Ohio governor signs executive order banning gender surgeries for minors (www.nbcnews.com)
Surgeries for minors are rare and are generally not recommended by medical associations, most of which oppose broad bans on transition-related care....
Auto dealers challenge new US FTC car-buyer consumer protection rules (www.reuters.com)
The FTC said the new rules will ban bait-and-switch advertising tactics, prohibit charging for add-on costs that do not benefit consumers and require dealers to make key disclosures to consumers, including accurate pricing disclosures in advertising and sales communications....
CNN Runs Gaza Coverage Past Jerusalem Team Operating Under Shadow of IDF Censor (theintercept.com)
The Jerusalem bureau has long reviewed all CNN stories relating to Israel and Palestine. Now, it’s helping shape the network’s coverage of the war.
The teacher shot by a 6-year-old still worries, a year later, about the other students in the room (apnews.com)
A year after she was shot by her 6-year-old student in a Virginia classroom, former teacher Abby Zwerner said she still worries about the other children who saw it happen, and wonders how they’re faring....
Los Angeles County has thousands of ‘unclaimed dead.’ These investigators retrace their lives (apnews.com)
Martirosyan acts as a living representative of those Los Angeles County calls “the unclaimed dead.” She is one of more than a dozen investigators who work for the Public Administrator, an understaffed and little-known branch of the county’s Department of the Treasurer and Tax Collector....
Inside Israel's torture camp for Gaza detainees (www.972mag.com)
Palestinians arrested in the northern Gaza Strip describe how Israeli soldiers systematically abused civilians and combatants alike, from severe deprivation to brutal physical violence.
In Gaza 'safe zone,' Palestinians are living out their nightmares (www.972mag.com)
Israel ordered thousands to evacuate to Al-Mawasi, where they are struggling to find food, water, and shelter amid the war and winter cold.
A model suspected of recruiting for Epstein was asked whether Bill Clinton's security advisor tipped him off about search warrant (www.businessinsider.com)
Famine in Gaza ‘around the corner,’ as people face ‘highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded,’ UN relief chief says (edition.cnn.com)
Kentucky governor backs longer list of conditions eligible for treatment under medical marijuana law (apnews.com)
Access to medical marijuana in Kentucky should expand to include a longer list of severe health conditions, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday in advocating a change that would make hundreds of thousands more people eligible for treatment when the program begins next year....
Neri Oxman, billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s wife, accused of plagiarism in MIT dissertation (www.nbcnews.com)
Ackman has been a vocal critic of Harvard’s recently resigned president, Claudine Gay, over allegations of plagiarism and her handling of antisemitism on campus.
European Supermarket Giant Drops Pepsi and Lay’s Over Price Increases (www.wsj.com)
‘Speed Racer’ Actor Christian Oliver and His Two Young Daughters Killed in Caribbean Plane Crash (variety.com)
Nude man nabbed by police after 'cannonball' plunge into giant aquarium at Bass Pro Shop in Alabama (apnews.com)
The ordeal happened Thursday night in front of shocked shoppers in the town just outside Birmingham, Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin said....
Sudanese women describe being gang-raped in attacks by Arab forces (www.reuters.com)
Rape is widespread amid the war in Sudan. Young women from the ethnic-African Masalit tribe say they were sexually assaulted at gunpoint by RSF paramilitary and Arab militia forces during attacks on the city of El Geneina in West Darfur.
Three years after the January 6 attack, propaganda about the insurrection is poisoning the American public (www.cnn.com)
The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square....
US supreme court allows Idaho’s strict abortion ban to stand pending hearing (www.theguardian.com)
Biden administration had argued hospitals receiving Medicare funds are required to provide emergency care, including abortion...
Vatican stands by approval of blessing same-sex couples despite criticism (www.thepinknews.com)
Unpacking the US December jobs report's mixed signals (www.axios.com)
It took decades, but San Francisco finally installs nets to stop suicides off Golden Gate Bridge (apnews.com)
Kevin Hines regretted jumping off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge the moment his hands released the rail and he plunged the equivalent of 25 stories into the Pacific Ocean, breaking his back....
Supreme Court agrees to weigh whether Trump can be kicked off ballot in Colorado (www.nbcnews.com)
The justices will review a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court that said Trump could be barred from the Republican primary ballot in that state, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruling is likely to have national repercussions, potentially setting guidelines that would determine how every other state would handle the issue....
African elephant populations stabilise in southern heartlands (www.theguardian.com)
Baltimore celebrates historic 20% drop in homicides even as gun violence remains high (apnews.com)
Long plagued by rampant gun violence, Baltimore recorded less than 300 homicides last year for the first time in nearly a decade, ending a surge that began in 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray, which sparked civil unrest and prompted widespread calls for police reform....
Italy divided over new pineapple pizza (edition.cnn.com)
The US just capped off another banner year of job growth. Now it’s at a turning point (www.cnn.com)
Friday’s jobs report marked a fitting end to what was an odds-defying year....
