State Current Events 24-25

The Pentagon announced a transfer of 11 detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Oman, reducing the prison population to its lowest at 15. Where were the detainees from?

Yemen

President Biden visited New Orleans after a terrorist attack during a New Year’s Eve celebration. Orchestrated by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar from Beaumont, Texas, he was inspired by ISIS to drive his Ford F-150 Lightning into a crowd of people on what famous street?

Bourbon Street

Who was the last Republican opponent to remain in the presidential primary race against Donald Trump?

Nikki Haley - only victories in Vermont and DC

As of Jan. 1, 2024, which EU country became the first Baltic state to legalize same-sex marriage?

Estonia - amended its 2016 Family Law Act

Claudine Gay resigned as president of which Ivy League school in January 2024 in the aftermath of her appearance at a U.S. Congress hearing on antisemitism?

Harvard University - Liz Magill of Penn was the first ahead of Gay and Minouche Shafik at Columbia.

Which European country became the 32^nd member of NATO in March?

Sweden

In March, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new automobile emission standards meant to ensure that most new cars sold in the U.S. by 2032 are which of the following?

All-electric or hybrids - Requires 56% of new vehicles sold to be electric by 2032, along with at least 13% plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars.

Which Category 5 hurricane became the strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic for June or July?

Beryl - made landfall on the island of Carriacou in Grenada, where it destroyed 98% of the buildings.

Which media outlet won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for public service?

ProPublica - honored for its “groundbreaking and ambitious reporting” of lavish gifts secretly bestowed upon members of the U.S. Supreme Court

Justin Welby resigned from which position in November over his response to a child abuse cover-up scandal?

Archbishop of Canterbury - said he “must take personal and institutional responsibility” over his inaction related to the abuse at the hands of Iwerne Christian camp leader John Smyth.

Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled political leader of Hamas, was reportedly assassinated by Israeli agents in which country?

Tehran, Iran - where he was attending the inauguration of the newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian

Which Hollywood star and major Democratic fundraiser wrote an essay in the New York Times calling for President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race?

George Clooney

The 2024 Summer Olympics were hosted by Paris. Which country tied with the U.S. to win the most gold medals, with 40 each?

China - U.S. won a total of 126 medals overall, followed by China with a total of 91 medals

Who was elected by Senate Republicans to be their new majority leader when Congress convenes in 2025?

John Thune - represented South Dakota in the Senate since 2005

Kim Jong-un has reportedly banned which food in North Korea for being too Western?

Hot dogs - also banning budae-jjigae, a spicy Korean-American dish that translates to “army base stew” and may contain hot dogs or Spam.

The newly elected Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota opened the new session with a promise to preserve which congressional tradition?

The filibuster

Which Golden Globe winner for best actress in a comedy or musical referred to herself as a “popcorn actress” in her acceptance speech?

Demi Moore - first major acting award of her career for the body horror film The Substance

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will step down as the country’s leader, due to pressure from which political party of which he was party leader for 11 years?

Liberal Party

Daniel Lurie, founder and former CEO of Tipping Point Community, a grant-making anti-poverty nonprofit, became the mayor of which city this week, saying he will take only $1 a year in pay instead of the full $383,000 salary?

San Francisco

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, part of The Republicans party, went on trial over alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by which world leader?

Muammar Qadaffi of Libya

President Xiomara Castro, who has allowed U.S. troops at the Soto Cano Air Base near the town of Comayagua for at least four decades, is threatening to end cooperation with the U.S. military if Donald Trump follows through on proposed mass deportations? What country does she lead?

Honduras

Which state sold a 640-acre parcel of land, known as the “Kelly Parcel,” to the federal government for $100 million?

Wyoming - now part of Grand Teton National Park and is protected from private development.

A rare strike by which workers at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort has disrupted operations during its busy holiday season?

Ski patrol - deal reached to end the two-week strike of about 200 patrollers, who cited inadequate pay amid rising living costs in the expensive mountain town

Which businessman has received a court order to pay nearly $778,000 for unpaid bills and other costs to package delivery service DHL?

Mike Lindell - CEO of MyPillow

Who became a great-grandfather for the first time after his eldest granddaughter, Naomi, gave birth in California?

Joe Biden - great-gradnfather to 10-pound baby boy named William Brannon Neal IV

Which former first lady will not be in attendance at Donald Trump’s inauguration?

Michelle Obama

Before taking office three years ago, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said she would not travel internationally in her role. She was traveling back from which country when the city’s fires erupted?

Ghana - attending the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama

Who met with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making him the first Senate Democrat to do so since the presidential election?

John Fetterman (D-PA)

Which adviser to Donald Trump is feuding with Elon Musk over the H-1B visa program for foreign workers, calling him a “truly evil person,” and saying Musk should go back to South Africa?

Steve Bannon - former WH chief strategist

President Joe Biden removed which country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism after it had been reinstated to the list during Donald Trump’s first presidential term?

Cuba

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a lawsuit alleging that which bank cheated its customers out of $2 billion?

Capital One

Which world leader’s impeachment trial ended nearly as fast as it began after he refused to appear in court despite being arrested by 3,000 police officers marching on his residence and submitting himself to questioning.

Yoon Suk Yeol - South Korea

Zoran Milanovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), won reelection for another five-year term as president of which country?

Croatia

Multiple women have accused which creator of the Sandman comics of sexual assault?

Neil Gaiman

Which Chinese app, known as Xiaohongshu in Chinese, is finding favor with TikTok users, who are using it as a form of protest against the looming TikTok ban?

RedNote

How many Executive Orders did President Trump sign on his first day?

26

Teamsters union members working at which store chain voted to authorize a strike, with more than 85 percent of its 18,000 members voting in favor?

Costco

What country was struck by a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 24 miles southeast of Chiayi County Hall?

Taiwan

Meta said it was working urgently to fix a problem with Instagram that returned a “results hidden” message when users searched for which word?

Democrat

Americans Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were released in a prisoner exchange brokered by Qatar with which country?

Afghanistan - for Khan Mohammed, a Taliban member

Which state shut down a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 10 as a rare winter storm brought a record 8-inch snowfall?

Louisiana

Within 24 hours of his inauguration, Donald Trump fired the first female commandant of which U.S. military service branch?

Coast Guard - Adm. Linda L. Fagan

Attorneys general from 22 states are suing to stop Trump’s order blocking birthright citizenship, on the basis of which constitutional amendment?

14th Amendment

Which Big Ten school’s football team held off a late rally from Notre Dame to win its ninth national championship?

Ohio State - 34-23 score

Which cynical cartoonist, who died this week at age 95, began a comic strip in the Village Voice in 1956 that ran for more than 40 years?

Jules Feiffer

President Joe Biden issued a posthumous pardon for which Black nationalist who influenced Malcolm X and other Civil Rights leaders and was deported to Jamaica after being convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s?

Marcus Garvey

Which Chinese startup rattled American tech stocks, making Nvidia lose $600 billion in one day, with the announcement of its new, and relatively cheap, A.I. assistant?

DeepSeek

Which woman sent a letter to members of the Senate describing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a “predator”?

Caroline Kennedy, his cousin

Former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was handed an 11-year prison sentence for which crime?

Accepting bribes from Egypt

The president of which country turned away two military planes carrying deported refugees sent by the U.S.?

President Gustavo Petro - Colombia

The Food and Drug Administration approved Ozempic for the treatment of which disease?

Kidney Disease

Lawmakers in which state legislature passed a sweeping immigration bill called the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy (TRUMP) Act?

Florida

Costco recalled 111 cases of what product from Kirkland Signature due to a possible Listeria contamination?

Smoked salmon

Which golden Romanian artifact, which is 2,500 years old and dates back to the Dacia civilization, was stolen while on display at the small Drents Museum, in the northeastern Netherlands?

The Cotofenesti helmet

Which American has become the first million-dollar female soccer player after signing a long-term contract with the English club Chelsea?

Naomi Girma