Making the bald eagle official
America and the bald eagle have made it national-bird-official. Bad weather is in the forecast for holiday travel. And it's been 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.
👋 Hey! Laura Davis here. Hope you had a nice holiday! Now, let’s get you caught up on Thursday’s news.
🐾 But first: What’s better than a Christmas gift? A Christmas gift that barks! See the emotional reactions when these kids get puppies as presents.
From near extinction to official US bird
Generations of Americans have seen the bald eagle on the backs of the quarters they put in vending machines and the rugs fictional presidents step on in political dramas. But until this week, it wasn’t officially the national bird. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that made it so, and the once-endangered species can now fly alongside other national symbols including the national tree (the oak), the national floral emblem (the rose) and the national mammal (the bison).
Did you know? The bald eagle had been a national symbol since the Revolutionary War, but there were as few as 417 known nesting pairs left alive by the 1960s. 🦅 Here's how it has made a soaring comeback.
Azerbaijan plane downed by Russian fire, reports say
Russian air defenses downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday. Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 crashed Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia in which Moscow has used air defense systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent days. The passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia's southern Chechnya region before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea. 👉 What we know.
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Gnarly weather snarling holiday travel
Rounds of storms battered the south-central U.S. and Pacific Northwest with heavy rain and snow on Thursday, causing problems for people traveling the day after Christmas as several airports temporarily grounded flights and reported delays.
What to know: Starting Thursday afternoon, widespread thunderstorms spread from southeastern Oklahoma through eastern Texas and parts of Arkansas and Louisiana, the National Weather Service said. Meanwhile, in the West, a dayslong stretch of poor weather shows no signs of slowing. ☔️ See the full forecast.
- Waves up to 30 feet forecast to rock California coast.
- Watch: Rain, storms, fog slow post-holiday travel.
20 years later, a disaster's lasting impact
Two decades ago, a mighty force rattled the depths of the Indian Ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia just before 8 a.m. The resulting tsunami unleashed waves more than 100 feet high and as fast as an airliner. Within hours, the tsunami had claimed nearly 230,000 human lives and displaced millions of people in 12 countries. Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history. 👉 Lessons learned from tragedy.
📸 See photos: Memorials honor the thousands who died.
A break from the news
- 🛍️ Shop sweet end-of-year specials at lululemon.
- 🛒 'Tis the season for gift returns. What to know.
- 🐬 Watch: 'Once in a lifetime' mesmerizing dolphin stampede.
Laura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at Paste BN. Say hi sometime! laura@usatoday.com. Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to Paste BN here.