Good morning and welcome to Fresh Intelligence, our roundup of the stories, ideas, and memes you’ll be talking about today. In today’s edition there’s more controversy involving the Chicago police, candidates let off steam at the Republican debate, video games become sports, and Pittsburgh carjackers can’t drive. Here’s the rundown for Friday, January 15.
WEATHER
Thunderstorms this weekend may bring rare snowfall to parts of the South, heavy rains threaten to flood Northern California, and there’s still no snow in New York, where rain and temperatures as high as the upper 40s are expected through the weekend. [Weather.com]
FRONT PAGE
New Video Shows Chicago Officer Shooting Unarmed Black Teen
Another shooting video out of Chicago shows a police officer fatally shooting Cedrick Chatman, an unarmed 17-year-old, in the back as he flees. Officers investigating the 2013 carjacking said Chatman turned and pointed what looked like a weapon, but was actually a black iPhone box. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office waged a lengthy legal battle to keep the footage under wraps, before suddenly reversing its stance this week in an effort to “be as transparent as possible.” [Chicago Tribune]
EARLY AND OFTEN
Republicans Show Off Leadership Abilities in Televised Squabble
In the second-to-last Republican debate before the Iowa caucus, candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump finally went after each other on topics including who’s less qualified to run for president and Cruz’s perplexing love-hate relationship with New York. The candidates directed their harshest critiques at America, which they apparently think is just the worst.
President to Double Down on Coal Limits, Infuriating Mitch McConnell
The Obama administration is set to announce a suspension of new coal-mining leases on public lands later today. The action is the latest and most severe step in what Republicans have dubbed the president’s “war on coal.”
Michael Bay of Politics to Screen Donald Trump of Film
Donald Trump has rented out an Iowa movie theater in order to host a screening of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the Michael Bay action blockbuster based on the tragic death of U.S. diplomats. Trump is offering free tickets to his supporters. [CNN]
Clinton’s Attempt to Appear More Indiana Jones–like Backfires
During an interview with Amanda de Cadenet yesterday, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton admitted that despite graduating from Yale Law, facing decades of GOP attacks, and traveling the world as secretary of State, she is still afraid of snakes.
Trump Bigger Than George Washington, Ronald Reagan
In a Bloomberg interview, Donald Trump said the scale of his political movement is larger than any in American history, ignoring women’s suffrage, the civil-rights movement, and the American Revolution itself. Eventually, Trump allowed that maybe “Reagan had a little bit of this.” [Bloomberg]
THE STREET, THE VALLEY
Goldman Sachs Finally Watches The Big Short
Seven years after the 2008 financial crisis, Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay out more than $5 billion dollars as a result of a federal investigation into its handling of mortgage-backed securities. [NPR]
Oil Markets More Confusing Than Usual
Following reports of a rebound in the oil markets of more than 2 percent, came reports of the oil markets tumbling due to fears of an influx in Iranian oil. Iranian oil is coming back on the market after sanctions against the Islamic Republic were lifted last year. [Reuters]
Foursquare Still Exists, Gets New CEO
Foursquare, the app that sometimes comes up when you’re Googling other things, is in trouble. The co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley is stepping down following the announcement of a new $45 million funding round that would cut the company’s valuation in half. [CNET]
Prepare to Blame Your Terrible Driving on the Government
At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit yesterday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx laid out a plan for the federal government to support the development of self-driving cars. Kicking off the initiative is a ten-year, $4 billion investment that’s part of the president’s 2017 budget. [CNET]
MEDIA BUBBLE
This Week’s Most Important Award Nominations
Finalists for the 2016 Ellies, the annual awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors, have been announced. New York was the most-nominated publication, with nine nods, and The New York Times Magazine followed close behind with seven. [FishbowlNY]
Chinese Bojack Horseman Fans Sink Into Deeper Depression
Netflix has announced it will begin cracking down on viewers who use VPNs to access content blocked in their home regions. This follows the company’s expansion of service to 130 countries. Netflix is still not accessible in China. [CNN]
Sorry Mom, Video Games Are Officially a Sport
In an out-of-the-box bid to get Americans to watch soccer, ESPN has announced it will now cover e-sports — read: video games — with the “same rigor” it dedicates to the NFL. Prince is reportedly already in talks to perform at the Legend of Zelda Super Bowl halftime show. [LAT]
PHOTO OP
Alan Rickman: 1946-2016
Beloved British actor Alan Rickman died yesterday after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Fans have turned Platform 9 and ¾ in London’s King’s Cross station into a makeshift memorial for the actor who played Snape in the Harry Potter films. [Mashable]
MORNING MEME
It seems the whole internet is watching these incredibly disturbing Trump-boosting child-singers. The girls are going to have fun showing off this video when they wind up at some progressive liberal-arts college.
OTHER LOCAL NEWS
Carjackers Foiled by Stick
Two carjackers in Pittsburgh reportedly lost interest mid-robbery upon realizing that the victim’s car had a manual transmission. Didn’t they ever watch Real World/Road Rules Challenge? [Tribune-Review]
Psychic-Loving CEO’s Next 32 Months Easy to Predict
The CEO of a Michigan mental-health agency is now in jail after it was discovered he embezzled more than half-a-million dollars of public money to pay a local palm reader and her husband. [HuffPo]
HAPPENING TODAY
Cool Thing Planned in Space
Two astronauts at the International Space Station are preparing for a six-and-a-half-hour-long space walk later today to fix a shorted solar-power array. Space: Where even maintenance work seems awesome. [CBS]
New York Has Learned Nothing from Night at the Museum
The world’s biggest dinosaur is coming to New York’s American Museum of Natural History. The Titanosaur skeleton, which goes on public display tomorrow, is significantly larger than the Barosaurus it is replacing. With meat on its bones the vegetarian Titanosaur would have weighed more than 70 tons. [Metro]
