Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to make Representative Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House, returning the gavel to the hands of the first woman to ever hold the position; A federal judge slammed New York City for pioneering a brave new world of “breathtaking” searches and seizures after an attempt to glean massive amounts of user data from Airbnb; Left-wing big city mayors in Italy say they will not enforce tough new anti-immigration measures pushed into law by a far-right political party in the coalition government, and more.

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National

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California holds the gavel after taking it from Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

1.) To raucous cheers and references to hip-hop group Naughty by Nature, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to make Representative Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House on Thursday, returning the gavel to the hands of the first woman to ever hold the position.

2.) Attorneys general for 48 states and the District of Columbia settled potential consumer fraud claims against a for-profit college in a deal that includes $493.7 million in debt forgiveness for nearly 180,000 former students nationwide.

Customers visit an Apple store in Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. Apple Inc.’s $1,000 iPhone is a tough sell to Chinese consumers who are jittery over an economic slump and a trade war with Washington. The tech giant became the latest global company to collide with Chinese consumer anxiety when CEO Tim Cook said iPhone demand is waning, due mostly to China. Weak consumer demand in the world’s second-largest economy is a blow to industries from autos to designer clothing that are counting on China to drive revenue growth. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

3.) Apple stock dropped more than 9 percent Thursday morning, dragging U.S. indexes down with it after the tech giant said it will miss its quarterly sales forecast because of weakening growth and the U.S. trade dispute with China.

Regional

Brooklyn listings on Airbnb's website. (BARBARA LEONARD / COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE)

4.) Blocking an attempt to glean massive amounts of user data from Airbnb, a federal judge slammed New York City on Thursday for pioneering a brave new world of “breathtaking” searches and seizures.

FILE - In this June 10, 2011, file photo, a worker checks the paint on a Camaro at the GM factory in Oshawa, Ontario. General Motors is closing a Canadian plant at the cost of about 2,500 jobs, but that is apparently just a piece of a much broader, company-wide restructuring that will be announced as early as Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

5.) General Motors has breached a labor contract by continuing to employ temporary workers at its Indiana auto factory instead of laid-off unionized workers from an Ohio plant, their labor union claims in court.

Science

An unmodified plant (right) grows beside a modified plant (left) engineered with an alternate route to shortcut photorespiration—a circuitous and energy-expensive process that costs yield potential. The modified plants are able to reinvest their energy and resources to significantly boost productivity. (Photo credit: Claire Benjamin/RIPE Project)

6.) A study released Thursday offers a glimmer of hope for more efficient crops that can better fill up on warm sunlight and grow bigger and healthier.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that ShakeAlertLA, the nation’s first publicly available earthquake warning app, is a critical disaster tool, but he also urged residents to develop analog emergency plans. (MARTIN MACIAS /COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE)

7.) A smartphone app launched Thursday by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is the first publicly available app in the nation that can alert residents if a major earthquake has struck, potentially granting precious seconds for people to evacuate and prepare.

International

8.) Left-wing big city mayors in Italy say they will not enforce tough new anti-immigration measures pushed into law by a far-right political party in Italy’s coalition government.

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