New Year’s Day

The Gavel: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor yesterday blocked the provision of Obamacare that requires the healthcare plans of religious organizations to cover birth control. The justice acted on the request of an order of nuns in Colorado. Otherwise today, about two million Americans now have health coverage under Obamacare, and hundreds of thousands are covered under expanded Medicaid.

Money, Money: The Dow Jones finished yesterday at a record high of 16,576.66, up 26.5% for the year. It is the market’s best performance since 1995.

Nation: New York State’s strict post-Newtown gun law has been mostly upheld by a federal judge. He struck a provision banning magazines with more than seven rounds in them. No one makes seven-round magazines. He called the limit “an arbitrary restriction” that violated the Second Amendment. The law’s expanded ban on assault weapons stands.

• Thirty-three percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution, according to a new poll from Pew Research. They agree with the statement that, “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.” Democrats are more likely than Republicans to accept evolution, and a whopping 64% of Christian evangelicals say man, earth, and all its creatures are just the way they’ve always been.
• Former First Lady Barbara Bush is in the hospital with pneumonia. She’s 88.

World: A Palestinian diplomat was killed today by an explosion in his home in Prague. He was reported to be opening a case when the bomb went off.

• Egyptian prosecutors Tuesday ordered three journalists from Al Jazeera English news to be held for 15 more days on charges that include belonging to a terrorist group and damaging the country’s reputation abroad. They were arrested Sunday. An Egyptian cameraman was released, but the others are accused of being part of the Muslim Brotherhood, even though they were only interviewing one of its members.
• Rebels have attacked the strategic city of Bors in South Sudan, even as delegates from the government and the opposition are expected to meet for peace talks in Ethiopia. In spite of the fighting, there’s still hope for discussions.
• After two bombings in Volgograd, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed in his New Year’s address to annihilate terrorists. He said, “We will confidently, fiercely and consistently continue the fight against terrorists until their complete annihilation.”  Russian Olympic chief Alexander Zhukov said with certainty, “As for the Olympic Games, all necessary security measures have been foreseen.”

Roses: Two men are intending to marry today aboard one of the Rose Parade floats in Pasadena. The wedding of Danny LeClair, 45, and Aubrey Loots, 42 is not the first on a Rose Parade float, but it is the first between two men. The two men have been together 12 years and own three beauty salons. Same sex marriage is legal in California, but this wedding will be seen on television around the world. Loots said, “We’re standing up there giving hope and being the voice for many that don’t have the voice.”

It’s Academic: Lake Superior State University has placed “selfie”, “twerking”, and “hashtag” on its annual list of words that should be banned from the English language.

-30-