Winter Storm Threatens 160 Million Americans with Heavy Snow and Catastrophic Ice Accumulation

U.S. Violent Crime Plummets to Lowest Rate in 125 Years

ICE Policy Allowing Home Entry with Administrative Warrants Ignites Constitutional Battle

TikTok Secures U.S. Operations Through Joint Venture Deal with Oracle Oversight

Latin Americans Largely Support U.S. Capture of Venezuela's Maduro Despite Historical Resentment

Winter Storm Threatens 160 Million Americans with Heavy Snow and Catastrophic Ice Accumulation

A winter storm sweeping across the country from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England will deliver a dangerous mix of heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain from Friday into early next week, threatening more than 160 million people with hazardous conditions that could disrupt daily life. Forecasters expect over 12 inches of snow across a broad swath from the Southern Plains through the Ohio Valley and into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with the potential to cripple public transportation and cause widespread delays at airports and on roadways. South of the snow zone, freezing rain and sleet are expected from central Texas east through Arkansas and much of the Southeast into southern Virginia, where ice accumulation could snap power lines and trees, causing widespread outages. The storm has already triggered a 63 percent surge in natural gas prices this week, stoking fears of a repeat of the deadly 2021 Texas freeze that left millions without electricity. Energy producers and utilities are preparing for the worst as subzero temperatures are forecast for Minneapolis, Chicago, and Detroit starting Friday, while New York and Washington, D.C., expect to be buried in snow by the weekend's end. The Energy Department has ordered grid operators to prepare extraordinary measures to tap backup power generation, particularly in Texas and other southern states where uncommonly cold temperatures threaten oil and gas fields and the power grid.

NYT, WSJ

U.S. Violent Crime Plummets to Lowest Rate in 125 Years

The United States recorded its lowest national homicide rate in 125 years and the largest single-year drop on record in 2025, according to new analysis from the Council on Criminal Justice. The analysis of data from 40 cities found that all seven categories of violent crime fell below prepandemic levels for the first time, with homicides down 25 percent, shootings down 13 percent, and carjackings down 29 percent compared to 2019. The findings provide further evidence that the surge in violence during the early 2020s was a temporary departure during a period of massive social upheaval rather than a permanent shift, with only drug crimes increasing between 2024 and 2025, though they remained lower than 2019 levels.

NYT

ICE Policy Allowing Home Entry with Administrative Warrants Ignites Constitutional Battle

A controversial policy change allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to forcibly enter homes using administrative warrants signed by ICE officials rather than judges has sparked a constitutional debate over Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The May 2025 memo from Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizes officers to use force to enter homes based solely on internal documents to arrest individuals with final deportation orders, marking a departure from historical procedures that required judicial warrants signed by judges or magistrates for home entries. Critics, including legal experts and advocacy groups, argue the policy violates fundamental constitutional safeguards, pointing to past court rulings that found ICE agents violated the Fourth Amendment by forcibly entering homes without judicial approval.

The administration defends the practice by citing legal precedent and emphasizing that individuals subject to these warrants have already received full due process through immigration court proceedings, with the Department of Homeland Security stating that administrative warrants in immigration enforcement have been recognized for decades by the Supreme Court and Congress. Vice President JD Vance defended the policy during a Minneapolis visit Thursday, saying "nobody is talking about doing immigration enforcement without a warrant," though he did not specify which type, while ICE officials maintain they only enter homes during emergency pursuits or with proper warrants that courts have deemed justified. As immigration enforcement expands nationwide, civil liberties advocates and government attorneys are preparing for potential landmark legal challenges that could determine the scope of federal immigration powers and the protection of individual rights under the Fourth Amendment.

ICE Warrant Policy Sparks Constitutional Debate

Vice President Vance Defends Home Entry Practice as Critics Question Fourth Amendment Protections

citizen journalGreg Loving

TikTok Secures U.S. Operations Through Joint Venture Deal with Oracle Oversight

TikTok established a joint venture Thursday that will allow the popular video-sharing app to continue operating in the United States, resolving years of national security concerns through a deal negotiated by the Trump administration. Under the agreement, TikTok will be operated by a new U.S. entity controlled by investors friendly to American interests, with Oracle—the cloud-computing giant that has safeguarded TikTok's U.S. data for years and maintains close ties to the Trump administration—overseeing data management and algorithm training for American users. The deal complies with a 2024 law that President Trump delayed implementing for a year through a series of executive orders to allow time for negotiations, with Trump celebrating the agreement on social media and thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping "for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal."

WSJ

Latin Americans Largely Support U.S. Capture of Venezuela's Maduro Despite Historical Resentment

The U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro sparked widespread discussion across Latin America but failed to generate significant organized protests, with polls showing a majority of Latin Americans endorsed President Trump's intervention despite the region's long-standing resentment over Cold War-era American meddling. Polling data revealed that 74 percent of Peruvians, 63 percent of Chileans, and majorities in Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Panama—a country itself invaded by the United States to remove an authoritarian leader nearly three decades ago—approved of Maduro's capture. While some Latin Americans denounced the action as American imperialism and dormant group chats across the region roared to life with debate, a more supportive response prevailed, with a Buenos Aires professor expressing happiness over seeing "the fall of a dictator" and celebrating with Venezuelan friends, though Mexico's response was more evenly split, reflecting a significant leftist base and widespread opposition to Trump's policies.

NYT

January 23 1907: Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American elected to the U.S. Senate

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Sources

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/weather/winter-storm-ice-snow-forecast.html
2. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/natural-gas-prices-arctic-blast-6542d0a8?mod=hp_lead_pos10
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/us/murder-rate-drop-report.html
4. https://www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-finalizes-deal-to-keep-operating-in-the-u-s-dd2c161a?mod=hp_lead_pos1
5. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/world/americas/latin-america-venezuela-us-raid-maduro-polls.html