5 things you need to know Tuesday
1. Jury selection begins in the trial of James Holmes, accused of movie theater massacre
Most mass shootings end with the suicide of the gunman. Not this one. In July 2012, James Holmes is alleged to have entered a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., during a midnight showing of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises and killed 12 people. Now, after a series of delays sought by his defense team, he goes on trial, with jury selection starting today. The court has summoned about 9,000 potential jurors who will be interviewed over the coming weeks to develop a panel that will decide guilt or innocence, and then whether he should be put to death . Holmes, now 27, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
2. The POTUS does the SOTU
It's President Obama's sixth State of the Union address, but the first where Congress is completely controlled by the Republican Party. At the same time, the president's popularity is rising, in part due to an improving economy. Will he be conciliatory or confrontational? Here are some clues he has dropped so far in the past few weeks, pre-speech "spoilers," as they are described by White House officials. And here, Paste BN's Susan Davis offers seven things to watch during the speech. What we do know so far: A list of the guests who will sit with First Lady Michelle Obama in the gallery. They include American Alan Gross, recently released from a Cuban prison, a 13-year-old from Chicago whose letter to Santa asked for safety and astronaut Scott Kelly. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET. Can't wait for the speech? Here's a fun quiz that tests your knowledge of the annual presidential prognostications.
3. High in the Swiss Alps, movers and shakers gather
The skies above Switzerland have been buzzing with the sounds of private jets, and now captains of industry and government are all set to begin the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos. Dozens of heads of state and 2,500 business leaders – along with accompanying journalists, analysts and experts – are piling into the Alpine ski town (population 11,142) for five days of workshops, speeches and fast-and-furious networking starting tonight. Their concerns are many: Terrorism, most recently in Paris. Plummeting commodities prices. Stalled economic growth in China. Cybersecurity, or the lack thereof. The crisis in Ukraine. And with 2014 the hottest year on record, climate change.
4. BP to hear how much it is fined for Gulf oil spill
Another case that has taken years to reach a final conclusion is that of energy giant BP, whose Deepwater Horizon rig explosion killed 11 people and spilled millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Now the third and final phase of the company's non-jury trial starts today in New Orleans, where fines will be assessed by a federal judge. In September last year, the same judge, Carl Barbier, determined that the London-based company acted "recklessly" and used "willful misconduct" as it bypassed signs of trouble to continue working the ill-fated well. However, last week Barbier found that the size of the spill was smaller than the government had claimed, amounting to 3.19 million barrels instead of 4.09 million. Because of this, BP will face a maximum $13.7 billion fine instead of penalties of up to $16.6 billion. The final fine does not include more than $40 billion in earlier settlements, cleanup costs and criminal fines.
5. Airbnb to face grilling by NYC City Council
The pressure on online apartment rental company Airbnb to scale down operations in New York City is expected to ratchet up Tuesday with a hearing at City Hall that will include angry tenants of rent-stabilized apartments. Several New York City residents are set to testify before NYC's City Council that illegal rentals have been driving out tenants and hurting living conditions, according to prepared testimony obtained by Paste BN. Airbnb is expected to fight back by agreeing that mass rentals are bad for New York, but asking for more leniency for regular New Yorkers looking to rent out their primary residences.
And, the essentials:
Weather: Other than some snow in the north-central U.S., most of the nation will get a break from winter's chill on Tuesday.
Stocks: U.S. stock futures rose Tuesday.
TV Tonight: Wondering what to watch tonight? TV critic Robert Bianco looks at The Flash and Justified.
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