Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Monday to "intensify the strikes" on Ukraine military targets after his forces bombarded the country with an unprecedented number of Iranian-made drones.
The big picture: The Ukrainian Air Force said in a Telegram post that it shot down 87 of the 90 "Shahed-type" drones on New Year's Eve — part of a wave of Russian military attacks to hit the country since Friday.
Trailblazing longtime Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) — who was the first registered nurse elected to the House and rose to become chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Dallas-Fort Worth region's most powerful Democrat— died at 88.
The big picture: Johnson, a Waco native who was raised in the segregated South, was the first Black woman elected to a House seat in Dallas, and the first Black Dallasite to serve in Congress — a "towering figure in Texas politics," The Texas Tribune writes.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts used his year-end report on the federal judiciary to focus on how artificial intelligence should be used with "caution and humility."
Why it matters: While there's little prospect of extensive federal AI legislation in 2024 as Axios reporters Ryan Heath and Megan Morrone report, AI's applications will continue to ramp up in the new year, and the judicial system is not exempt.
Stocks have soared under President Biden, although not by quite as much as they had at the same point in former President Trump's term.
Why it matters: Voters often feel like stock market performance is a gauge of America's economic health, and of presidential policy, even if most economists would disagree.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said Sunday that he thought the news surrounding his treatment for clinical depression would be the end of his political career.
The big picture: The Pennsylvania Democrat, who was discharged in March from Walter Reed Medical Center, has been vocal about his mental health struggles.
Anne Ratchford Kearns — who lived for 60 years in the Pennsylvania house at the root of President Biden's "Scranton Joe" lore, and hosted him several times when he visited his hometown — died on Christmas Eve at 88.
The big picture: Biden loved to visit the house and schmooze with Kearns when he returned to Scranton, where he was born in 1942.
