7. Memphis officer disciplined, paramedic fired on Nichols death
The Memphis Police Department says two other officers involved in the arrest, beating and death of Tire Nichols were disciplined. Five Memphis officers had already been fired and charged in the Jan. 7 arrest of Nichols, who was black. Police said Monday that officer Preston Hemphill was fired from duty shortly after Nichols was arrested on January 7. The department later said another officer was relieved of duty. A total of seven officers were fined for arresting Nichols, who died on January 10. Also Monday, two Memphis Fire Department paramedics and a lieutenant were fired in connection with the case.
Students lost a third of a school year to a pandemic, study says
Children had learning deficits during the COVID pandemic that amounted to about a third of a school year’s knowledge and skills, according to a new global analysis, and had not recovered from those losses more than two years later. The analysis, published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior and drawing on data from 15 countries, provided the most comprehensive account yet of the academic hardships caused by the pandemic. The findings suggest that the challenges of distance learning – coupled with other stressors that have plagued children and families during the pandemic – have not been resolved when school doors reopened.
Laverne & Shirley actress Cindy Williams has died aged 75
Cindy Williams, who played Shirley alongside Penny Marshall’s Laverne on the popular sitcom Laverne & Shirley, has died. Williams’ family said in a statement Monday that she died in Los Angeles on Wednesday after a short illness. She was 75. William’s credits included the films “American Graffiti” and “The Conversation.” But she was by far best known for playing the strict Shirley Feeney on the ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley. The show, a Happy Days spin-off, was one of the most popular shows on television in its heyday. It ran from 1976 to 1983.
Reports: New grand jury in New York investigates Trump’s hush money
According to multiple news reports, Manhattan prosecutors have convened a new grand jury to hear evidence in an investigation into payments made to keep two women silent about alleged affairs with former President Donald Trump. The reports cite unnamed sources familiar with the proceedings. A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment Monday. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump branded Bragg the “lawyer of Manhattan’s radical left” and said the new grand jury was “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.” Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.
California is the lone proponent of the Colorado River shortening proposal
Six western states that depend on water from the Colorado River have agreed on a model to drastically reduce basin water use. California is the holdout. The state has the largest volume of water from the river, which supports 40 million people and a $5 billion a year agricultural industry. States missed a mid-August deadline to heed the US Bureau of Reclamation’s call to save 2 million to 4 million acre-feet. They regrouped to reach consensus by the end of January. The design will feed into a larger proposal to operate the two largest dams on the river. California has not joined the Monday plan but says it intends to release its own proposal.
Brazil’s Bolsonaro applies for 6-month US visitor visa
Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month visitor visa to stay in the US, suggesting he may not have immediate intentions of returning home where legal troubles await. Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on December 30, two days before the inauguration of his left-wing rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The inauguration passed without incident, although a week later thousands of Bolsonaro’s die-hard supporters stormed the capital and demolished top government buildings to demand the annulment of Lula’s election. Bolsonaro is being investigated as to whether he was involved in instigating this uprising and is the target of other investigations.
Suicide bombers rampage through Pakistani mosques, killing dozens
A violent suicide bombing on Monday smashed through a mosque frequented by police officers in a highly secured part of the city of Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least 59 people and injuring nearly 160 in the worst attack in Pakistan in months, police and hospital officials said. The attack broke a period of relative calm in Peshawar, the capital of northwest Pakistan’s troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The northwest has been the scene of several attacks on police and military targets, particularly in areas bordering Afghanistan, in recent months, and the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility.
The Fed expects $4.7 billion in insurance fraud penalties
The Biden administration estimates that with newer and harsher penalties for filing improper charges on the taxpayer’s tab for Medicare Advantage care, it could collect up to $4.7 billion from insurance companies. For years, state watchdogs have sounded the alarm over questionable allegations by the government’s private version of the Medicare program. These investigators raise the possibility that insurance companies cheat taxpayers out of billions of dollars each year by claiming members are sicker than they really are in order to receive overpayments.
Through wire sources