KARAH RUCKER: TOP HEADLINES WE’RE FOLLOWING – FORMER VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE IS SUBPOENAED. ANOTHER TECH COMPANY ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS. AND A MAJOR FAST FOOD CHAIN NOW TESTING PLANT-BASED PRODUCTS.

OUR TOP STORY THIS MORNING – WE CONTINUE OUR COVERAGE OF THE DEVASTATION OUT OF TURKEY AND SYRIA AS THE DEATH TOLL IS NOW ABOVE 20 THOUSAND.

THIS IS STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS. UNBIASED. STRAIGHT FACTS.

TURKEY, SYRIA DEATH TOLL SURPASSES 20,000

WORLD LEADERS ARE CALLING MONDAY’S HISTORIC EARTHQUAKE “ONE OF THE BIGGEST NATURAL DISASTERS IN OUR TIMES.”

DAY BY DAY THIS WEEK — WE’VE BEEN REPORTING A TRAGIC-INCREASE TO THE NUMBER OF LIVES LOST —

WHAT STARTED IN THE HUNDREDS…BY END OF WEEK IS NOW AT MORE THAN 21 THOUSAND VICTIMS.

THOUSANDS OF SURVIVORS FACING THEIR OWN HARDSHIPS —

HOMELESS, COLD, AND GRIEVING.

ATTENTION HAS LARGELY MOVED FROM “RESCUE TO RECOVERY” AS THE UNITED NATIONS SENDS IN ASSISTANCE AND ASKS COUNTRIES TO GIVE WHAT THEY CAN TO A REGION DEVASTATED BY NATURAL DISASTER.

Antonio Guterres | U.N. Secretary-General: “The earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria is one of the biggest natural disasters in our times. More help is on the way, but much more, much more is needed.”

BIDEN: SPY BALLOON NOT A MAJOR BREACH

BACK AT HOME – OUR TOP STORY — MUCH LIKE LAST WEEK – HAS CONTINUED TO BE THE CHINESE SPY BALLOON ONCE HOVERING OVER US SKIES BEFORE BEING SHOT DOWN OVER THE PACIFIC LAST WEEKEND.

THE HOUSE VOTING UNANIMOUSLY YESTERDAY TO CONDEMN CHINA FOR VIOLATING U.S. SOVEREIGNTY.

OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE – OFFICIALS TELLING US THE BALLOON **WAS EQUIPPED TO DETECT AND COLLECT INTELLIGENCE SIGNALS AS PART OF A MILITARY-LINKED AIRSPACE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM.

BUT IN A TELEMUNDO INTERVIEW ON THURSDAY — PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN SAYS IT WASN’T A MAJOR SECURITY BREACH.

President Biden: “It’s not a major breach. Look, it’s a violation of international law, it’s our air space and once it comes into our air space we can do whatever we want with it. I told them as soon as they can shoot it down, shoot it down. And they made a wise decision, they shot it down over water, recovered most of the parts.”

CRUCIAL SURVEILLANCE EQUIPMENT OFF THE SPY BALLOON IS STILL SITTING ON THE OCEAN FLOOR AS CREWS CONTINUE WORKING TO RECOVER WHAT THEY CAN.

THE ALREADY-RECOVERED PARTS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED BY FEDERAL OFFICIALS. 

PENCE SUBPOENAED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE HAS BEEN SUBPOENAED BY THE SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATING FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ACCORDING TO SEVERAL NEWS OUTLETS.

SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH WAS APPOINTED BACK IN NOVEMBER TO **OVERSEE THE DOJ’S INVESTIGATIONS INTO CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS FOUND AT MAR-A-LAGO AND THEN A SEPERATE JANUARY SIXTH INVESTIGATION INVOLVING THE FORMER PRESIDENT.

IT’S NOT CLEAR WHAT INFORMATION THE SPECIAL COUNSEL IS SEEKING IN THE SUBPOENA.

YAHOO TO CUT 20% OF WORKFORCE

AND SO THE TREND CONTINUES – TECH LAYOFFS TAKING ANOTHER CHUNK OF EMPLOYEES. THIS TIME AT YAHOO.

THE COMPANY ANNOUNCING PLANS TO LAY OFF 20 PERCENT OF ITS WORKERS – ROUGHLY 17 HUNDRED EMPLOYEES.

YAHOO SAYS IT WILL CUT ONE THOUSAND JOBS STARTING THIS WEEK – ADDING TO THE MORE THAN 60 THOUSAND TECH JOBS THAT HAVE BEEN CUT SO FAR THIS YEAR…AS COMPANIES LIKE AMAZON, META, MICROSOFT, GOOGLE’S PARENT COMPANY ALPHABET ALL PREDICT AN ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN COMING SOME-TIME THIS YEAR.

BRETT FAVRE FILES DEFAMATION LAWSUITS

FORMER NFL QUARTERBACK BRETT FAVRE IS SUING TWO SPORTS-COMMENTATORS AND THE MISSISSIPPI STATE AUDITOR IN NEWLY FILED DEFAMATION LAWSUITS.

YOU’LL REMEMBER THE FORMER GREEN-BAY PACKER WAS SURROUNDED WITH CONTROVERSY FOLLOWING A “2020 STATE AUDIT” THAT FOUND TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM MISSISSIPPI’S WELFARE PROGRAM WERE MISUSED. 

SOME OF THOSE MILLIONS GOING TOWARD FARVE’S ALMA MATER AND DIRECTLY TO THE Q-B FOR A SPEECH HE NEVER GAVE.

FARVE HAS BEEN PAYING THAT MONEY BACK TO THE STATE —

AND HAS LONG DENIED KNOWING THE MONEY HE RECEIVED WAS COMING FROM A WELFARE FUND.

HE’S SUING FOR WHAT HE CALLS A “SMEAR CAMPAIGN IN THE MEDIA” OVER WHAT BECAME A SCANDAL SURROUNDING THE NFL STAR.

CHICK-FIL-A TESTING CAULIFLOWER SANDWICH

CHICK-FIL-A HAS ANNOUNCED A SOFT-LAUNCH OF A NEW PLANT-BASED SANDWICH THAT CLOSELY RESEMBLES ITS FAMOUS CHICKEN SANDWICH.

INSTEAD OF CHICKEN — THE FAST FOOD CHAIN WILL BE USING “BREADED AND PRESSURE-COOKED CAULIFLOWER” IN PLACE OF MEAT.

HAND-SELECT STORES IN COLORADO, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND NORTH CAROLINA WILL BE FIRST TO TEST OUT THE PRODUCT — STARTING ON MONDAY.