Vice President Kamala Harris certified President-elect Donald Trump as the winner of the November 5, 2024 election.
Harris and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson presided over a joint session of Congress to certify the results of the 2024 Presidential election on January 6, 2025.
In an awkward moment, Harris said, “The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Donald J. Trump, of the state of Florida, has received 312 votes.”
Congress erupted in cheers before Harris could certify her own vote tally: “Kamala D. Harris, of the state of California, has received 226 votes,” she said.
There were rumors that Harris would not certify the results of the election. Skeptics said that President Joe Biden would step down and allow Harris to become the first female president of the United States. Many believed she would not give up the presidency so easily.
On Monday, Harris said, “One of the most important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power.”
? #BREAKING: After Kamala Harris announced President Trump’s victory, Congress ERUPTED in cheers and applause
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) used a walker when she attended the joint session of Congress to ratify the 2024 Presidential election at the U.S. Capitol.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Pelosi fell down a marble staircase and broke her hip during an official visit to Luxembourg in mid-December. She was flown to an Army hospital in Germany where she underwent hip replacement surgery.
While recovering from surgery, Pelosi, 84, made phone calls to fellow Democrat lawmakers in the U.S. to reject 35-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from serving in a senior position on the House Oversight Committee.
Ocasio-Cortez is still planning to run for president in 2028.
Sports journalist Jason Whitlock was heavily criticized after he suggested women should not be hired as hosts in male sports. In a series of tweets in December, Whitlock said women should stay in their lane — particularly “hot women” who distract from the game.
Whitlock complained that “Pretty Privilege” allowed women to invade men’s spaces such as locker rooms and football sidelines. Whitlock, a former columnist on Fox Sports on MSN, said he is not alone in his thinking that men prefer not to work alongside women in sports.
Grok
On Sunday, Whitlock seemed to suggest that Shannon Sharpe “got revenge” on his former co-host Skip Bayless after a lawsuit was filed against Bayless by a former hairstylist at Fox Sports.
I'm in a tough spot. I know all involved parties. The story speaks to narratives that I discuss regularly. Corruption in TV and the media. The injection of women as "host" in male discussions. I'll figure out what I'm comfortable sharing/saying. What I can say for sure is… https://t.co/F6jcoz6m3F
Hat tip Shannon Sharpe. He channeled Michael Corleone in Godfather with this hit. He settled all debts. Sharpe had an accomplice or two. https://t.co/xtlz7GgD8R
Whitlock’s followers agreed. One person tweeted: “If she was a stay at home mom this would have never happened.”
On Dec. 11, Whitlock retweeted a post by T.J. Moe: “Why have we taken away all of the men’s spaces? Why do female reporters have to be inside of the locker room as I’m walking out of the shower?”
“They got all these hot women hosting all of these sports shows, and I don’t like it,” Whitlock said on Dec, 17.
In a follow-up post, Whitlock said, “The sports world is a fantasy land, filled with lies and a satanic worldview. They get men there by enticing them to think with their smallest head. They decorate the sidelines with smokeshow 10s, and let these women host talk shows. Men in the industry just want to get in these supermodels’ panties, so they’ll tell any lie asked of them.”
The sports world is a fantasy land, filled with lies and a satanic worldview. They get men there by enticing them to think with their smallest head. They decorate the sidelines with smokeshow 10s, and let these women host talk shows. Men in the industry just want to get in these… pic.twitter.com/9b7d5quhhI
Kerry Washington and her husband Nnamdi Asomugha attended the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 5, 2025 in Beverly Hills, CA.
MEGA/WENN
Kerry, 47, played a no-nonsense publicist on the popular ABC show “Scandal.” She married former NFL cornerback Nnamdi in 2013. The couple welcomed a daughter named Isabelle in 2014 followed by a son named Caleb in October of 2016.
MEGA/WENN
Salma Hayek showed off her grey roots with a curly updo. Hayek, 58, wore a gorgeous burgundy sequined corset gown on the red carpet at the 2025 Golden Globes Awards in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, Jan. 5.
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Golden Globe winner Zoe Saldana wore Saint Laurent to The 2025 Golden Globe Awards.
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“The Bear” actress Ayo Edebiri wore a men’s tailored suit designed by Loewe to The 2025 Golden Globe Awards.
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Actress Anya Taylor-Joy wore a satin gown by Dior to The 2025 Golden Globe Awards.
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“Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo wore Louis Vuitton to The 2025 Golden Globe Awards.
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“Wicked” star Ariana Grande wore Hubert de Givenchy Haute Couture to The 2025 Golden Globe Awards.
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Actress Zendaya wore a Louis Vuitton saffron double silk satin gown to The 2025 Golden Globe Awards. She was styled by Law Roach.
See more photos from the 2025 Golden Globe Awards below.
Fans say supermodel Beverly Johnson is reinventing herself — as a non-melanated woman. The 72-year-old model was among the A- and B-list stars at the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards on January 03, 2025 in Palm Springs, California.
MEGA/WENN
Johnson was the first Black model to appear on the cover of American Vogue magazine in 1974. She aspired to be a lawyer, but gave up her aspiration and went into modeling instead.
The 5-9 model shared her skincare secrets in an interview with The Sun in 2023. She denied skin bleaching or having plastic surgery done to her face.
“Being Black is wonderful because we have a head start with the way we look,” she explained. “Black don’t crack, but other people don’t scar like we do.”
She continued, “Until they figure out how to eliminate scarring — and I’m talking plastic surgery and anything else — no knife is coming near me.”
Johnson also raves about Retrouve skincare for her face and body. “It is pricey but it really does more than what it says and is better than most,” she said. She adores the company’s Baume Body Oil. “I lather it all on. The new balancing face oil is amazing also, it doesn’t block your pores and you can use it under your makeup.”
See more photos from the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards below.
A former Fox Sports hairstylist claims that former host Skip Bayless touched her inappropriately and propositioned her for intimate services.
In a lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles, Noushin Faraji says she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Bayless and others at Fox Sports for a decade.
In the 42-page complaint, obtained by Front Office Sports, Faraji named Fox Sports Executive Vice President Charlie Dixon, FS1 host Joy Taylor, and other defendants.
Faraji alleges that Dixon grabbed her buttocks at a party, and when she complained to Taylor, she was told to “get over it.”
In the video below, Faraji is seen at left on the set with retired NFL players LeSean McCoy and Emmanuel Acho.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of Faraji and other nonexempt Fox employees working in California over the past four years.
After she began working on the set of “Undisputed” morning show starring Bayless, Faraji claims the 73-year-old host began giving her “lingering hugs and kisses on the cheek while pressing his body against her breasts.” The single mother alleges she repeatedly told Bayless she was not interested in him and did not “date at work.”
She also claims she told Bayless she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, as an excuse to stop his advances.
Instead, Faraji said Bayless became more aggressive over the years. He allegedly offered Faraji $1.5 million to have sex with him—and claimed he could “change” her life. The suit also claims Bayless accused Faraji of sleeping with Shannon Sharpe, his co-star on “Undisputed.”
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod ?? (@big_business_) January 5, 2025
The suit alleges: “Approximately one week later, Mr. Bayless made another advance at Ms. Faraji. Ms. Faraji responded: ‘Skip, stop, you have a wife.’ Mr. Bayless responded: ‘Aren’t you Muslim? Doesn’t your dad have three to four wives?’ Ms. Faraji responded that her father was dead, and when Mr. Bayless looked taken aback, she made an excuse to leave.”
The suit claims her former friend and colleague, Taylor began “insulting Ms. Faraji on a personal and professional level” after their friendship ended. The suit also alleges that Taylor mocked the “English” pronunciation of Faraji, who is Persian.
Faraji described a free-for-all atmosphere at Fox Sports where married colleagues slept with single employees. During her employment at Fox Sports, Faraji alleges she made multiple complaints to the Human Resources and Employee Relations departments.
Taylor allegedly had intimate relationships with Dixon while on the job. Both are married to other people.
In her lawsuit, Faraji said she met Dixon at a bar years before Taylor helped her get a job at Fox Sports. Dixon would always buy them drinks and food. From their body language, Faraji could tell they were intimate partners.
In June 2016, while at work, Faraji bumped into Dixon in an elevator. Surprised, she told Taylor about their encounter. “The guy who always buys our drinks was in the elevator!”
She says Taylor hushed her and explained that Dixon was the EVP at Fox Sports.
Faraji became alarmed and warned Taylor that a workplace relationship was not safe as Dixon and Taylor were both married. But Taylor told her not to worry about it.
In her lawsuit, Faraji said Taylor may have slept with Sharpe, who has proven himself to be promiscuous.
Just remembered Joy Taylor and Shannon Sharpe went to a Dodgers game in 2016 and the next day Skip Bayless called it a “date” live on air
“Her lengthy tenure at Fox Sports and not-so-thinly-veiled references to multiple anonymous witnesses suggests that she may have the receipts to back up her version of the events,” said Daniel Wallach, a sports law attorney and co-host of the podcast Conduct Detrimental. “Just as importantly, she contemporaneously raised these issues with co-workers, which, in the jurors’ eyes, could boost the credibility of these claims.”
“Ms. Faraji brings forth this action because for over a decade at Fox, she was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity,” according to the lawsuit. “When Ms. Faraji and others came forward to report the wrongdoing, instead of addressing their concerns, Fox retaliated against them while the perpetrators and those who protected them were inexplicably promoted. This case thus represents yet another in a long line of cases chronicling the toxic culture at Fox, marked by bad faith promises and repeated failures to address a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy.”
Faraji seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial, Front Office Sports reported.
New York City’s new $9 toll to reduce congestion in Manhattan went into effect after midnight on Sunday. The toll is meant to reduce traffic and pay for transit improvement projects.
The city’s transit officials say the extra revenue will pay for improving transit and encourage more people to use public transportation.
Janno Lieber is chairman and CEO of New York state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs New York’s subways.
Lieber says the toll is necessary to improve response times for emergency services. “Ambulances can’t get to hospitals, police cars can’t get to crime scenes,” Lieber told CBS Evening News.
But commuters are angry over the new tax. “We live here. We shouldn’t have to pay extra to move around,” one commuter told CBS Evening News.
CBS
Starting Sunday, Jan. 5, most cars will be charged $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street every day during peak hours. Small trucks will be charged $14.40, while large trucks and buses will pay $21.60.
MTA officials hope more commuters will leave their cars at home and take the subway to Manhattan.
CBS
New Yorkers took to social media to express their anger over paying $9 more to drive into Manhattan. Critics of the new toll say the money will go into the pockets of MTA officials like Lieber.
This is absolutely insane! At every single bridge & tunnel going in Manhattan, they increased tolls. If you are commuting from NJ into Manhattan, you’ll be paying close to $1,000 a month + parking just to go into NYC! Congestion pricing.. $9.00 to go below 50th street!!!!… pic.twitter.com/h1bYi3n8IE
But Lieber says the $15 billion increase in revenue will be used to upgrade the transit system. “New Yorkers are recognizing that we are getting a ton of work done. We’ve opened two new train stations just in the last couple of years,” he argued.
New York City will implement a first-in-the-nation plan to reduce traffic and pay for transit improvements using congestion pricing for drivers on Sunday — but not everyone is on board. https://t.co/lw9ximKj5mpic.twitter.com/aWK9CUIno6
This city does not care about the poor, food, rent, insurance, clothes,taxes, car tickets, tolls are through the roof and now you want to add an additional toll to NYC this is insane. NYC please stop this immediately the poor working class is struggling!!!!!!
Russell Wilson gifted his wife Ciara a Tesla Cybertruck that lists for $100,000 for Christmas. The happy singer took to Instagram to show off her extravagant gift.
In a photo slideshow, Ciara is pictured with her new ride. She wore a multicolor Rapha cycling jersey with a blonde wig, a furry black hat, matching black skirt and black knee high boots.
She captioned the slideshow, “Foot on the gas all 2025.”
The singer’s fans were quick to point out that an electric vehicle doesn’t have a gas pedal.
One person wrote: “Can’t have your foot on the gas when the car you’re in front of is electric lol but we get it boo lol.”
Another fan wrote, “Cici baby that truck not the flex you think it is. I love you but throw it away.”
Others wrote: “Not the Elon Musk vehicle,” and “We love you but we hate everything about that truck.”
In an Apple Music podcast with singer Summer Walker, Ciara discussed “mommy guilt.”
“I think mommy guilt is real,” she told Summer, 28, who looked bored.
Ciara, 39, said she wonders if she’s balancing her roles as wife and mother correctly. The mom-of-four said she looks forward to going out on dates with Russell because their time away from the kids helps to keep things fresh. “I just feel so blessed that we have that,” she added.
Tesla founder Elon Musk lost about $17 billion in the stock market when his Tesla stock tanked. Tesla’s quarterly report revealed the first drop in sales in 9 years.
Then on Thursday, a Cybertruck exploded outside Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Investigators said the explosion was a terrorist act.
The driver, Alan Livelsberger shot himself in the head before gas cans and fireworks exploded in the Cybertruck.
Livelsberger was a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret who served on the same Army base as the New Orleans terrorist, Shamsud Din Jabbar.
A registered nurse who was arrested after 7 premature babies suffered broken bones in a Virginia NICU did not know she had been fired in November.
Erin Strotman, 26, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding and child abuse on Jan. 3.
Strotman was charged after multiple babies suffered bone fractures in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond in 2023 and 2024.
Strotman made her first court appearance by video on Friday, Jan. 3. She was represented by court-appointed attorney Scott Cardani.
During the hearing, Strotman said that she was still being paid during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2024. She added that she did not know she had been fired. She is being held without bond at Henrico County Jail.
Strotman’s charges are linked to one incident in the NICU on November 10.
NICU staff reported three premature babies suffered “unexplainable fractures” in late November and December 2024.
Four more premature babies were discovered with bone fractures in the NICU in 2023.
The hospital did not explain why the investigation took nearly 2 years. One mother said that one of her twins who received care in the NICU had passed away.
Another woman told 8News that her child had suffered 12 fractures while receiving care in the hospital’s NICU.
“It makes me sick, it truly makes me sick,” said Dominique Hackey, whose son Noah’s lower leg was fractured while in the NICU in 2023. Hackey said he received a letter from CPS confirming that his son’s injury was caused by level 1 abuse at the hospital.
“This person’s mentally ill and — to do that to all those families … there’s no happiness that I can feel at this point,” Hackey said.
Strotman graduated as a registered nurse in 2019. According to the nursing board, Strotman has a multistate nursing license which is still active in Virginia as of Jan. 4.
Shannon Taylor, Henrico County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney, confirmed that Strotman was employed at the hospital in 2023 and in 2024 while child abuse investigations were ongoing in the NICU. The injured children were all minorities.
Investigators are still reviewing surveillance videos from the NICU and other hospitals where Strotman has worked.
“The Henrico County Police Division is utilizing all available resources to ensure a thorough investigation into this matter,” a statement read. “This involves reviewing dozens of videos from inside the NICU. As previously mentioned, detectives are re-examining the 2023 and 2024 cases as part of this broader investigation.”
While she is in jail, Strotman is ordered to have no contact with any child under the age of 18. Her next hearing is set for March 24, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
If convicted of all charges, Strotman faces up to 20 years in prison.
Nurse Arrested for Allegedly Fracturing Multiple Babies' Bones in Virginia NICU
A nurse has been arrested after multiple babies suffered serious fractures at Henrico Doctors' Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.
A Milwaukee man’s mugshot is being compared to the original “hot felon”, menswear model Jeremy Meeks.
Malik Harrell, 23, set the Internet ablaze after leading police on a high-speed chase for 38 miles on December 28.
Police say Harrell and another man, Stephon Mosby, 22, were armed when a cop attempted to pull them over during a routine traffic stop in Milwaukee.
The driver of the Buick, later identified as Harrell, sped away, prompting law enforcement in other jurisdictions to join the chase.
Harrell reached speeds of more than 90 mph before he pulled over in an alleyway near 24th Street and Fairmount around 7 pm. Mosby hopped out of the car, flashed an AK-style pistol at cops, and fled into a nearby home. But Harrell hit the gas in the Buick and sped off.
Some of the officers surrounded the home while others pursued the Buick with Harrell often driving into oncoming traffic. He sideswiped another vehicle at an intersection in Milwaukee.
The chase finally came to an end when the Buick broke down near 61st Street. Harrell was taken into custody without resistance. A search of the Buick turned up marijuana, a digital scale, methamphetamine and an AK-style weapon.
Facebook
Harrell was charged with 2 counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, weapon possession, and possession with intent to deliver street level drugs.
Mosby was taken into custody at the home and booked on several charges.
Both men were still in jail as of December 29. But Milwaukee County Jail recently updated its Facebook page with new mugshots — and Harrell’s mugshot spread like wildfire online.
Lonely women were smitten with Harrell’s smoldering good looks and piercing green eyes. Some women contacted the jail offering to pay Harrell’s $50,000 bond.
Harrell’s mugshot is being compared to Jeremy Meeks, who nearly broke the Internet back in 2014. Meeks, a former Crip gang member, was in a Stockton, CA. jail on weapons charges when his mugshot went viral.
Stockton PD
Meeks landed a modeling contract while still behind bars. He was released from jail and immediately took advantage of his good fortune. The now 40-year-old model still has not returned to a life of crime.
Kelly Rowland issued a warning to her fans to look out for a scam making the rounds on social media. The mom-of-2 was concerned that her fans might send the scammer their hard-earned money.
The scam involved sending DMs on social media from an account that impersonates Rowland’s official account.
TheHollywoodFix.net / BACKGRID
The DM message reads: “Hey this is Kelly from Destiny’s Child, I lost my credit card and I need money for a plain [sic] ticket so I can fly to your city to perform. Can you send me some money?”
The scammer also wrote: “Hello this is Beyoncé.”
ShotbyNYP / BACKGRID
Kelly shared a screenshot of the post along with a warning: “Be careful out here!” She added the words “FAKE AF!!”
Kelly also noted: “I know how to spell P-L-A-N-E.”
Kelly’s grateful fans thanked her for the warning.
One person wrote: “If you hashtag any artist in a concert photo. 90% chance you will get a DM from someone saying they are that artists manager trying to scam you. They are relentless.”
Another fan wrote: “she didn’t even need to do all of that but okay.”
A third person wrote: “When Kelly Rowland speaks, we listen! Stay vigilant, y’all, these scammers don’t just misspell; they miss the point of integrity.”
