Ice for Iowa. Bars for the California escapees. And another chance for Aung San Suu Kyi. It’s Monday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
CAMPAIGN 2016
Winds of change: After celebrating (or crying, depending on the results), the presidential candidates and their crews in Iowa for the caucuses need to get the heck out of Dodge, or um, Des Moines. A major winter storm will wallop the state tonight. It shouldn’t impact the caucuses too much since they should be over around 11 p.m. and the brunt of the blizzard won’t hit until later overnight. As for the current state of the races: Hilz and Bernie are neck-and-neck on the Dems side; The Donald keeps his slight lead over the rest of the GOP field.
CALIFORNIA ESCAPEES
Back on the chain gang: All three of the California jail escapees are waking up behind bars again this morning. Their week-and-a-half of freedom came to an end this weekend, when two of the fugitives were nabbed Saturday on the streets of San Francisco, while the third guy simply gave up a day earlier. They’re back in the same Southern California jail they broke out of. This is what life calls “full circle.”
VIRGINIA TECH SLAYING
Questions and (no) answers: In Blacksburg, Virginia, a 13-year-old girl was found dead and two Virginia Tech students charged in the killing. Nicole Madison Lovell’s body was found Saturday in North Carolina. That same day, student David Eisenhauer was charged with murder. Yesterday, fellow student Natalie Keepers was charged with improper disposal of a dead body. How were Eisenhauer and Nicole connected? What was Keepers’ alleged role in all of this? Expect to hear a lot about this case in the coming days.
MYANMAR
Brand new day: Aung San Suu Kyi probably has a little extra pep in her step this morning. That’s because “The Lady” of Myanmar finally took her seat at the head of the country’s government when a new parliament convened. Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest — becoming an international face of the fight for democracy in the process — but was released in March 2011. The once-reclusive country is now more open to the world, but it remains to be seen if this means an improvement in the country’s woeful human rights record.
BOKO HARAM ATTACKS
Madness on repeat: It never seems to let up: more innocent people killed by terrorists. This time it happened in a Nigerian village at the hands of Boko Haram. Gunmen from the terror group attacked a village named Dalori over the weekend, leaving at least 46 people dead, but that number is expected to rise. Survivors said Boko Haram entered the village firing indiscriminately, setting fires and detonating bombs. It’s hard to believe, but these monsters have killed more people than ISIS.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
This is why you carpool
Bill Gates says he memorized employees’ license plate numbers to keep tabs on when they came and left work. Not cool, dude.
The show must go on
Vanessa Hudgens sang and danced through last night’s “Grease: Live” with a heavy heart: her father died of cancer the night before.
Like a boss
The video of 1-year-old Sloan hitting the slops like a pro will make you question all your accomplishments.
Oh buoy
This is an actual hotel in South Korea. The rest are even weirder.
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Here’s what’s happening today.
Z is the new E
Just like how the Ebola virus scared the heck out of us in 2014, Zika virus has us spooked in 2016. The WHO holds an emergency meeting today to figure out how to stop the darned thing.
AND FINALLY …
Pooch parade
A Canadian family takes 35 Great Danes for a walk in the snow. It’s as chaotic and cute as you’d expect.
