Funeral services have been announced for former President Jimmy Carter in Georgia and Washington, DC. A North Carolina county struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene is dealt another blow. And a warning against giving cats raw food because of the risk of bird flu.

This is what you should know today.

Funeral service announced for Jimmy Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter’s official state funeral is scheduled for Thursday, January 9th. President Joe Biden declared it a national day of mourning and ordered federal offices closed. The Supreme Court also announced the shutdown and the New York Stock Exchange will suspend closed trading.

The state funeral will take place at 10 a.m. in the National Cathedral. A eulogy is expected from Biden, with whom Carter had a close friendship for decades.

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Services for Carter begin this Saturday and include a brief stop at the family farm in Plains, Georgia, where he grew up, as well as a stop at the Georgia State Capitol for a moment of silence. Carter will rest at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta until Jan. 7 so mourners can pay their respects.

His remains will then be transported to Washington, DC, where he will lie in state until January 9th. After the state funeral, Carter will make his final journey back to Georgia to attend a private funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school for many years, and private burial in the Carter family home. The public is invited to line the path to his final resting place.

Carter, the 39th US president and the first to live to 100, died on Sunday.

Read the full story here.

More on Jimmy Carter’s legacy:

• Carter, a Southern Democrat and devout Baptist, was the first president to do so Move the needle on gay rights.
• Carter’s only term was a stepping stone for black women in politics.
• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Take a look back at the historic contribution Carter set out to serve the community with his first Heritage Week.

New laws will come into force in 2025

As the new year begins tomorrow, a number of new laws will come into force touching on issues such as artificial intelligence and personal data. For example:

→ Illinois and California set guidelines for the use of AI, with California laws governing how the technology is used in Hollywood.

→ New data protection laws come into effect in eight states – Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee – that will regulate how companies handle your personal data. Maryland’s law is the most restrictive of the new laws. It prohibits the sale of sensitive data and limits companies from collecting personal data only when “reasonably necessary.”

→ And a new regulation that comes into force in May requires everyone aged 18 and over to carry a Real ID-compliant driver’s license and ID card. If this law sounds familiar, it’s because the deadline for enforcement has been pushed back multiple times due to the state’s lack of full compliance and the Covid pandemic.

Further laws on university admissions and gender transition care for minors are also expected to come into force. To read more about the changes that the new year brings with it.

More news from politics:

• The US Treasury Department said it had been hacked by a Chinese state-sponsored operation in what it called a “serious incident.”
• President-elect Donald Trump supported Mike Johnson for Speaker of the House of Representativeseven as Johnson faces backlash from some within the Republican Party.
• A federal appeals court affirmed writer E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million civil judgment against Trump.
• This year was a noticeably bad year for the incumbents – not just in the US, but around the world.
• The 43-year-old son of North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer was sentenced to 28 years in prison in connection with the death of a sheriff’s deputy during a police chase.

North Carolina County, hit hard by Helene, is suffering another blow

Nearly a dozen pedestrian bridges were washed away last weekend in Avery County, North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene leveled the landscape earlier this year. More than three inches of rain washed away pedestrian bridges built by volunteers to provide emergency access after Helene swept away bridges that once carried vehicles across rivers, district manager Phillip Barrier said. Now, More than 20 residents could not be reached in the rural, mountainous county with around 18,000 residents.

Avery County’s recovery from Hurricane Helene has been “very slow” since late September, Barrier said. Many displaced residents are staying either in hotels, with families or in RVs on their properties.

Experts warn against raw pet food because of the risk of bird flu

The death of a cat in Oregon due to a product contaminated with bird flu has prompted experts and some public health officials to warn against giving raw food to pets. The FDA is currently investigating cases of cats with avian influenza in several Western states, and experts fear there have been additional avian influenza deaths in cats that have gone undetected.

The problem with feeding raw milk and meat to pets is that the food can be contaminated with bacteria and viruses, Dr. Jane Sykes, professor of small animal internal medicine at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. In comparison, commercial pet food has been processed to remove viruses and bacteria from the food.

According to experts, there were no cases of bird flu in cats in the United States until 2022. And by the end of this year, “over 25 cases had been reported,” Sykes said. Here’s what you should know about bird flu symptoms and how to protect cats.

read all about it

• Five people – a friend and four hotel employees – were accused in connection with One Direction member Liam Payne’s fatal fall from a Buenos Aires hotel in October.
• Concerns are growing for the safety of a prominent hospital director in Gaza following the deployment of Israeli forces took him into custody and forced the closure of one of the last functioning medical facilities in the enclave.
• An engraved Rolex watch belonging to actor Keanu Reeves that was stolen in 2023, appeared in Chile.
• In 2025, more women have expressed interest in traveling alone. Tour operator pay attention to it.
• Ohio State University’s Ryan Day is one of the most successful coaches in college football, but he can’t manage to lead his team to a win against its biggest rival has fans unhappy.

Annual review: The craziest congress in recent memory

Kevin McCarthy is still angry about the “sociopath” former Rep. Matt Gaetz who ousted him as House Speaker. Gaetz says he “knew how to play the hand he was dealt.”

Speaker Mike Johnson defends his work with President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

And Rep. Jamaal Bowman, the New York Democrat who was ousted in the most expensive House primary in history, said he had only one regret during his four years in Washington.

The power struggles of the 118th year in Congress will continue to have an impact for years to come. Take a look backthrough photos and interviews.

NBC Select: Online shopping, simplified

A way to burn calories without having to deal with hectic parking or gym memberships? An elliptical machine. Experts comment on this The best rated models and what you should pay attention to when buying a new machine.

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