By Joan Biskupic, CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst

(CNN) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has a remarkable record of transforming his old dissenting opinions into the new majority view and setting the direction of the law in America.

Yet the more he wins, the testier he gets.

His most obvious coup came with his 2022 opinion reversing abortion rights. This month’s decision siding with Republicans in the Texas redistricting fight offered a new reminder that Alito in 2024 seized the majority in claims of racial gerrymanders – after being on the losing side a few years earlier.

Still, even on the dominant side of the court, Alito is easily irritated. He lodged a separate, last-minute broadside against liberal dissenters in the Texas dispute over a map alleged to discriminate against Black and Latino voters.

Alito’s aggravation is regularly on display in the courtroom, too.

In a major campaign finance case this month, he reached back nearly 16 years to cite a case in which he voted to reverse precedent on the regulation of corporate money in elections: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. He was in the majority but still feels wronged.

Alito suddenly brought up “our much maligned, I think unfairly maligned, decision in Citizens United.” The decision struck down certain federal limits on corporate and labor union political spending as a violation of the First Amendment.

Alito’s reference to the case could not help but recall his televised reaction at the 2010 State of the Union address after then-President Barack Obama criticized, with some exaggeration, the opinion, saying it “reversed a century of law” and would open the “floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections.” Alito mouthed “not true” at the hyperbole, and the moment captured on camera went viral.

In the courtroom, even the little things can visibly irk Alito. He often grimaces and rolls his eyes. During a death-penalty dispute this month, Alito began offering a hypothetical example to the lawyer at the lectern. The lawyer responded, “may I just finish my sentence?” and then kept talking.

When Alito was able to resume, he laid bare his impatience, saying, “On that hypothetical, three or four sentences later ….”

Other justices laughed. They appear accustomed to his unguarded irritability.

This is the paradoxical byproduct of a justice who has become one of the most consequential members of the bench.

From the start of his high court tenure, 20 years ago this January, Alito made the difference as he succeeded centrist Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and began casting the decisive conservative vote in a series of cases. As the years wore on, Alito authored many closely fought decisions on abortion, voting rights and religion.

His views could shape decisions in pending cases this session on transgender rights, religious freedom and executive power.

In 2026, Alito will also likely be the most-watched justice for anyone wondering if President Donald Trump will soon get another vacancy to fill

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN

(CNN) — When New York-based model and influencer Wisdom Kaye went shopping at the Italian fashion label Miu Miu and returned home with a haul of clothes he says he spent $18,000 on, he didn’t expect some of the items would fall apart in front of his eyes.

In now-viral videos posted to his TikTok account, where he counts over 13 million followers, Kaye can be seen unveiling his purchases from the brand. In the first clip, posted to the social media platform in early September, he calls himself a “big Miu Miu fan” before launching into a scathing blow-by-blow of how some of his new purchases fell apart as he was unpacking them, saying: “As soon as I get home, everything broke.”

Among the garments he had purchased that day, one of the gold buttons on a denim vest jacket “came off the instant I opened it,” he said on the video, demonstrating how he had unbuttoned the sleeveless garment. “I just opened it normally,” said Kaye.

He then held up a brown sweater, also by Miu Miu, with a visibly broken silver zip. Kaye said he had “never gone and gotten multiple pieces from a place and things are just breaking as soon as I get home. This is genuinely f**king abysmal.”

Three days later, Kaye popped up on TikTok feeds again. Miu Miu had offered him the choice of a refund or replacement of the broken items, he explained in the new video, noting that he chose the latter and wanted to unveil the new garments to his fans. However, as he began to undo the buttons of his vest, a button fell off once again. His mouth was wide in disbelief before exclaiming: “There’s no way! This is unbelievable.”

Kaye is not the only one taking their concerns to social media. In October, US-based dental hygienist Tiffany Kim shared a video on Instagram of a gray fleece jacket by Miu Miu and indicated that a drawstring had popped out of one of its sleeves. Some onlookers might immediately assume that it was natural wear-and-tear, but Kim said that she had only purchased it a month prior. While Miu Miu offers a repair service for its products, some store locations require customers to pay a fee. “It’s not even about the fee. I can pay the fee,” said Kim. “I don’t want to pay the fee because I literally paid $2,000 for this jacket and I only wore it twice.”

Elsewhere, on X, a video posted by Elena Qiu in November shows the Seattle-based designer attempting to squeeze various objects into the heel of her leather split-toe tabi boots, to demonstrate its surprisingly hollow interior. The shoe, by Maison Margiela, is one of the French avant-garde label’s most recognizable styles. In the caption, Qiu said she had purchased the shoes for $1,000 and expressed disappointment that the heel wasn’t made of “stacked leather” but “hollow with plastic.”

“I felt so sad and disappointed when the shoe cap came off,” Qiu later told CNN over email. “As a fashion designer myself, I understand how laborious artisanal craft is, and I don’t expect fashion to stay pristine after excessive wear, but these shoes were not worn excessively. I had worn them less than once a month, mostly for special occasions.” Asked what she ended up doing with the shoes, Qiu said she took them to a cobbler to get the heel cap replaced, but has since become more cautious about wearing them regularly and creating further damage — “which defeats the purpose of why I bought them in the first place,” she said.

These widely circulated videos have since sparked outrage among social media users, with some questioning the value of high-end goods, especially as Read more

By CNN Meteorologist Briana Waxman

(CNN) — A powerful, rapidly intensifying winter storm sweeping across the central and eastern US is bringing a messy mix of blizzard conditions, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and a sharp reality check to winter-like cold, snarling travel during one of the busiest stretches of the holiday season.

More than 30 million people are under winter weather alerts from the Midwest into the Northeast. In the Upper Midwest, blizzard warnings cover parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph are whipping heavy snow into whiteout conditions.

Long stretches of Interstate 35 – a major highway stretching from Texas to Minnesota – have been closed or deemed unsafe to travel, and more than 115,000 customers were without power late Sunday, nearly half of them in Michigan, according to PowerOutage.US.

Air travel has also taken a hit with thousands of flights delayed or canceled Sunday, including disruptions at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where thunderstorms prompted a temporary ground stop.

Parts of Michigan have received close to a foot of snow. Marquette, Michigan shattered its previous daily snowfall record of 8.5 inches, picking up 11.5 inches and counting as of late Sunday night.

Farther south and east, the storm’s cold front sparked a line of severe thunderstorms Sunday afternoon and evening, with damaging winds and a few tornadoes reported in parts of Illinois.

The storms developed along the sharp boundary separating unseasonably warm air from a frigid Arctic air mass moving in behind it. In Springfield, Illinois, temperatures dropped from the 70s into the 40s in just a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Missouri, the high Sunday afternoon was 77 degrees. As the front passed through the city, the National Weather Service reported a 10 degree temperature drop in about 10 minutes. Eight hours later, St. Louis was experiencing snow and temperatures in the low 20s.

The worst winter weather impacts across the Midwest continue overnight Sunday with dangerous travel lingering into early Monday. Officials urged people to avoid unnecessary travel, especially in areas under blizzard warnings where visibility may remain near zero at times.

As the system pushes east Monday into Tuesday, the wintry side will shift north and east while much of the Ohio Valley and I-95 corridor will receive mainly rain.

Parts of New England could deal with freezing rain late Sunday into Monday, raising the risk for icy roads and power outages. The National Weather Service warns that ice could build up at a rate of .06 inches per hour.

Several spots in Michigan and northern New York have already reported ice accumulations of up to a half-inch.

Behind the storm, a dramatic temperature swing arrives quickly. Much of the central and southern US will go from 20 to 30 degrees above average this weekend to 10 to 15 degrees below average by Monday and Tuesday, marking a return to colder, more seasonable conditions after the recent stretch of springlike warmth.

Dangerous wind chills, as low as minus 30 degrees, across parts of North Dakota and Minnesota early Monday will make frostbite a real threat.

The storm adds to an already challenging travel period, with more than 100 million people expected to drive for end-of-year trips. While conditions improve later in the week, the reset to colder air will keep winter hazards in play as the holiday travel rush continues.

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Análisis por Stephen Collinson, CNN

El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, está dedicando el final del año a tratar de sacar provecho de grandes apuestas de política exterior de las que pueden depender miles de vidas y que definirán su intento de ejercer un poder decisivo mucho más allá de las fronteras estadounidenses.

El resort Mar-a-Lago de Trump en el sur de Florida se ha convertido en un centro de diplomacia global, con conversaciones de alto nivel el domingo con el presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr Zelensky, y con el primer ministro de Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, programadas para este lunes.

Las dos reuniones marcan intentos significativos de Trump por consolidar un legado como pacificador global. En Ucrania, busca finalmente poner fin a una guerra que una vez dijo que podría resolver en un día, pero que sigue en curso casi un año después de su segundo mandato.

Trump también espera dar un impulso a los esfuerzos de paz en Gaza para iniciar la segunda fase de un acuerdo que detuvo los combates generalizados en octubre entre Israel y Hamas, pero que podría fracasar sin avances.

Su enfoque intensificado en Gaza y Ucrania llegó después de que Trump dejara su huella en la temporada navideña ordenando acciones militares estadounidenses en Medio Oriente, África y el hemisferio occidental.

Trump anunció el día de Navidad que las fuerzas estadounidenses atacaron a “escoria terrorista de ISIS en el noroeste de Nigeria”, a quienes acusó de perseguir a cristianos. Mientras tanto, una armada naval estadounidense patrulla los mares frente a Venezuela en apoyo al bloqueo de Trump a los petroleros sancionados, la última escalada en su aparente intento de derrocar al presidente Nicolás Maduro. Las fuerzas estadounidenses persiguen a un buque que huyó a aguas internacionales.

Y días antes de Navidad, Estados Unidos atacó objetivos de ISIS en Siria tras un ataque que mató a dos soldados estadounidenses y a un intérprete civil.

La oleada de actividad militar y diplomática subraya el deseo de Trump de sacudir el mundo —indomable tras 11 meses de liderazgo impredecible— tan a fondo como ha roto el status quo en casa.

También es una señal de un legado presidencial en juego antes de un año electoral de mitad de mandato crucial que podría definir el destino de las principales iniciativas globales de Trump. El presidente lucha por apuntalar su base política en casa en medio de divisiones en el movimiento MAGA y la caída de la confianza en su gestión de la economía.

Trump, esperanzado en un acuerdo sobre Ucrania, pero advierte de que todo podría desmoronarse

El presidente salió de una reunión con Zelensky en Florida con un plan de paz revisado de 20 puntos, optimista de que “hemos avanzado mucho para poner fin a esa guerra”. Agregó: “Creo que estamos mucho más cerca, tal vez muy cerca”.

Pero Trump también fue realista después de la reunión, que incluyó una llamada

VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT)  The Mission Basilica San Bueneventura, built in 1782, was damaged by the heavy December storm.

There is now caution tape blocking the steps the mission in Ventura.

 Plaster crumbled and fell from the mission during the the downpour.

Father Tom Elewaut said It could cost up to $400,000 dollars to repair Bell Tower and more than $1 million to preserve the entire mission.

The community is concerned about the historic structure and more rain is on the way.

The post Storms damages Mission Basilica San Buenaventura appeared first on News Channel 3-12.