President Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise to restore diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government. Southern cities face an unusual winter. Why Your Meta Accounts Might Suddenly Be Following Trump
🙋🏼♀️ it’s me. Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing Writer. Would you wear an AI designed shoe?
The Executive Branch will close all DEI and Access offices on Wednesday.
The Trump administration ordered executive branch agencies to close all “diversity, equity, inclusion and access” offices by the close of business on Wednesday.
These employees will likely not return to work: All employees in the offices will go on paid administrative leave Wednesday afternoon “focusing exclusively on DEIA initiatives and programs.” Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, directed agencies to submit plans to permanently lay off employees by Jan. 31.
Deep freeze, parts of the US ice sheet
More than 30 million Americans are under blizzard warnings Wednesday, from southern Texas to Georgia and Virginia. North Florida residents may be bringing in new items and turning them into makeshift sleds, while Oxford, Mississippi, is forecast to have a low of 8 degrees Wednesday morning. Major Southern cities hit hard by the cold include Austin, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, which haven’t seen measurable snowfall in 16 years. Here’s what to know about conditions in your area..
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How is the weather today? Check your local forecast here.
The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders are independent.
Of the nearly 1,600 mutineers whose sentences were commuted on Jan. 6 or who received full pardons from President Donald Trump on Monday, the two most high-profile inmates are reportedly Henri “Enrique” Terrio and Stewart Rhodes. were Tarrio and Rhodes are, respectively, the leader of the extremist street gang Proud Boys and the founder and leader of the anti-government so-called “militia” The Oath Keepers.
- These two groups became synonymous with the attack on the US Capitol on January 6. And Terrio and Rhodes received the longest sentences for the attack.
- In four years of rebellion, Both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been silenced in their activism, researchers studying the groups told USA Today.
- But now both men are free.. Extremism experts say it is too early to tell whether the release of Terrio, Rhodes and other senior extremist leaders will spark renewed interest in the groups.
Keep reading: What will happen to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers now?
No, Facebook is not forcing you to follow Trump.
Shortly after President Donald Trump was sworn in on Monday, Facebook users began reporting that their personal accounts were automatically following the new commander in chief. Allegations that the tech giant automatically forced people to follow Trump quickly spread. But what actually happened was that the POTUS and White House Facebook pages are run by the current president. Therefore, former President Joe Biden’s POTUS page was archived when he left office. Followers remained, while the feed was cleared and restarted. Experts say this has historically been the process for social media during presidential transitions..
Today’s Speakers
Justin Baldoni’s legal team released footage of Blake Lively’s slow dance scene.
The Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively saga is far from slowing down. Amidst Baldoni’s ongoing legal battle with his co-star, his lawyers have released footage of an intimate behind-the-scenes scene the actors performed. The nearly 10-minute clip shows her characters Royal Kincaid (Baldoni) and Lily Bloom (Lively) slow dancing. Lyly cited the scene in her complaint against Baldoni in December because Baldoni “didn’t act in character” for the scene and that the actor’s physical proximity was out of bounds. In a statement to USA TODAY, Lively’s legal team claimed that “every frame” of the behind-the-scenes clip “corroborates to the letter, what Ms. Lively described” in her complaint against Baldoni. Read more
Photo of the Day: American Women Fighting Down
The American women’s hopes of winning the Australian Open singles title rest on the shoulders of No. 8 seed Emma Navarro and No. 19 seed Madison Keys. Keys, 29, defeated No. 28 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals in Melbourne on Tuesday night, while Navarro fell to No. 2 seed Iga Svitek. Switek will face Keys in the semifinals later this week.
Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA Today. Sign up for email here.. Want to send Nicole a note? Email him at NFallert@usatoday.com..
