Human Race: Post-terror assignment

New Orleans hired former New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton as a consultant in early January following a deadly terror attack. Bratton is known for his work in New York reducing crime through “broken-windows policing” that focuses on stopping even minor crimes. “He has advised governments and organizations on counterterrorism, urban safety, and major event security,” said Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, at a Jan. 9 press conference announcing the hire.

Law enforcement officials in New Orleans are under fire over a terrorist attack that occurred there in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas-born U.S. citizen and Army veteran, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on the city’s famed Bourbon Street, killing 14 people. Jabbar pledged loyalty to ISIS hours before the attack.

Bratton and his team will review city law enforcement’s performance before, during, and after the incident. They will also work to enhance security protocols for the Super Bowl, which New Orleans is set to host in February, and for Mardi Gras in March. Bratton, 77, works in risk assessment and response with the New York–based consulting firm Teneo. His contract is being paid by the nonprofit New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation.

Director bows out

Dr. Robert Bredt, the 12-year medical director of the Texas Medical Board, retired from the job in early January under pressure from conservatives after court documents revealed his employment with Planned Parenthood. Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison led the pressure campaign by posting Bredt’s résumé on social media ­platform X on Dec. 30, highlighting his professional experience on staff at a Planned Parenthood lab in San Antonio beginning in 2011. The Texas Medical Board had included the résumé in a recent court ­filing. Harrison also sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott calling for Bredt’s removal. Bredt, 62, subsequently ­submitted his retirement paperwork on Jan. 7, his last day of work. —Leah Savas

D.C. appointment

Pope Francis on Jan. 6 named Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego as the new archbishop of Washington, D.C. McElroy, 70, is a progressive leader who aligns with Pope Francis’ reform agenda: McElroy is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ inclusion in the Roman Catholic Church, and he has criticized pro-life priorities within the U.S. bishops’ conference, including the campaign to withhold communion from abortion-supporting Catholic politicians. He replaces the retiring Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who led the D.C. archdiocese in the aftermath of its 2018 clergy sexual abuse crisis. —Mary Jackson

World’s oldest gal

A 116-year-old, habit-wearing Brazilian nun officially became the world’s oldest known person in January after the previous record holder died in Japan on Dec. 29. Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas was born June 8, 1908, and entered the Teresian Sisters of Brazil convent in 1927. The soccer-loving supercentenarian claimed her secret to long life is praying the rosary for others daily. The wheelchair-bound Canabarro, a longtime teacher and music lover, taught many of the elderly nuns currently in her order while they were children, and she also started two school marching bands. She is more than a year older than the next-oldest living person, according to LongeviQuest. —Todd Vician

Found down under

Australian hiker and medical student Hadi Nazari, 23, had been missing for 13 days before a group of hikers found him alive in Australia’s rugged Kosciuszko National Park on Jan. 8. More than 300 people had searched for Nazari after he became separated from his friends in an area of New South Wales made famous by the poem “The Man From Snowy River.” Nazari survived on berries, creek water, and two muesli bars another hiker left in a remote cattle grazier’s hut. “Praise God!” he said before calling his mother on a borrowed phone. An emergency official told the Associated Press that Nazari only needed treatment for dehydration as he was “in remarkable condition for a person who’s been missing for so long.” —Amy Lewis

Daystar exit

Prominent televangelist Joyce Meyer halted her daily show, Enjoying Everyday Life, on Daystar Television Network on Jan. 13 as the network faced an abuse scandal. In November, investigative journalist Julie Roys reported the president of Daystar was accused by her son and his wife of covering up alleged sexual abuse of the couple’s 5-year-old daughter. The ­network, which broadcasts prosperity gospel preaching along with more mainstream Christian programs, is affiliated with over 100 television stations nationwide and has broadcast Meyer’s program for more than two decades. Several other TV personalities—Jesse Duplantis, Jack Graham, and Lance Wallnau—have also severed ties with the network. Meyer, 81, is a vocal survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She has more than 6 million followers on social media, and her ministry employs 500 people in nine offices around the world. —Kim Henderson

Hero’s honors

At the White House on Jan. 3, President Joe Biden bestowed Medals of Honor on the late Gen. Richard Cavazos and six other U.S. Army soldiers who served in the Korean or Vietnam wars. Cavazos received the nation’s highest military medal for valor for repeatedly placing himself at risk under a barrage of enemy mortar and artillery fire in order to search for and evacuate wounded and missing soldiers after an intense battle in Korea in June 1953. Cavazos, a first lieutenant who was wounded during the fighting, rose to the rank of four-star general before retiring in 1984. He died in 2017. The Army renamed Fort Hood, near Temple, Texas, Fort Cavazos in May 2023. —Todd Vician