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Minnesota Protester Killed |
Federal officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old protester, in Minneapolis Saturday. The incident marks the second fatal shooting of a US citizen by officers in Minnesota this month, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed driver Renee Good on Jan. 7.
The Department of Homeland Security says Pretti approached Border Patrol agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and resisted attempts to disarm him. Video footage suggests Pretti carried a concealed firearm on his waistband but did not touch or reach for the gun during interactions with officers. Officers appear to discover and remove the firearm after Pretti is pinned facedown to the ground, and 10 shots are fired soon after. See a timeline and analysis of video footage here.
Police say Pretti had a legal permit to carry a firearm. Some states bar guns at protests, though Minnesota is not one of them. Learn more about rules for federal immigration officers and protesters here. |
Nearly 200 million people across nearly 40 states were under winter alerts this weekend, as a massive winter storm hit the continental US. More than 800,000 customers lost power, with Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas hardest hit. At least four men—two in Louisiana, one in Texas, and one in Kansas—have died.
The storm has also caused more than 10,000 flight cancellations—the most in a single day since the COVID-19 pandemic. At least 1,800 flights have been canceled for today as of this writing (track here). Millions of drivers have been encouraged to stay off the road. Schools have been closed in New York, Georgia, and North Carolina, among other states. Temperatures fell 10 to 40 degrees below average in much of the central US, with wind chills as low as minus 30 degrees.
Storm conditions are expected to continue in the Northeast today, with New England predicted to see up to 18 inches of snow. See live updates here. |
Famed rock climber Alex Honnold added to his list of accomplishments over the weekend, free soloing—scaling without ropes—Taiwan’s Taipei 101 skyscraper yesterday. The feat, livestreamed by Netflix, set the record for the tallest free solo of a skyscraper. Watch highlights here.
The 40-year-old father of two made the 1,667-foot ascent in roughly 90 minutes, snapping a selfie once reaching the top. Long known in the climbing community, Honnold burst into public consciousness upon the 2018 release of “Free Solo,” an Oscar-winning documentary following his successful attempt to become the only person ever to climb Yosemite’s infamous El Capitan (see 101) without ropes. He's also free soloed famous ascents like Yosemite's Half Dome and Zion's Moonlight Buttress, among many others.
He attributes his success to meticulous preparation, attention to detail, and minimizing risk. Imaging of his brain also suggested his response to fear stimuli, controlled by the amygdala, is significantly less intense than average. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Super Bowl LX set, with New England Patriots facing Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 8 after winning their respective conference championships yesterday; see preview (More) |
> Felipe Nasr wins third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona for Porsche Penske Motorsport (More) | Skippylongstocking wins $3M Pegasus World Cup (More) |
> "Mercy" unseats "Avatar 3" at top of box office charts in weekend debut, delivers $11.2M opening weekend amid winter storm (More) |
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> Earthquake sensor networks can be used to detect the sonic boom created by space trash as it falls back to Earth, allowing quicker retrieval of the debris (More) | Space trash 101 (1440 Topics) |
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Micro Dose for Macro Change |
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> US stock markets end Friday mixed (S&P 500 +0.0%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq +0.3%) after midweek volatility; marks second straight week all three indexes finished lower (More) | Legal AI startup Harvey acquires Hexus, which uses AI to create videos, guides, and more (More) |
> President Donald Trump threatens 100% tariffs on Canada if the country makes a trade deal with China; comes days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at Davos, calling on smaller economies to increase cooperation (More) | Learn more about how tariffs work (1440 Topics) |
> Silver passes $100 per ounce for the first time in history, gold hits record high of $4,988 per ounce; surge in precious metals driven in part by investors seeking safety amid geopolitical uncertainty (More) |
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> Senate Democrats say they will block government funding package if it includes money for the Department of Homeland Security following Saturday's fatal shooting in Minnesota; funding is set to run out Friday, Jan. 30 (More) |
> China's defense ministry announces investigation into the country's top general, does not elaborate on alleged wrongdoing; follows expulsion of nine top generals in October, part of the country's biggest public crackdown on the military in decades (More) |
> Last round of voting ends in Myanmar amid civil war; military-backed group expected to win parliamentary majority in what critics call sham election (More) |
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Historybook: Actor Paul Newman born (1925); Ellen DeGeneres born (1958); Football coaching great Paul "Bear" Bryant dies (1983); Condoleezza Rice becomes first Black woman appointed US secretary of state (2005); Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna among nine deaths in California helicopter crash (2020).
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