Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Keep waiting: “It’s looking like next week for possible action against Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush money grand jury. Heading into Wednesday, it wasn’t clear whether Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s grand jury was going to hear from another witness, vote on potential charges against Trump — or some combination of the two. It did neither, for reasons still unclear.”
* The latest Jan. 6 sentence: “A far-right extremist who was ‘obsessed’ with white nationalist Nick Fuentes was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol and directing a mob toward the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where another rioter stole a laptop. In delivering the sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson called Riley Williams’ actions ‘utterly reprehensible.’”
* South Carolina’s latest mass shooting: “A former member of the military went to his ex-wife’s South Carolina home and killed three children and a man before he killed himself Tuesday night, police said.”
* A closely watched hearing: “TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for roughly five hours. Members grilled Chew, citing concerns about privacy for Americans’ data, protections for children online and TikTok’s connection to the Chinese Communist Party.”
* In Wyoming: “Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming — at least temporarily — after a judge on Wednesday ordered that a newly enacted ban be blocked until further court proceedings in a lawsuit challenging it.”
* I’m a big fan of consumer-centric policymaking: “On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission introduced a ‘click to cancel’ policy that would require merchants to allow consumers to cancel their subscriptions in the same way that they signed up. Meaning, if you signed up for a new streaming service online, you should be able to cancel that service on the same website in the same number of steps.”
* Interesting ruling in a death-penalty case: “Gov. Katie Hobbs is not compelled to carry out an execution warrant for death row prisoner Aaron Gunches, according to an order from the Arizona Supreme Court. The court, in a ruling issued Wednesday, says its role is to ‘issue a warrant of execution that authorizes the director of the state department of corrections to carry out the execution.’ But the law does not mandate the governor act on the warrant, the court said.”
* Occasionally, I pause to appreciate a well-crafted sentence that conveys a worthwhile point: “Utah Rep. Burgess Owens — who has filed for bankruptcy protection five times — is against President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, saying, ‘debt cannot be canceled.’”
See you tomorrow.