Paul Ryan (almost) wants to be House Speaker. El Chapo falls of a cliff. And it’s “Back to the Future” Day.
It’s Wednesday, and here are five things to know for your new day.
POLITICS
Demands: Rep. Paul Ryan inched closer last night to running for Speaker of the House, but only if his conditions are met. Ryan said he’ll only go for the job if he has the full backing of the House’s GOP members. He doesn’t want to barely get the 218 votes he needs to become speaker. So he wants a firm endorsement from three groups inside the House Republican conference: the moderate Tuesday Group (a definite yes), the Republican Study Committee (another yes) and the conservative House Freedom Caucus (anybody’s guess). Ryan’s decision will come within the week.
SHOOTINGS
Deadly: A New York police officer died last night, shot in the head while chasing a robbery suspect in East Harlem. Randolph Holder — a third-generation cop — is the fourth member of the NYPD killed in the line of duty in the city in 11 months. Meanwhile, down in Florida rallies are planned for this week to protest the shooting death of Corey Jones, a 31-year-old man who was shot and killed by a police officer who was wearing civilian clothes and driving an unmarked car. The circumstances of the shooting are murky at this point, other than Jones’ family said his car had broken down on Interstate 95 and police said he was armed.
MAMMOGRAMS
Change: New guidelines from the American Cancer Society on breast cancer screenings are an about-face: women should start getting mammograms at 45 instead of 40, and everyone can skip the routine manual breast checks by doctors. The cancer society says an exhaustive review of the medical literature shows these measures just aren’t very effective. The new guidelines also add to the confusion. Now three key groups — the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Cancer Society, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — recommend different ages for starting regular mammograms: 40, 45 and 50 respectively.
EL CHAPO HUNT
Injured: Mexico was real close to capturing fugitive cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman earlier this month. He got away, but not before tumbling off a cliff and hurting himself. Authorities believe Guzman broke a leg and injured his face in the fall, which happened October 9 near the town of Cosala, in the mountains of Mexico’s Sinaloa state. Guzman’s bodyguards grabbed him at the bottom of the cliff and spirited him away through a dense forest. The hunt continues.
‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ DAY
Timely: It’s finally here! October 21, 2015, the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown took that souped-up DeLorean and landed into the future. So how does the “Back to the Future Part II’ vision of the future compare with reality? Do we have flying cars? Nope. Hoverboards? No. Self-lacing shoes? Not even close. But the Chicago Cubs are in the playoffs, so a Cubs World Series title could still happen, right? Well, last night the Cubbies lost again, putting them at the brink of elimination in their National League Championship Series with the New York Mets. So that’s probably not going to happen either.
