Scott

After the United States hit its debt ceiling on Thursday, the Treasury Department is now undertaking “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the government’s bills. A default could be catastrophic, causing “irreparable harm to the US economy, the livelihoods of all Americans and global financial stability,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned. Yellen on Friday told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the impacts would be felt by every American. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/22/economy/debt-ceiling-economic-impact

Jeff Zients, who ran President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response effort and served in high-ranking roles in the Obama administration, is expected to replace Ron Klain as the next White House chief of staff, according to three people briefed on the matter. Klain is expected to step down in the coming weeks. The move to replace Klain is particularly important for Biden, who has entered a critical moment in his presidency and his political future. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/22/politics/jeff-zients-white-house-chief-of-staff/index.html

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Friday said that Russia has "really suffered a lot" in Ukraine and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war. "The Russian casualties — last time I reported out on it publicly, I said it was well over 100,000. I would say it's significantly well over 100,000 now," Milley said at a news conference alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Germany, providing a slight update on a figure the top US general offered in November. Milley said that the "tremendous amount of casualties" suffered by Russia included "regular military, and also their mercenaries in the Wagner Group and other type forces that are fighting with the Russians." https://www.businessinsider.com/milley-russia-has-significantly-well-over-100000-casualties-in-ukraine-2023-1

A woman allegedly shot and killed her terminally ill husband in his Florida hospital room on Saturday in what police said was a "tragic and unfortunate circumstance" that the couple planned together. Officers from the Daytona Beach Police Department responded around 11:35 a.m. local time to a shooting at AdventHealth Daytona Beach, Chief Jakari Young said. The 77-year-old patient was believed to have been shot in the head, Young said. https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-confined-florida-hospital-room-after-allegedly-shooting/story?id=96584511

The former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin has got married for the fourth time on his 93rd birthday. Mr Aldrin was one of the pilots on the legendary Apollo 11 spaceflight in 1969, becoming one of the first two people to walk on the moon after the mission's commander, Neil Armstrong. The former pilot said that he and new wife Anca Faur were as "excited as eloping teenagers". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64359316

Peru has closed its famous tourist site Machu Picchu indefinitely over the ongoing protests against the country's president. The government said it closed the site, and the Inca Trail hike leading to it, to protect tourists and citizens. Hundreds of people, mostly foreigners, are currently thought to be stranded at the foot of the site. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-64360531

White House chief of staff Ron Klain, the powerful force at the center of Joe Biden’s first two years in office, is expected to step down in the weeks after the president’s State of the Union address, according to multiple people familiar with his plans. Klain’s exact timeline is still not set, the sources said, and he is expected to stay in the West Wing for a period of time to help with the transition period for his replacement, one of the people said. The State of the Union address is set for February 7. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/21/politics/ron-klain-white-house-biden-steps-down

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The Justice Department is signaling that it has the right to not cooperate with Hill Republicans’ requests to peek into their ongoing investigations, a top official wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO. “Consistent with longstanding policy and practice, any oversight requests must be weighed against the Department’s interests in protecting the integrity of its work,” Carlos Uriarte, DOJ’s legislative affairs chief, wrote in the five-page letter. “Longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations.” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/20/doj-gop-house-investigations-00078805

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes attempted to flee the US shortly after her conviction on fraud charges last year, prosecutors claim. According to a new court filing, the 38-year-old bought a one-way ticket to Mexico last January. "Only after the government raised this unauthorised flight... was the trip cancelled," prosecutors said. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64347162

A Florida judge sanctioned former President Donald Trump and one of his attorneys, ordering them to pay nearly $1 million for filing what he said was a bogus lawsuit against Trump's 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and others. In a blistering filing on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks accused Trump of a "pattern of abuse of the courts" for filing frivolous lawsuits for political purposes, which he said "undermines the rule of law" and "amounts to obstruction of justice." "Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose," he wrote. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/20/1150298957/donald-trump-frivolous-lawsuit-fine-alina-habba-clinton-comey-middlebrooks

Germany has not yet decided whether to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, or allow other countries to donate theirs, despite pressure on Berlin to act. A meeting on Friday to co-ordinate military donations for Kyiv did agree to supply more armoured vehicles and air defence systems. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier made a specific appeal for modern tanks to repel Russia. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64350877

Going back quite a few years, the rules were constantly changing. I think a fair number of people really thought they would eventually go away. There is no doubt that in the past number of years, the reality is that the regulations would not go away. In my experience, those who really found teaching to be a calling, they started upgrading. Unfortunately, for some that meant taking courses that didn't quite fulfill the requirements -- including those who returned to school and got degrees that didn't qualify for the TL. Quite a few people also fell into teaching after falling in love either with Thailand or one of its many alluring people. They then had used up precious time. The other issue is that those who changed schools also used up waivers. The waiver actually belongs to the school and permits the school to employ you as a teacher. If you leave the school and go to another school, they have to apply for a new waiver. The waiver does not follow the teacher.

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Florida officials have blocked the introduction of a new advanced-level high school course that teaches African American history. Governor Ron DeSantis' administration said the proposed course "lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law". The course is being rolled out in a pilot programme by the US College Board to 60 high schools across the country. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64348902

Google told employees in an email on Friday that it would be cutting 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its global workforce, in its largest layoff ever. In the email, CEO Sundar Pichai told employees that Google had hired aggressively over the past two years to match the dramatic growth it had experienced after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Alphabet’s headcount had increased 24% from 2021 to 2022, growing from 150,028 to 186,779, the company said in a September regulatory filing. https://gizmodo.com/google-layoffs-12000-workers-largest-cuts-history-1850010658