- Trump’s pick for Secretary of Energy Rick Perry says he has changed his mind about eliminating the Department of Energy. As a presidential candidate in 2012, Perry’s platform called for getting rid of the department. [Link]
- Trump picks Woody Johnson to the be ambassador to the UK. Johnson owns the New York Jets. [Link]
- Trump picks Sonny Perdue to be Secretary of Agriculture. This pick fills the final opening spot in Trump’s Cabinet. [Link]
- California’s budget had “math errors” that covered up a $1.5 billion dollar budget deficit. The deficit was discovered by Governor Jerry Brown’s office months ago, but the mistake was only recently shared with the public and California Senate. [Link]
- Uber settles a lawsuit with the FTC about a complaint that Uber mislead drivers about how much money they can make. Uber agreed to pay $20 million. [Link]
- Obama granted clemency to 330 federal prisoners on his final day in office. Most of those receiving clemency were low-level drug offenders or nonviolent criminals. Obama granted clemency or pardons to nearly 2000 people. [Link]
- In 2012, a Massachusetts state lab worker admitted to falsifying drug test results. This discredited all of the cases that she gave evidence for. 1,500 of those 25,500 cases have been addressed. The Massachusetts top court rules all of the remaining 24,000 cases can get a new trial. [Link]
- Mexican drug kingpin, El Chapo, has been extradited to the United States. [Link]
- On Tuesday, the Obama Administration appealed a court ruling that would have made public some information about the US drone program. Appealing the decision will help the Trump Administration operate a drone program in secret. [Link]
- US stealth bombers spend 30 hours in the air and drop 100 bombs on an ISIS camp in Libya. The US government reports that 80 Islamic State members were killed in the attack. The US ended its operations in Libya over a month ago. [Link]
- ISIS is destroying ancient monuments in Palmyra. ISIS retook the city from the Syrian government in December. [Link]
- ISIS forces are attacking a key Syrian government military airport in the Homs Providence. 12 Syrian government fighter and 18 ISIS militants were killed in the fighting. [Link]
- 40% of the 1,000,000 Syrian children refugees living in Turkey are not currently enrolled in schooling. [Link]
