Viva Cuba: Secy. of State John Kerry is expected to be on hand today as the American flag is raised over the US embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961. With many Cuban expatriots unhappy about the normalization of relations between the two countries, Kerry is scheduled to meet after the flag ceremony with Cuban human rights activists.

The US and Cuba still have some big disagreements. Both want reparations from the other country; the US for property taken in the revolution; Cuba for economic damage caused by the US embargo.

The Sky is Falling: Forecasters predict that an El Niño weather pattern developing in the Pacific may be the most powerful on record, bringing heavy rain and snow to California and weather disturbances around the world. The ever-quotable climatologist Bill Patzert at NASA JPL in Pasadena describes it as “potentially a Godzilla El Niño.”

An El Niño begins with unusually warm water temperatures in the Pacific that push the Jetstream south bringing heavy rain, and blocking arctic air in the north, causing a warmer winter across the rest of America.

Life: Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s grandfathered death penalty is unconstitutional saying, “this state’s death penalty no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose.” Connecticut abolished its death penalty in 2012, but still has eleven people on death row for crimes committed before that.

The family of Dr. William Petit, whose wife and two daughters were murdered in a horrific 2007 home invasion, are unhappy with the decision. Petit’s sister, Cynthia Hawke Renn, said, “For people who commit such heinous and horrific crimes — when you torture and rape them and their children, douse them with gasoline and burn them alive — is there not something that should be worse?”

Vows: Two months after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the country, the county clerk in Moorehead, KY is refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because it is against her Christian beliefs. Kim Davis is refusing to issue licenses for both gay and straight couples but she’s under orders from both the governor and a federal judge to resume issuing licenses. Her case may produce litigation that will determine how far a public official can go in claiming religious privilege in how they perform their job.

Rubble: Fires are still smoldering in Tianjin, China after explosions leveled and burned a warehouse district. At least 55 people are dead and more are missing. The Chinese government is trying to control news coverage about how the disaster happened.

The incident began with a fire at a hazardous materials warehouse, drawing hundreds of firefighters who may not have been informed about what kinds of chemicals were at the site. A first-year firefighter has been pulled from the rubble more than 32 hours after the first explosion, but many of the dead are firefighters.

Miss Piggybank: Strapped for cash to make new episodes, the producers of the long running Sesame Street have struck a deal with HBO that will increase the number of episodes but also put the first run on paid television rather than public broadcasting. Sesame Workshop will make 35 new shows a year, up from 18, but only after nine months exclusively on HBO will Elmo, Big Bird, and Kermit appear on PBS.

First and Four: In a surprise appearance, New England quarterback Tom Brady started the team’s first pre-season game against Green Bay last night, even though he’s supposed to sit out the first four games of the season under suspension. He played just a day after appearing in federal court to fight the suspension.

29: If only Warren G. Harding had a Facebook page we might have known his relationship status much sooner. The nation learned a year ago that one of the dullest and most corrupt presidents in American history had a mistress for 15 years to whom he wrote torrid letters. Harding was childless with his wife … he blamed a bad case of the Mumps … but DNA tests now show that Harding had a daughter with another mistress named Nan Britton, who died in 1991. Britton said in her memoir that the child was conceived in Harding’s Senate office. That was in the days when Congress took action.

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