A Florida jury ruled that CNN defamed a Navy veteran with a report on his business awarding him $5 million, the Hill reported.
It was over a 2021 story about people paid to rescue endangered Afghans following the Taliban takeover of that country.
Zachary Young, who blamed CNN for destroying his business by showing his face onscreen in a story about a “black market” of smuggling out desperate Afghans for high fees.
The jury awarded Young $5 million in damages and is now being asked to determine whether CNN must pay additional punitive damages.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will succeed JD Vance
Republican Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will succeed Vice President-elect JD Vance in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Friday.
DeWine’s decision ends months of jockeying among top Ohio Republicans for Vance’s position, which he had held for less than two years. Vance resigned his Senate seat Jan. 10. Choosing Husted, who had been positioning to run for governor in 2026, potentially averts a divisive and expensive GOP primary for the governor’s race.
Vivek Ramaswamy eyes Senate seat
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has expressed interest in the Ohio U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, two people with direct knowledge of the biotech entrepreneur’s wishes told The Associated Press.
The 39-year-old from Cincinnati had been weighing a campaign for Ohio governor in 2026 after partnering with Elon Musk on a non-governmental effort to cut federal government spending. Now he’s pivoting to the Senate, possibly.
Fire at the world’s largest battery plant in California forces evacuations
A fire at the world’s largest battery storage plant in Northern California that sent plumes of toxic smoke into the atmosphere, leading to the evacuation of up to 1,500 people, smoldered Friday. The blaze also shook up the young battery storage industry.
The fire at the Vista Energy battery plant in Moss Landing generated huge flames and significant amounts of smoke Thursday but had diminished significantly by Friday morning, Fire Chief Joel Mendoza of the North County Fire Protection District of Monterey County said. Vistra is based in Texas.
“There’s very little, if any, of a plume emitting from that building,” Mendoza said. Crews are not engaging with the fire and are waiting for it to burn out, he said. No injuries have been reported.
But the fallout from the fire at the battery storage facility about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of San Francisco was just beginning.
“This is more than a fire, this a wake-up call for the industry. If we’re going to be moving ahead with sustainable energy, we need to have a safe battery system in place,” said Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church at a briefing on Friday morning.
Battery storage is considered crucial for feeding clean electricity onto the grid when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing, and it has been used in significant amounts only in the last couple of years. But the batteries are nearly all lithium, which has a tendency toward “thermal runaway,” meaning it can catch fire and burn very hot, releasing toxic gases.
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