1. Pacific Gas & Electric     The devastating Camp Fire that blazed through Butte County, California, during the fall of 2018 killed 86 people and destroyed an estimated 14,000 homes. Though the cause has not been officially determined, many are pointing the finger at utility company Pacific Gas & Electric..     Investigators are determining if damaged equipment may have started the fire. PG&E may be liable for at least $30 billion – not including penalties, fines, or damages – according to CNBC. Some at the company may even face murder or manslaughter charges, according to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. The blaze was the deadliest in the state's history. (Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as investigators continue to look into the utility's possible involvement in causing the Camp Fire, which began Nov. 9 in Butte County, Calif.

PG&E said the company plans to file for voluntary reorganization on or about January 29. It issued the announcement Monday because the utility must tell employees at least 15 days before a change of control in the company.

The San Francisco-headquartered utility, which serves 16 million residents in northern and central California, said it does not expect its bankruptcy filing to impact electric or natural gas service for customers. Employees will continue to receive pay and healthcare benefits as usual, the company said.

More: Class-action lawsuit alleges deadly California wildfire was caused by Pacific Gas & Electric

The utility's CEO Geisha Williams resigned Sunday as expectations rose PG&E would declare insolvency as it faced potentially billions of dollars in liability over its role in recent California wildfires. State fire investigators blamed the utility’s power lines for causing a number of California wildfires in October 2017.

“The people affected by the devastating Northern California wildfires are our customers, our neighbors and our friends, and we understand the profound impact the fires have had on our communities and the need for PG&E to continue enhancing our wildfire mitigation efforts," interim CEO John Simon said in a statement. "We remain committed to helping them through the recovery and rebuilding process.”

PG&E has seen its shares plunge in recent days after media reports about the company's potential bankruptcy filing as lawsuits have been filed charging the utility's role in the devastating wildfires that killed dozens.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2019/01/14/pg-e-chapter-11-bankruptcy-co-says-file-january-29/2568147002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories

>>4750059

WOW Well if bush gave it a wave into law, Trump can use his magic wand to wave it out of law…

>>4750084

5:52 here on west coast

Millions digging out from killer storm, bracing for more winter havoc

John Bacon, USA TODAY Published 9:07 a.m. ET Jan. 14, 2019

Millions of Americans from Colorado to Washington, D.C., were digging out from a major winter storm Monday while forecasters warned that more snow chaos could be on the way next weekend.

The storm began its march in Colorado last week before dumping up to 20 inches of snow in parts of Missouri. On its way east, it rolled through an area from Baltimore to North Carolina, blanketing Washington and its environs with up to a foot of snow and pounding parts of western North Carolina with a half-inch of ice.

More than 120,000 homes and businesses remained without power Monday in Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia.

Schools were closed for hundreds of thousands of kids across the metro Washington area Monday, just hours after the snow finally quit. Interstates were cleared but local roads remained icy, some untouched by plows.

Snow covers parked cars during a winter storm on Jan. 13, 2019 in Washington. (Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AFP/Getty Images)

North Carolina had the highest number of power outages lingering Monday, almost 50,000. Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency and urged residents in the mountainous west to stay off roads.

"Thanks to the crews working hard to restore power and keep our roads safe," he said.

Flight delays and cancellations across the swath of the storm were easing Monday after a weekend of scheduling havoc. A jet slid off a taxiway in Cincinnati on Sunday, but no injuries were reported.

More: Fierce winter storm slams East with ice, snow; more could be coming

More: Snow count: 1,500 flight cancellations since Friday; schedules improving

Interstates that had been the scene of thousands of crashes and abandoned vehicles also were opening up.

At least nine people died in the storm, including four in Missouri, where the Highway Patrol rescued almost 2,000 stranded motorists over the weekend.

Almost a foot of snow was measured at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Omaha was digging out from almost as much, as was the Illinois capital city of Springfield.

Illinois State Trooper Christopher Lambert was among the storm's fatalities, hit by a car Saturday while responding to a three-vehicle crash I-294.

“Trooper Lambert deliberately placed his vehicle in a position to protect the lives of the victims of the previous crash, and took on the danger himself," State Patrol Director Leo Schmitz said.

The weather event itself was largely over Monday. The next few days should provide an opportunity for recovery, AccuWeather forecasts. But a "significant" winter storm could develop from Friday into next weekend, with a storm sweeping snow and ice from the central Plains to a large swath of the Northeast.

And there may be more after that, AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.

"There will be no rest for the weary with another storm approaching the East between Jan. 22 and 23," Pastelok said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/14/snow-much-nation-digs-out-ahead-more-winter-storms/2568039002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories

Polish mayor stabbed during public act dies of injuries

efe-epaWarsaw14 Jan 2019

The mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk on Monday died from his injuries a day after he was stabbed on a stage during a charity event, the city hall confirmed.

Pawel Adamowicz, 53, was assaulted onstage on Sunday evening by an assailant who took the microphone to say he had been wrongly imprisoned and tortured.

A handout photo made available by the City of Gdansk shows Mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz speaking during the 27th finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity in Gdansk, Poland, Jan, 13, 2019. EPA-

https://www.efe.com/efe/english/world/polish-mayor-stabbed-during-public-act-dies-of-injuries/50000262-3866428?utm_source=wwwefecom&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

U.S. SUPREME COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE TO TRUMP APPOINTEE WHITAKER

BY REUTERS JANUARY 14, 2019 16:40

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Monday stayed out of the fight over whether President Donald Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general is unlawful by rejecting a motion relating to the matter filed in a pending case.

The court turned away the request made by Barry Michaels, a criminal defendant in a federal case whose lawyers challenged Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor, being named in court papers as the acting attorney general after Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Nov. 7. The court in a brief order also declined to hear Michaels' appeal in the underlying firearms-related criminal case.

https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/US-Supreme-Court-rejects-challenge-to-Trump-appointee-Whitaker-577323

HOLD AN ELECTION

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit divorce deal may not be, as one opposition lawmaker called it, "as dead as the deadest dodo," but it is definitely ailing.

It looks very likely that Britain's Parliament will reject the agreement in a vote scheduled for Tuesday. If that happens, May has until the start of next week to come back to Parliament with a Plan B — and Britain has just 10 weeks until it is due to leave the bloc, with or without a deal, on March 29.

Here's a look at what might happen if lawmakers vote down the deal.

If the deal is defeated by a big margin, Prime Minister Theresa May will face pressure to resign. But she has vowed to carry on, and there is no way her Conservative Party can evict her as leader — after a failed no-confidence vote in May's leadership by Conservative lawmakers in December, she is safe from another challenge for a year.

The main opposition Labour Party says it will try to trigger an election by calling a no-confidence vote in the whole government. But the vote will fail unless some members of the governing Conservatives or the government's allies from the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland rebel and side with the opposition.

If the government lost a no-confidence vote, it would have 14 days to overturn the result by winning lawmakers' confidence in a new vote — possibly with a new prime minster, if May was persuaded to quit. Barring that, there would be an election, a process that takes five to six weeks.

———

SECOND REFERENDUM

The campaign to revisit Brexit in a second referendum — driven largely by supporters of the losing "remain" side last time around — has been gathering steam as the pitfalls and complexity of the divorce process become clear.

The government is firmly opposed, but has warned that it is increasingly likely that the decision to leave the EU could be reversed if May's deal is rejected.

It's unclear whether a majority of legislators would support a new referendum, or what the question would be. Many pro-EU politicians want a choice between leaving on the proposed terms and staying in the EU, but others say leaving without a deal should also be an option.

There's a strong chance any new referendum would be as divisive as the first.

NO DEAL

"No deal" is the outcome few want — but it is also the default option. If the divorce deal is not approved, altered or put on hold, Britain will cease to be an EU member at 11 p.m. London time on March 29.

The Bank of England has warned that tumbling out of the bloc with no deal to soften the exit could plunge Britain into its deepest recession in nearly a century, and businesses warn the sudden end to longstanding trading agreements with the EU could see gridlock at British ports and shortages of food and medicines.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-parliament-rejects-mays-brexit-deal-plan-60360933

'Dirty cops': Trump slams FBI agents who wanted to investigate him over alleged Russia ties

Published time: 14 Jan, 2019 14:52

US President Donald Trump has said that FBI agents who wanted to investigate him over unproven collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election are just “dirty cops.”

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday morning, Trump said he “never worked for Russia” and chastised the media for focusing on the alleged collusion.

“Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it's a disgrace that you even ask that question. It's a hoax, the whole thing,” Trump told reporters.

https://www.rt.com/usa/448784-dirty-cops-trump-slams-fbi/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Donald Trump has some choice words for Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer over the shutdown

Donald Trump has lashed out at the Democratic Party on Twitter, saying the longest government shutdown in US history is “their fault”.

AP, Staff writer

News Corp Australia Network

JANUARY 15, 20191:53AM

Congress returns to Washington for its first full week of legislative business since control of the House reverted to Democrats, but politicians will be confronted with the same lingering question: When will the partial government shutdown end?

One Republican senator says he’s offered US President Donald Trump a possible solution.

Sen. Lindsey Graham is encouraging Mr Trump to reopen government and continue negotiating with Democrats over the wall Mr Trump wants to build on the US-Mexico border.

If there’s no deal at the end of that time, Mr Graham says Mr Trump would be free to take the more dramatic step of declaring a national emergency to build it.

But Mr Trump still wants a deal on funding for the wall before agreeing to reopen shuttered government departments.

But the Democrats are standing firm, too. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, insists that Mr Trump reopen the government first.

Their weeks-old standoff led to the partial government shutdown, now on day 24 without a clear end in sight — and now the longest government shutdown in US history.

On Monday morning Mr Trump tweeted who he thinks is to blame for this state of affairs.

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-has-some-choice-words-for-nancy-pelosi-and-chuck-schumer-over-the-shutdown/news-story/f2670e1b0f5378924798ff8be2fa9d29

>>4750693

Israel uses us like a whore: Traficant

he really lays it on the line…. about the control israel has on foreign and domestic policies the media, the commerce, both bodies of the congress. They own congress he says

China sentences Canadian to death, raises diplomatic tension

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING — Jan 14, 2019, 9:58 AM ET

Email

A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death Monday in a sudden retrial in a drug smuggling case that is likely to escalate tensions between the countries over the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive.

The court in northeastern Liaoning province announced that it had given Robert Lloyd Schellenberg the death penalty after rejecting his plea of innocence and convicting him of being an accessory to drug smuggling. It gave no indication that the penalty could be commuted, but Schellenberg's fate could become intertwined in diplomatic negotiations over China's demand for the top executive's release.

Schellenberg was detained more than four years ago and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016. But suddenly last month, an appeals court agreed with prosecutors who said the sentence was too lenient, and scheduled Monday's retrial with just four days' notice.

The Chinese press began publicizing Schellenberg's case in December after Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States.

Since then, China has arrested two Canadians in apparent retaliation for Meng's arrest.

It arrested both Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, on suspicion of endangering national security. A Canadian teacher was detained but released.

Schellenberg's lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo, said his client now has 10 days to appeal.

The court said it ruled Monday that Schellenberg was involved in an international drug smuggling operation. It said he was recruited to help smuggle more than 222 kilograms (488 pounds) of methamphetamine from a warehouse in Dalian city to Australia. A Chinese person convicted of involvement in the same operation was earlier given a suspended death sentence.

Fifty people, including Canadian diplomats and foreign and domestic media, attended Monday's trial, the court said in an online statement.

In 2009, China executed a Briton, Akmal Shaikh, on charges of smuggling heroin despite his supporters' protest that he was mentally ill.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-sentences-canadian-man-death-drug-smuggling-case-60359884