sentenced to five years in prison after being at the center of of one of the most harrowing scenes of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Douglas Jensen led a mob chasing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who quickly diverted the rioters away from the Senate chamber. Jensen was wearing a T-shirt celebrating the QAnon conspiracy theory. Judge Timothy Kelly on Friday said he wasn’t sure Jensen understood the gravity of what he had done. Jensen was convicted in September of obstructing Congress and assaulting or interfering with police officers.
Pentagon has received ‘several hundreds’ of new UFO reports
A new Pentagon office set up to track reports of unidentified flying objects has received “several hundreds” of new reports, but no evidence so far of alien life. That’s according to the leadership of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. It was set up in July and is responsible for not only tracking unidentified objects in the sky, but also underwater or in space. The office was established following more than a year of attention on unidentified flying objects that military pilots have observed but have sometimes been reluctant to report due to fear of stigma.
Russia launches another major missile attack on Ukraine
Ukraine’s capital came under one of the biggest attacks of the war as Russia’s invading forces fired dozens of missiles across the country. The strikes led to widespread power outages and targeted critical infrastructure. The head of the country’s armed forces said they intercepted 60 of the 76 missiles launched. More than half of the missiles were directed at Kyiv. A city council member there said 60% of residents were without power and 70% without water. The subway system was out of service. In the city of Kryvyi Rih, a strike on a residential building killed three people.
Peru’s accidental president fails to quell violent protests
It might be the world’s shortest political honeymoon. Almost since the moment last week when Dina Boluarte took over from the ousted leader Pedro Castillo to become Peru’s first female president, she has appealed for calm and a chance to govern. She insists the caretaker job came to her out of circumstance, not personal ambition. In impoverished rural areas, though, fierce protests are showing no signs of abating amid anger over the removal of Castillo, who was Peru’s first president with Indigenous heritage. Long overlooked peasant farmers and others remain unwilling to give up on their demand that he be released from prison. Boluarte has her own humble roots in the Andes, but in her home region many are calling her a traitor.
Angelina Jolie leaves role as UN refugee agency envoy
Angelina Jolie and the United Nations’ refugee agency are parting ways after more than two decades. In a joint statement issued Friday, the actor and the agency announced she was “moving on” from her role as the agency’s special envoy “to engage on a broader set of humanitarian and human rights issues.” She said refugees’ issues would remain in her advocacy portfolio and that she would “work differently” by directly engaging with refugees and local organizations. Jolie first started working with the U.N. refugee agency in 2001 and was appointed its special envoy in 2012.
Some sharks return to the same sites to breed for decades
Scientists say some species of shark return to the same breeding grounds for decades at a time, and live longer than previously thought. The scientists with the New England Aquarium found that nurse sharks returned to the waters off the Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys to mate for up to 28 years. They also say before the work began, the sharks were only thought to live for about 24 years, and their life span now appears to extend at least into their 40s. The researchers published their findings in October in the journal PLOS ONE as part of a long-running study of shark breeding.
Starbucks workers begin 3-day walkout at 100 US stores
Starbucks workers around the U.S. have begun a three-day strike. The walkouts are part of their effort to unionize the coffee chain’s stores. Starbucks Workers United says more than 1,000 baristas at 100 stores are planning to walk out. The strike will be the longest in the year-old unionization campaign. More than 264 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-run U.S. stores have voted to unionize since late last year. Bargaining has begun but Starbucks hasn’t reached a contract agreement with the union at any store. Starbucks opposes the unionization effort. The company said Friday that the strikes were having a limited impact and most stores remained open.
Huge Berlin aquarium bursts, unleashing flood of devastation
German police say a huge aquarium in the center of Berlin burst and caused a wave of devastation in and around the popular tourist attraction. Berlin’s fire service said two people were slightly injured when 264,000 gallons, debris and hundreds of tropical fish poured out of the tank shortly before 6 a.m. on Friday. There was speculation freezing temperatures had caused a crack. The website of the AquaDom described it as the biggest cylindrical tank in the world at 82 feet tall. Berlin officials say most of the 1,500 fish it held couldn’t be saved.
Nobel laureate economist faces sex harassment investigation
A U.S. university is investigating a Nobel laureate over sexual harassment allegations that his attorney dismissed as “professional rivalry.” Philip Dybvig shared this year’s Nobel Prize in economics for research into bank failures. His lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, told The Associated Press that Dybvig has been questioned in recent weeks by the Title IX office at Washington University in St. Louis. Bloomberg News reported it has reviewed emails that show that the Title IX office, which handles campus sexual harassment complaints, has reached out to at least three former students to interview them about claims since October. Miltenberg called the allegations “factually inaccurate.”
By wire sources