National

Two pieces of legislation are expected to be tackled first following Levin’s election, Channel 12 reported. The first involves changing a law that prohibits those convicted of criminal offenses from serving as a minister, opening the way for Shas Party head Aryeh Deri, who was convicted of tax evasion in January, to hold a ministerial portfolio.

The second would transfer powers from the police commissioner to the government official in charge of the Public Security Ministry, in this case, Otzma Yehudit Party head Itamar Ben-Gvir.

After taking the gavel and mounting the podium, Levin thanked the 64 lawmakers who voted for him, singling out Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I would like to say a special thank you, Prime Minister-designate … for the privilege of walking with you on a long-standing common path, and for the personal trust and extraordinary support that I receive from you,” he said.

Prior to the vote, outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid attacked the incoming government, claiming it threatened Israeli democracy.

Netanyahu dismissed the accusation, saying, “This will be a country where we will take care of all the citizens of Isra-

Will AM Radio be Left Behind?

For nearly 100 years, drivers have been listening to AM radio, an American institution crackling with news, traffic, weather, sports, and an eclectic variety of other programs.

But that dashboard staple could be going the way of manual-crank windows and car ashtrays as electric vehicles begin to grab more of the U.S. marketplace.

An increasing number of electric models have dropped AM radio in what broadcasters call a worrisome shift that could spell trouble for the stations and deprive drivers of a crucial source of news in emergencies.

Carmakers say that electric vehicles generate more electromagnetic interference than gas-powered cars, which can disrupt the reception of AM signals and cause static, noise, and a high-frequency hum. (FM signals are more resistant to such interference.)

“Rather than frustrate customers with inferior reception and noise, the decision was made to leave it off vehicles that feature eDrive technology,” BMW said in a statement, referring to the system that powers its electric vehicles.

Tesla, Audi, Porsche, and Volvo have also removed AM radio from their electric vehicles, as has Volkswagen from its electric SUV, ID.4, according to the carmakers and the National Association of Broadcasters. Ford said that the 2023 F-150 Lightning, its popular electric pickup truck, would also drop AM radio.

If more electric vehicles drop AM radio, some broadcasters say they could lose a connection to their core listeners.

Brian Winnekins, the owner of WRDN in Durand, Wisconsin, which has seven hours of farm-related programming available every weekday on AM and FM, said he has been urging listeners to tell carmakers not to drop AM, noting that it can reach farmers in remote areas.

“If you can make a vehicle drive by itself,” Winnekins said, referring to the driver-assistance systems in Teslas and other vehicles, “you can make a decent radio receiver.”

Many AM broadcasters say their stations’ news reports are the quickest way for drivers to find out about tornadoes, flash floods and other severe weather. Diane Newman, operations and brand manager at WWL in New Orleans, said that during Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, the station carried vital information about rescue and recovery efforts.

“There was no Wi-Fi; there were no phone connections,” Newman said, adding, “You take away AM radios in cars and you take away a lifeline, a connection when the community needs you most.” (© The New York Times)

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Last Hawaiian Princess Dies

Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, the so-called last Hawaiian princess whose lineage included the royal family that once ruled the islands and an Irish businessman who became one of Hawaii’s largest landowners, died on Sunday. She was 96.

Her death was announced outside Iolani Palace, America’s only royal residence, where the Hawaiian monarchy dwelled but now serves mostly as a museum.

Kawānanakoa held no formal title but was a living reminder of Hawaii’s monarchy and a symbol of Hawaiian national identity that endured after the kingdom was overthrown by American businessmen in 1893.

“She was always called princess among Hawaiians because Hawaiians have acknowledged that lineage,” Kimo Alama Keaulana, assistant professor of Hawaiian language and studies at Honolulu Community College, said in a 2018 interview. “Hawaiians hold dear to genealogy. And so genealogically speaking, she is of high royal blood.”

He called her “the last of our alii,” using the Hawaiian word for royalty: “She epitomizes what Hawaiian royalty is — in all its dignity and intelligence and art.”

Kawānanakoa funded various causes over the years, including scholarships for Native Hawaiian students, opposing Honolulu’s rail transit project, supporting protests against a giant telescope, donating items owned by King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiolani for public display, including a 14-carat diamond from the king’s pinky ring, and maintaining Iolani Palace.

Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

It has taken decades for scientists to create a nuclear fusion reaction that produces more energy than it consumes. But now, Department of Energy researchers have reached their goal. It’s a crucial milestone in the decades-long quest to develop a new, potentially limitless form of carbon-free energy — and a step that U.S. scientists have achieved ahead of those in Europe and China.

What comes next is even harder: Proving that the technology can work not only in highly structured laboratory experiments but eventually in commercial reactors. That may take decades. But DOE’s achievement of a “net gain” of energy in the lab gives another boost of confidence to a growing corps of fusion entrepreneurs and researchers.

“From my perspective, this is the proof that the physics work for net gain,” said Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion

34 Industry Association, an industry advocacy group. In theory, nuclear fusion could proThe Jewish Home | DECEMBER 15, 2022 duce massive amounts of energy without producing lost-lasting radioactive waste, or posing the risk of meltdowns. That’s unlike nuclear fission, which powers today’s reactors. Fission results when radioactive atoms — most commonly uranium — are split by neutrons in controlled chain reactions, creating lighter atoms and large amounts of radiation and energy to produce electric power. Fusion is the opposite process. In the most common approach, swirling hydrogen isotopes are forced together under tremendous heat to create helium and energy for power generation. This is the same process that powers the sun and other stars. Scientists have been trying since the mid-20th century to find a way to use it to generate power on Earth. Researchers at a weapons lab at the department’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California used the world’s most powerful lasers to fuse hydrogen atoms. In the process, they generated more energy than was required to fire the lasers.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to Leave the Dems

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Friday that she would leave the Democratic Party and become an independent, unsettling the party divide anew just days after Democrats secured an expanded majority in the Senate.

“I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington,” she wrote in an opinion column published in The Arizona Republic.

Sinema’s decision put an abrupt damper on the jubilance Democrats experienced this week after their caucus secured a 51st seat in the Senate with Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in Georgia. It was likely to provide new complications for Sen. Chuck Schumer and Democrats going forward, even though she wrote in her column that “becoming an independent won’t change my work in the Senate; my service to Arizona remains the same.”

Still, the move by the first-term senator, who was facing a likely Democratic reelection challenge in 2024 after angering her party by opposing key elements of its agenda, was unlikely to change the day-to-day reality in Washington for Democrats, who have long had to contend with her unpredictability and diversions from the party line. The bigger practical effect was likely to be on Sinema’s political standing in Arizona, where she would have had difficulty prevailing in a Democratic primary.

Sinema informed Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, of her plans Thursday, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

“She asked me to keep her committee assignments, and I agreed,” Schumer said in a statement Friday morning. “Kyrsten is independent; that’s how she’s always been. I believe she’s a good and effective senator and am looking forward to a productive session in the new Democratic majority Senate.”

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, noted that Sinema has strongly backed major Biden administration initiatives such as the infrastructure package, and said that President Joe Biden hoped to keep her as an ally.

Sinema’s decision prompted a quick backlash in Arizona, where a group created to generate a primary campaign against her said it would now focus on unseating her in the general election.

“Today, Kyrsten Sinema told us what we’ve already known for years: She’s not a Democrat, and she’s simply out for herself,” the Primary Sinema campaign said in a statement. “In one way, Sinema just made our jobs easier by bowing out of a Democratic primary she knew she couldn’t win. Now, we’ll beat her in the general election with a real Democrat.” (© The New York Times)

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What Virus are You Battling?

With Covid, flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) hitting people hard this season, many people are sick at home.

Around 76% of U.S. hospital inpatient beds are full, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Pediatric beds are at a similar level, though six states have 90% or more of their pediatric beds full, according to an NBC News analysis of HHS data.

Covid, flu and RSV can be difficult to distinguish, since they share many common symptoms. But it’s useful to know which virus you have, since that determines the treatments you should receive and how long you should isolate.

Certain hallmarks — either symptoms or how the illness progresses — can help differentiate each virus.

A runny nose, cough, congestion or sore throat can arise because of any of the three viruses or a common cold. But a loss of taste and smell is more commonly associated with Covid than with flu or RSV. And wheezing is often a tell-tale sign of a serious RSV infection, usually found in kids or older adults.

The only way to know for certain, though, is to get tested.

Flu symptoms tend to develop more suddenly than those of Covid or RSV.

“Flu classically comes on with an abrupt fever first that happens pretty quickly. That’s somewhat contrasted by RSV and Covid, where we think of a slow escalation in symptoms,” said Dr. Scott Roberts, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist.

The illnesses have different incubation periods — the time between exposure and symptoms. On average, flu symptoms tend to develop two days after exposure to the virus, whereas RSV symptoms tend to take around four to six days to appear, and Covid’s typical incubation is three to four days for the omicron variant.

Additionally, RSV is unlikely to make a healthy adult feel very sick, whereas Covid and flu certainly can.

The groups most vulnerable to severe RSV infections are babies, children with lung diseases, adults ages 65 and up, and people with weakened immune systems.

Thankfully, RSV infections seem to have passed their peak nationally. Although the CDC does not keep a national count of RSV cases, the number of positive weekly tests fell from more than 17,000 in the week ending Nov. 5

36 to around 9,000 in the week ending on Saturday. By contrast, flu cases are skyrockThe Jewish Home | DECEMBER 15, 2022 eting. The national share of influenza tests that came back positive rose from around 8% in the week ending Oct. 30 to nearly 15% in the week ending Nov. 13. Flu hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been at this time of year in more than a decade. SBF Arrested in Bahamas

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday after U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges.

“S.B.F.’s arrest followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against S.B.F. and is likely to request his extradition,” the government of the Bahamas said in a statement.

The arrest was the latest stunning development in one of the most dramatic falls from grace in recent corporate history. Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify in Congress on Tuesday about the collapse of FTX, which was one of the most powerful firms in the emerging crypto industry until it imploded virtually overnight last month after a run on deposits exposed an $8 billion hole in its accounts.

Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York confirmed that Bankman-Fried had been charged and said an indictment would be unsealed Tuesday. Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement that it had authorized charges “relating to Mr. Bankman-Fried’s violations of our securities laws.”

The criminal charges against Bankman-Fried included wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering.

Bankman-Fried, who was the only person charged in the indictment, was taken into custody by Bahamian authorities. He was arrested shortly after 6 p.m. at his apartment complex in the Albany resort in the Bahamas, according to a statement from Bahamian police. The timing of when Bankman-Fried might be moved to the United States was unclear.

Bankman-Fried was cooperative during the arrest, according to a person familiar with the matter, and will be held overnight in a cell at a police station. He is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Magistrate Court in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.

“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. government, based on a sealed indictment,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.” (© The New York Times)

Mass of Migrants Crossing into Texas

After nightfall on Sunday, hundreds of migrants stepped across the Rio Grande and into El Paso, a caravan of people mainly from Nicaragua whose crossing was among the largest in recent years along the West Texas border.

Their arrival en masse into the United States surprised even those in El Paso, which has in recent months found itself overwhelmed by a steady stream of migrants from Central and South America, more than 50,000 people in October alone.

Like migrants from Venezuela who flooded into El Paso this year, those arriving from Nicaragua cannot be rapidly expelled under a pandemic-era public health policy known as Title 42, which federal authorities employ with migrants from other countries, such as Mexico.

And so the scenes unfolding in El Paso offered a preview of the challenges that border officials could soon face all along the southern border after the policy comes to an end, as it is expected to, absent court intervention, next week.

Most of those who arrived on Sunday turned themselves in to federal authorities for processing. Soon, most of them would join the thousands of others who have crossed in recent days, many of whom have been released to seek help and food, some clustering at the downtown bus station, some sleeping on cardboard during a night when temperatures dipped toward freezing.

Because of strained diplomatic relations with the authoritarian regime in Nicaragua, the United States is limited in its ability to expel Nicaraguans under the public health authority and cannot repatriate the country’s citizens.

As a result, most of the Nicaraguans apprehended are released on a shortterm parole with a tracking device or sent briefly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention where they are typically released after a few days. All will eventually be called to immigration court to face deportation orders.

Over the weekend, a huge number of people arrived in El Paso, roughly 2,000 each day, according to officials.

The number of arrivals extended far beyond the large caravan that arrived on Sunday and did not appear to be abating. Rosalio Sosa, who runs a network of shelters including in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, said migrants were still crossing the border on Monday afternoon. Across the river, a line had formed as the latest arrivals waited to be processed by U.S. authorities. (© The New York Times)

Splashdown

The Artemis I mission — a 25½-day uncrewed test flight around the moon meant to pave the way for future astronaut missions — came to a momentous end as NASA’s Orion spacecraft made a successful ocean splashdown on Sunday in the Pacific Ocean.

The spacecraft had traversed 239,000 miles between the moon and Earth.

“I’m overwhelmed,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Sunday. “This is an extraordinary day.”

After splashing down, the capsule then spent six hours in the Pacific

Ocean, with NASA collecting additional data and running through some tests before the rescue team moved it. That process, much like the rest of the mission, aims to ensure the Orion spacecraft is ready to fly astronauts.

“This was a challenging mission,” NASA’s Artemis I mission manager, Mike Sarafin, said. “And this is what mission success looks like.”

Reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere was no easy feat. The spacecraft was traveling about 32 times the speed of sound (24,850 miles per hour) as it hit the air — so fast that compression waves caused the outside of the vehicle to heat to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The extreme heat produced a buildup of plasma, which caused a 5½ minute communications blackout.

The spacecraft also performed a skip maneuver, which also led to a communications blackout for around 3 minutes.

It then slowed down tremendously, moving at around 20 miles per hour for the splashdown.

There were no astronauts on this test mission — just a few mannequins equipped to gather data and a Snoopy doll.

The space agency’s plans are to parlay the Artemis moon missions into a program that will send astronauts to Mars, a journey that will have a much faster and more daring reentry process.

Orion traveled roughly 1.3 million miles during this mission on a path that swung out to a distant lunar orbit, carrying the capsule farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever traveled.

On its trip, the spacecraft captured stunning pictures of Earth and, during two close flybys, images of the lunar surface and a mesmerizing “Earth rise.”

LA Declares Homelessness an Emergency

Karen Bass was sworn in as the first female mayor of Los Angeles on Sunday and vowed to build consensus among elected leaders as Angelenos contend with racial tensions, surging homelessness, and a new rise in coronavirus cases.

Vice President Kamala Harris swore in Bass in a ceremony that celebrated her historic win but also underscored the obstacles she will face. Bass said that her first act as mayor on Monday would be to declare a state of emergency on homelessness.

“If we are going to bring Angelenos inside and move our city in a new direction,” Bass said during her inaugural speech, which was interrupted by protesters at one point, “we must have a single strategy to unite our city and county and engage the state, the federal government, the private sector and every other stakeholder.”

Bass, a former Democratic congresswoman who was on the shortlist to be President Joe Biden’s 2020 running mate, won election against Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer.

Los Angeles, a city of 4 million people, has been rocked by a surge in post-pandemic homelessness and violent crime, prompting an outcry from citizens who say their quality of life has spiraled in recent years. A citywide poll conducted early this year by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found that for the first time since 2012, a majority of Angelenos felt the city was going in the wrong direction.