“Weekend Update – News that Matters” is a weekly feature that offers brief overviews of important news that you may have missed during a busy holiday weekend. Here’s what, no pun intended, may have flown under your radar in the period January 3 through January 6, 2025.
@IN DEPTH
COVID AND FLU RATES RISE DRAMATICALLY IN U.S., SAYS CDC
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that, in addition to Covid-19 activity increasing from low levels in most areas across the country, seasonal influenza activity has continued to increase. Indeed, the seasonal influenza activity is, according to CDC data, elevated across most of the country.
Meanwhile, influenza’s test positivity rate increased from 12% to 18.7% between the week ending December 21, 2024 and the week ending December 28, 2024. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) were the predominant viruses reported, the CDC said.
The CDC said that it expects that Covid-19 rates will continue to increase in the coming weeks, as is typically the case in winter. In the same period as above, the Covid-19 test positivity rate increased from 7% to 7.1% across the United States.
The White House in Washington, D.C.
@DEADLINE
President Carter’s Funeral Begins in Washington, D.C.
The casket carrying the remains of former President Jimmy Carter will leave the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta on Tuesday, where thousands of mourners paid their respects over the weekend. It will then travel to Dobbins Air Reserve Base before boarding Special Air Mission 39 to Joint Base Andrews.
Mr. Carter’s casket will then continue to the U.S. Navy Memorial, paying tribute to his time in the service as a lieutenant who worked on nuclear submarines. He will then be taken via a horse-drawn caisson procession to the U.S. Capitol.
A service in the Capitol rotunda with members of Congress in attendance is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. The late president’s grandchildren will serve as honorary pallbearers during the service. Vice President Kamala Harris, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson are scheduled to deliver eulogies and lay wreaths.
No ma’am, no riots or insurrections in the forecast today. Four years after the riot on Capitol Hill that attempted to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power between former President Donald Trump and then incoming President Joseph Biden, Trump followers stormed the building and tried to breach barriers so they could overturn the 2020 election results.
Vice President Kamala Harris officiated over what is generally a little noticed ceremonial funciton, the certification of the results of the Electoral College. Harris oversaw the proceedings that certified that Trump had won, and announced the final tally: 312 to 226.
‘Life-Threatneing’ Winds to Hit Southern California in ‘Extremely Critical’ Fire Event
High winds and low relative humidity will result in extremely dangerous fire weather in southern California through Friday. Sustained winds of up to 50 mph (80 km/h) are expected with gusts as high as 80 mph (129 km/h).
The National Weather Service termed this weather event as “extremely critical” fire weather, adding that it is likely to be life-threatening.
A JetBlue aircraft in New York
@BRIEFLY NOTED
Facebook, Instagram Adopt New Moderation Model. Facebook and Instagram said they will change their fact-finding protocols and move to a community notes-based system. „We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a recorded statement. „More specifically, here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”
Landing Gear Stowaways. JetBlue Airways said that two people were found dead in the landing gear of a aircraft that had flown from John F. Kennedy International Airport after it had flown to Florida. The bodies, whose identities remain unknown, were found during a routine inspection after landing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. “This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred,” the airline said.
So Long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Unpaid medical bills will no longer damage people’s credit reports in the United States, under a new rule that will end the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports and ban lenders from using certain medical information in loan decisions.
Do Not Release Report. Do Not Pass Go. President-elect Donald Trump and his now former co-defendants in the Florida classified documents case went to court on Monday to try to block the release of a final report by special counsel Jack Smith that addresses the election interference case.
In front of a shuttered McDonald’s restaurant on 42nd Street in Manhattan in 2020, a man demonstrates the proper way to wear a face mask.
How the Mighty Have Fallen. Rudolph Giuliani, once Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor who later served as the New York City mayor whose resolute response to the September 11, 2001, attacks had earned him the nickname “America’s mayor,” was found in contempt of court for failing to hand over documents to two former election workers he defamed.
Bird Flu Death. The Louisiana Department of Health said it had recorded its first human fatality from H5N1 avian flu. The deceased was an individual in Louisiana who contracted the virus from infected chickens and wild birds in a backyard flock.
@THINGS WE DON’T PRETEND TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT
McDonald’s will debut a new value meal menu on January 7. Apple promises to eliminate fake headlines that its new AI systems are generating. President Joseph Biden took action to protect 625 million acres of offshore areas from future oil and gas by invoking a 72-year-old law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18.2.1 which addresses what Apple called “important bugs.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
