Need 2 Know: Pelosi Elected House Speaker, Troops Sent to Border
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
* **Pelosi Elected:** Rep. Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker of the House, as expected, as the new Congress was sworn in. Democrats quickly passed measures to reopen the government without funding the border wall, which the Senate is unlikely to even take up. That means the shutdown will continue without an end in sight. Read more [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-democrats-prepare-vote-to-reopen-government-as-cracks-appear-in-gop-opposition/2019/01/03/24151490-0f96-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html?utm_term=.28dce1c0b340).
* **Troops to Border:** Troops are being sent to the Southern border in order to construct or upgrade fencing that’s already in place, as negotiations over the border wall remain at an impasse. The construction and deployment would be paid for by the Pentagon out of its current budget. The troops will also provide medical care to migrant families regularly arriving from Central America. Read more [here](https://www.npr.org/2019/01/03/681971323/troops-to-be-deployed-to-border-to-build-160-miles-of-fencing).
* **Spy Games:** An American citizen detained in Russia has been formally charged with espionage. Paul Whelan was detained a week ago and has been held without bail in an infamous Russian prison on charges of spying, though his family maintains that he was in Moscow to attend a wedding. Read more [here](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/us/russia-paul-whelan-espionage-charge/index.html).
* **Travel Advisory:** The State Department is warning Americans traveling to China that they may not be allowed to return home. According to the advisory, U.S. citizens are at an increased risk of being subject to “exit bans” and arbitrarily enforced local laws as a form of harassment. Dual citizens and those of Chinese heritage are at particular risk. Read more [here](https://www.businessinsider.com/us-china-travel-advisory-2019-1).
* **TSA Dogs:** The head of the TSA wants to expand its canine program and officials have determined that floppy-eared dogs like Labrador retrievers are a better fit than pointy-eared dogs like German shepherds. Floppy-eared dogs apparently have a more calming effect on passengers. Read more [here](https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/tsa-thinks-floppy-eared-working-dogs-airport-welcoming/story?id=60141736).
* **Apple Woes:** The Dow plunged 660 points after Apple’s surprise announcement that its sales had slowed. Apple shares tumbled 10 percent. The iPhone maker has lost $430 billion in market cap since its peak, more than the entire value of Facebook. Read more [here](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/apple-shock-sends-markets-tumbling).
* **Historic Run Over:** UConn’s historic win streak is over. Baylor women beat the No. 1 Huskies, 68-57, handing them their first regular-season loss in 126 games, or more than four years. Read more [here](https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/hc-sp-uconn-vs-baylor-201931-20190104-4isoc2yiprehvgw4nzxlha6mum-story.html).
* **Kevin & Ellen:** In an interview to air today on Ellen, Kevin Hart says he is "evaluating" his decision to walk away from the Oscar hosting gig. DeGeneres says she personally lobbied Academy members to invite Hart back, and they are considering. The ceremony will be broadcast on Feb. 24, and is still without a host. Read more [here](https://variety.com/2019/film/news/kevin-hart-oscars-ellen-1203099143/).
* **Spotted:** Former President Barack Obama on the Billboard charts, thanks to a collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda in a Hamilton remix. Obama made it to number 22 on the “Hot R&B Songs” for the song One Last Time (44 Remix). Read more [here](https://ew.com/music/2019/01/03/obama-billboard-chart-lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-remix/?utm_source=twitter.com).
* **Leftovers:** The Louvre had more than 10 million visitors last year — more than any museum ever has — and Jay-Z and Beyonce’s music video for “Apesh*t” set at the famous museum is credited with boosting the number of visitors. Read more [here](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-tourism-louvre/beyonce-and-jay-z-help-paris-louvre-to-record-number-of-visitors-idUSKCN1OX1B3).
Cheddar's Hena Doba gets into the latest.
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Andrew Cuomo is reportedly planning his comeback. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former New York governor and his aides are considering how to make his first public appearance since he abruptly resigned last August amid sexual harassment allegations. Jake Lahut, politics reporter for Insider, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Cuomo's potential return to politics.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
The opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympics has kicked off at the Beijing national stadium. 150,000 spectators are in attendance for the games inside the 'closed loop' system separating Olympic personnel from the public. Cheddar News spoke with Brian Cazenueve, Sports Illustrated contributor, to share the highlights you may have missed and much more.
The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Although this week's weather is predicted to be less severe than the 2021 storm, Texans are preparing for the worst - stocking up on supplies and emptying shelves in grocery stores, once again. Some Texans still have not recovered from last year's tragedy, and are heading into the next few weeks with anxiety for what's to come. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Houston-based energy workforce & technology council, joins Cheddar News to discuss if the Texas grid will fail again.
Student loan debt continues to be a major concern for tens of millions of Americans who collectively owe about $1.7 trillion. Black college students often take on larger amounts of student debt in order to pay for a higher education. In turn, they are more likely to struggle post-graduation with repaying their debt, creating a racial wealth gap divide. Andre Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Institution joined All Hands to help break down the black student debt crisis.
After two NYPD officers were killed with an illegal gun, President Biden made a trip to New York City to speak on the issue of gun violence fed by the "iron pipeline" of illegal firearms that make their way from the South to the Big Apple. Kris Brown, the president of the gun violence prevention organization Brady United, joined Cheddar to discuss what this visit from the president could mean for the future of gun laws in America. "He's asked Congress to pass things like expanding the Brady background check system, but with the filibuster a barrier to so much action right now in the Congress, he's looking at solutions that involve funding at the federal level and really involve enforcement."
