NEWS - SATURDAY, JANUARY 03, 2026 - NEWS
Economists say a tax on California's wealthiest residents could be the only way to pay for needed healthcare services in the state. LA Times
VOA VIEW: CA tax madness.
The New York State Nurses Association union-represented nurses gave the hospitals 10-day strike notices. New York Post
VOA VIEW: A strike threat will not work.
Iranian official on Friday declared that American troops and assets in the Middle East are now "legitimate targets" for military strikes after President Trump posted to Truth Social that the US was ready to support peaceful protesters in Tehran. New York Post
VOA VIEW: A major Iranian mistake.
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At least seven people have been killed during the largest wave of demonstrations since 2022 as crowds have increasingly shouted anti-government slogans. New York Post
VOA VIEW: Iran would be wise to cool their threats.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York canceled executive orders issued by his predecessor that had barred city agencies from boycotting Israel and defined some criticism of Israel as antisemitic. New York Times
VOA VIEW: Mamdani [s pushing himself off mainstream and will hurt NYC.
Problems with a 25-year-old landmark paper on the safety of Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, have led to calls for the E.P.A. to reassess the widely used chemical. New York Times
A magistrate judge said he was concerned that the defendant, Brian Cole Jr., had continued after Jan. 6, 2021, to purchase components similar to those prosecutors said he had used to make pipe bombs. New York Times
VOA VIEW: Cole should stay in jail, period.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel reported that the agency thwarted an ISIS-Inspired attack planned for New Year’s Eve in North Carolina. OANN
VOA VIEW: Good and more should follow.
Minimum wage workers across 19 states will see their hourly compensation increase in early 2026, with more states to follow later in the year. OANN
VOA VIEW: Their cost of everything will rise.
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Newly sworn in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani affirmed his plans to stick to socialism during his inauguration speech, vowing to bring “the era of big government” back. OANN
President Donald Trump celebrated actor and director George Clooney and his family’s departure from the United States as they fled to France under new citizenship. OANN
The Trump administration amped up the pressure on Minnesota to hand over voter data, with the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sending a letter to Minnesota's secretary of state demanding such records. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: It's needed and will prove much.
Florida's minimum wage will rise to $15 an hour in 2026 as the result of a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2020. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: Everything will go up in cost.
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The Trump administration has ended the lease agreement with the National Links Trust for three golf courses in the District. Washington Times
A man accidentally ended a New Year's Eve fireworks show in Omaha, Nebraska, early after tripping over a cord. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: A stupid misshape.
A look at bar and nightclub fires in the United States with significant death tolls and similar risks that led to the tragedies. CBS
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Tesla's electric vehicle sales fell 9% in 2025 from a year ago amid the expiration of a $7,500 EV U.S. tax credit. CBS
VOA VIEW: EV's are not doing well.
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado said she's "absolutely" supportive of President Trump's strategy in the country. CBS
Protests erupted last week over the government's handling of a sharp fall in the nation's currency and soaring prices. CNBC
Some student loan borrowers who get their debt canceled in 2026 may be hit with a tax bill now that a law protecting the relief from levies has expired. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Free loans from taxpayers should not be allowed.
Investing legend Warren Buffett's advice for building a successful career and life. CNBC
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Walz, who took office in 2019, has come under fire in recent months over fraud scams that occurred on his watch. He has recently faced calls to resign. CNBC
VOA VIEW: He is a phony thief.
Former FBI agent warns political violence has "just started" as 2026 begins, citing Charlie Kirk's alleged assassination and ICE attacks. FOX News
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on making buses in the Big Apple "fast and free," but the MTA oversees the bus system, and there will soon be a small fare hike. FOX News
VOA VIEW: Mamdani will be a failure.
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Previously deported man from El Salvador pleads guilty to armed robberies across eight California cities, facing up to 20 years per count in prison. FOX News
VOA VIEW: He should be charged more.
Dead birds along Florida's Space Coast spark fears of a possible avian flu outbreak. Samples were sent for testing as wildlife officials monitor the situation. FOX News
Danish renewable energy giant Orsted has filed suit against the Department of Interior because it paused its lease on an off-shore wind farm. UPI
A U.S. Army squadron tasked with a reconnaissance mission in South Korea was deactivated last month, a congressional report showed Thursday. UPI
Insurance premiums are set to rise exponentially for Americans who have bought their health care policies through an Affordable Care Act exchange because Congress failed to extend subsidies for them. UPI
VOA VIEW: It is long past time to end.
President Donald Trump ended the lease for the National Links Trust, which manages Washington, D.C.-area public golf courses of the National Parks. UPI
The Italian government said Thursday that the United States has pulled back on tariffs the Trump administration had placed on several pasta brands based in Italy. UPI
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An executive order that could soon be signed by President Donald Trump would thwart states’ artificial intelligence laws by launching legal challenges and withholding federal funding, according to a draft of the order obtained. Makes sense.
The draft surfaced shortly after Trump publicly called for a single federal standard on AI “instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes.” The draft order would give Attorney General Pam Bondi 30 days to establish an “AI Litigation Task Force” whose sole task is to challenge state AI laws.
Those challenges would be issued “on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful in the Attorney General’s judgment,” the draft says. The order also directs Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to notify states with contested AI laws that they are ineligible for funds under the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program. BEAD is a more than $42 billion program that has allocated funding to all U.S. states and territories.
The order, which was first reported by The Information, is not yet finalized. A White House official told CNBC that any discussion around it is just speculation until it is officially announced. As written, the EO would be a major win for the burgeoning AI industry, whose leaders — including Sam Altman’s OpenAI, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and other Silicon Valley titans — oppose an inconsistent state-by-state policy approach.
It would be just as big a blow to state lawmakers across the country who have sought to pass bills that would place guardrails on the nascent technology. New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, who co-sponsored a state AI safety bill, in a statement to CNBC called the draft EO “a blank check to Donald Trump’s tech billionaire backers who’ve already made a fortune on — and now stand to profit exponentially more from — allowing unconstrained AI to wipe out jobs, destroy our kids’ brains, and drive electricity bills through the roof.” Bores, a Democrat who is running for Congress, this week became the first target of a well-funded super PAC backed by AI industry leaders.
