Wednesday morning news: January 8, 2025

Jimmy Carter’s remains arrive in D.C. » The Navy Band paid tribute to the late President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday as his remains arrived at the Navy Memorial in Washington.

Carter's flag-draped casket was flown yesterday from his home state of Georgia to the nation’s capital, where political leaders from both sides of the aisle paid tribute. Vice President Kamala Harris:

HARRIS: James Earl Carter, Jr. loved our country. He lived his faith. He served the people. And he left the world better than he found it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson also highlighted Carter's charitable work, saying the former president truly cared about people.

JOHNSON: We all know that his care for humanity didn't stop at building homes. In the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine. In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God.

Carter's body will lie in state at the Capitol … ahead of a national funeral service tomorrow.

Winter weather » A massive winter storm front that hammered much of the nation east of the Rockies has finally moved offshore. But not before wreaking havoc, causing hundreds of car accidents and thousands of flight cancellations and delays.

Peter Muillinax with the National Weather Service:

MULLINAX:  It seems as though winter has come back, uh, with a, with a vengeance in parts of the east. The big winter storm left over a foot of snow from parts of Kansas all the way to the mid Atlantic coast almost.

But now a polar vortex is plunging temperatures in some of the southernmost points of the U.S.

Mullinax said the winter front could blanket areas from Texas to Georgia with snow and ice this week.

California wildfire » Meantime in California, forecasters had warned that “life-threatening, destructive” wind gusts could topple trees and create dangerous surf and extreme fire risk.

And sure enough a wildfire driven by those winds is ripping through an area near Los Angeles.

LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone:

MARRONE:  It's incumbent that everybody have a wildfire action plan for their home if they live in a brush covered area. Please visit the L. A. County Fire Department website for ready, set, go information.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging residents to take warnings and evacuation orders seriously.

NEWSOM:  Many structures already destroyed and people were still not evacuated, still did not heed the warning.

The fire has been especially fierce in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood of LA.

Trump press conference » President-elect Donald Trump Trump announced Tuesday that a Dubai-based developer is set to invest big money in the United States. He told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida:

TRUMP:  DAMAC will be investing at least 20 billion over a very short period of time into the United States,

He also talked about his belief in the strategic importance of both Greenland and the Panama Canal to the United States.

When asked if he would rule out economic pressure or military force to take control of either, Trump declined to rule anything out. When a reporter asked him to clarify specifically regarding military force, Trump again said no, but narrowed his follow-up response to Panama.

TRUMP:  The Panama Canal is vital to our country. It's being operated by China, China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn't give it to China and they've abused it. They've abused that gift.

The president-elect also suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

And speaking to the conflict in Gaza, he again warned of dire consequences for Hamas if the terror group does not release the remaining hostages before he assumes office.

Meta community notes » The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is making a big change to the way it polices user content. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says his company’s platforms are ditching official fact checkers in favor of community notes, similar to the process used on X, formerly Twitter.

ZUCKERBERG:  After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth. But the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S.

On X, community notes democratize fact-checking, putting it in the hands of users, rather than a small group of officials determining what should be deemed true or untrue. Any user who sees a potentially misleading post can request that a note be added below the original message, adding critical context or correcting erroneous facts.

Medical debt credit reports » The Biden administration has finalized a rule that would prevent credit reporting agencies from listing delinquent medical debts on credit reports. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Late payments on your credit report can affect the interest rates you pay, availability of credit and more.

Sp supporters of the new rule say it will help millions who, in some cases through no fault of their own … fell behind on medical debts.

Vice President Kamala Harris called the change “lifechanging” for millions of families.

But critics predict a cascade of unintended consequences.

They say it could raise the cost of care for everyone … if providers find it tougher to collect outstanding medical debts. They also say it could impact the availability of care in some situations … And that may lead bill collectors to turn to more aggressive tactics.

The rule would not take effect until March of 2025. And it’s unclear whether the Trump administration will leave it in place.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Tibetan earthquake » Rescue crews in Tibet are searching through freezing temperatures for survivors after a major earthquake rocked the region, killing well over a hundred people. The exact death toll may not be known for some time.

Chinese officials say a 6.8 magnitude quake shook an area about 50 miles north of Mount Everest Tuesday morning, though the U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake at a magnitude of 7.1.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: certifying the 2024 election on Washington Wednesday. Plus, what some residents in Portland are doing to improve their personal safety.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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