Members of the House of Representatives will reconvene Wednesday to try to resolve its speakership election; Southwest offers points as an apology; and a terrifying tale of online dating that went wrong. These stories and more highlight your morning rundown for Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.
House to vote again for Speakership
On three separate vote counts, the House of Representatives failed to elect a House speaker. With the GOP in control of the chamber, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Calif., is the party’s frontrunner.
But with as many as 20 Republicans voting against him, he is not getting enough support to get past the threshold.
However, McCarthy said late Tuesday that there was no scenario in which he drops out of the race for speaker.
“Look, today is it the day I wanted to have? No. I mean there are a lot of things we wanted to do. But if we’re able to work out our differences, and make this time, we’re only going to be stronger to be able to accomplish the things we want to do,” McCarthy said.
More votes will take place again today to see if Republicans can get on the same page. In the meantime, nothing else will get done — no swearing in of new members and no committees will be formed until a speaker is successfully elected.
Southwest offers points as apology
This time last week, Southwest customers were largely stranded in airports, without their luggage, waiting hours on end as thousands of flights were canceled daily.
To make it up to those travelers impacted by the debacle, Southwest is now giving 25,000 reward points, which is the equivalent to about a $300 voucher. The points will likely cover one free round-trip ticket per person.
The reward came with an apology letter from the CEO sent out to impacted customers. Despite the gesture, the White House says it is still investigating the airline.
Cartel kingpin among 27 escapees
A cartel kingpin with ties to El Chapo’s notorious street gang was among 27 inmates who broke out of a Mexican prison following an orchestrated rescue mission.
That rescue mission turned out to be a military-style attack on the prison, killing 17 people, including 10 prison guards.
U.S. Border Patrol says they are “in defense mode,” working with Mexican authorities as the escapees could try to cross into the U.S.
Driver intentionally goes off cliff
Video from helicopter rescue crews show a car at the bottom of a cliff along California’s Interstate 1. Crews say everyone in the Tesla vehicle survived, including two children and two adults.
“We have 300 foot ropes and we just about maxed them out to get down to those people. We come out here unfortunately all too often for things like this. This was nothing short of a miracle today that they survived,” Brian Pottenger, the battalion chief for Cal Fire, said.
While the good news is nobody died, investigators discovered it was the driver’s intention to kill everyone in the car by plunging off the cliff named Devil’s Slide. That driver has been arrested for attempted murder and child abuse.
Bumble date kidnapped for five days
Zachary Mills was arrested and accused of holding a woman captive for five days after they matched on the popular dating app Bumble. The victim agreed to meet Mills at his apartment in Houston.
When the woman turned down his advances, he allegedly started punching, biting and hitting her with a screwdriver. She said he also sexually assaulted her. Court documents also state he deprived her of food and water for the five days she was held captive.
Bumble has guidelines for safe-online dating, which includes meeting in a public space. And have a friend keep tabs on where you’re going.
