TOP STORIES

‌

Thursday, January 16

‌

PARNAS PINS IT ON THE PREZ Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani at the center of the Ukraine scandal that led to President Donald Trump’s impeachment, said that both men were fully aware “of all my movements” and that the president knew “exactly what was going on” as he waged a pressure campaign to dig up dirt on a presidential campaign rival. [HuffPost]

‌

HOUSE SENDS ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT TO SENATE The House voted to send articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate nearly one month after voting to impeach him, clearing the way for his trial to begin. The GOP-led Senate has been making plans for a quick acquittal. [HuffPost]

‌

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT RESIGNS AMID PUTIN POWER GRAB Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a constitutional overhaul during his state of the nation address to boost the powers of parliament and the Cabinet. The move signals Putin’s intention to carve out a new position for himself after his current term ends. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev submitted his resignation just hours later. [AP]

‌

WE KNOW WHAT SANDERS AND WARREN SAID Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) confronted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) immediately after Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, saying her fellow candidate “called her a liar on national TV” by denying he’d told her a woman couldn’t win the 2020 presidential election. [HuffPost]

‌

DELTA DIDN'T INFORM AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL BEFORE FUEL DUMP A Delta Air Lines flight crew did not notify air traffic control Tuesday before dumping jet fuel over a portion of Los Angeles County that included several schools where children were playing outside. [HuffPost]

‌

AUSTRALIA'S ENDANGERED 'DINOSAUR' TREES SAVED A stand of trees with ancestors that date back 200 million years was saved from a series of devastating bushfires, a rare glimmer of good news amid the ongoing disaster. A team of firefighters was deployed to a remote part of the Blue Mountains, about 120 miles northwest of Sydney, as a massive bushfire approached. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

‌

PELOSI NAMES TRUMP IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS FOR TRIAL House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) named the lawmakers she has chosen to argue for Trump’s removal from office during the Senate trial. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) will be the lead impeachment manager. [HuffPost]

‌

THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT JUST CLEARED A KEY HURDLE  Women’s rights activists were jubilant after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, finally clearing a key hurdle needed for it to be included in the Constitution. Many more obstacles lay ahead, however, including a hostile Trump administration and a lawsuit from anti-ERA Republican state attorneys general. [HuffPost]

‌

TRUMP HOTEL TRENDS AFTER BONKERS INTERVIEW Lev Parnas told MSNBC that many of his meetings took place at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. “It was like a breeding ground,” he explained to Rachel Maddow. MSNBC analyst David Corn compared it to the cantina at Mos Eisley from the first “Star Wars” movie: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." [HuffPost]

‌

CHILD CARE IS EXPENSIVE. SO IS NOT FIXING IT. America’s child care system costs the country hundreds of billions of dollars every year, according to a new report. But Americans don’t realize it, the report says, because a big chunk of those costs come in the form of lost wages and opportunities for working parents and child care providers ― and shoddy care for the kids. [HuffPost]

‌

TRUMP'S LIES ARE CHANGING EVERYTHING Veteran HuffPost White House reporter S.V. Date explores how Trump's unending stream of lies is changing the White House, our country and us. [HuffPost]

‌

WHY THE NFL ISN'T HIRING BLACK COACHES Ahead of the conference championships, there were just three Black head coaches among the NFL’s 32 teams. The number is back to what it was before the NFL adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003. The rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any open head coach position. But the rule has stark limitations. [HuffPost]

‌

SAARS-LIKE VIRUS SPREADS TO JAPAN Fears are mounting across Asia over the cross-border spread of a new coronavirus identified in China that has killed one patient and sickened dozens, as health authorities race to identify the source of the pathogen. The new strain of coronavirus is in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). [CNN]

BEFORE YOU GO