ZFJ founder. Oxford comma enthusiast. Unfortunately specializes in the government beat. Computer science and economics undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (ZFJ) — TikTok was briefly banned in the United States from late night Saturday, Jan. 18, to Sunday, Jan. 19, as a result of a law requiring TikTok to divest itself of its American operations.
TikTok is a social media platform for short videos with over 170 million American users and over one billion worldwide users. In 2023, American TikTok users uploaded over 5.5 billion videos, which were viewed over 13 trillion times globally.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (ZFJ) — Two new giant pandas made their public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) on Friday, Jan. 24.
NZCBI Director Brandie Smith unveiled pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao in a ceremonial opening of the Asia Trail exhibit on Friday.
“For over 50 years, giant pandas have been an integral part of the fabric and culture of Washington, D.C., thanks in large part to the support of the communities that live and work in the District,” Smith said.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (ZFJ) — President Donald Trump moved to withdraw the United States from membership in the World Health Organization (WHO) in a Day 1 executive order.
In the order, Trump said the withdrawal was due to the WHO’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and China’s influence over the United Nations global public health agency.
“The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” reads the order.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (ZFJ) — President Donald Trump implemented the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by executive order on the first day of his presidency.
The order renames the U.S. Digital Service, a technology unit within the Executive Office of the President, to the U.S. DOGE Service (USDS).
It also creates the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization within the USDS, “dedicated to advancing the President’s 18-month DOGE agenda” and terminating on July 4, 2026.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (ZFJ) — President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 federal inmates from execution to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Dec. 23, 2024.
The Justice Department, on July 1, 2021, imposed a temporary moratorium on federal executions pending a review of federal policies.
“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” said Biden in a statement.
Jan. 20 (ZFJ) — Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are investing in nuclear energy as the race to develop artificial intelligence technologies heats up.
AI technologies, which are currently rapidly gaining traction, demand significant computational power to train and operate. Data centers house the hardware for them and are consuming increasingly more energy.
According to a December 2024 report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research facility, total American data center electricity usage increased from 58 TWh in 2014 to 176 TWh in 2023.
Jan. 17 (ZFJ) — The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in 2025, according to an announcement from the video game company on Thursday, Jan. 16.
Nintendo offered a look at the highly-anticipated successor to the Nintendo Switch in a trailer that rocketed to over 14 million views within 17 hours and became the top trending video on YouTube.
Video: Trailer released on Thursday, Jan. 16, for the Nintendo Switch 2.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 10 (ZFJ) — Jerry Shi was voted president of the Edison Board of Education and Vishal Patel was voted vice president at the Jan. 2 reorganization meeting as the winners of November’s elections were sworn in.
Clips from the Edison Board of Education Jan. 2 reorganization meeting. Includes oaths of office, board president and vice president votes, board member comment, and public comment. EDISON BOARD OF EDUCATION/Livestream The meeting began with Ronak Patel, Ralph Errico, and Shi taking the oath of office.
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 10 (ZFJ) — The Edison Town Council adjourned their Dec. 23 combined meeting in the middle of public comment following a statement by Leroy Truth accusing Mayor Sam Joshi of rape and calling for an investigation.
Truth is a YouTuber who runs the channel Leroy Truth Investigations. His stated purpose is “to expose government corruption and hold corrupt government officials accountable to the full extent of the law,” according to the channel’s about section.
EDISON, N.J., Dec. 31 (ZFJ) — The Edison Town Council ejected a man from the council chambers for holding an American flag during public comment at the Nov. 25 combined meeting. The council also passed two ordinances to limit public comment time and grant the council president broad authority to restrict “disorderly” behavior at the dais.
Two ordinances related to the council’s public comment were on the agenda that night. The first, O.
