Numerous death row sentences are commuted by Biden. When someone claims that Elon Musk is in charge, Donald Trump responds. Additionally, four families that joined health care sharing ministries and were left in debt are interviewed by NBC News.
What to know today is as follows.
Biden commute dozens of death row sentences to life without parole
Only three death row convicts remain in federal prisons after President Joe Biden announced that he was commuting the death sentences of 37 criminals. According to the White House, the commuted sentences would be reclassified as life terms with no chance of release.
“In cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder, these commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions,” Biden said in a statement. Don’t get me wrong: I detest these killers, I feel sorry for the people who were harmed by their heinous crimes, and I hurt for all the families who have lost loved ones in ways that are unthinkable and irreversible.
Billie Allen, one of the prisoners whose sentences Biden would commute, has insisted on his innocence. Allen claimed that after Donald Trump won the presidency last month, he felt as though his dream was dashed.
According to a death row inmate and two federal attorneys, several correctional staff members harassed inmates at the Terre Haute, Indiana, jail around the time of Trump’s election. The same sources also claim that in the run-up to Trump’s inauguration, the prison, where nearly all federal death row convicts are housed, has escalated execution rehearsals.
Three men are still on federal death row: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers; Dylann Roof, who shot nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who murdered eleven people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018. Attorney General Merrick Garland put a halt on federal executions in 2021. During Biden’s administration, no federal prisoners have been put to death.
Go here to read the entire story.
Trump addresses Elon Musk s growing political influence: He s not going to be president
President-elect Donald Trump dismissed any suggestion that he s being usurped by his ally Elon Musk, after a week in which the tech billionaire helped derail an emergency spending measure to avert a government shutdown.
Musk, who owns the social media site X, posted more than 100 times about his objections to the original spending deal a preview of how he may use his influence to shape policy in Trump s second term. Democrats have mockingly started referring to him as President Musk. History shows that anyone who upstages Trump or diverts attention from him doesn t last long in his orbit.
Trump spoke for more than an hour at Turning Point USA s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, in his first rally-style event since the election. Trump said the notion that he has ceded the presidency to Musk is untrue, and that even if Musk wanted the job, he couldn t get it because of the Constitution s requirement that the U.S. president be a natural-born citizen. South Africa is where Musk was born.
Go here to read the entire story.
More coverage:
-
Rep. Tony Gonzales
compared tech mogul Elon Musk to a prime minister,
praising the tech mogul for speaking out against an early version of a stopgap funding bill last week.
Honda and Nissan announce plans to merge and create world s third-largest automaker
Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda announced they had entered into official talks to merge and create the world s third-largest automaker.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said the companies needed greater scale to compete in the development of new technologies in electric vehicles and intelligent driving. Mibe added that if approved, the integration would be a mid to long-term project that is currently not expected to show visible progress until 2030 and beyond.
Nissan s strategic partner Mitsubishi has been offered the chance to join the new group and will take a decision by the end of January 2025. Thedeal would aim to share intelligence and resourcesand deliver economies of scale and synergies while protecting both brands, Mibe said.
NYPD arrests person of interest in woman s fatal burning on subway
A man described as a person of interest was taken into custody in the search for a suspect who fatally set a woman sleeping in a subway car on fire, New York City police said.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference that a person was seen in the area just after the crime, sitting on a platform bench, and that an officer s body camera captured clear imagery of him. Three people described as high school-age subway riders spotted the man and called 911, Tisch said. Officers boarded the train, found the man and took him into custody.
The woman, who was not publicly identified, was asleep on an idle F train at the Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn. It was there that a man approached her,lit her on fire and fled the train car.
Highlights from NFL Week 16
The Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday Night Football with no chance of making the playoffs, but clearly nobody told them that as they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-24. While Dallas quarterback Cooper Rush threw for 292 yards and a touchdown, the team s defense was the real story.NBC News sports editor Greg Rosenstein breaks down this week in NFL matchups:
Despite being down 13 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Washington Commanders came back and defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 36-33. Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels finished with five touchdowns, none more important than Jamison Crowder s grab in the final seconds to secure victory. The Commanders improved to 10-5 this season, tied for the franchise s most wins in a season since 1992. Philadelphia (12-3), previously on a 10-game winning streak, played most of the game without starting quarterback Jalen Hurts,who suffered a concussion late in the first quarter.
Speaking of comebacks, the Buffalo Bills overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to beat the New England Patriots 24-21. Quarterback Josh Allen, an MVP candidate, had a lackluster game by his standards but running back James Cook stepped up with two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. The win prevented the Kansas City Chiefs from locking up the No. 1 seed in the AFC postseason.
Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was criticized last week for fumbling on the goal line (upsetting many fantasy football owners) but he bounced back with thebest individual performance of the weekend.Taylor rushed for 218 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries in a 38-30 win against the Tennessee Titans.
Read All About It
-
Ten people are dead
after their small plane crashed
in the southern Brazilian city of Gramado.
-
A 7-year-old at a holiday drone show in Orlando was seriously injured
when one of the devices struck him in the chest.
-
Current and former University of Michigan students have filed a lawsuit against the school alleging
that it targeted pro-Palestinian students involved in campus protests.
Staff Pick:
Uninsured while pregnant, she turned to a Christian cost-sharing group. Her family was left in debt.
Health care sharing ministries, a type of nonprofit medical cost-sharing organization, offer paying members reimbursement for some medical bills. The groups market themselves as a kind of faith-based alternative to health insurance and have grown substantially. But they are not subject to the same regulations, nor are they legally obligated to reimburse people. Many of the groups restrict members eligibility for childbirth coverage in particular, a challenge four families told NBC News they encountered as members. All warned others not to join.
This story grew out of reporting that health reporter Aria Bendix did for an earlier article about insured families who faced medical debt for complicated deliveries. Here, instead, she tells the story of uninsured families who, while pregnant, sought support outside the mainstream health care systembut were disappointed by the outcomes.
Dana Varinsky,science & health editor
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
The Oura Ring is a health tracker disguised as a metal ring. While it won t replace your smartwatch, it does track your heart rate, exercise and sleep. Here swhat NBC Select s tech editor liked and dislikedafter using the Oura Ring for four months.
Sign up to The Selectionnewsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.
Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown. Today s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Both.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!