FORMER President Donald Trump (Shutterstock)>

Judges in the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington. D.C. may be ready to reject former president Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution for allegedly interfering in the 2020 presidential election with an aim to prevent Joe Biden from occupying The White House.

Trump’s lawyers are arguing that a president cannot be held legally responsible for anything he did while chief executive. They claim that the Constitution’s impeachment clause means that a president can only be criminally prosecuted if he has been impeached and convicted. Trump was impeached twice, but not convicted.

Two of the three judges hearing the case were appointments of Joe Biden. If the court rules that Trump does not have immunity from prosecution, the case is considered likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court for final adjudication.

Winter storms batter the nation

THE WINTER STORM has slammed much of the Northwest (Shutterstock).

Severe weather – including heavy rains along the East Coast and blizzard conditions in the Pacific Northwest – have left much of the nation reeling.

Additionally, tornadoes have been rampaging through areas of the South. There have been confirmations of three deaths connected to the weather, two of them at mobile home parks.

In the affected areas, schools have been closed, traffic brought to a standstill and electrical power disrupted. High winds forced Air Force 2 – Vice President Kamala Harris’s executive airplane – to change landing locations. Over 1,000 flights were cancelled across the U.S. on Tuesday.

Take me to the moon in 2026

Manned flights planned to again land people on the moon have been pushed back to 2026 by NASA.

THE ARTEMIS spacecraft (NASA).

The Artemis launches were originally scheduled to touch down in December 2025, but will instead be conducted in December 2026. The first Artemis crew mission is set for September 2025.

NASA says it is revision the schedule to “work through challenges” and “ensure crew safety.” Plans for Gateway. a lunar base to be built on the surface of the moon, are still on schedule for 2028.

The last manned flight to the moon, Apollo 17, was in December 1972.

More drones, missiles downed in Red Sea

American and British forces knocked down 21 drones and missiles in the Red Sea on Tuesday. The barrage was fired by Houthis based in Yemen.

No injuries or damage was reported in this the 26th such attack on the shipping lanes in the Red Sea since the incident began in November.

The firing of missiles and drones is being done, according to defense officials, to protest Israel’s invasion of Gaza after attacks into Israel by Hamas.

Weather: Sunny, then partly cloudy

Ah, the good times never last. Wednesday in our West Orange County area will be sunny with a daytime high of 63 and an overnight low of 47. But partly cloudy conditions will set in through Sunday with highs at 63 and 64 and lows at 43 and 48.