10 things you need to know today: December 29, 2018

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images)

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1. Trump threatens to close border as shutdown fight continues
2. EPA moves to weaken mercury regulations
3. Trump, Air Force defend troop visits
4. Poll: Public mostly blames Trump for government shutdown
5. Arrests mount in connection to death of California police officer
6. Lawmakers request DHS probe of migrant boy's death in U.S. custody
7. Indonesian volcano collapses, spews ash a mile high
8. Sears narrowly avoids liquidation
9. Frugal social worker leaves $11 million to charity
10. Oldest U.S. WWII vet dies at 112

last updated 29 December 2018

1. Trump threatens to close border as shutdown fight continues

President Trump threatened on Twitter Friday to close the southern border entirely if congressional Democrats do not approve the border wall funding he has demanded as a condition for ending the partial government shutdown. Incoming White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney subsequently suggested Trump is willing to accept less than the $5.7 billion he has requested, saying Democrats have been offered an unspecified lower figure. No progress is likely to be made until at least Jan. 3, when Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives and are expected to introduce a stopgap spending bill without wall funding.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule change Friday to soften its regulation of toxic mercury emissions. It would reconfigure the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards for Power Plants, giving higher consideration to how much future regulations would cost manufacturers. The Obama-era standards presently cost power plants upwards of $9.6 billion annually, the EPA reports, but produce only $4 to $6 million in annual health benefits. The Obama administration EPA found similar data, but said the rules would also reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide in the air. Mercury exposure can damage the brain, nervous system, and heart.

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President Trump on Thursday defended his recent visits to U.S. service members in Iraq and Germany — during which he signed "Make America Great Again" hats and Trump 2020 paraphernalia — by insisting his team "brought or gave NO hats" to the service members. U.S. Air Forces Europe likewise said "there is no rule against airmen bringing personal items to be signed by the president" and that service members did not violate rules against wearing partisan gear because they only carried the hats. A Pentagon official said the department is investigating the source of the Trump materials.

Some 47 percent of American adults blame President Trump for the partial government shutdown; 33 percent blame Democrats; and 7 percent place responsibility with congressional Republicans, new Reuters/Ipsos poll results indicate. Trump said two weeks ago he would be "proud to shut down the government" if the Democratic minority didn't fund his proposed border wall, but only 35 percent of adults say they want money for the wall included in a spending bill. Just 25 percent back Trump's position that shutting down the government is better than accepting no wall funding. The poll's credibility interval is 2 percentage points.

Authorities on Friday announced the arrests of two more people in connection to the death of police officer Ronil Singh in Newman, California, this past week. Conrado Virgen Mendoza and Ana Leyde Cervantes are respectively the brother and girlfriend of the primary suspect, who was identified Friday as Gustavo Perez Arriaga. He was in the U.S. illegally and was attempting to flee to Mexico when he was caught. Another brother of Arriaga, one of his coworkers, and three more people who were in the home where Arriaga was found have been arrested as well.

Five Democratic lawmakers in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Friday requested her agency probe the Monday death of 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody. "The timeline, action, and factors that led to Felipe's death are still developing," the letter concludes, "but the information that has become public so far is alarming and demands immediate attention and investigation." The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator reported late Thursday the boy tested positive for influenza B; a cause of death has yet to be declared.

Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano has lost two thirds of its height and volume above the water line since its volcanic activity last Saturday caused a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and displaced about 40,000. The missing rock is thought to have sheared into the ocean, possibly in a single event that produced the deadly waves. The volcano is now spewing ash a mile into the air and ejecting hot magma into the ocean. The steam and ash have created a "volcano thunderstorm" above the island, and scientists are monitoring the ongoing volcanic activity closely.

Sears was at least briefly saved from liquidation Friday by a $4.4 billion bid from a hedge fund, ESL Investments, belonging to the department store's chair, Eddie Lampert. The last-minute proposal would "offer employment to up to 50,000" of Sears' 68,000 employees, depending on "further actions the company may take between now and closing." Sears filed for bankruptcy in October, announcing the closure of 142 out of around 700 stores. It has since announced another 120 store closures. The success or failure of Lampert's bid will be announced in January.

A Washington State social worker named Alan Naiman left $11 million to children's charities in his estate, The Associated Press reported Friday. Naiman inherited several million from his parents, but he saved millions more by living frugally and working side jobs. He was not married and had no children, though he cared for a developmentally disabled brother until the brother's death in 2013. "Saving money was sort of a game to him," said Naiman's friend Shashi Karan. "He would brag about how he had a whole day out and didn't have to spend a single cent."

Richard Overton, the oldest U.S. war veteran and oldest living American male, died Thursday at age 112, his family reported. A longtime resident of Austin, Texas, Overton was born on May 11, 1906, and he volunteered to serve in the Army in his 30s. He was at Pearl Harbor just after the Japanese attacked in 1941 and gained celebrity late in life, after former President Barack Obama honored him on Veterans Day in 2013. Overton often attributed his long life and good health to his whiskey, 12 daily cigars, and faith in God.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.