A storm is brewing. Moscow is stewing. And Flint is suing. It’s Thursday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
WINTER STORM
Sucker punched: Hey, Washington, sick of hearing about the Blizzard of 2016 yet? Only one more day of buildup and we’ll see if the storm measures up to the hype. DC’s been so squarely focused on this thing for so many days that a relatively light dusting left the metro a slippery mess last night. So much so, the mayor asked people to stay off the roads. Back to the weekend: This storm could be EPIC. Like 30-inches-of-snow-by-Sunday epic!
RUSSIAN SPY DEATH
The spy who snubbed me: It’s not every day a world leader gets accused of ordering a hit. Russian President Vladimir Putin, we’re looking at you. A report released this morning says Putin probably ordered the operation that poisoned former Russian spy-turned- whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko. He died a painful death after a rare highly radioactive substance was slipped into his tea at a London hotel. The Kremlin strongly denied/disputed/dismissed the report. Incidentally, Litvinenko isn’t the first Putin critic to end up dead.
FLINT WATER
The buck (doesn’t) stop here: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder released a flood of emails on the Flint water crisis yesterday. It’s not a pretty picture. One of his staffers was smart enough to realize back in September that the situation was becoming a political issue, but then basically said, “Hey, not our problem.” Oh, and what’s really hard to swallow? The folks of Flint still have to PAY for water that’s only fit to flush the toilet with. Drinking water will cost ya extra.
DETROIT SCHOOLS
Reading, ‘riting, restraining order: Kids will be back in class this morning in Detroit. That’s a big change from yesterday when nine out 10 Detroit schools locked their doors in the latest teacher sickout. The school district’s trying to keep it from happening again and filed a restraining order. It’s a mess all around. Teachers say they deserve better than mildewed, rat-infested classrooms. And kids have already missed 700,000 hours of instruction because of the protests.
PLANET NINE
No hard feelings, Pluto: We’ve been a planet short since Pluto got the boot in 2006. Now, there just might be a new planet No. 9. Caltech says it’s out there — waay out there — on the outer fringes of the solar system. It’s so far out there Planet Nine could take up to 20,000 years to circle the sun. One problem: no one’s seen it yet. Scientists think they know where it should be based on their science-y calculations. Now folks with the fancy telescopes have to spot it.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
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Quote of the day:
“They should be tried for treason & hung”
Rocker Ted Nugent, on President Obama and Hillary Clinton for how they handled the Benghazi attack. We’re guessing he’s not a fan.
Rough ride
If you bought a hover board from Amazon, you can get a refund. Just make sure you put out the fire before you ship it back.
One of the guys
The NFL finally has its first full-time female assistant coach: Kathryn Smith for the Buffalo Bills. That only took about 95 years.
Today in facepalm
It used to be a concentration camp, but now it’s going to be a luxury resort. Seriously?
AND FINALLY …
This Beavis is a real butt-head
Beavis’ owner pleads for the cat to stopping knocking things off the table. But Beavis ain’t having it. You have cat to be kitten me right now!