Top 5 US news stories
December 30 2025
C.I.A. Conducts First Drone Strike Inside Venezuela, Targeting Gang Drug Operation
Rising Electricity Costs Fuel Voter Anger, Reshape Political Battles Across States
Los Angeles Tightens Rent Controls for First Time in Four Decades Amid Housing Shortage
Starbucks Closes 400 Urban Stores as Remote Work and Competition Undercut Saturation Strategy
China Pushes Into Arctic Waters with Research Subs as Military Presence Near Alaska Surges
1. C.I.A. Conducts First Drone Strike Inside Venezuela, Targeting Gang Drug Operation
The Central Intelligence Agency conducted its first known drone strike inside Venezuela last week, targeting a port dock where officials believe the Tren de Aragua gang was storing narcotics for transport by boat, according to people briefed on the operation. No casualties were reported in the strike, which signals an aggressive new phase in the Trump administration's pressure campaign against the Maduro government.
NYT
2. Rising Electricity Costs Fuel Voter Anger, Reshape Political Battles Across States
Electricity prices varied widely across the nation in 2024, ranging from 8 cents per kilowatt-hour in North Dakota to 27 cents in California, with the Energy Department projecting another 4% increase next year following a 4.9% rise in 2025. A complex mix of factors is driving costs higher, including data center expansion, hurricane and wildfire damage, state renewable-energy mandates, rooftop solar adoption that shifts costs to non-solar customers, and replacement of aging grid infrastructure. Rising power bills have emerged as a potent political issue heading into the 2026 midterm elections. In New Jersey, where residential rates climbed 21% in September from the previous year, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the governor's race after calling for a rate freeze. In Georgia, voter anger over rate increases helped two Democrats unseat Republican incumbents on the state's utility commission. For consumers like Liliana Olayo, a 51-year-old retail worker in Aurora, Illinois, the impact is immediate: her summer electricity bills surged from $200 to as high as $454, including past-due amounts, forcing her to play catch-up for months.
WSJ
3. Los Angeles Tightens Rent Controls for First Time in Four Decades Amid Housing Shortage
Los Angeles will implement its strictest rent controls in 40 years starting in early February, limiting annual increases on most multifamily apartments to 1% to 4% depending on local inflation, down from the previous 3% to 8% cap. The policy change intensifies a national debate over whether price controls help struggling tenants or depress new housing investment, particularly as the region's chronic housing shortage worsened after fires last year destroyed neighborhoods on opposite sides of the county.
WSJ
4. Starbucks Closes 400 Urban Stores as Remote Work and Competition Undercut Saturation Strategy
Starbucks is closing approximately 400 stores concentrated in large metropolitan areas as CEO Brian Niccol, hired last year from Chipotle, abandons the company's decades-long strategy of saturating urban neighborhoods with locations. The $1 billion restructuring acknowledges that the chain's expansion model—once so aggressive it became a cultural punchline—has backfired amid growing competition, the rise of remote work and escalating costs.
CNN
5. China Pushes Into Arctic Waters with Research Subs as Military Presence Near Alaska Surges
Chinese research submarines traveled thousands of feet beneath Arctic ice for the first time this summer, a technical achievement that U.S. national-security officials say carries significant military and commercial implications. The Department of Homeland Security reported in November that Chinese military and research vessels operated around Alaska's Arctic waters in unprecedented numbers this year, with NATO's top military leader warning that "the Chinese are being more and more aggressive" across the High North. For Beijing, which has declared itself a "near-Arctic power," mastering Arctic travel could yield valuable data about natural resources beneath melting ice caps, dramatically reduce commercial shipping times and position nuclear-armed submarines closer to potential targets including the United States. China's Foreign Ministry maintains its Arctic activities are lawful and contribute to regional peace and sustainable development.
WSJ
December 30 1968: In a college gym in Spokane, Washington, a concertgoer makes the first live (bootleg) recording
of rock band Led Zeppelin, five nights into their first US tour.
Sources
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