USA

VIENNA, Va. (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that 100,000 businesses have joined a new database that collects “beneficial ownership” information on firms as part of a new government effort to unmask shell company owners.

Yellen said in remarks Monday that the new Treasury database that is collecting beneficial ownership information sends the message that “the United States is not a haven for dirty money.”

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden wants Americans to grasp what he sees as the extraordinary stakes of this year’s presidential election. As part of that effort, he’s revisiting some of the nation’s worst traumas to highlight what can happen when hate is allowed to fester.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Boeing jetliner that suffered an inflight blowout over Oregon was not being used for flights to Hawaii after a warning light that could have indicated a pressurization problem lit up on three different flights.

Alaska Airlines decided to restrict the aircraft from long flights over water so the plane “could return very quickly to an airport” if the warning light reappeared, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Sunday.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The same judge accosted by a defendant in a Las Vegas courtroom last week sentenced her attacker Monday to up to four years in prison in an unrelated case.

Deobra Delone Redden leapt over the bench and attacked Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus in her courtroom last week after trying to convince the judge he was turning around his violent past.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday that the administration will review what rules or procedures weren’t followed when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not disclose his hospitalization for days to President Joe Biden and top officials at the Pentagon and the National Security Council.

“We’ll do what’s akin to a hot wash and try to see if processes and procedures need to be changed at all or modified so that we can learn from this,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, said Monday when asked whether Biden wanted a review of what happened.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A “highly impactful” winter storm is expected to dump as much as a foot of snow Monday across the country’s midsection, where blizzard and winter storm warnings are in effect.

The storm has the potential to bring 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters) of snow to a broad area stretching from southeastern Colorado and western Kansas, through eastern Nebraska, large parts of Iowa, northern Missouri and northwestern Illinois, up toward the upper peninsula of Michigan, said Bob Oravec, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years was in jeopardy Monday after a private company’s newly launched spacecraft developed engine trouble.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology raced to orient its lander toward the sun so the solar panel could collect sunlight, as battery power dwindled. Flight controllers’ efforts paid off to charge the battery, as a special team assessed the status of what was termed “a failure in the propulsion system.”

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ State of the State address on Tuesday is supposed to be about Florida’s future. Iowa, though, is more likely at the front of his mind.

The speech kicking off Florida’s annual legislative session comes exactly a week before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, and DeSantis has been spending much more time in the Hawkeye State than the Sunshine State in recent weeks.

ATLANTA (AP) — Election integrity activists want a federal judge to order Georgia to stop using its current election system, saying it’s vulnerable to attack and has operational issues that could cost voters their right to cast a vote and have it accurately counted.

During a trial set to start Tuesday, activists plan to argue that the Dominion Voting Systems touchscreen voting machines are so flawed they are unconstitutional. Election officials insist the system is secure and reliable and say it is up to the state to decide how it conducts elections.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will give his annual State of the Union address on March 7.

In a letter sent to the White House on Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., extended the formal invitation for Biden to speak to a joint session of Congress. Johnson said he was inviting Biden “in this moment of great challenge for our country.” On X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Biden accepted. “Looking forward to it, Mr. Speaker,” the president said.