“A NASA plane made a dramatic landing at Ellington Airport this morning—skidding across the runway on its belly, gears up. The incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. on Runway 17R-35L at Ellington Airport (EFD), Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for Houston Airports, said in a statement. First responders with a military subcontractor responded to the incident. … Video footage shows the aircraft sliding along the runway on its belly before coming to a full stop, as reported by KHOU 11. Additional footage shows the pilot climbing out of the plane’s cockpit with assistance from emergency responders.” (01/27/26)
“Yale University said on Tuesday that attending the university would be free for newly admitted undergraduate students from families with annual incomes below $100,000, and that tuition would be waived for those earning below $200,000. The change takes effect for the class that will enroll in the fall. The move enters Yale into an arms race of elite institutions offering increasingly attractive financial aid packages to students from low- and middle-income families. At Yale, the full-price cost to attend is now more than $90,000 a year.” (01/27/26)
“Instead of placing new data centers on the existing regulated grid, we could match data centers with an independent CRE utility (CREU). Furthermore, if electricity demand for these data centers falls short of its sky-high projections, then the excess capacity will have been a poor investment. This protects ratepayers by putting private companies on the hook for that risk instead. There are benefits to data center developers as well.” (01/27/26)
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by the editorial board
“Amid a fraught political environment, Americans are preparing to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States this year. It’s a timely opportunity for both honest self-reflection and potential unity – around a remarkable story of national achievement and a recognition of all that still needs doing to fully realize the country’s founding ideals. Two-thirds of Americans, the Pew Research Center reported this week, believe it is extremely or very important to publicly discuss historical strengths and successes – as well as flaws and failures. Yet, the nation still disagrees on how to tell its history.” (01/28/26)
“A circuit court judge in rural Tazewell County has ruled against the redistricting effort started by Virginia Democrats, declaring that the process they used to create a proposed constitutional amendment is invalid. Democrats immediately pledged to appeal. With controlling majorities in the General Assembly, Democrats have pushed through a proposed amendment that would give lawmakers power to draw new congressional maps in time for this fall’s midterm elections. If passed by voters in a referendum scheduled for April 21, Democrats could create maps that give their party a 10-1 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation, which is split between six Democrats and five Republicans. Democrats launched the effort in response to President Donald Trump’s encouraging of Republican states to create red-leaning districts to help the GOP retain control of the House of Representatives this fall.” (01/27/26)
“On January 17, federal agents murdered ICU nurse Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis after he tried to help another protester. Only 10 days earlier, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother. These horrific acts of state violence occurred just a short distance from where a white police officer brutally murdered George Floyd in 2020. This is what state violence has always been — horrific and brutal. And once President Trump unleashed his ICE goons on cities across America, these tragedies were inevitable. As Americans, we should all pray for an end to this state terror. Sadly, history tells us the murders of Alex and Renee are unlikely to be the last. When I see federal agents in our cities and violent attacks by masked men on thousands of people assumed to be undocumented immigrants, I recognize an old playbook dressed in new language.” (01/27/26)
“Several faith leaders are urgently calling for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants. That’s after a group of anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted Sunday service at a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul, Minnesota. … the behavior of Walz, Ellison, Frey, or whoever (including the ‘protesters’ who invaded the meetinghouse), do not justify or demand more laws or calls for more government action ‘protecting the rights’ and ‘sanctity of our houses of worship.’ For one thing, we don’t need new laws – we need to get rid of most we have.” (01/27/26)
“A Russian drone strike on a passenger train in north-eastern Ukraine has killed five people, prosecutors said, an attack denounced as terrorism by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Prosecutors said fragments of five bodies had been found at the scene of the strike on the train, which occurred on Tuesday near a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. The train had been operating from Chop, near Ukraine’s western borders with Hungary and Slovakia, to the town of Barvinkove. Photographs posted online showed at least two carriages ablaze next to a snow-covered rail bed. … A barrage of more than 50 Russian drones killed three people and wounded more than 30 in the southern city of Odesa, regional officials said.” (01/27/26)
