Go to the Video: Three Memphis emergency medical technicians have been fired for their actions, or failure to act, following the January 7^th incident in which 29-year-old Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten. The EMTs were seen on police video doing nothing for several minutes.

  This comes as more details emerge. The initial police report filed the morning after Nichols’ arrest described him as an irate suspect who had “started to fight” with police officers, even reaching for one of their guns. This was proven to be a lie by the video, which showed officers immediately ripping Nichols out of his car, throwing him to the ground, pepper spraying him, and giving repeated conflicting orders that had him bewildered.

  The initial report said Nichols had been “refusing a lawful detention,” a flat out lie. 

   The police department now also says a 6^th and 7^th Memphis officers have been suspended from duty for their involvement. One of them, Off. Preston Hemphill, was part of the force’s now-disbanded SCORPION unit and was the third cop to arrive at the initial traffic stop. Hemphill used his Taser on Nichols. His body camera recorded some of the damning evidence against himself and the five cops who were fired and indicted for second degree murder. Hemphill can be heard on his own video saying, “I hope they stomp his ass.”

  His lawyer says Hemphill is cooperating with the investigation and 

was not present at the second location where Nichols was most severely beaten. 

The War Room:  Talks with Ukraine are “pointless” since the US and NATO allies agreed to send modern tanks to the fight, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the state news agency. “When Washington announced the decision to supply tanks, and its vassals, including Ottawa, are competing over who will supply armored vehicles, especially old ones, to Ukraine, and how many of them… it’s pointless to talk,” Ryabkov said.

  He also said, “We are willing to consider any serious initiatives to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but so far no one has articulated them properly.” Ukraine has set the condition of talking only about Russia’s complete withdrawal.

Trump World: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is presenting evidence to a grand jury about payments former President Donald Trump is accused of making to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up an extramarital affair. If he’s charged, it would likely be for falsifying business records, the lowest-level felony in New York, but still a felony.

   Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to making the payments “at the direction” of President Trump. Cohen went to prison, but neither federal nor local prosecutors pursued a case against Trump.  

  On another front, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast that, “If we do not get Donald Trump back in the White House, I don’t know how much longer we can last. I think our republic is in peril.” 

The Obit Page: Bobby Hull, the hockey legend with blond hair and a body of steel known as “the Golden Jet,” has died at age 84. No cause was given.

  Hull had an upper body like Charles Atlas that gave him the power for a slapshot that could take your foot off. One goalie said, “The idea was not to stop that thing, but to avoid getting killed.”

  Hull played 15 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks in the days before helmets when players ended their careers with no front teeth and a face crosshatched with scars.

   He was the third player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season, following Maurice “Rocket” Richard and Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, both of the Montreal Canadiens. Hull scored 50 goals or more five times with the Blackhawks, hitting 58 during the 1968-69 season. He later scored 77 in a season with the Winnipeg Jets of the upstart World Hockey Association.

— Barrett Strong, who was a one hit wonder with his 1959 song, “Money (That’s What I Want)” planting the seed that became Motown Records, has died at 81. 

— Lisa Loring, the child who played Wednesday Addams in the 1960s television series “The Addams Family,” died of a stroke in Burbank, California. She was 64. Her character was famous for trying to teach the giant character Lurch how to dance. She once said she got the role, “because of my pout.”

— Cindy Williams, the actress who played Shirley Feeney on the beloved 1970s sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” has died, according to her family. She was 75. Penny Marshall, who played Laverne, died in 2018 at age 75.

The Spin Rack: The bombing of a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan has killed at least 100 people and wounded about 150 more. — The average age of new mothers in the US has risen to a record high of 27 years in 2021. — The last Boeing 747, the jumbo jet known as “The Queen of the Skies” that has been manufactured for 50 years, has left the factory. It will be replaced in production by more efficient two-engine jets. — American professional freestyle skier Kyle Smaine was killed when he was caught in an avalanche skiing on the Japanese island of Honshu. The 31-year-old Smaine was one of five foreign skiers overrun by the slide.  The skier from Lake Tahoe posted a video earlier in the day saying Japan has, “Unbelievable snow quality, non-stop storms, and really fun terrain that seems to get better the more exploring you do.” 

Below the Fold: Priscilla Presley is contesting the will of her late daughter, Lisa Marie, claiming it’s invalid because she was removed as a trustee and replaced by Lisa Marie’s daughter, Riley Keough.

  Reports now also say that Lisa Marie lost 40 to 50 pounds in the last couple of months of her life so she would look good for the Hollywood awards season.

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