Questions about drone sightings and new findings about human evolution: Morning Rundown

The White House said drones flying over New Jersey and New York don’t pose a public threat, but lawmakers still want more answers. The suspect in CEO Brian Thompson’s death was never insured by UnitedHealthcare, the company said. And a couple’s $92,000 medical debt is wiped away after a NBC News report.

Here’s what to know today.

Lawmakers demand more information about mysterious drones

The White House is downplaying recent mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey and New York, with a White House National Security official insisting that there is “no evidence at this time that these reported sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” Still, key House and Senate lawmakers are demanding answers. 

What appear to be large drones hovering in the area at high altitudes in the bayside section of Toms River, N.J. on Dec. 8, 2024.Doug Hood / USA Today Network

For weeks, residents have been spotting and taking videos of drones, which officials have described as commercial-grade devices, not typical “hobbyist” drones. Eyewitness reports and officials confirm the drones are up to 6 feet in diameter. The public grew more alarmed this week when Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey suggested on Fox News that the drones were coming from an Iranian “mothership” off the East Coast. The Defense Department has rejected the claims. 

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House Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects to receive a classified briefing about the drones soon. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey, and Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand of New York, all Democrats, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Federal Aviation Administration head Michael Whitaker demanding a briefing.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said he received briefings about the drones last week and this week, saying “I don’t think there are any immediate threats to public safety. But the public deserves to know more.”

Local officials have also asked for answers.

Read the full story here.

More politics news:

• Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
• Trump acknowledged it will be “hard” to bring down grocery prices, despite making it a key tenet of his 2024 campaign. The comments were part of an interview with Time magazine, which named him person of the year.
• Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth are among vulnerable Trump Cabinet picks who have softened their past statements as they face contentious confirmation fights.
• President Biden has pledged to veto a bipartisan bill passed in Congress that would create dozens of new judgeships.
• Some House Republicans representing high-tax states want to see an increase to the federal deduction for state and local taxes, also known as “SALT,” in order to support an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax law. 
• The FBI failed to take a “basic step” when gathering intelligence ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a new Justice Department watchdog report found.
• Biden is on track to appoint more federal judges of color than any president before him. 

Mangione wasn’t insured by UnitedHealthcare, company says

The man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was not insured by the company, the overarching business that owns it said. In fact, there is no record that Luigi Mangione was ever insured by the company, UnitedHealth Group said. 

Authorities are still investigating the killing. However, Mangione’s social media and writings offer some possible hints. New York Police Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione indicated he suffered a painful, “life-altering” back injury, and Mangione may have targeted Thompson because of the size of UnitedHealthcare. “We have no indication that he was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth-largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest health care organization in America,” Kenny said. 

Mangione is being held in Pennsylvania, where the next hearing for charges he faces there is scheduled for Dec. 30. New York police said Mangione will be brought back to New York to face a murder charge.

A simple device could help prevent accidental shootings. Why don’t more guns have it?

A warning label explains how unloading a magazine does not unload the pistol in the Ruger LCP Max handgun manual. This gun model does not contain a magazine disconnect.Ruger

A 13-year-old in Chicago. A former Marine in Florida. A grandfather in Texas. Each thinks the gun in their hand is unloaded because the magazine has been removed. None of them realize there is a round in the chamber when they raise the gun and pull the trigger.

It’s a danger that gunmakers have long been aware of — and one with a seemingly simple fix: A small metal device known as a magazine disconnect that keeps a pistol from firing if the magazine is removed. But gunmakers don’t have to include it, so, for the most part, they don’t.

An NBC News investigation found at least 277 people had died from such accidents since 2000 — almost certainly an undercount. In 2021, the most recent year of federal data available, at least 42 people died. “It would be a design defect in any other conceivable product,” said one gun safety advocate. “We wouldn’t tolerate this in a toaster.” Read the full story here.

Research clarifies timeline of human evolution

Zlatý kůň skull.Marek Jantač / Petr Velemínský / Anthropology Department of the National Museum in Prague

Hidden in many people’s genetic codes is a mystery that has long intrigued scientists — a tiny slice of Neanderthal DNA that has persisted tens of thousands of years after the species vanished. Most non-African people can attribute around 1% to 2% of their DNA to Neanderthal ancestors, linked to traits like skin pigmentation, immune response and metabolism. 

Now, two new studies suggest that ancient humans and Neanderthals interbred during a limited period of time as humans left Africa. According to the new findings, this wave of interbreeding happened roughly 43,500 to 50,500 years ago, more recently than some previous estimates suggested. Pinpointing this evolutionary event shifts and narrows the possible range of time when humans spread to places like present-day China and Australia. It also clarifies the significance of fossilized human remains in Europe, and the time frame in which humans interbred another extinct species. Despite the new information from these studies, key questions remain.

Read All About It 

• More than 3,000 Malibu residents were allowed to return home as firefighters made progress containing the Franklin Fire in California.
• Family and friends of Travis Timmerman, the Missouri man who was imprisoned in Syria for months, hailed his unexpected recovery as a “Christmas miracle.”
• A UCLA student alleges she was wrongly diagnosed with gender dysphoria and then “fast-tracked” for treatments, according to a lawsuit filed against multiple California health care providers and hospitals.
• Country music star Morgan Wallen was sentenced to seven days’ incarceration and two years’ probation for throwing a chair from a rooftop bar in Nashville, Tennessee.

Staff Pick: $92,000 debt forgiven after NBC News report

Donna and Gary Lindabury had a lien on their N.C. home due to medical debt. After an NBC News story a few months ago, the hospital forgave the debt.NBC News

“It’s like being in prison and now you’re out.” That’s how Donna Lindabury said she felt when she and her husband Gary learned that a $92,000 medical debt owed to Atrium Hospital in North Carolina, had been wiped away. The debt arose from an emergency heart surgery Gary had in 2009. Things got so dire that the hospital system placed a lien on their home.

But in September, Advocate Health, a nonprofit system with 69 hospitals in six states, announced it was forgiving more than 11,500 debts of former patients — a decision that followed an NBC News report on medical debt in America. As a financial reporter, I don’t often see this kind of impact arise from my work, so the Lindaburys’ story was a delight to tell. — Gretchen Morgenson, senior financial reporter, NBC News Investigations

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