TOP STORIES
LOCAL ZIKA VIRUS TRANSMISSION FOUND IN TEXAS The first locally transmitted case in the state was found in Cameron County. [Erin Schumaker, HuffPost]
MEET DONALD TRUMP’S PICK FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Dr. Tom Price would likely go after Obamacare and potentially look to privatize Medicare. [Jonathan Cohn, HuffPost]
OSU ATTACKER IDENTIFIED Ohio State University student Abdul Razak Ali Artan attacked Ohio State University students with a car and butcher’s knife, leaving 11 injured, one critically. A police officer killed the Somali immigrant, who had reportedly written an online rant about how Muslims were treated worldwide. [Willa Frej and Ryan Grenoble, HuffPost]
AT LEAST 75 DEAD AFTER COLOMBIAN PLANE CRASH The death toll in the crash of a charter plan in the rural area of Medellin included the majority of top Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense and several journalists. So far only six survivors have been found. [Reuters]
VISUALLY BREAKING DOWN WHAT TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PLANS COULD MEAN The New York Times graphically depicts the number of people the president-elect has stated he intends to deport. [NYT]
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF U.S. DRONE STRIKES AGAINST ISIS LEADERS “ISIS’s second-in-command hid in Syria for months. The day he stepped out, the U.S. was waiting.” [WaPo]
EXPANSIVE WILDFIRE FORCES TENNESSEE EVACUATIONS In Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. [Ed Mazza, HuffPost]
INSIDE THE BILLION-DOLLAR BILL TO COMBAT THE HEROIN EPIDEMIC Where all that money is going. [Marina Fang, HuffPost]
WHAT’S BREWING
BEHOLD THE FIRST ‘GAME OF THRONES’ IMAGES We have just five more months, people. It’s so close and yet, so far. [HuffPost]
PATAGONIA MADE $10 MILLION IN SALES ON BLACK FRIDAY And it’s all getting donated to save the environment. [HuffPost]
THERE’S ABOUT TO BE A 24/7 TAYLOR SWIFT CHANNEL Don’t lie ― you just put it on your wish list, along with this Beyonce ugly Christmas sweater. [Vulture]
MS. JACKSON FROM ‘MS. JACKSON’ IS A REAL PERSON And here’s how she felt about OutKast’s hit single. [HuffPost]
‘WESTWORLD’ ADDED EVEN MORE CHAOS What to make of the madness. And more importantly, a conversation with the show’s star, Evan Rachel Wood, about how she has made peace with her sexual assaults. [HuffPost]
TRUMP’S WASHINGTON HOTEL HAS A SMALL LEASE PROBLEM “The lease for the Trump International Hotel, housed in Washington’s historic Old Post Office Pavilion, which is owned by the General Services Administration, contains a clause forbidding elected officials from involvement, according to two experts. Trump, as president, essentially would be both landlord and tenant.” [HuffPost]
BEFORE YOU GO
~ The Dictionary.com word of the year is rather depressing.
~ Did you know Steve Martin was a first-time father at 67? Looks like he’s got a few years before he’s playing that last game of hoops.
~ Vital to Estonia’s troops? Their saunas.
~ A look at President Barack Obama’s trips to Walter Reed.
~ “Breakfast Club” star Anthony Michael Hall has been charged withfelony battery.
~ Silicon Valley has an “empathy vacuum,” according to The New Yorker.
~ Looks like Britney Spears found herself a new man.
~ Shannon Doherty gets real about radiation treatment.
~ So Nick Cannon said some things...
~ Mom found “heavily battered” after being missing for three weeks.
~ “How I became the ‘other woman.’”
~ You’ll like what Lauren Graham had to say about more potential “Gilmore Girls” episodes.
~ Here’s how to get your letter from Santa postmarked by the North Pole.
~ And we love that New Zealand is having a country-wide Secret Santa exchange.
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