By Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson is charging ahead with a GOP health plan that allows Biden-era Obamacare subsidies to expire this month — all but guaranteeing that the money will indeed lapse and spike premiums for tens of millions of Americans next year.

In a high-stakes Tuesday night meeting, top House Republicans rejected a last-ditch push from a small bloc of GOP centrists to consider bipartisan measures to avert that funding cliff. Those Republicans – led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York – have repeatedly warned GOP leaders that ignoring the deadline will cause a health care affordability crisis across the country.

One of those stern warnings came just hours earlier, as Fitzpatrick, Lawler and other Republicans directly confronted Johnson over his stance on the issue during a contentious closed-door meeting.

The GOP centrists had pushed bipartisan proposals that would extend the enhanced subsidies temporarily with what Fitzpatrick described as “guardrails,” such as income caps to ensure the money goes to middle and working class Americans. Dozens of centrist Democrats were already on board, with more Democrats privately willing to support the proposal if it came to the floor.

But the powerful House Rules Committee — which is effectively controlled by Johnson — formally decided Tuesday night they would not allow the centrists’ measures to come up for a vote. With just three scheduled work days left in 2025, the GOP leaders’ decision to choke off amendments on their health care bill means there is essentially no path to bringing the Obamacare matter to a vote at all this year.

The clash between GOP leaders and moderates is spiking tensions inside the already-dysfunctional House GOP conference, with many centrists fuming at their own leadership for ignoring what they fear could be a health care crisis — as well as a political one for their party next November.

The centrists argue that they spent days altering their own proposal to meet party leaders’ demands, including finding a way to pay for the measure, after a lengthy back-and-forth over the weekend. But in the end, it was rejected anyway.

Now that GOP leaders have boxed out centrists from a floor vote, centrists’ only path to bring up the measure is through a procedural gambit known as a discharge petition — which is designed to be a tool for the minority party, rather than overruling members’ own leadership.

Lawler acknowledged that bleak reality in his remarks to the committee as he pleaded for a floor vote on the proposal.

“In the absence of our leadership putting a vote on the floor … the only feasible path forward is a discharge petition,” Lawler said, addressi

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The driver in a fatal hit and run on the Santa Barbara Mesa in 2024 is going to prison for two years.

Brock Hoffman entered a plea of no contest in Santa Barbara Superior Court, equivalent to a guilty plea. He left the scene of the fatal accident on June 29, 2024 and faced a felony charge.

Hoffman turned himself in on July 4, 2024.

Police used nearby cameras and other information to place Hoffman at the scene, then contact him leading to his surrender.

His vehicle had damage to the front right fender and headlight area.

The crash took the life of Juan Lopez, who worked in a grocery store nearby. It is unknown why Lopez was in the traffic lane on Cliff Drive near Loma Alta when the crash took place about 11:30 p.m.

His longtime partner and mother of his three children spoke in court during the sentencing hearing and played a short video of Lopez.

Christina Godinez said it was 535 days since the family saw Lopez.

The sentence of two years was an option and the range went up to four years. Probation was denied.

Hoffman was handcuffed in court and he will be sent to state prison immediately.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—From films like “The Princess Bride” to “When Harry Met Sally,” Rob Reiner has left a lasting impact in cinema and locals like Kim Sarrami.
  
“I was in high school when Harry met Sally came out, and I remember just loving the love story and the sweetness of it,” said Sarrami.
 
Now, many are left grieving the loss of an icon and activist, reflecting on whether this could have been prevented.
  
“I am sad for his family and I hope my family, like I said, can talk about situations like that and be able to overcome hardships that will be similar, maybe greater, There's a lot of hardship. There's a lot of pain in life as we get older, but the greatest tool is to know that you have the ability to begin again,” said Sarrami.
 
Though it’s unclear what led to the stabbing, many speculate it could be mental health or substance abuse related.
 
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1 in 5 adults experience mental illness in a year.
 
Research shows a small percentage of overall violence is linked to severe mental illness, but the risk significantly increases when combined with substance abuse.
 
“I had someone in our family that committed suicide, so I feel like that's always a fear for me,” said Sarrami.
 
Kim Sarrami is navigating motherhood in a way that makes mental health a priority for her kids.
  
“Kids are multidimensional, they need more than one thing. They do need financial comfort, security, safety. I really understand that. But they also need presence. They need those parents to show that they love them in a different way other than providing for them,” said Sarrami.
 
Sarrami says a greater effort needs to be placed on de-stigmatizing mental health and addiction, adding that she’s breaking the cycle of silence prevalent in her upbringing.
 
“ I'm trying my best as a mom and just for myself to be honest and transparent and communicate things that I see. the more my kids know about it, more aware of their own emotions and what they're dealing with, the healthier I feel like they'll be,” said Sarrami.

If you or your loved one are dealing with a mental health crisis, help is available 24/7 by dialing 9-8-8.  

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By Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday slammed President Donald Trump for his comments on the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner, as she predicted more Republicans will follow her lead in breaking with Trump.

“I thought that statement was absolutely completely below the office of the president of the United States, classless, and it was just wrong,” Greene told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.”

Trump on Monday in a Truth Social post lambasted the beloved director for his left-leaning politics and suggested Reiner had brought his demise upon himself.

“MAGA faithful reacted big time and they called it out,” she said.

Greene, who is retiring from Congress in January after a bitter falling out with Trump, suggested the cracks in the Republican Party are growing wider.

“I think the dam is breaking,” she warned, pointing to recent Republican breaks with Trump.

Last week, 13 House Republicans – in a rare rebuke of the president – voted with Democrats to restore collective bargaining rights he had stripped from about 1 million federal workers earlier this year.

“Those 13 Republicans that voted to take down his executive order last week, literally that same evening put on their tuxedos and their evening ballgowns and went to the White House Christmas party. That’s pretty bold,” Greene told Collins.

In the same week, Indiana Senate Republicans rejected Trump’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts to produce two more GOP-friendly seats.

“That is a sign where you’re seeing Republicans, they’re entering the campaign phase for 2026, which is a large signal that lame duck season has begun,” Greene said. “He’s got real problems with Republicans within the House and the Senate that will be breaking with him on more things to come.”

The Georgia Republican who has long been one of Trump’s most ardent supporters before their recent falling out cautioned that two more issues threaten to derail her party’s hopes for the midterm elections — affordability, which Trump has called a “Democrat hoax” and health insurance.

CNN previously reported that many Republicans worry Trump is missing the mark on both topics, as he continues to insist that the economy is booming. “What I would like to see from the president is empathy for Americans,” Greene said. “Donald Trump is a billionaire, and he’s the president of the United States. When he looks into a camera and says affordability is a hoax and just totally tries to make nothing out of inflation, he’s talking to Americans that are suffering, and have been suffering for many years now, and are having a hard time makin

By Helen Regan, CNN

(CNN) — Mourners gathered in Sydney on Wednesday as the first funerals began for some of the 15 people killed in Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost three decades.

There were emotional scenes outside the Chabad of Bondi in Sydney, where large crowds paid their respects ahead of the service for Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in Sunday’s massacre that targeted Jewish families celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.

Family members wept as Schlanger’s coffin, draped in black velour, was wheeled into the synagogue.

Schlanger, 41, organized the “Chanukah by the Sea” event at Bondi Beach and served as assistant rabbi at the Chabad of Bondi. He was a father of five, whose youngest son is only two months old.

Known as the “Bondi Rabbi,” Schlanger has been described as a devoted and beloved chaplain who worked tirelessly “to support Jewish life in the Bondi community” through Chabad, a global Jewish organization that seeks to promote Jewish identity and connection, the organization said.

During the service, Schlanger’s father-in-law broke down in tears as he described him as “the best husband, the best father, the best son.”

“Whatever I say today will be an understatement to what you mean to everyone and to your family and to me personally,” Rabbi Yehoram Ulman said. “You are my son, my friend, my confidant.”

“A day without you is impossible.”

The funerals come as Sydney residents continued a massive outpouring of grief and support, laying flowers and lighting candles at the Bondi Pavilion, next to the world-famous beach where Sunday’s massacre unfolded.

Australian authorities say the suspected attackers, a father-and-son duo, were driven by “Islamic State ideology,” and Australian counterterrorism officials believe the pair underwent military-style training while in the southern Philippines last month, in an area known for Islamist extremism, public broadcaster ABC reported on Tuesday.

Mal Lanyon, police commissioner of New South Wales state, told a local Australian radio station that the younger suspect, Naveed Akram, had woken from a coma on Tuesday and that police were expected to charge him later Wednesday, ABC reported.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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