Weekly Review
Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump were subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James.1 “The criminal former president is at the top of the list,” said Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a speech demanding that those responsible for the assassination of Qassem Solemani face trial.2 Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska was forced to change its guidelines for vendors after a shop sold wooden bears resembling Donald Trump emblazoned with the anti-Biden slogan let’s go brandon, and a group called Occupy Biden marched to and camped outside Biden’s home in Greenville, Delaware, to demand that the president, who has approved more drilling permits on public lands per month than Trump did, to declare a national climate emergency and cease all new fossil fuel projects by January 31.3 4 5 Wildfires powered by hurricane-level wind gusts spread across Boulder County, Colorado, and were halted by the arrival of 10 inches of snow.6 7 A New Year’s Day polar bear plunge in Boise, Idaho, was canceled due to severely icy conditions, and a National Hockey League game between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild, during which the temperature dropped to minus 10 degrees, was deemed the coldest outdoor game in the history of the league.8 9 A noticeable quantity of fish, likely caught in tornadic waterspouts or updrafts, fell from the sky on a rainy day in Texarkana, Texas.10 11
Jair Bolsonaro, who is known to have tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, announced that he would not vaccinate his 11-year-old daughter; days later, the Brazilian president was hospitalized for an intestinal blockage.12 13 14 15 A group calling itself the White Rose, the same name as an anti-Nazi resistance group run by the activist Sophie Scholl, was accused of spreading anti-vaccination propaganda in Hudson, New York, and a man was charged with forgery after he created a fake positive COVID test in order to avoid a court appearance in Hartford, Connecticut.16 17 The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that it has finally cleared its years-long backlog of grievances, though critics noted that many of the original complainants are now dead.18 Ghislaine Maxwell, whose husband informed her that he had left her for a yoga teacher via phone call, was found guilty of five of six counts of sex trafficking, and lawyers for Virginia Giuffre, who has accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was underage, requested that the prince provide evidence of his “medical inability to sweat,” which he has previously argued disproves Giuffre’s allegations.19 20 21 Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, announced that a statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond would be moved to the city’s Black History Museum, and a statue of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Atlacomulco, Mexico, was beheaded two days after it was erected.22 23
The Seoul fire department cautioned cat owners to “pay extra attention” to their pets after it was discovered that cats have caused more than 100 house fires in the city since January 2019.24 A new report showed that 34 percent fewer cars were burned on New Year’s Eve in France in 2021 than in 2019.25 An Australian man self-immolated while ranting about COVID-19 vaccines, and a candle lit to commemorate victims of COVID-19 led to the deaths of three patients in an intensive care unit in Kosiv, Ukraine, after the flame spread to nearby oxygen concentrators.26 27 “Very soon, time will take us from past into future,” said Vladimir Putin in his longest-ever New Year’s address to Russians.28 “True, this is something that happens every day, minute, and second,” he continued. A meteor is believed to have exploded or vaporized over Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day.29—Sara Krolewski
