January 20 2025

1. Trump Set for Inauguration, Plans Executive Order Blitz
2. ‘Shock and Awe’ Deportations Expected Under New Trump Order
3. Trump Moves to Save TikTok on Inauguration Eve
4. Biden Programs Transform Indiana Rust Belt City
5. First Hamas Hostages Freed as Ceasefire Begins
6. Final Four NFL Teams: Chiefs, Bills, Commanders, Eagles
January 20, 2020: First confirmed case of COVID‑19 found in U.S.

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FLASH…Biden pardons Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, Mark Milley, others…

1. Trump Set for Inauguration, Plans Executive Order Blitz

A. Donald Trump is set to be sworn into office Monday as the nation’s 47th president. He will call for a “revolution of common sense” during his inaugural address. The president-elect has readied executive orders on immigration, energy and government hiring. Trump capped off a busy weekend in Washington with a rally at the Capital One Arena downtown. Today's swearing-in will take place indoors due to freezing temperatures. It is good news for the Secret Service, but not for thousands of ticket-holders who will be left out in the cold. Trump’s inauguration quickly became the hottest ticket across corporate America. Even big tech’s “frenemies”–Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk–seem to have put their differences aside in anticipation of the new administration.  

B. Mr. Trump has indicated he plans to sign roughly 100 executive orders in the initial days of his presidency, with a number coming within hours of his being sworn in on Monday. Among them are substantial actions to reshape the federal bureaucracy’s workplace rules, which are in line with various promises that Mr. Trump made on the campaign trail.  

We will likely have a special evening edition to cover these executive orders

Article Source: WSJ, NYT

2. ‘Shock and Awe’ Deportations Expected Under New Trump Order

Donald Trump’s border tsar has vowed a “shock and awe” approach to deportations in the first week of the new administration, with sweeping raids targeting undocumented migrants in cities across the US. Tom Homan said that the incoming president would immediately unveil a series of executive orders directing “targeted enforcement operations” by federal officers against immigrants with criminal records.  “You’re going to see — in the first week — you’re going to see the shock and awe on the border and you’re going to see it in the interior,” Homan told Fox News on Saturday.  “They’re going to be targeted enforcement operations. When [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] goes out, they’re going to know exactly who they’re looking for and pretty much where they’ll find them.”

Article Source: FT

3. Trump Moves to Save TikTok on Inauguration Eve

President-elect Donald Trump rode to TikTok’s rescue on Sunday, working on the eve of his new presidency to try to undo a ban effort that he helped initiate during his first term. The popular social-media app started restoring service on Sunday for its 170 million U.S. users just over 14 hours after halting it in response to a bipartisan national-security law requiring TikTok to shed its Chinese ownership or shut down in the U.S. The restoration of service came after Trump, who has been indicating for weeks that he wanted to help the app, said Sunday he would issue an executive order on Monday to reinstate the service in the U.S. and that he wants the country to have an ownership position in the app.   

Article Source: WSJ

4. Biden Programs Transform Indiana Rust Belt City

The mayor of this Rust Belt city is tracking so many infrastructure investments that he is running out of room on his whiteboard. There are new parks, sidewalks and housing units under construction. A giant factory is rising south of town and another is on the way. The growth is some of the best this region has experienced in decades, much of it sparked by federal funding from President Biden-backed legislation.  The Covid stimulus funding in the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) gave Terre Haute about $34 million to plow into city improvements—a once-in-a-generation windfall for a community of 60,000 people. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is providing more than $2 billion in loans and tax credits to two planned factories that will create more than 800 jobs.  The funding “has done wonders for communities like Terre Haute,” said Mayor Brandon Sakbun, a 28-year-old Democrat and former Army Ranger who leads a sometimes blue-leaning city in a county and state that voted for Donald Trump. “A lot of Hoosiers and a lot of individuals might not realize just the true impact that several pieces of legislation have had.”

Article Source: WSJ

5. First Hamas Hostages Freed as Ceasefire Begins

Israel’s military said three hostages held in Gaza had been handed over to its forces and returned to Israeli territory, while the first Palestinian prisoners were also freed, as a hostage and prisoner exchange deal began on Sunday after 15 months of brutal conflict. Television footage appeared to show the three women entering a Red Cross vehicle in Gaza after exiting a pick-up truck, surrounded by a large crowd and dozens of masked and armed militants. Israel said the three were Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, the first of dozens of captives due to be released. The handover came hours after a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, raising hopes of a pause — and potentially an end — to the bloodiest chapter in the decades-long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a war that has left Gaza in ruins, consumed Israeli society and brought the Middle East to the brink of a full-blown regional war. As the fighting ended on Sunday, Gazans took to the streets in celebration and began returning to the ruins of their homes, while in some cities, uniformed Hamas militants and police were in evidence after months of guerrilla war. In Israel, relatives of hostages and their supporters gathered in Tel Aviv to watch live broadcasts of the first returns. The truce, the first stage of a three-phase agreement thrashed out by US-led mediators last week after months of failed attempts, had been due to take effect early on Sunday. But the fragile ceasefire began nearly three hours late, with Israel continuing to bomb Gaza after a delay in Hamas providing names of the hostages to be released.

Article Source: FT

6. Final Four NFL Teams: Chiefs, Bills, Commanders, Eagles

The road to the Super Bowl goes through Kansas City. After dispatching the Houston Texans, the Chiefs will play in the AFC Championship Game for a seventh straight year. They’re now just two wins away from the greatest achievement in the Super Bowl era: a three-peat. Standing in their way are the Buffalo Bills, who defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night, and now have a chance to dethrone the reigning two-time champions. In the NFC, the Commanders shocked the world by upsetting the Detroit Lions on Saturday night and will try to repeat the feat next weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, who took down the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

Article Source: NYT

January 20, 2020: First confirmed case of COVID‑19 found in U.S.

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Sources

2. A https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-inauguration-president-2025?st=a9unNB&reflink=article_copyURL_share
B https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/us/politics/trump-inauguration-stephen-miller.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

3. https://on.ft.com/4ga0AVP

4. https://www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-goes-dark-for-u-s-users-while-trump-signals-he-will-save-it-0370b227?st=fQ7xiD&reflink=article_copyURL_share

5. https://www.wsj.com/economy/biden-leaves-with-an-uncertain-economic-legacy-not-so-in-this-indiana-town-78d0b4c2

6. https://on.ft.com/3C5DBh0

7. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6073512/2025/01/19/nfl-super-bowl-playoff-chances-conference-championship/?source=user_shared_article