The Full Belmonte, 2/2/2024
Haley insists she’s staying in the race. Here’s how that could cause problems for Trump
“Nikki Haley's path to the Republican nomination is rapidly shrinking following her losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. But she’s vowing to stay in the race, backed by committed donors, a key slice of the party’s moderate wing and a new willingness to attack 2024 Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Read more.
Why this matters:
The harder Haley fights, the more Republican officials fear she may hurt Trump’s long-term prospects in the upcoming general election. Former Trump adviser David Urban described Haley’s continued presence as a distraction, a drain on resources and a source of frustration.
Haley is getting stronger by some measures. Her campaign has raised millions from small-dollar donors since New Hampshire, while many major donors remain critical of Trump. But some of the biggest would-be Haley supporters are in a holding pattern ahead of South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary.
Haley has begun to ratchet up attacks against Trump, a strategy designed to highlight the former president’s liabilities, including his legal troubles, age and mental fitness. Her messaging appears to be resonating with a key group of swing voters who play a pivotal role in general elections.” [AP News]
Michigan school shooter’s mother testifies at her own trial
Jennifer Crumbley on Thursday Jan. 25, 2024, enters the courtroom to begin her trial in Pontiac, Michigan.
Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press
“The mother charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with her son’s deadly school shooting took the stand in her own defense at her trial in Michigan this afternoon.
‘I thought we were pretty close,’ Jennifer Crumbley said of her son, who fatally shot four students at Oxford High School in 2021. ‘We would talk. We did a lot of things together. I trusted him. I thought I had an open door and that he could come to me.’
Prosecutors have said Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, bought their son the gun he used in the massacre, ignoring warnings signs about his mental health issues.
During her testimony, Crumbley said she never thought her son needed mental health treatment, saying he had expressed anxiety over tests and life after school, but ‘not to a level where I thought he felt he had to see a psychiatrist.’
Crumbley’s husband is set to be tried separately. The couple’s son was sentenced in December to life in prison without the possibility of parole.” [NBC News]
Trump’s D.C. trial has been dropped from federal court’s March calendar while his immunity claim delays his case
“The change did not appear on the formal criminal case docket, but U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan has begun scheduling other matters in March and April. A delay in Donald Trump’s case in D.C. makes it likely that the first of his four criminal trials could be his New York state prosecution accusing him of business fraud.”
Read more at Washington Post
UK judge throws out Trump’s lawsuit over Steele Dossier
“A judge in London on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by former President Donald Trump that accused a former British spy of making “shocking and scandalous claims” that were false and harmed his reputation.” Read More at AP News
Former President Trump and his lawyers at closing arguments in the Trump Organization civil fraud trial at N.Y. State Supreme Court on Jan. 11. Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
“Former President Trump's political fundraising apparatus spent more than $50 million on legal costs last year, Axios' Emma Loop reports.” [Axios]
Security fencing to surround Trump’s D.C. trial site, an echo of Jan. 6 barricades
Members of the media wait outside the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse in D.C. on Aug. 1. (Ricky Carioti/The Post)
By Spencer S. Hsu, Rachel Weiner and Peter Hermann
Read more at Washington Post
Millions of American students may have just weeks to compare college financial aid offers
“While applying for financial aid is rarely a stress-free endeavor, this year has been especially tricky. That’s because the Education Department upended college application season when it made long-awaited improvements in December to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. The rollout of those changes, however, has been filled with delays and unforeseen problems. The latest hiccup occurred this week when the Biden administration said colleges and state agencies wouldn’t start receiving students’ FAFSA information until the ‘first half of March’ at the earliest. In a normal year, schools would have had that data on hand months earlier.” [USA Today]
A year after a train derailment, these Ohio families have nowhere to go
“Ohio officials announced that it was safe for residents to return to East Palestine five days after the Feb. 3, 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train and subsequent release of hazardous chemicals in the town. Within eight days, by Feb. 9, Norfolk Southern will end aid for families who relocated to other areas following the derailment. Many of them cannot afford to live outside of East Palestine without financial assistance from the company. They don't consider their East Palestine homes to be safe, and they're worried that moving back will worsen their symptoms.” Read more at USA Today
Officials in an incident area assess remaining hazards in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 2023. AP
Oregon high court says 10 GOP state senators who staged long walkout can’t run for reelection
“SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection.
The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences.
Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed the legislative session, stalling hundreds of bills….” Read more at AP News
A teenager was accused of making hundreds of swatting calls nationwide.
“What is swatting? A hoax in which a caller lies about an emergency to draw a massive police response. There have been over 500 incidents at U.S. schools in the past year.
What’s new? Alan Filion, 17, was accused this week of running a swatting service since 2022, targeting high schools, historically Black colleges and universities, and mosques.”
Read this story at Washington Post
NDAFears death toll could rise after lorry explosion
About 10 trucks were completely burned inside the compound where the explosion occurred. Credit: AFP
“Three people have been killed and nearly 300 injured in an explosion in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. A lorry carrying gas exploded shortly before midnight, ‘igniting a huge ball of fire’ which then spread to nearby commercial properties and houses, a government spokesman said. Video showed a huge blaze raging close to blocks of flats. Local police chief Wesley Kimeto said a child was among those who died, adding that the death toll could rise. The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority said in a statement the gas plant was illegal and that it had rejected three applications for construction permits to build a storage and filling facility at the site. Witnesses told the BBC the explosion sent objects, including gas cylinders and a shipping container, flying into the air. ‘I saw a woman on fire, but we couldn't help her. Everyone was running,’ said Jackline Karimi, who suffered burns on her right hand and arm up to the shoulder and to her right leg.” [BBC]
© The Associated Press / Andrew Harnik | President Biden at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol on Thursday.
US plan to retaliate against Iran takes shape
“President Biden ordered retaliation for the deaths of U.S. troops after a Sunday attack on a U.S. base in Jordan, approving plans for significant strikes against Iranian-controlled facilities in Iraq and Syria, CBS News reported Thursday.
The response, expected to begin as soon as this weekend, will occur over several days and be ‘tiered,’ mixing military actions with other steps that can be adjusted to signal that Washington doesn’t seek further escalation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Tehran, eager to stave off a direct war with the U.S., ordered Iranian commanders to leave bases in Iraq and Syria that could become U.S. targets, hoping to head off high-profile killings that, in Iranian eyes, would require a response.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Friday that his country will defend itself. ‘We will not start any war, but if anyone wants to bully us they will receive a strong response,’ he said in a televised speech. ‘Before, when they [the U.S.] wanted to talk to us, they said the military option is on the table. Now they say they have no intention of a conflict with Iran,’ Raisi continued.
The Iran-backed militia group Kata’ib Hezbollah announced Wednesday it suspended military operations against U.S. forces. The U.S. has said the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella militia group backed by Iran, was responsible for the attack on U.S. forces.
On Thursday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels were still attacking vessels and fired a ballistic missile at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea.
‘At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,’ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a Pentagon news conference Thursday.
ABC News: U.S. forces responded Thursday and hit Houthi UAVs and a ground control station in Yemen.
Biden hopes to pressure Iran to rein in attacks by groups it supports but which it might not directly command.
Domestically, some Republican critics have bashed Biden, who is campaigning for reelection, labeling him an ‘appeaser’ who is leery of using force to deter America’s enemies.
Austin said the U.S. sought to ‘hold the right people accountable’ without escalating the conflict in the region.
‘The dilemma for the Biden administration is to try to bloody Iran’s nose without touching it,’ Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organization, told CBS. ‘The problem is each side retaliates against the other, it generates the need for a counterstrike and this vicious cycle continues, and at a certain point it will explode.’
Meanwhile, the conflict in the Middle East is widening. Biden used an executive order Thursday to punish some Israeli settlers in the West Bank, where Palestinians imagine a future state. The U.S. imposed sanctions on four Israeli men it accused of being involved in settler violence in the West Bank, signaling growing U.S. displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes a two-state solution promoted by the U.S. for decades.
The Biden administration revived talks to broker ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, part of efforts to prepare for a future in Gaza if Hamas is defeated. The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports that Biden could help secure a major foreign policy win before the November election. Hypothetically, the president could get Republicans to rally around Israeli-Saudi normalization, which would help counter Riyadh’s skeptics in the Democratic party.
“I will do all I can as a Republican to help President Biden to bring about normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on the Senate floor in mid-January, following a trip to Jerusalem and Riyadh.
‘Not only do we pray for peace,’ Biden said Thursday during a National Prayer Breakfast held annually in the Capitol, ‘we're actively working for peace, security, dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.’
The president said he understands the ‘pain and passion felt by so many here in America and around the world’ in response to the ‘trauma, the destruction in Israel and Gaza.’
‘We value and pray for the lives taken and for the families left behind,’ he continued.
‘For all those who are living in dire circumstances, innocent men, women and children, held hostage or under bombardment, or displaced not knowing where the next meal will come from, or if it will come at all.’” [The Hill]
Analysis shows destruction and possible buffer zone along Gaza Strip’s border with Israel
“Satellite photos show new demolition along a 1-kilometer-deep path on the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, according to analysis by The Associated Press and experts. The destruction comes as Israel said it wants to establish a buffer zone, over international objections, further tearing away at land Palestinians want for a state. Read more.
Key developments:
Israeli leaders have signaled that they would like to establish a buffer zone as a defensive measure, which they contend could prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas. That’s despite U.S. warnings not to shrink Gaza’s territory.
There has been a continued growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank under Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. That further undermines the prospects for an independent Palestinian state in the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
The demolition along the border represents only a sliver of the wider damage from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which one assessment suggests has damaged or destroyed half of all the buildings within the coastal enclave.” [AP News]
Orban Caves on Ukraine
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives prior to the start of a European Council meeting in Brussels on Feb. 1.Ludovic Marin/AFP
“The European Union unanimously approved $54 billion in new aid to Ukraine on Thursday following weeks of pushback from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. If the European Parliament votes to pass the fund, which it is expected to do in the near future, the first tranche of nearly $4.9 billion will be sent to Kyiv next month. The EU is ‘taking leadership & responsibility in support for Ukraine,’ European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘[W]e know what is at stake.’
Until now, Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest EU ally, has kept the EU from providing Ukraine additional funds for its war against Russia. The bloc requires a unanimous vote to approve decisions. Orban vetoed a multibillion-dollar aid package to Ukraine in December 2023 and threatened to continue to do so unless the EU unfreezes billions of euros earmarked for Hungary that remain frozen due to concerns about democratic backsliding in Budapest.
Orban maintained his opposition this time around, demanding that the Ukraine aid be authorized annually by unanimous vote, effectively giving him the ability to veto it year after year. The EU rejected that demand, but Orban ultimately caved after he said he received ‘assurances the aid would be used sensibly and would not come from EU funds that had been earmarked for Budapest from the bloc’s joint coffers,’ Reuters reported. As part of Thursday’s deal, the EU will hold yearly discussions to gauge the funding’s effectiveness, with the option to renew the package in two years ‘if needed.’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the decision, saying it will enable long-term economic stability and growth. Kyiv spends almost all of its domestic revenue on its defense sector, leaving Western aid to largely cover non-war matters, such as social security. A single day of fighting costs around $136 million, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said.
However, Kyiv is still hoping for an additional $8.5 billion in aid from the United States, which remains held up by congressional Republicans who are demanding that President Joe Biden impose stricter immigration restrictions at the U.S. southern border before they approve the aid.” [Foreign Policy]
“Israeli settler sanctions. Biden issued an executive order on Thursday that enables the U.S. State and Treasury departments to sanction Israeli settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
The order, which aims to address actions that ‘undermine peace, security, and stability’ in the West Bank, authorizes the secretaries of state and treasury, in consultation with each other, to sanction ‘foreign nationals engaged in actions that include the directing or participating in acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidating civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroying or seizing property, and acts of terrorism.’
The State Department promptly announced that, in accordance with the order, it was imposing sanctions on four Israeli settlers for violent acts, including initiating a riot that killed one Palestinian civilian and destroyed property, directly assaulting Palestinian farmers, attacking Israeli activists in the West Bank, and using intimidation to force Palestinians to leave their homes. The sanctions block those individuals from accessing U.S. property and assets, prohibits U.S. citizens from aiding the individuals financially, and restrict their travel to the United States.
The decision comes as the State Department also reportedly examines policy options for possible U.S. and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the Israel-Hamas war concludes. However, no policy decision has yet been made. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday that the Biden administration is ‘actively pursuing the establishment as an independent Palestinian state, with real security guarantees for Israel’ and is examining ‘a wide range of options’ for how that might be achieved.
Official U.S. policy has long supported the eventual establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel—the so-called two-state solution—but has firmly opposed the bilateral and international recognition of a Palestinian state, maintaining that Palestinian statehood should only be determined as part of direct final-status peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, refuses to relinquish Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza, saying Israeli security is dependent on ‘control of all territory west of the Jordan [River].’” [Foreign Policy]
Middle East
“The main United Nations relief agency in Gaza said it will likely be forced to shut down its operations in the region by the end of February if funding from nearly 20 countries remains suspended. Several countries decided to halt their funding after Israel accused some of the agency's staffers of involvement in the October 7 attacks. The moves have raised questions about the fate of the nearly 6 million refugees that the relief group serves. Meanwhile, the US has announced the first round of sanctions under President Biden's new executive order targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The new sanctions — which block the settlers' financial assets and bar them from coming to the US — target four Israeli nationals.” [CNN]
“‘Operation Money Badger.’ A leaked U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency memo from 2018 detailed how Washington sent undercover operatives to Venezuela to secretly record and build on drug-trafficking cases against the country’s leaders, The Associated Press reported on Thursday. The yearslong investigation, dubbed “Operation Money Badger,” targeted top Venezuelan officials, including President Nicolás Maduro and close Maduro ally and businessman Alex Saab. ‘It is necessary to conduct this operation unilaterally and without notifying Venezuelan officials,’ the document said, suggesting that the United States knew it was possibly violating international law.
The report strikes at the United States’ already fraught relations with Venezuela, which worsened on Tuesday when Caracas said it would stop accepting U.S. deportation flights within 14 days unless Biden reverses his decision to reimpose sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sector. U.S. exemptions were set to expire on April 18. But Biden said he would not renew the relief deal after Maduro barred opposition candidate María Corina Machado from running for office, which the State Department said violates a reform plan that Maduro signed with the U.S.-backed opposition Unity Platform in Barbados last year.” [Foreign Policy]
“Politically charged arrest. Indian opposition leader Hemant Soren petitioned the nation’s Supreme Court on Thursday over his alleged unlawful arrest—just months before India is set to hold national elections. Soren was accused on Wednesday of benefiting from land fraud in Ranchi, Jharkhand state, where he served as chief minister until his detention. Fellow opposition members said the incarceration was politically motivated. The high court is scheduled to hear his appeal on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly cracked down on dissidents to boost his Bharatiya Janata Party’s hold on power. In doing so, regional experts argue that he has weakened India’s democratic institutions. ‘To his critics, Modi is a walking controversy and wannabe despot; to his admirers—who are, in India, a much larger group—he is a compassionate leader unwavering in his commitment to governance,’ FP’s Allison Meakem reported. This devoted following means that this year’s elections will likely see a Modi victory, she wrote.” [Foreign Policy]
“Farmers’ protests hit Brussels. While EU leaders debated Ukraine aid in Brussels on Thursday, European farmers threw firecrackers, eggs, and beer bottles at the nearby European Parliament building to demand relief from rising prices. The weekslong protests have spread across the continent, with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators criticizing poor bureaucracy, high taxes, and unfair foreign competition. ‘To the farmers that are outside, we see you and we hear you,’ European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said.” [Foreign Policy]
“For World Brief’s most avid followers, we have an update on yesterday’s nail-biting adventure: The Scottish Highlands’s escaped Japanese macaque has finally been found. After four days on the run, a local discovered the wanted monkey snacking on peanuts from a bird feeder in their backyard. The fugitive has since been returned to Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, where a vet will check the naughty monkey before he is released. ‘We’re so happy that he’s back and safe,’ search coordinator Keith Gilchrist said. ‘In the end, the bird feeder saved the day.’” [Foreign Policy]
“Among Israel’s governing politicians — not least Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — there seems almost no willingness to accept a Palestinian state or start negotiations toward creating one.
They believe Hamas’s savage attack on Oct. 7 underscores just how dangerous a two-state solution would be for Israel. It would, in their view, create a neighboring nation over which Israel would have little or no security control.
Yet for Arab countries and, increasingly, Israel’s Western allies, Hamas’s incursion and the subsequent war in Gaza — still raging after almost four months with estimates of close to 30,000 people dead on all sides — make a two-state solution all the more urgent.
This week, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron struck a more forceful tone with a speech in which he laid out how the British government and partners might accept a Palestinian state even before Israel has agreed to one, and involve the United Nations.
‘That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible,’ he said.
Such words are anathema to Netanyahu and his coalition, the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
The US, by far the most important country when it comes to swaying Israel, says it hasn’t shifted its official stance regarding an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza. But its calls for one to be created eventually are getting louder.
For now, Israel isn’t listening as it continues with its campaign to destroy Hamas and ensure Oct. 7 is never repeated. But the pressure is mounting, including from its closest supporters.” — Paul Wallace [Bloomberg]
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Washington on Jan. 13. Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg
“Ukraine’s top general intensified a power struggle with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over military leadership at a critical time in the war against Russia. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who refused to step down as army commander-in-chief at a meeting with Zelenskiy on Monday, said in an article for CNN that bureaucracy is holding back Ukraine’s defense industry and ‘a new philosophy of training and warfare’ is needed to cope with limited resources.” [Bloomberg]
“Once a rebel leader who emerged from Sudan’s notorious janjaweed militia, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has been received by a host of African leaders as his forces gain the upper hand in a battle with the army that’s ripping the nation apart. At least 12,000 people have been killed, and both sides are accused of war crimes, including rape, deliberate targeting of civilians and looting.” [Bloomberg]
“President Nayib Bukele transformed El Salvador from one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America to among the safest, but at the cost of some civil liberties. The strongman tactics he used to bring violent criminal gangs to heel in a tiny country of 6.3 million people are spreading through the region.” [Bloomberg]
El Salvador’s newly built Terrorism Confinement Center has capacity for 40,000 inmates. Source: Office of the President of El Salvador/Getty Images
“Hong Kong leader John Lee’s decision to enact a domestic security law risks undermining his year-long effort to revive a business environment battered by pandemic curbs and China’s economic slowdown. The planned legislation is more expansive than some business leaders were anticipating and threatens to exacerbate tensions with the US.” [Bloomberg]
“Senate negotiators are closing in on a US migration and Ukraine aid deal and plan to release it as soon as today, but it faces major hurdles in the upper chamber and the House.” [Bloomberg]
“North Korea fired its fourth barrage of cruise missiles in some two weeks, just hours after leader Kim Jong Un called for stepping up ‘war preparations.’” [Bloomberg]
“Ethiopian lawmakers voted to extend a state of emergency in the northern Amhara region that the government first declared in August following clashes between federal troops and a rebel group.” [Bloomberg]
Amazon has argued that it is a marketplace and a third-party logistics provider rather than a distributor.
PHOTO: BRYAN ANSELM FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Amazon is facing a government order that could make it responsible for the safety of goods from so-called third party sellers.
“The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is set to decide whether Amazon’s online retail business makes it a distributor, according to people familiar with the matter. That designation could give it the same safety responsibilities as traditional retailers for goods it sells for outside vendors on its website and ships for them through its logistics network, potentially opening up the company to lawsuits and extensive recalls. Amazon has said that it invests in product safety across its site and that for the more than 60% of sales that are by third parties, it is merely a platform for sellers and buyers to connect, and therefore not responsible for ensuring the quality and safety of those products. Amazon accounts for nearly 40% of all e-commerce in the U.S., according to research firm eMarketer.” [Wall Street Journal]
Scientists found a major clue to why most autoimmune patients are women.
“The mystery: About 80% of people who suffer from autoimmune diseases, like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, are women.
A possible reason: A molecule found only in women, called Xist, is a major culprit in these diseases, according to a new paper.
In other health news: Syphilis cases in the U.S. are at their highest since 1950.”
Read this story at Washington Post
SPORTS
“N.F.L.: The Washington Commanders hired Dan Quinn, the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, as head coach.” [New York Times]
“Mark Andrews: The Ravens’ tight end was feted as a hero for helping a woman with a medical emergency during a flight.” [New York Times]
“M.L.B.: Days after the team was sold, the Baltimore Orioles traded for the 2021 Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes.” [New York Times]
Lindsey Horan: The U.S. women’s soccer captain said most American soccer fans ‘aren’t smart’ and ‘don’t know the game’ in a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic.” [New York Times]
The Pyramid of Menkaure. Khaled Elfiqi/EPA, via Shutterstock
“Ancient wonders: The Egyptian authorities recently announced a plan to cover the Pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of Giza’s three main pyramids, with granite blocks of the kind that once clad part of its exterior. It has revived what experts say is a constant debate in conservation: whether to try to return ancient structures to their earlier splendor, or minimize intervention.” [New York Times]
America's favorite forecaster Punxsutawney Phil
“Will spring arrive early or linger for another six weeks? We'll find out after this year's Groundhog Day festivities in Gobbler's Knob, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to legend, winter will last six more weeks if Phil sees his shadow. There will be an early spring if he doesn't notice his shadow.” [USA Today]
Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil on Feb. 2, 2023.
Barry Reeger/Associated Press
“Lives Lived: Toni Stern, a sunny California poet, became a trusted lyricist for Carole King, on “It’s Too Late” and other songs during King’s chart-topping career. Stern died at 79.” [New York Times]