5 things to know for Dec. 23: Subway killing, Starbucks strike, Nissan-Honda merger, Death row sentences, Drone sightings
By Andrew Torgan and Tricia Escobedo, CNN
(CNN) — Drivers nationwide are getting a welcome gift this holiday season: Cheaper gasoline. Americans will likely be greeted by the lowest Christmas Day gas prices since 2020 during the pandemic, according to GasBuddy, an app that crowdsources pump prices. GasBuddy said it expects gas prices will average $3.01 a gallon nationally. That would represent a modest dip from $3.10 last year and the Christmas Day record high of $3.26 in 2021.
Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.
1. Subway killing
A woman was killed on a New York subway train Sunday morning after a man set her clothes on fire with a lighter in what authorities are calling a “brutal murder” and an example of “depraved behavior.” The suspect was arrested at another subway station in Manhattan about eight hours after the attack, police said. The assailant approached the woman without saying a word, according to police. Officials did not identify the suspect other than to say he is an immigrant from Guatemala. The victim was not identified.
2. Starbucks strike
A strike that began last week against Starbucks reached nine states on Sunday, according to the union representing the workers. The Starbucks Workers United said baristas in Missouri, New Jersey and New York began their strike Sunday after locations in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania joined the strike Saturday. Workers walked off the job on Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered and opened its first location. The union has said the strike could reach “hundreds of stores” by Christmas Eve — although that would only be a small portion of Starbucks’ more than 10,000 company-operated stores.
3. Nissan-Honda merger
Honda and Nissan have formally agreed to hold talks over the next six months on a possible merger, a deal that would create the world’s third-largest automaker and give them more resources to compete with a growing threat from Chinese carmakers. A third, smaller Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi, which is already in an alliance with Nissan, will also participate in the talks. The combined company, should it be created, would trail only Toyota and Volkswagen in global sales. “Today marks a pivotal moment,” Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement announcing the negotiations. “Together, we can create a unique way for (customers) to enjoy cars that neither company could achieve alone.” The deal could lead to even more mergers in the auto industry, said Adam Jonas, auto analyst with Morgan Stanley, in a note last week, when news of the talks emerged.
4. Death row sentences
President Joe Biden announced today that he is taking 37 people off federal death row to serve out life sentences behind bars — a decision that leaves only three federal prisoners awaiting execution when President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month. Notably, Biden did not commute the sentences of three whose crimes included mass shootings or acts of terrorism: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers responsible for the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof, a White nationalist who massacred nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018. The majority of the 37 individuals whose death row sentences were commuted were convicted for less high-profile offenses, such as murders tied to drug trafficking or the killings of prison guards or other inmates.
5. Drone sightings
Recent drone sightings over military bases across the country have renewed concerns that the US doesn’t have clear government-wide policy for how to deal with unauthorized incursions that could potentially pose a national security threat. Over a period of six days earlier this month, there were six instances of unmanned aerial systems, or drones, entering the airspace of the Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in California, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN, adding that they posed “no threat to installation operations and no impact to air and ground operations.” There were also incidents in the last month at other bases in Ohio, New Jersey and California. The drone incidents are “a problem that has been brewing for over a decade and we have basically failed to address it,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Rob Spalding, who previously served as the chief China strategist for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
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Don’t look down!
A spectacular new cable car in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps claims to be the “world’s steepest.”
TODAY’S NUMBER
70%
That’s the estimated number of buildings that are sinking in northern and central Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, according to a recent study. Researchers said the main cause was vibrations from construction, which can cause soil particles to compact and settle. They began the study after the 2021 partial collapse of a condominium building in Surfside, Florida, that killed 98 people.
TODAY’S QUOTE
“It’s clear that the justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires.”
— Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito of violating federal disclosure laws in a lengthy report that caps the committee’s monthslong investigation.
TODAY’S WEATHER
Check your local forecast here>>>
AND FINALLY …
After their brazen heist and dance moves were posted online, the thieves actually returned with the items and a message.
The-CNN-Wire
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