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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Good news on inflation: “Price growth in the United States cooled in December as the economy continued to show signs of weakening. Inflation landed at 6.5% compared to the 12 months prior.... The slowing rate of inflation is likely to signal to the Federal Reserve that its interest-rate hikes are working but, so far, Chair Jerome Powell has not indicated any near-term plan to significantly pull back from those increases until inflation gets closer to 2%.”
* FAA: “The software that failed and forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground thousands of flights on Wednesday is 30 years old and not scheduled to be updated for another six years, according to a senior government official. This system was installed in 1993 and runs the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, which sends pilots vital information they need to fly, the official said.”
* A seditious conspiracy trial worth watching: “The violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was not the fault of the Proud Boys; it was the fault of former President Donald Trump, a defense attorney for Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio argued in court Thursday.”
* Unfortunately, this seems easy to believe: “Behind closed doors in 2017, President Donald Trump discussed the idea of using a nuclear weapon against North Korea and suggested he could blame a U.S. strike against the communist regime on another country, according to a new section of a book that details key events of his administration.”
* Taylor Dudley is coming home: “Russia released a Navy veteran who had been detained since April in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, a spokesman for his family announced on Thursday, marking the second time in just over a month that an American has been freed from Russian custody.”
* Missouri’s state House really did pass a measure that requires women in the chamber to conceal their arms: “The Republican-controlled Missouri House of Representatives used its session’s opening day Wednesday to tighten the dress code for female legislators, while leaving the men’s dress code alone.”
* Something for consumers to be aware of: “Fresh off winning their decades-long battle to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion-rights opponents are pinpointing their next targets: the nation’s biggest pharmacy chains.”
* Some Republicans have odd priorities: “Within hours of being sworn in as the new governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order Tuesday banning the term “Latinx” from official use in the state government. It is one of the first, if not the first, executive order of its kind, Tabitha Bonilla, an associate professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, told NBC News.”
See you tomorrow.