Today’s comic by Matt Bors is The very stable G.E.N.I.U.S. president:
• From the Dept. of It’s About Friggin’ Time:
Virginia Gov.-elect Ralph Northam (D) announced the last of 15 cabinet picks on Tuesday, assembling what his office says would be the first majority-female cabinet in state history.
Northam tapped Esther Lee, a Fairfax economic development official and former official in the Obama administration, to serve as his secretary of commerce.
Pending approval by the legislature, Lee would be the eighth woman to serve in one of 15 Cabinet-level positions.
“Our commonwealth’s diversity is our strength, why is why I made a commitment to building a cabinet that reflects it,” Northam said in a statement. “I’m honored to have this formidable group of experienced, accomplished female leaders joining me in working to build a Virginia that works for everyone, no matter who you are, no matter where you live.”
• Mudslide kills 15 on the central California coast, with dozens still missing.
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MIDDAY TWEET
• World's largest solar plant gets government approval in Australia:
South Australia—home to the world's largest battery—is one step closer to also hosting the world's largest solar thermal power plant following developmental approval from the state government.
California-based SolarReserve is behind the $650 million, 150-megawatt "Aurora" project that will be located 30 kilometers north of Port Augusta.
Solar thermal plants are different from traditional photovoltaic panels on rooftops and solar farms. These plants, also known as concentrated solar plants, consists of a large field of moveable mirrors, or heliostats, that concentrate the sun's rays to a central tower to heat up salt. This molten salt then produces superheated steam to drive a generator's turbines.
• San Diego still not testing all rape kits in its 558-case backlog:
The San Diego police chief told the City Council on Tuesday that her department is wading through a backlog of 558 untested rape kits but will not test every kit in its crime lab, eschewing national standards.
A 2014 state audit on sexual assault evidence kits analyzed DNA evidence that was collected but not analyzed from rape, domestic violence and child abuse victims in San Diego, Sacramento and Oakland.
The audit found that fewer than half of the rape kits were tested and analyzed, but that the benefits of testing all sexual assault kits were unknown. After the audit, however, Sacramento and Oakland adopted a policy of testing all rape kits; San Diego has not.
• Trump regime seeks to make lower-yield nukes and loosen rules about their use:
Arms control advocates have voiced alarm at the new proposal to make smaller, more “usable” nuclear weapons, arguing it makes a nuclear war more likely, especially in view of what they see as Donald Trump’s volatility and readiness to brandish the US arsenal in showdowns with the nation’s adversaries.
The NPR also expands the circumstances in which the US might use its nuclear arsenal, to include a response to a non-nuclear attack that caused mass casualties, or was aimed at critical infrastructure or nuclear command and control sites.
The nuclear posture review (NPR), the first in eight years, is expected to be published after Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech at the end of January.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin & Joan McCarter round it all up. The papers are back to normalizing The Dotard. The Fusion GPS testimony transcript is out, and Republicans are exactly who we thought they were. Net Neutrality to get a floor vote! CHIP & DACA still in limbo.