Ukraine Disaster: Ukraine’s minister for interior affairs, several other senior officials, and three children were among the 16 dead in the crash of a helicopter into a kindergarten in a town outside of Kyiv.

  No cause for the crash has been given, but there’s no immediate indication that the aircraft was shot down.

  One eyewitness told the BBC that she saw a burning helicopter circling her house moments before the crash. “At that time, there was a terrible flame, a helicopter was circling above our home,” she said. “I froze, because everyone was home, it was eight in the morning.”

  The minister for internal affairs, Denys Monastyrsky, oversaw the country’s police, as well as the national guard and border patrol units, including tens of thousands of combatants who have fought in the war.

  The Ministry of Internal Affairs has also been in charge of rescue and recovery after missile strikes hit civilian targets, including the Dnipro apartment building in which at least 45 people were killed. 

The War Room: In what could be a breakthrough for Ukraine, Germany said the question of sending up-to-date Leopard tanks to the battle front will be one of the first issues to be confronted by the country’s new defense minister.

  Germany’s previous defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, resigned under heavy criticism about her response to the Ukraine war. She had no military experience and in one interview was unable to name the ranks in the armed forces.  

  German-made Leopards, deployed by of armies across Europe, cannot be given to Ukraine without re-export permission from Germany.

  The US also announced that it will be sending arms and ammunition, particularly artillery shells, from its stockpile in Israel.

Murder Beat: In a case that is gruesome yet lacking a body, Massachusetts authorities have charged a 39-year-old Cohasset man with murder in the disappearance of his wife.

  Ana Walshe, 39, who travelled weekly to her real estate job in Washington, was reported missing on January 4^th by her employer, not her husband. Brian Walshe, 47, told police that three days earlier Ana left home at about 6 or 7 am, saying she had to fly to DC for a work emergency and told him to go back to sleep.

  Walshe was later found to have paid $450 in cash for cleaning supplies at Home Depot and had researched on the internet how to get rid of a body. In a search, police discovered blood and a bloody knife in the basement. They also found evidence in a trash dumpster.

  A spokesman for the Norfolk County district attorney’s office said, “There’s been no large-scale recovery of remains.”

Investigations Begin: Congressional Republicans promised lots of investigations when they took power and their first major target looks to be Secretary of Homeland Security Alejando Mayorkas, whom they blame for failing to stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border.

  Three House committees – Oversight, Homeland Security, and Judiciary – are expected to hold hearings about border security, possibly with the intention of impeaching Mayorkas. 

  Impeachment would require a general consensus among the Republicans before they move on it. One of the party’s most rabid members, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is on the Oversight Committee with major power, but it’s the Judiciary Committee that would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution.

  Greene doesn’t have her eyes only on Homeland Security. She tweeted yesterday, “I was the first to say Impeach Biden & the first to introduce articles of impeachment. Soon we are starting our investigations.” 

The Spin Rack: Actor Jeremy Renner announced that he is home from the hospital more than two weeks after he was run over by his own snowplow. — Reality TV fraudsters Todd and Julie Chrisley reported to prison yesterday, Todd for 12 years, Julie for seven. The couple that posed as the southern version of the Kardashians living in a mansion were convicted of tax fraud in June. Todd said on the couple’s podcast, “God is going to walk us through the valley.” — Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’s only child, will be buried at the legendary rocker’s Graceland estate in Memphis. — A North Carolina power substation was damaged by gunfire yesterday in the third power substation shooting in the state since early December when a substation was knocked out of service. — Former President Donald Trump called into the conservative podcast “The Water Cooler” on Monday and issued a warning to his possible presidential rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. “So now I hear he might want to run against me,” Trump said. “So we’ll handle that the way I handle things.” 

Below the Fold: Amid calls for his resignation, the pathologically lying Rep. George Santos has been given seats on the Small Business and the Science, Space and Technology Committees. He initially had the gall to seek a position either the House Financial Services or Foreign Affairs Committees.

  Santos made up his life history to campaign for Congress and seems to get caught at a new lie every day.

  House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has declined to ask for Santos’s resignation but said earlier this week that he “always had a few questions” about Santos’s background. He didn’t say what the questions were, or why he continues to do nothing about it. 

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