Defeated governor pardons man convicted of decapitating woman and stuffing her body into barrel

Outgoing Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin commuted the sentence on Monday of a man who had been convicted of decapitating a woman and disposing of her body in a 55-gallon barrel. In a statement, Bevin explained his pardon of Delmar Partin, who was convicted in 1994 for the murder of Betty Carnes, a mother of three and a co-worker of Partin's at a factory. “Given the inability or unwillingness of the state to use existing DNA evidence to either affirm or disprove this conviction, I hearby pardon Mr. Partin for this crime and encourage the state to make every effort to bring final justice to the victim and her family,” Bevin wrote on Monday, his last day in office.

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  Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardons include man whose brother held fundraiser

  KABC – Los Angeles
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  Kentucky governor pardons killer whose family donated to his campaign days before leaving office

  The Independent

Judge's decision may shine light on secret Trump-Putin meeting notes

A district court judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered administration lawyers to explain why, for more than two years, the White House has refused to turn over to the State Department an interpreter's notes from a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That meeting took place in the summer of 2017, during a summit of the G-20 nations in Hamburg, Germany. The two men got along so well that the meeting, which was supposed to last an hour, ran to 137 minutes.

Supreme Court to decide Native American land dispute in Oklahoma

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed for the second time Friday to decide whether much of Oklahoma remains Native American territory, a ruling that could plunge the state into what it has called "civil, criminal and regulatory turmoil." The justices will hear an appeal from Jimcy McGirt, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, who claims his state rape conviction from 1997 should be overturned because of the jurisdictional dispute. His case is similar to one the high court heard last term but failed to decide – presumably because the justices were deadlocked, 4-4, without Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch's participation.

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  The Supreme Court just set the stage for a blockbuster ruling on Trump's financial records

  Business Insider
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  Supreme Court blocks Trump administration's plan to execute Indiana inmate

  FOX News Videos

The 10 Best Tech Gadgets of 2019

From the Apple AirPods Pro to the Google Pixel 3a, these are the gadgets that took over 2019. From Popular Mechanics

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  How Hayley Kiyoko Prepped For Her Bravest Moment Of The Year

  Refinery29
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  ABC13 Evening News for December 13, 2019

  KTRK – Houston

2 children dead after being swept away in Arizona floodwaters

Two children are dead and another is still missing after the vehicle they were traveling in was swept away in floodwaters in Arizona's Tonto Basin, the Gila County Sheriff's Office said Saturday. The Gila County Sheriff's Office told CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV the victims found were a five-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. According to the Gila County Sheriff's Office, they received a call around 4 p.m. Friday of a vehicle stuck in Tonto Creek at Bar X Crossing in Tonto Basin, located about 80 miles from Phoenix.

Sanders retracts controversial endorsement less than 24 hours after making it

Sen. Bernie Sanders retracted his endorsement of congressional candidate Cenk Uygur on Friday, less than 24 hours after making it, as allegations of sexism hit the former online talk show host. Last month, Uygur announced he would run for the congressional seat in California's 25th District vacated by California Democrat Katie Hill, who resigned after “revenge porn” photos revealed she had an affair with a subordinate. On Thursday, Sanders became the only presidential candidate to endorse Uygur, whose YouTube program “The Young Turks” has nearly 30,000 subscribers.

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  How Bernie Sanders's Endorsement Of An Ally Blew Up In His Face

  HuffPost
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  Why 2020 Democrats think attacking Bernie Sanders is not a 'smart strategy'

  FOX News Videos

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns Iran of 'decisive response' if harm in Iraq

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday warned Iran of a “decisive” response if U.S. interests are harmed in Iraq, after a series of rocket attacks on bases.

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  Mike Pompeo stokes Kansas Senate rumours with Twitter launch

  The Guardian
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  Horse-trading Iran hawks seize on Pompeo's Senate interest

  Associated Press

Operation Plunder: How 1 Hellish Battle Slowed The Allies' Capture Of Nazi Germany

January 1945—with World War II in its sixth year—found the Allied armies going on the offensive after the Battle of the Bulge, but they were still west of the Rhine and six weeks behind schedule in their advance toward Germany. Although U.S. and French units of Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers' Sixth Army Group had reached the western bank around Strasbourg in late 1944, the river proved too difficult to cross. The key to eventual victory lay in the central and northern Rhineland, but three factors delayed an advance: the failure of Operation Market Garden, the British-American airborne invasion of Holland, the onset of an extremely wet autumn and harsh winter, and the unexpectedly rapid recovery of the German Army in the wake of recent Allied advances.

New Zealand eruption death toll rises to 18

The death toll from New Zealand's White Island volcano eruption rose to 18 Sunday, including two people whose bodies have not been recovered, police said. A land search Sunday failed to find any sign of the missing pair and divers returned to the sea in the afternoon amid increasing speculation both could be in the water. Deputy police commissioner Mike Clement said there was "every chance" the bodies had been washed into the sea from the stream where they were last seen Monday.

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  Police divers are resuming the search for two more bodies after the New Zealand volcano eruption

  INSIDER
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  New Zealand recovery teams return to volcanic island, two remain missing; death toll rises to 16

  Reuters

A California Starbucks reportedly denied police officers service, in the latest of several alleged anti-cop acts at the coffee chain this year

Geovien So/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images This is just the latest of several alleged police discrimination acts at Starbucks this year. In July, Tempe police officers tweeted that they were asked to leave an Arizona Starbucks location. In November, an Oklahoma Starbucks employee was fired after a police officer received his coffee order with the word "PIG" written on it.

Kamala Harris flames out: Black people didn't trust her, and they were wise not to

Even though Barack Obama surprisingly won Iowa in 2008, Harris struggled to gain support in the small, mostly white state whose African American population is a whopping 3.8%. All that may be true, but it misses the most important part of the story. It was one thing for Harris to receive little to no support from whites in Iowa, but how could the fact that blacks in South Carolina (and beyond) weren't excited about her either be explained?

Pelosi announces U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal

House Democrats announced Tuesday they have reached a deal with the White House on the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, bringing President Trump closer to fulfilling a major legislative accomplishment. "This is a day we've all been working to and working for on the path to yes," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California said. Asked by CBS News' Nancy Cordes whether it was a coincidence that the trade deal was being announced on the same day that articles of impeachment were unveiled by House Democrats, Pelosi responded, "No, it's not a coincidence.

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  Trade agreement: Stocks little changed after Trump and China reach partial trade deal

  USA TODAY
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  Trump's New Trade Deal: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

  The National Interest

An influencer and model said she isn't doing a gender reveal because 'that may not be who my child decides to be'

Model Iskra Lawrence wrote to her Instagram followers that she will not be having a gender reveal party for her child. "Though right now I know what gender the professionals have announced, that may not be who my child decides to be and it doesn't feel right to make a big deal about something so personal to them," Lawrence wrote. Iskra Lawrence, an Instagram influencer and model, posted a picture on Instagram with a caption explaining why she will not be having a gender reveal party for her child.

Mortal Enemy? How Does the People's Liberation Army View the United States?

Key Point: Internal documents reveal the mindset of the PLA is offensive, specifically against the U.S. In December 2017, the U.S. Government published a new National Security Strategy. This remarkable document referred to the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a "revisionist power" that sought "to shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests." One month later, in January 2018, the Pentagon released the unclassified version of its National Defense Strategy, which stated that "China is a strategic competitor." Thanks to these documents, we now know how the American military―and the broader national security community―officially views China.

Hong Konger 'missing' after crossing China bridge checkpoint

Hong Kong's immigration department said Sunday they have received reports a man went missing on a cross-border mega bridge to the gambling hub of Macau that currently hosts a Chinese mainland police checkpoint. The disappearance first emerged on Saturday when the man's son told local media his father had texted to say he was being detained while passing through an artificial island manned by Chinese police on his way to the semi-autonomous city of Macau. The man was travelling by bus on Friday afternoon along the bridge-and-tunnel network linking Hong Kong, Macau and mainland city Zhuhai, his son said.

A 29-year-old mayor is giving his city's poorest residents $500 per month. He thinks his policy could work on a national scale.

Tubbs said a similar program could work on a national level, but the money would have to come without any strings attached. That's why he doesn't support Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang's basic-income plan. Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo In California's Central Valley, a small city is testing a big idea.

A Mobster's Murder, and the Jockeying to Move Up the Hierarchy

On a quiet night in March, a mob leader was executed in New York City for the first time since 1985. The body of Francesco Cali, a reputed boss of the Gambino crime family, lay crumpled outside his Staten Island home, pierced by at least six bullets. One of them, Vincent Fiore, said he had just read a “short article” about the “news,” according to prosecutors.

Louisiana sues California over alligator ban

Louisiana is suing the state of California over its decision to ban the import and sale of alligator products, saying the ban will hurt an important Louisiana industry and ultimately could hurt the state's wetlands. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Louisiana said the economy surrounding alligators has played a key role in bringing back the American alligator population and is an important factor in protecting wetlands and other species besides alligators that depend on the wetlands. “California has nevertheless attempted to destroy the market for American alligator products notwithstanding the fact that no such alligators live in California," the lawsuit says.

Anger erupts at U.N. climate summit as major economies resist bold action

Major economies resisted calls for bolder climate commitments as a U.N. summit in Madrid limped toward a delayed conclusion on Saturday, dimming hopes that nations will act in time to stop rising temperatures devastating people and the natural world. "At a time when scientists are queuing up to warn about terrifying consequences if emissions keep rising, and school children are taking to the streets in their millions, what we have here in Madrid is a betrayal of people across the world," said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate and energy think-tank in Nairobi. The annual climate marathon had been due to conclude on Friday, but dragged on with ministers mired in multiple disputes over implementing the Paris deal, which has so far failed to stem the upward march of global carbon emissions.

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  The upside-down world of UN climate diplomacy

  AFP
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  Global climate change efforts have stalled due to lack of ambition, warns UN Secretary-General

  The Telegraph

Why is the president of the United States cyberbullying a 16-year-old girl?

The girls are too upset. They were upset because Donald Trump was a bully, a cyberbully, and he bullied girls and young women like them – women like the former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who revealed that, when she was 19, he called her “Miss Piggy,” a dig at her weight. In a New York Times poll in the run-up to the election, nearly half of girls aged 14 to 17 said that Trump's comments about women affected the way they think about their bodies.

9 Dem candidates demand DNC toss out current debate rules

Nine Democratic presidential candidates, including the party's front-runners, are urging the Democratic National Committee to reopen televised debates to a broader pool of contenders to better reflect the historic diversity of the current field. But party officials signaled Saturday that they are unlikely to budge and change the rules used in recent months to determine who makes the stage. In the letter obtained by CBS News, the candidates say that the rules used in recent months to determine who will appear "have unnecessarily and artificially narrowed what started as the strongest and most diverse Democratic field in history before voters have had a chance to be heard."

Boris Johnson's victory is 'catastrophic warning' to Democrats: Bloomberg

Boris Johnson's election victory is a 'catastrophic warning' to Democrats in the United States, presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg has warned.

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  Boris Johnson promises to heal divide over Brexit

  CBS News Videos
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  Battle ahead: Scotland party leader vows independence push

  Associated Press