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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Thu Feb 20 2025

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

A series of connected deaths across the country are tied to a group called the "Zizians," experts say. Firings of key bird flu response personnel leave the response to the disease in a precarious state. The USA vs. Canada 4 Nations Face-Off finals can't get here soon enough.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Could an asteroid really hit Earth?

Is the Zizian group a murderous cult?

The arrests of three people in Maryland this week have helped shed new light on a spate of deaths involving a group called the "Zizians."

More info, please: Named after their purported leader, Jack "Ziz" LaSota, 34, the group is connected to at least six deaths nationwide in recent months.

•	Why were some Zizians arrested? Group members are charged with violent offenses in multiple states, at both the state and federal level.
•	Is it a cult? Experts suspect the Zizians, many of whom come from the computer science field, fell under the sway of a charismatic leader who persuaded followers to take extreme actions they ordinarily wouldn't do.

USA TODAY consulted several extremism experts, interviewed a person who knew several members of the group, and examined dozens of court filings about the Zizians from Vermont to Pennsylvania and California to understand the bigger picture. Here's what the investigation found.

They were fighting bird flu. They got fired.

"We aren't 'bureaucrats,' as the media portrayed us. I never worked from home a single day, showing up to the office at 6 am and leaving when I was done working. I never got a single dollar of overtime pay, even on days that I worked 12 hours."

~ Ron Gregory, who worked for a USDA plant protection and quarantine office in Wyoming. He was scheduled to go to Iowa and Ohio to provide biosecurity in the battle against bird flu. Then he lost his job as part of President Donald Trump's cuts to the federal workforce. Gregory's experience highlights the effect federal worker firings are having on the battle against bird flu.

More news to know now

•	"It's insane that everybody is alive": Toronto crash survivor recounts experience.
•	Trump gave schools two weeks to ban DEI. Lawyers say it's not that simple.
•	Measles cases are on the rise, mostly among unvaccinated people.
•	A man died while awaiting sentencing for the shooting death of a Black teen who rang the wrong doorbell.
•	Trump's executive order on antidepressants caused panic.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Two babies became symbols of the Oct. 7 attacks. Their bodies have been returned to Israel.

Hamas released the bodies of four hostages on Thursday, including members of the Bibas family, as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel. Shiri Bibas and her two young, red-headed sons were kidnapped by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023. The faces of the two boys, Ariel, who was four years old, and Kfir who was 9-months-old when they were captured, have been emblazoned in graffiti on buildings across Israel as a rallying cry to end the war in Gaza and bring the remaining hostages home. Their bodies were returned to Israel on Thursday.

Two keys to an under-construction jail in Nashville went missing. Would it lead to havoc?

It was Jan. 4, 2020. A man posing as a painter wore thin, wire-rimmed glasses. He left his car in the parking lot and approached Nashville's new, $200 million Downtown Detention Center. It wasn't the masked man's first time sneaking into the under-construction jail. Just after Christmas in 2019, surveillance cameras had captured his image, lurking from room to room, including the control center where the keys were kept. Two keys were missing. The state-of-the-art jail facility was 10 days from opening. Who steals keys that would only work inside a jail that had yet to house any inmates?

Keep reading: This is the first of a four-part series from the USA TODAY Network detailing the chase to catch the man who infiltrated a jail under construction in Nashville.

Today's talkers

•	Tennis star Emma Raducanu was shaken when a tournament ejected a spectator showing "fixated behavior."
•	Vultures are nature's influencers.
•	When does March Madness start?
•	Mizu the goat is USA TODAY's favorite pet.
•	It's the "most toxic" Oscar season in years.

USA vs. Canada: Hockey's top players on the ice

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament concludes on Thursday with an epic matchup: Team USA vs. Team Canada. The stakes could not be higher: USA's Mike Sullivan and Canada's Jon Cooper are two-time Stanley Cup-winning coaches leading behind the benches. There's also a Stanley Cup winner in net with Canada's Jordan Binnington and an award-winning goalie in USA's corner with Connor Hellebuyck. These teams already had an intense first meeting in the round robin, starting off with three fights in the first nine seconds of the 3-1 USA victory. Here are 10 pivotal players to watch tonight.

Photo of the day: We've reached the age of iPhone 16e

Apple has officially welcomed the "newest member" of its family: the iPhone 16e. The tech giant announced the fourth edition of the budget-friendly smartphone on Wednesday, running at $599. See how Apple iPhones have changed since the revolutionary first model in 2007.

The iPhone 16e features Genmoji, one of Apple's several Apple Intelligence features. Genmoji allows users to create custom emojis.

Courtesy of Apple

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.