FROM THE FRONT: A NY Times/Siena College poll found that 57 percent of registered voters disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the Israeli/Palestinian war and that 46 percent to 38 percent believe that Donald Trump could handle it better. 

  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that “protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral duty and strategic imperative” yet also reiterated unqualified US support for Israel as it pounds Gaza to rubble. 

  Oil prices rose yesterday after BP said it is suspending shipment of oil through the Red Sea because of recent missile attacks by Houthi militants in response to Israel’s war on Hamas. Ships owned by a number of companies have been attacked, but BP is the first major oil firm to halt shipping through the region. Other ship companies are following to avoid the Red Sea.

BORDER WARS: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday set up an escalated conflict with the federal government signing a law that makes it a state crime to enter his state illegally. The law that would go into effect in March allows Texas law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border from Mexico without legal permission. 

  This came despite opposition that said such a law violates the US Constitution. Even some border sheriffs opposed it, fearing they would be overwhelmed with prisoners. Federal agents encountered 38,000 illegal immigrants into Texas in October alone.  

RELIGION BEAT: The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will allow priests to bless same-sex unions, although the church still maintains its stance against actual same-sex marriages. Blessing unions is an effort to reach out to LGBTQ Catholics. It’s not full acceptance, but it’s a big move for the Vatican.

  On the opposite side of the same issue, a quarter of the 30,000 United Methodist churches in the US have left the fold because they do not approve of the ordainment and marrying of LGBTQ parishioners. 

  The central church gave all its satellite churches until the end of this month to leave the organization and take their property with them. In Texas, an historically significant base for United Methodists, more than 40 percent of churches have left.

  Officially, the United Methodist Church still forbids same-sex marriage and does not allow openly gay people to serve as ministers, but they do anyway. The church now has a number of openly gay clergy and two gay bishops.

SOLD AMERICAN: US Steel, once the largest company in the world and an international symbol of American industrial might, is being sold to a Japanese company for $14.1 billion.

  During the US Steel’s 122-year history, its steel was used to build urban towers, bridges, and weapons for the military. But in recent years US Steel has been struggling against foreign competition, even with federal government efforts to help.

  Announcement of the deal stirred up the unionized workers at US Steel, but Nippon Steel, the company buying it, says it will honor all labor agreements. That doesn’t mean workers won’t lose their jobs. 

SOUTHERN HONOR:  Just as workers began removing the 32-foot tall Confederate memorial from Arlington National Cemetery, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to the dismantling of one of the most prominent monuments to the Confederacy on public land.

  The removal is part of the military’s plan to get rid of Confederate symbols and memorials. The memorial at Arlington has been criticized for glorifying “The Lost Cause” of the Confederacy and its portrayal of faithful slaves following their owners to war. An inscription says, “Our Dead Heroes.”

 But Dozens of Republican lawmakers have opposed removing the memorial and a group called Defend Arlington asked for the restraining order. The complaint said the Pentagon had not filed an environmental impact statement and the removal might damage surrounding graves.

  Confederate bodies were not buried at Arlington until after the turn of the 20^th Century during a time of North and South reconciliation. The monument was erected in 1914. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Mike Grgich, the Croatian-born winemaker whose chardonnay stunned the wine world winning a 1976 blind tasting in Paris, has died at age 100.

  At a time when American wines were dismissed by the French, nine French judges chose the Chateau Montelena from Napa Valley, embarrassing the judges and putting American wines on the world table. The 2008 move “Bottle Shock” was loosely based on the story of that wine tasting.

  Grgich was eventually able to start his own label, Grgich Hills, which his daughter runs today. 

THE SPIN RACK: The two Georgia election workers who won a $148 million slander judgement against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have filed a new lawsuit because Rudy continued his lies after the verdict. — A federal appeals court yesterday declined the request by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to have his Georgia election interference case moved to federal court. Donald Trump appealed the gag order in his federal election case to the full federal appeals court in Washington. A three judge panel had earlier upheld the order with some modifications. — Ruby Franke, who chronicled her tough parenting and advised her followers as host of a now-defunct YouTube channel, pleaded guilty yesterday to four counts of aggravated child abuse over the treatment of her children. Back in September when the 41-year-old Franke was arrested, police said two of Franke’s children appeared malnourished, one of them with duct tape on his ankles and wrists and open wounds. The maximum penalty for each count is 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000. — A Delaware man who crashed his car into an SUV in President Biden’s motorcade Sunday night has been charged with DUI.

BELOW THE FOLD: Marvel Studios, a division of Disney, severed ties with 34-year-old actorJonathan Majors after he was convicted of assaulting his then girlfriend in Manhattan. Majors played supervillain Kang the Conqueror in 2023’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Marvel was going to feature him in two more movies.