THE BIG STORY

A big night for Democrats in Georgia

In order to wrestle control of the Senate from Republicans, Democrats needed to win not one but two Senate race runoffs in Georgia. And after tense campaigns that attracted national attention, Democrats are on the verge of pulling off this feat.

Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Kelly Loeffler in one of the runoff races, making him the state’s first Black senator. Meanwhile, Democrat Jon Ossoff holds a tight lead over Republican David Perdue, with most of the votes now counted.

Here’s why all of this is significant: If Ossoff defeats Perdue, Democrats will have 50 seats and tie-breaking control over the Senate once Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is in office.

In his virtual victory remarks, Warnock recalled that his mother picked “someone else’s cotton” while he was growing up, and that he had taken her to pick her son to become a US Senator.

Warnock’s victory is a testament to the decades-long political organizing of Black women in Georgia, coming just two months after President-elect Joe Biden beat Trump in the state — the first Democrat to win there since 1992.

Rev. Raphael Warnock meets with supporters on January 5 in Marietta, Georgia. Megan Varner / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The Kenosha cop who shot Jacob Blake in the back, paralyzing him, won’t be charged

In August, Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran with the Kenosha Police Department, shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake seven times in the back, as he was walking to his car where his three children were seated.

The shooting paralyzed Blake from the waist, and sparked protests in Wisconsin that turned deadly.

On Tuesday, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced that the police officer will not be charged. Graveley said a determining factor was the finding by an independent use-of-force expert that Sheskey had acted reasonably and appropriately.

SNAPSHOTS

“One of the most kind people you would ever meet”: She escaped the Holocaust but not the pandemic. Malvina Shabes escaped Poland during World War II and found refuge in Canada. A COVID-19 outbreak in a retirement home killed her. She was 93.

One city. One month. Two Black men killed by police. Andre Hill and Casey Goodson were killed by police weeks apart from each other in Columbus, Ohio. Now the shaken city is grappling with protests surrounding the two high-profile cases.

Police shot two people, killing one, as a baby sat in the back seat. Austin police said the incident began when the man driving the car cut off an off-duty officer and flashed a gun at him.

Sia responded again to criticism of her decision to cast Maddie Ziegler as an autistic character. The singer cast her frequent collaborator Ziegler in her new movie Music. In an interview, Sia said, “I realized it wasn't ableism — I mean, it is ableism, I guess, as well — but it's actually nepotism, because I can't do a project without her.”

SPOILED VACCINES

A pharmacist tried to ruin COVID-19 vaccines because of false beliefs they were “unsafe”

On Thursday, Steven Brandenburg, a Wisconsin pharmacist, was arrested and fired from a suburban Milwaukee hospital after he allegedly removed 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from a pharmacy refrigerator. The vials contained more than 500 doses of the vaccine.

This week, Brandenburg appeared in a virtual court hearing, where Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said he had intentionally tried to destroy the vaccines. “He'd formed this belief they were unsafe,” Gerol said.

A detective referred to Brandenburg as an “admitted conspiracy theorist” who believed the vaccine could alter people's DNA — which it cannot.

Police said in a statement that Brandenburg knew the spoiled vials would be useless and that people who received doses would think they had been successfully vaccinated.

HEADS UP

This meteorologist explained exactly why you shouldn’t eat icicles

Whomst among us has never been tempted to just break off a fresh icicle and, crunch, bite right into it. It looks so...crisp and tempting.

But there’s a pretty good reason to resist said temptation. Katie Nikolaou, a meteorologist in Iowa, blew up on TikTok telling folks not to eat icicles because… of poop.

“When icicles form it's from water that runs off your roof,” she tells the audience. “You know what else is on your roof? Bird poop. A lot of it.”

Lots of folks apparently did not know this, because the TikTok went viral, with more than 13 million views.

Prioritize yourself by setting some boundaries today,

Elamin