California fires force people to evacuate their homes
Six wildfires are burning in Los Angeles County, including the Pacific Palisades and Sylmar neighborhoods of Los Angeles and another near the City of Pasadena.
The Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire, the Hurst Fire, the Olivas Fire, the Lidia Fire and the Woodley Fire are all raging as of Jan. 8, according to CAL FIRE. Zero percent of the fire has been contained as of Jan. 8.
More than 100,000 residents are under evacuation orders as the LA area wildfires threaten at least 28,000 structures. More than 3 million were without power in Los Angeles County by the afternoon of Jan. 8. Wednesday afternoon, according to Southern California Edison.
The fires are being pushed by Santa Ana winds from the east, and officials warn the worst is yet to come.
Congress certifies Trump’s 2024 win
Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump as the winner of the 2024 election Jan. 6.
Lawmakers convened under heavy security and a winter snowstorm to meet the date required by law to certify the election.
Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the counting of the Electoral College votes from each state.
Meta eliminates fact-checking feature
Meta announced Jan. 7 that it will end its fact-checking program on its platforms in exchange for X-style community notes as part of a slate of changes targeting «censorship» and embracing «free expression.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined in a Jan. 7 post a series of content moderation reforms, impacting billions of users across Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Beyond replacing its fact-checkers, Meta will bring back more political content to its platforms and end restrictions on certain topics “out of touch with mainstream discourse,” Zuckerberg said, “like immigration and gender.”
It will also adjust filters scanning for policy violations to only tackle illegal and «high severity» violations. Those include topics like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams, according to a press release.
Additionally, Zuckerberg said, the company’s U.S. content review team will be moved to Texas from California, contending it will help Meta “build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams.”
Social Security Fairness Act signed into law by Biden
President Joe Biden signed legislation expanding Social Security benefits for millions of retired Americans, including firefighters, police officers and teachers Jan. 5.
“Americans who have worked hard all their life to make an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity,” Biden told a gathering at the White House before signing the Social Security Fairness Act, which he said would mean an average monthly increase of $360 for more than 2.5 million Social Security recipients.
Those beneficiaries will also receive a lump sum in the thousands of dollars to make up for the shortfall in benefits they should have received in 2024, the president said.
The Social Security Fairness Act eliminates two federal policies that barred employees with a public pension from collecting their full benefits under the federal retirement program and that reduced benefits for those workers’ surviving spouses and family members.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigns
Under growing pressure from his own party, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will step down and end his nine-year stretch as leader Jan. 6.
Trudeau said he would stay on in office until his Liberal Party can choose a new leader, and that parliament would be suspended until March 24.
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,” he said during a Jan. 6 press conference.
