- The president-elect hosted his first news conference in six months [1] and it was predictably dramatic. Yesterday, CNN and The New York Times reported that Trump and Obama were both briefed on potential Russian intelligence that could compromise Trump. The same day, Buzzfeed published an unverified intelligence document including many damning details. Predictably, Trump faced several questions about the explosive dossier [2] this morning. Though he did concede that Russia "probably" did actually hack and release documents related to the election, he insinuated the information was beneficial to transparency. After detailing his plan to untangle his business conflicts, Trump got into a spat with CNN's Jim Acosta.
- Dylan Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine people at a church in Charleston, SC, was sentenced to death on Tuesday [3]. Roof remained unrepentant throughout the trial and even said he felt "like he had to do it." In closing arguments, Roof again admitted his guilt but offered no apology. He will be the first federal hate crime defendant sentenced to death.
- The first North American bumblebee was listed as an endangered species on Tuesday. Responding to the rusty bumblebee's 87 percent population decline since 1990, the US Fish and Wildlife Service warned that it was in danger of becoming extinct. Bees are crucial to food production; as pollinators they fertilize 35 percent of the world's food, reports CNN [4].
- Woody Harrelson has officially signed on to star in the upcoming, unnamed, Han Solo movie according to StarWars.com [5]. It's unclear who Harrelson will play in the movie, but the project is set to be released in 2018. Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones and Donald Glover have also signed on the project.
- After Sasha Obama was noticeably absent from her father's farewell speech, the White House explained that she had an exam the next day. According to social media sleuths [6], Sasha was scheduled to take a science exam, which could not be excused because of travel.