Top 5 US news stories
January 16 2026
Trump Administration Forces Tech Giants to Fund Power Plants as AI Boom Strains Grid
Iran's Security Forces Cut Internet, Unleash Deadly Crackdown That Halts Nationwide Protests
Trump Threatens Military Deployment in Minnesota as ICE Shooting Sparks Widening Protests
Boomers' $38 Trillion Wealth Transfer Reshapes Luxury Real Estate Market
Venezuelan Opposition Leader Gifts Trump Nobel Prize as CIA Director Meets Interim Government
Trump Administration Forces Tech Giants to Fund Power Plants as AI Boom Strains Grid
The Trump administration plans to direct the nation's largest power grid operator to hold an emergency auction requiring tech companies to bid on 15-year contracts worth billions of dollars to build new power plants, according to sources familiar with the matter. The unprecedented federal intervention targets rising electricity costs in the 13-state PJM Interconnection market, where the rapid expansion of data centers driven by artificial intelligence demand has strained capacity and driven up prices in recent auctions. Governors from states experiencing data center growth will visit the White House Friday to sign an agreement that includes two-year price caps on future PJM auctions and requires operators like Amazon and Google to shoulder a greater share of grid expansion costs.
WSJ, Reuters
Iran's Security Forces Cut Internet, Unleash Deadly Crackdown That Halts Nationwide Protests
Iranian security forces unleashed an unprecedented wave of violence under cover of internet and phone service shutdowns that halted nationwide protests, leaving what human-rights groups and eyewitnesses estimate to be thousands dead and a tense pall over many cities. The regime intentionally carried out the crackdown with extensive communication disruptions making it difficult to judge the true scale, though eyewitness accounts of localized violence and estimates by human-rights groups and intelligence services point to bloodshed that far exceeds the toll in previous bouts of protests, with groups compiling evidence including images of body bags and testimonies from relatives and medical workers. President Trump has been weighing military options but was advised that a large-scale strike would be unlikely to topple the government and could spark wider conflict, with officials warning the U.S. would need additional military firepower in the Middle East both to launch such an attack and protect American forces and allies like Israel from potential Iranian retaliation. Without making a final decision on which action to take, Trump ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to depart the South China Sea and steam toward the Middle East, positioning military assets while he monitors how Tehran handles protesters, according to U.S. officials.
WSJ, Sentinel
Trump Threatens Military Deployment in Minnesota as ICE Shooting Sparks Widening Protests
President Trump threatened Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military inside the U.S. in response to protests in Minnesota that intensified after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman during what the Department of Homeland Security has described as its largest operation in agency history. The 19th-century law would authorize the president to use military forces for civilian law enforcement, bypassing typical restrictions under the Posse Comitatus Act, though any such action would likely face legal challenges as the move escalates a weekslong battle between Trump and Minnesota's leaders over ICE's mass deployment following a welfare-fraud scandal involving the state's Somali immigrant community.
WSJ
Boomers' $38 Trillion Wealth Transfer Reshapes Luxury Real Estate Market
Baby boomers and older Americans are beginning to pass down what will total more than $38 trillion globally over the next decade to approximately 1.2 million heirs with net worths exceeding $5 million, creating ripple effects across high-end property markets as Gen Xers and Millennials stand to inherit $4.6 trillion in global real estate, including nearly $2.4 trillion in U.S. properties alone, according to a new report from Coldwell Banker Global Luxury incorporating data from Altrata and Cerulli Associates.
WSJ
Venezuelan Opposition Leader Gifts Trump Nobel Prize as CIA Director Meets Interim Government
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented President Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize during a White House meeting Thursday, but emerged without public backing as Trump doubled down on his willingness to deal with Venezuela's socialist regime rather than press for democratic transition. CIA Director John Ratcliffe reinforced the administration's approach by meeting with interim President Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas, becoming the most senior American official and first cabinet member to visit Venezuela since U.S. military forces seized President Nicolás Maduro in a raid nearly two weeks ago, signaling Washington views the interim government as the best path to short-term stability.
WSJ, NYT
January 16 1979: Shah flees Iran
Faced with an army mutiny and violent demonstrations against his rule, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the leader of Iran since 1941, is forced to flee the country. Fourteen days later, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution, returned after 15 years of exile and took control of Iran.
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Sources
WSJ Massacre Article | WSJ Military Article | Sentinel Tweet
