Only 2 days till Christmas!! I hope everyone has a great holiday season and here is the news for December 23, 2018.
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1. Border security fight could go into new year
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- It's looking like the partial government shut down will last until after Christmas and potentially until after New Years as well.
- Earlier this week, the House passed a continuing resolution keeping the government open until February and added $5.7 billion for border wall funding.
- Senate Democrats have refused to allow a vote on the bill, denying Republicans the 60 votes they need to shut off debate. But it's not just the filibuster at work here. There's a statutory 60-vote threshold on budget motions under the Budget Act.
- Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has been talking with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and has offered a new proposal between President Trump's $5.7 billion request and the $1.3 billion offered by Democrats.
- A stalemate over wall funding led parts of the government to shut down on Saturday when funding for numerous departments and agencies expired.
- Democrats are vowing not to give in and most Republicans are encouraging President Trump stick to his guns as well.
- The shutdown was expected to last through Thursday after the House and Senate, which held rare weekend sessions, adjourned until later in the week.
- Since Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are federal holidays (thanks to President Trump, who just recently made Christmas Eve a federal holiday last week), Wednesday would be the first day that federal employees may be feeling the effects of the shutdown.
- Virtually every essential government agency, including the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, will remain open. Transportation Security Administration officers will staff airport checkpoints.
- You can read more about the shutdown HERE.
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2. Tsunami Death Toll up to 222
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- An eruption of one of the world's most infamous volcanic islands is believed to have triggered a tsunami that killed at least 222 people in Indonesia this weekend.
- Apparently the waves smashed into the shore line without notice, sweeping away houses, hotels and a beach concert happening at the time.
- More than 800 people were injured and dozens more missing after the tsunami hit around the Sunda Strait at 9:27 p.m. Saturday
- The toll of the injured and missing will probably continue to rise as search and rescue teams continue to keep working through the rubble.
- Scientists said Sunday that the tsunami could have been caused by underwater landslides or those occurring above ground on Anak Krakatau's steep slope following its eruption.
- Reports are saying that the size of the waves were not as large as other recorded tsunami's, like the 2004 tsunami, but since residents didn't feel a tremor from an earthquake many did not leave the shoreline and there for the loss of life could be comparable to a larger tsunami.
- You can read more about the disaster HERE.
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3.
Alabama, Auburn named among nation’s top research schools
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- The Carnegie Foundation has recognized both universities with its “Very High Research Activity” status in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
- University of Alabama has also been awarded the Carnegie designation as a Community Engaged Institution.
- Research funding, staff and the number of doctoral graduates are among the criteria used in determining Carnegie classifications.
- In a statement, Auburn President Steven Leath said the “tremendous designation acknowledges the hard work involved in the pioneering discoveries happening at Auburn every day.”
- Alabama's President Stuart Bell said in a statement that the classification demonstrates the school’s “increased emphasis on research and scholarship productivity and innovation that impacts economic and societal development.”
- You can read more about the status HERE.
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- Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, has resigned in protest over President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.
- McGurk said it would be “reckless” to consider ISIS defeated and therefore would be unwise to bring American forces home. McGurk decided to speed up his original plan to leave his post in mid-February.
- Appointed to the post by President Barack Obama in 2015 and retained by Trump, McGurk said in his resignation letter that the militants were on the run, but not yet defeated, and that the premature pullout of American forces from Syria would create the conditions that gave rise to IS.
- Shortly after news of McGurk’s resignation broke, Trump again defended his decision to pull all of the roughly 2,000 U.S. forces from Syria in the coming weeks.
- The President tweeted: "Brett McGurk, who I do not know, was appointed by President Obama in 2015. Was supposed to leave in February but he just resigned prior to leaving. Grandstander? The Fake News is making such a big deal about this nothing event!"
- The civil war in Syria has gone on since 2011, and the U.S. did not begin launching airstrikes against ISIS until September 2014, and American troops did not go into Syria until 2015.
- The withdrawal decision will fulfill Trump’s goal of bringing troops home from Syria, but military leaders have pushed back for months, arguing that the ISIS group remains a threat and could regroup in Syria’s long-running civil war.
- You can read more about the situation HERE.
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Here are some holiday themed happy stories for the week.
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Secret Santa Leaves 14 Years Worth of Gifts
- Ken Watson was a man from southern Wales who never had his own grandchildren, but become close to his neighbors daughter, Cadi Williams.
- So much so that after he died at the age of 80, Watson made sure Cadi got a Christmas present from him for the next 14 years.
- “He always told us he’d live till he was 100 years old,” Mr. Williams wrote on Twitter, “so these gifts would have taken him up to our little girl’s 16th Christmas.”
- You can read more about this cute story HERE.
When it comes to kids toys, basic is best
- The American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued a statement advising parents of young children to look for high-quality “traditional” toys rather than elaborate digital ones.
- Their reasoning: Physical toys give children scope for imagination and invention, and also encourage play that brings families together.
- If you’ve seen a toddler playing with pots and pans or a big cardboard box, you get the idea.
- You can read more about it HERE.
Montgomery Fire Department delivers bikes and presents to family
- You should check out these adorable photos of the Montgomery Fire Department handing out bikes and presents to families in need.
- And in the spirit of Christmas, you should also check out any local community charities you can give to so that other children in need can have a Merry Christmas as well.
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AL.COM
- Alabama's top business stories for 2018.
AL.COM
- Honda produced more than 356,000 vehicles this year in Alabama.
AL.COM
- Columnist John Archibald: The dead leave gifts at Christmas, too
AL.COM
- Contributor Auburn President Steven Leath: Auburn sets sights on a brighter, more prosperous future.
AL.COM
- Contributor Claude Fortin: Alabama needs set criteria for parole decisions.
AL.COM
- Contributor Brent Barkin: Don’t take retail workers for granted this holiday season.
AL.COM
- Contributor U. S. Attorney Jay Town: The choice we have in common.
AL.COM
- Contributor Frances Coleman: This Christmas, say it before it's too late.
DECATUR DAILY
- Story of the Year: Mazda Toyota plant 'game changer' for area.
DECATUR DAILY
- Lawyer: Franklin used surplus jail-food money to pay legal fees.
ANNISTON STAR
-
The Anniston Star
: Why aren't more people moving to Alabama?
DOTHAN EAGLE
- Top 10 of 2018: State, Center Stage reach agreement on games.
WASHINGTON POST
- Shutdown to stretch on until at least Thursday as Senate adjourns with no deal over budget, Trump’s border wall.
WASHINGTON POST
- ‘A rogue presidency’: The era of containing Trump is over.
WASHINGTON POST
- Exasperated over the market plunge, Trump asks advisers whether he can fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
WASHINGTON POST
–
The Washington Post
: The last lines of defense against Trump.
NEW YORK TIMES
- For Trump, ‘a War Every Day,’ Waged Increasingly Alone
NEW YORK TIMES
- Unpaid Agents, Dark Visitor Centers, Closed Trails: Effects of the Shutdown Beginning
NEW YORK TIMES
- How Charles Nuttall, Nobel Prize-Winning Doctor and Part-Time Santa, Spends His Sundays
NEW YORK TIMES
– Columnist Bret Stephens: Dear Anonymous Inside the Trump Administration
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Front Pages
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