Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump; seniors discuss social security concerns; IRS wants millions to claim child tax credit | Hot off the Wire podcast

The House Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump for his testimony about the 2021 Capitol attack. The panel voted unanimously to compel the former president to appear.

“We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th’s central player,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair. Cheney adds: “We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion. And every American is entitled to those answers.”

Police in North Carolina say that the suspect who killed five people in a shooting was a juvenile male. Raleigh Police Lt. Jason Borneo says that the suspect was taken into custody around 9:37 p.m. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing sweeping changes in the way chicken and turkey meat is processed in an effort to reduce salmonella illnesses from food contamination.

Climate protesters have thrown soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in London’s National Gallery to protest fossil fuel extraction. The group Just Stop Oil, which wants the British government to halt new oil and gas projects, said activists dumped two cans of Heinz tomato soup over the oil painting on Friday.

Russian forces have launched at least four missile strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported the explosions on Friday afternoon. He offered no details on the extent of the damage or possible casualties.

Netflix will unveil next month the first version of its video streaming service with ads. The move will give cost-conscious viewers a chance to watch most Netflix shows at a steep discount in exchange for putting up with commercial interruptions.

In a year when inflation has made Americans’ eyes pop when they fill up their gas or walk down grocery store aisles, many Social Security recipients worry whether the biggest cost-of-living increase in four decades — 8.7% in 2023 — will be enough to cover their needs.

More than 9 million people and families who did not receive their advance child tax credit checks, stimulus payments and other tax rebates will soon get a letter from the IRS to claim their money.

In sports, the Astros once again relied on the long ball to get a ‘W’, the Commanders barely beat the Bears, late heroics give West Virginia a victory and the Penguins dominated the Coyotes.

In other news involving the former president, the Supreme Court has rejected Trump’s plea to step into the legal fight over the FBI search of his Florida estate. The justices did not otherwise comment Thursday in turning away Trump’s emergency appeal. Trump had pressed the court on an issue relating to classified documents seized in the search of Mar-a-Lago.

Wall Street staged its biggest comeback in years as stocks roared back from steep morning losses caused by a worse-than-expected report on inflation. The S&P 500 jumped 2.6% Thursday, a stunning reversal after earlier being down as much as 2.4% and touching its lowest level in nearly two years.

Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That sentence comes after the jury announced Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than two decades this week and are likely climb further as the Federal Reserve all but promised more rate increases as it tries to tamp down inflation. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the key 30-year rate climbed to 6.92% from 6.66% last week.

An Associated Press investigation has found that Russia’s strategy to take Ukrainian orphans and bring them up as Russian is well underway. It’s one of the war’s most explosive issues.

The investigation drew on interviews with parents, officials and children in Ukraine and Russia. It found that officials deported thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories without consent, lied to them that they were not wanted by their parents and gave them Russian families and citizenship.