Classified documents were found at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence; President Joe Biden has been sued over his migrant sponsorship plan; and Pope Francis criticized laws criminalizing homosexuality. These stories and more highlight the morning rundown for Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
Earthquake hits California coast
A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of California early Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological survey. Aftershocks of 2.6 and 3.5 magnitude were felt in the area.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said no tsunami threat was associated with the quake. The Los Angeles Fire Department added there were no immediate reports of major damage.
Washington mass shooting
Three people were killed in a shooting at a convenience store in Yakima, Washington, early Tuesday. The gunman died after an hours-long manhunt. The shooting comes follows several shootings in California in recent days.
“You wouldn’t know this threat was coming. And that makes people uncomfortable,” Yakima Police Chief Matt Murray said Tuesday. “I think that’s why America is uncomfortable right now with a lot of these crazy incidents that are occurring. And here we are in little Yakima, right on the heels of California dealing with much the same thing.”
Classified documents found in Mike Pence’s home
A lawyer for former Vice President Pence announced Tuesday that documents were found in Pence’s home. The lawyer said “a small number of documents … were inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home following his time as vice president. Those documents were taken into FBI custody last Thursday.
The Pence discovery comes as the Department of Justice was already investigating the discovery of classified documents in President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and his former Washington office, as well as former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
Microsoft Suffers Outage
Microsoft has recovered all of its cloud services after suffering a networking outage early Wednesday morning. The outage affected the company’s cloud platform Azure along with services such as Teams and Outlook.
Walmart workers to get pay raises
Walmart said its workers will get a pay raise next month. The company announced Tuesday it will be increasing its starting wages to between $14 and $19 an hour. That’s up from the current $12 to $18 an hour. The move is expected to increase average pay from $17.00 to $17.50.
“As you continue to focus on your customers, we’re focused on investing in you – our store associates – through higher wages and new opportunities to gain the skills to serve tomorrow’s customers and grow a career with Walmart,” Walmart President and CEO John Furner said in a note to all U.S. associates.
States sue Biden over migrant sponsorship plan
Twenty states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a plan to allow up to 30,000 migrants from four countries to enter the U.S. legally each month if they have American sponsors. Those countries are Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The Department of Homeland Security, under the false pretense of preventing aliens from unlawfully crossing the border between the ports of entry, has effectively created a new visa program without the formalities of legislation from Congress,” the states wrote in the complaint. “The Department’s parole power is exceptionally limited, having been curtailed by Congress multiple times, and can be used ‘only on a case-by-
case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.’”
Pope Francis comments on homosexuality
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis denounced laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust.” He said “being homosexual isn’t a crime” and God loves all his children just as they are.
“What happens is that they are cultures, cultures in a state and in bishops from that place, if they are good bishops, they are part of the culture and some have their minds still in that culture,” Pope Francis said Tuesday. “These bishops have to have a process of conversion.”
According to the Human Dignity Trust, some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity. Eleven of those countries can or do impose the death penalty.
The Associated Press, Reuters, CBS News and CNN contributed to this report.