Here are 3 big things you need to know—
One — The illegal immigrant convicted of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley has received life without parole. Jose Ibarra was found guilty on all ten counts by the judge who handed down the verdict after Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial. The prosecution said Ibarra went hunting for women on the University of Georgia campus and encountered Riley on her morning run in Feburary.
Two —- Michigan Republican Party chairman Peter Hoekstra has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Hoekstra served two decades in Congress representing west Michigan and also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump’s first term. He was the chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee during his time in Washington, DC.
And number three — Nearly 300-thousand homes and businesses are still without power after a bomb cyclone hit the Pacific Northwest this week. At least two people were killed by the storm that slammed into Western Washington. One woman died when a tree fell on a homeless encampment north of Seattle. And in Bellevue, a woman was killed when a tree fell onto her home.