It’s Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. Thanks for choosing to start here.
1. Both funding bills fail
The partial government shutdown stretched to a 35th day on Thursday as competing funding bills failed in the Senate.
However, ABC News’ Trish Turner says both sides may have found a path forward in the form of a three-week continuing resolution, which would reopen the government, leaving time to negotiate on border security.
2. US to enforce new policy for asylum-seekers
The Trump administration is expected to begin enforcing a new policy today that requires asylum-seekers at the southern border to stay in Mexico for their claims to be heard.
The move marks a change from a longstanding U.S. policy that allowed asylum-seekers to wait inside the U.S.
ABC News’ Quinn Owen tells us it’s the latest attempt by the administration to curb what it insists are loopholes in the immigration system.
2. US pulls non-emergency staff, families from Venezuela
The State Department on Thursday ordered non-emergency staff and their families to vacate the U.S. embassy in Venezuela, just days after President Nicolas Maduro ordered all American diplomats to leave.
ABC News’ Matt Gutman says Juan Guaido may have to lay low in the coming days, despite being recognized by the Trump administration as president.
3. Superintendent charged with fraud for helping sick student
The superintendent of schools in Elwood, Indiana, is facing fraud charges after claiming a student as her son to get him health care.
Casey Smitherman took the sick student to a medical center, where she claimed he was her son and used her own insurance, according to police. She told officials she then drove to a pharmacy and had a prescription filled for antibiotics because the student didn’t have insurance.
“I’m not saying that was right,” Smitherman said in an interview with ABC affiliate WRTV. “I’m really sorry … I was scared for him.”
The county prosecutor says Smitherman is being placed in a pretrial diversion program and charges will be dropped if she maintains a clean record. She returned to her job on Thursday and said the school board is standing by her, but her story stirred a conversation about healthcare in the U.S.
ABC News’ Linsey Davis walks us through what happened.
Other news:
‘Unconstitutional’: Iowa’s so-called “heartbeat bill,” which sought to limit certain abortions, is deemed “violative of both the due process and equal protection provisions of the Iowa Constitution.”
‘He is with his family’: The missing 3-year-old boy in North Carolina is found.
‘Do you think we smell? Because we just got kicked off a plane for smelling.’: A family is removed from an American Airlines flight after passengers complained they had B.O.
‘It’s quite a kick in the teeth’: A Russian company has manufactured a board game called “Our Guys in Salisbury” that’s based on the nerve agent attack that nearly killed an intelligence officer and his daughter, and which did inadvertently kill a local woman.
‘It was best to just accept the resignation and move on’: Florida’s secretary of state steps down after a photo surfaces of him at a 2005 Halloween party wearing blackface and dressed up as a “Hurricane Katrina victim.”
From our partners at FiveThirtyEight:
Our 2020 Democratic Primary Draft: Episode 2: Warren, Castro, Gillibrand, Harris, Buttigieg, Gabbard … the list goes on and on. The number of candidates trying to become the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee is growing every week, and it can be difficult to tell who really has a shot at winning. With that in mind, we are back with another round of our 2020 draft. For the first-timers here, the goal is to predict who we think has the best chance of winning the nomination. Some on our panel take that prompt more seriously than others.
Last ‘Nightline’:
At the US southern border, desperate families attempt two paths to asylum: These families, some with young children from Honduras and El Salvador, are trying to make their way into the U.S. amid a national standoff over immigration reform.
Former Dallas Cowboy becomes first NFL player to marry a man: Getting married is a big deal for anybody, but for former linebacker Jeff Rohrer, it was monumental.
On this day in history:
Jan. 25, 1986 — The Voyager II discovers a 15th moon and another ring for Uranus.
The must-see photo:
Nepalese Hindu devotees roll on the ground as part of a ritual during the Madhav Narayan festival in Bhaktapur, Nepal, Jan. 24, 2019. During this festival, devotees recite holy scriptures dedicated to the Hindu goddess Swasthani and Lord Shiva. Unmarried women pray for a good husband while married women pray for the longevity of their husbands by observing a month-long fast. (photo credit: Niranjan Shrestha/AP)
For more great photos from around the world CLICK HERE.
Socially acceptable:
Watch this time-lapse video of dusk setting in over the New York City skyline.
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See you Monday.
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