Ripped from the Headlines: January 2021: This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for January 9–15, 2021

The House of Representatives voted to urge Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and relieve President Trump of his powers. The resolution stated that if Pence did not do so within 24 hours, the House would begin impeachment proceedings. The Vice President responded that he did "not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation or consistent with our Constitution.”

The discovery of a new type of antibodies — molecules that bind to viruses, preventing them from infecting cells — may help to prevent or treat coronavirus. Known as nanobodies, these tiny proteins are little pieces of antibodies that can be produced more easily and in much larger quantities than other types of antibodies.

After an initial 12-hour suspension, Twitter permanently banned President Trump from its site on January 8th, after the President was found to be in violation of Twitter's terms of service. Other social media and e-commerce platforms — including Twitch, Snapchat, Shopify, and Stripe — followed suit this week. Ban is Germanic, originally meaning "to forbid under penalty."

The Capitol Police opened an investigation to determine whether any officers were complicit in the January 6th riot at the Capitol. So far, the department has suspended three officers and is investigating 17 others.

The Michigan Attorney General announced that she will be charging former governor Rick Snyder and members of his administration for their role in the Flint water crisis. When Flint began drawing its water supply from the Flint River in 2014, officials did not take steps to keep lead and harmful bacteria out of the water. Thousands of residents were sickened from drinking the contaminated water.

The New York State Bar Association announced that it was investigating whether to expel Rudy Giuliani for the comments he made to a crowd outside the White House shortly before members of that group and others marched to the Capitol and broke in. If the former New York mayor is disbarred, he will lose his license to practice law.

Disneyland, which has been closed since March 2020, reopened as a Point Of Dispensing (POD) vaccination site. Orange County officials hope to vaccinate 7,000 people a day at the theme park. Dodger Stadium, Petco Park, and Cal Expo are also current "Super POD" facilities in the Golden State, which is struggling to contain record levels of infection. Dispensare is Latin for "to distribute."

In the days following the Capitol riot, a growing number of corporations — including some of the country's biggest — announced that they would suspend donations to the lawmakers who objected to the certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6th. The length of the suspensions varied, with some corporations pausing donation only for 2021, and others cutting off politicians indefinitely.

WhatsApp sent its users a notification of changes to its terms of service, including the sharing of some data with its parent company, Facebook. Some users interpreted this to mean that Facebook would be able to read their messages, which the company says is not true. After tweets blasting the changes went viral, users began flocking to other apps that are known for end-to-end encryption, meaning only the people in a chat can read the messages.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that even with the distribution of several effective vaccines, most countries are unlikely to achieve herd immunity this year. Experts estimate that approximately 70 percent of the population will need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity and advise people to continue wearing masks and social distancing.

The House of Representatives voted 232–197 to impeach President Trump for "incitement of insurrection," citing his statements in advance of the riot at the Capitol. This makes him the first president in American history to be impeached twice. Impeach comes from the Old French empechier, meaning "to prevent or preclude."

Kyrie Irving is being investigated for possibly violating the NBA's pandemic protocols and may face suspension. The league began an investigation after video surfaced on social media of the Brooklyn Nets star at a family birthday party without a mask on. Irving could be suspended and fined for each game that he misses while quarantined.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR, is the largest area of untouched wilderness in the United States. The Trump Administration opened up the refuge for oil drilling, but the first auction had only three bidders, who spent $14 million to lease around 600,000 acres. Observers say that the low price of oil likely caused the lack of interest. The root word refugium means "place of shelter" in Latin.

The flight data recorder — the so-called "black box" — from Sriwijaya Air flight 182 was retrieved from the crash site in the ocean near Jakarta, Indonesia. The plane crashed just four minutes after takeoff. Authorities hope that the information contained in the recorder will help them understand the cause of the crash.

The assistant director of the FBI's Washington, DC field office said that all possible charges against rioters at the Capitol were "on the table," including sedition. Federal law defines sedition as conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government; it carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.