| House expected to impeach President Trump a second time, COVID-19 rages on and more news to start your Wednesday. |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Good morning, Daily Briefing readers. It's only Wednesday? You wouldn't think it, from the week we've been having. It's Jane, with today's news. | | President Donald Trump is on the brink of becoming the first president in history to be impeached twice. Hospitals are struggling as coronavirus cases relentlessly march upward. Early this morning, Lisa Montgomery became the first woman in nearly seven decades to be executed, as advocates pleaded for clemency. And, there's still hope of winning a blockbuster Powerball payout — although the chances are very, very, very slim. | | Here's today's news. | House expected to impeach President Trump a second time | | The House is expected to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time Wednesday , part of a broader attempt to remove the president from office early after a violent riot at the Capitol last week left five dead. If approved, Trump would become the first president in history to be impeached twice. House Democrats impeached Trump in December 2019, charging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in his dealings with Ukraine. But the Senate acquitted him. An open question this time is how many Republicans will join Democrats in voting to impeach the president, as many lawmakers blame Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack. As of early Wednesday, at least three House Republicans said they will vote with Democrats to impeach Trump, with more possibly joining them. The article of impeachment charges the president with "incitement of insurrection" for "spreading false statements" about the election. | | | US hospitals are on the brink — but COVID-19 isn't slowing down | | It's a troubling statistic worth repeating: the U.S. has more than 1.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 380,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Those numbers are expected to grow Wednesday as hospitals struggle to keep pace with the unprecedented surge and officials around the nation accelerate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. government is asking states to speed up vaccinations to people over 65 and others at risk instead of holding back inoculations for a second dose. The government will also stop holding back the required second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots. | | | Lisa Montgomery becomes first woman executed by feds in 67 years | | The first woman in 67 years was executed by the federal government early Wednesday, after hours of uncertainty. Lisa Montgomery, 52, was executed by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Her time of death was 1:31 a.m., seven and a half hours after her originally scheduled time of execution, according to the Associated Press. Montgomery was convicted of killing 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, in Missouri in 2004. Authorities say she cut the baby from Stinnett's womb before attempting to pass the girl off as her own. Montgomery, who has a history of brain damage and being beaten, raped and trafficked, was put to death a day after a federal judge in Indiana halted the execution over concerns of her deteriorating mental health. Kelley Henry, Montgomery's federal public defender, said the federal government violated the Constitution, federal law and its own regulation to put her client to death. | | |  | | Lisa Montgomery, 52, was executed by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. | | Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department | | NHL begins new season with 5 games | | The National Hockey League is kicking off its 2020-21 season Wednesday, playing five games of a 56-game season — including the Tampa Bay Lightning raising their Stanley Cup banner in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. To minimize travel amid the coronavirus pandemic, and because of restrictions on movement across the U.S.-Canada border, the NHL set up an all-Canada division and realigned the other divisions. All regular-season games and the first two rounds of the playoffs will be played within the division, with the top four in each division going to the playoffs. The hope is for the league to get back on track for a normal 82-game season in the 2021-22 season, which will likely begin in October. | | | More news you need to know: | | | Jackpot! Powerball prize tops $500 million | | Feeling lucky? The second in a pair of lottery jackpots totaling more than $1 billion is on the line. The first of the big jackpots, a Mega Millions jackpot climbed to $750 million, the fifth largest in US lottery history, after there was no winner in Tuesday's drawing. Lottery players get another crack at glory Wednesday with a Powerball jackpot worth at least $550 million. It has been nearly two years since the two national lottery games offered such giant prizes and only the second time both jackpots have topped $500 million. Before you bet the ranch, however, consider this: The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. | And finally: Far out — astronomers discover 'supermassive' black hole and quasar | | It happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. ... The oldest, most distant "supermassive" black hole and quasar in the universe have both been discovered, astronomers announced. At more than 13 billion years old, the black hole and quasar – a huge, incredibly bright celestial object located in the center of a galaxy – are the earliest yet seen, giving astronomers insight into the formation of massive galaxies in the early universe. "This is the earliest evidence of how a supermassive black hole is affecting its host galaxy around it," said the study's lead author Feige Wang of the University of Arizona. "From observations of less distant galaxies, we know that this has to happen, but we have never seen it happening so early in the universe." Can someone please beam us up? ✨ | | | | | | | |
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