| Oprah Winfrey steals the show at the Golden Globes |
| If a former reality TV star can become president, why not a former talk show host? That's a question being asked after Oprah Winfrey's rousing speech at the Golden Globes on Sunday night. Promising a new day on the horizon for women, Winfrey's soaring rhetoric seemed more like what you'd hear at a political convention than an awards show. But this was no ordinary awards show. It was the first major Hollywood event since the film industry was rocked by a series of sexual harassment, assault and misconduct allegations. And from Natalie Portman's cutting introduction of the "all-male" nominees for best director to a red carpet that was more about making a political statement than a fashion one, it was clear the #MeToo movement has turned Tinseltown upside down. |
| Natural disasters cost the U.S. a record $306 billion in 2017 |
| A trio of monster hurricanes and a ferocious wildfire season led to the costliest year on record for U.S. natural disasters in 2017, with nearly a third of $1 trillion in damages, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday. The year had 16 weather and climate events that each cost more than $1 billion, contributing to a record $265 billion in hurricane costs and breaking the 2005 — the year Hurricane Katrina hit. |
| It's the Big Game in college football. Who gets bragging rights once it's all over? |
| It's a match between the expected and the ascendant. In Monday night's College Football Playoff National Championship title game, Alabama, in its third straight final, takes on Georgia, a rookie at this level. So who will win the fourth iteration of the current big prize on the college gridiron (8 p.m. ET on ESPN)? The prediction from USA TODAY's Paul Myerberg: Alabama 24, Georgia 20. |
| White House tells Salvadorans in the U.S. since 2001 to leave |
| More than 200,000 Salvadorans who have been living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be told to leave by September 2019, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday. Residents of the tiny Central American nation were given TPS in 2001 following a pair of large earthquakes and ongoing drug cartel violence. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen concluded that conditions are good enough for them to return, a move complicated by the fact that the refugees have given birth to about 192,000 children, who are U.S. citizens. Similar decisions also were made recently for about 60,000 Haitians, more than 5,000 Nicaraguans and 1,000 Sudanese. |
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| The Supreme Court takes a look at death row racism |
| A white juror's racist comments led the Supreme Court to halt the execution of a black Georgia man. "I have wondered if black people even have souls," juror Barney Gattie said in a sworn affidavit. He also referred to the defendant, Keith Tharpe — who was convicted of murdering a black woman 27 years ago — as a "n-----." In the 6-3 decision, the court's liberal wing was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a swing vote on the bench. Meanwhile, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a stinging 13-page dissent to the three-page ruling, calling the delay in Tharpe's execution "ceremonial handwringing" and "a useless do-over." The case now goes back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. |
| This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY. |
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