TACOMA, Wash. (NewsNation) — Power is back on for thousands of people in the Tacoma, Washington, area after a series of attacks left families in the dark on Christmas Day.

Officials warn, however, a threat to the power grid remains.

Four substations were broken into and vandalized, which knocked out power for nearly 14,000 customers, according to deputies.

Officials in Pierce County on Tuesday said they are using evidence collected from some of the scenes, including surveillance video, to try and identify a suspect.

“Looking at it from an outside perspective, these all seem related because of the area that they’re in. They’re all pretty close,” said Sgt. Darren Moss Jr. of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

The reported attacks have added to the substations targeted across the country.

In the last few months, power companies reported confirmed attacks or intrusions in Washington, Oregon, North Carolina and Florida. No one has claimed responsibility and law enforcement has not named any suspects.

Tacoma Power, which operates two of the targeted stations said in part: “Tacoma Power follows federal reliability standards, including assessing physical risks to our critical energy infrastructure and applying recommended mitigation measures.”

In April 2013, gunmen in Coyote, California, shot at 17 electrical transformers causing $15 million worth of damage. The attackers were never found, but the incident exposed a significant vulnerability in the nation’s power infrastructure. In response, federal regulators established mandatory physical security standards in 2015.

But those federal standards haven’t been significantly updated since then, although now they are under review.

Detailed location information on substations can be easily found on the internet.

According to some researchers on domestic extremism, that information has circulated chat rooms involving suspected white supremacists who celebrate and encourage more attacks.

Experts say these physical security threats are not something most utility companies are used to preparing for.

“The power company is focused on safety, not necessarily security, not necessarily protecting against someone with the intent to go into a substation to disable that substation,” said Todd Keil, an associate managing director for security risk management at Kroll, who previously worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

NewsNation reporter Andrew Dorn contributed to this report.

(NewsNation) — Newly elected Republican Congressman George Santos admitted he lied about his life story but is committed to serving his term regardless.

Santos won the New York district that includes some Long Island suburbs and a small part of Queens.

When The New York Times first published its article suggesting Santos lied about his life story and work history, Santos’ legal team said in response the Times was trying to smear his name with defamatory allegations.

Santos is the first Latino and openly gay Republican elected to Congress. His resume was impressive. Santos claimed he attended both NYU and Baruch College, and that he worked as an investor at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

But neither school has any record of Santos ever attending and both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup say they couldn’t confirm he ever worked there.

On Monday, Santos confessed in an interview with the New York Post that he lied and embellished parts of his resume, including where he went to school.

“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume, I own up to that. We do stupid things in life,” Santos said.

In a radio interview, Santos insisted he was not a fraud.

“I’m not a fraud, I’m not a criminal who defrauded the entire country and made up this fictional character and ran for congress. I`ve been around a long time. A lot of people know me. Know who I am. They have done business with me.”

Santos also claimed his grandparents were Jewish and survived the Holocaust. A Jewish publication called The Forward said it’s not true, and some members of the Jewish community have demanded Santos resign.

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the New York Post. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

The Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement in response, saying, “We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos. He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note. He will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

Some Democrats have also said Santos should resign, but Santos has made it clear he has no plans on doing so and intends on being sworn into office.

Santos’ sexuality has also been called into question. He says he is openly gay and married with a husband, but was also married to a woman previously. They were married for five years, and the marriage ended about a week and a half before Santos launched his first run for Congress in 2020, which he lost.

Santos says he is now a happily married gay man.

Santos cannot be forced to resign, because legally speaking he has done nothing wrong. But he did lie to voters and while that may not mean much at the moment, it could impact his campaign if he runs for reelection when his term is up.

Some advocacy groups have called for a Congressional ethics investigation, but most believe he will be sanctioned but not removed from office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Stocks are closing lower Tuesday afternoon after the long holiday weekend, adding to the market’s recent losses as Wall Street counts down its final days of a painful year for investors. A slide in technology companies, automakers and airlines weighed on the market, offsetting gains in energy stocks and other sectors. News that China lifted some of its COVID-19 restrictions helped lift stocks in the early going. The S&P 500 index fell 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched 0.1% higher and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.4%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story appears below.

Stocks were mostly lower Tuesday afternoon after the long holiday weekend, adding to the market’s recent losses as Wall Street counts down its final days of a painful year for investors.

The S&P 500 was down 0.2% as of 3:39 p.m. Eastern, while the Nasdaq composite was down 1.1%. Both indexes are coming off their third straight weekly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 88 points, or 0.3%, to 33,292.

Technology stocks, automakers and communication services companies accounted for a big share of the decliners in the S&P 500. Apple fell 1.1%, Ford slid 1.2% and Netflix was off 3.1%.

Airlines stocks were broadly lower after a massive winter storm caused widespread delays and forced several carriers to cancel flights over the weekend. Delta Air Lines fell 1.1%, American Airlines dropped 1.6% and JetBlue was 1.5% lower.

Southwest Airlines slid 6.5% after the company had to cancel roughly two-thirds of its flights over the last couple of days, which it blamed on problems related to staffing and weather. The federal government said it would investigate why the company lagged so far behind other carriers.

Energy stocks were the biggest gainers among S&P 500 companies. Hess added 1.1%.

Treasury yields mostly rose as the U.S. bond market reopened. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, rose to 3.85% from 3.75% late Friday.

Trading on Wall Street is expected to be relatively light this holiday-shortened week as investors look ahead to 2023 after a dismal year for stocks.

Uncertainty about how far the Federal Reserve and other central banks would go to fight the highest inflation in decades has kept investors on edge. The Fed raised its key interest rate seven times this year and has signaled more hikes to come in 2023, even though the pace of price increases has been easing.

The high rates, which weigh heavily on prices for stocks and other investments, have fueled concerns that the economy could slow too much and slip into a recession next year.

The benchmark S&P 500 index set an all-time high at the beginning of January, but is now down nearly 20% for the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down nearly 34%.

Elsewhere around the world, shares mostly rose Tuesday after China announced it would relax more of its pandemic restrictions despite widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 that are straining its medical systems and disrupting business.

China’s National Health Commission said Monday that passengers arriving from abroad will no longer have to observe a quarantine, starting Jan. 8. They will still need a negative virus test within 48 hours of their departure and to wear masks on their flights.

But it was the latest step toward dropping once-strict virus-control measures that have severely limited travel to and from the world’s No. 2 economy.

“With economic activity floundering, and multinationals questioning the viability of China as a sourcing location, policymakers have — as so many times in the past — adopted a very business-like approach,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Companies welcomed the move as an important step toward reviving slumping business activity.

China has joined other countries in treating cases instead of trying to stamp out infections. It has dropped or eased rules on testing, quarantines and movement, trying to reverse an economic slump. But the shift has flooded hospitals with feverish, wheezing patients, and authorities are going door to door and paying people older than 60 to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Shanghai Composite index jumped 1% to 3,096.57. Hong Kong’s markets were closed for a holiday, as were those in Australia.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — State and military police were sent Tuesday to keep people off Buffalo’s snow-choked roads, and officials kept counting fatalities three days after western New York’s deadliest storm in at least two generations.

Even as suburban roads and most major highways in the area reopened, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned that police would be stationed at entrances to Buffalo and at major intersections because some drivers were flouting a ban on driving within New York’s second-most populous city.

More than 30 people are reported to have died in the region, officials said, including seven storm-related deaths announced Tuesday by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s office. The toll surpasses that of the historic Blizzard of 1977, blamed for killing as many as 29 people in an area known for harsh winter weather.

Greg Monett turned to social media to beg for help shoveling a 6-foot (1.8-meter) pile of snow from the end of his Buffalo driveway so he could get dialysis treatment Tuesday.

“This has been a nightmare,” he said in an interview Monday. Power had been out for a time at his family’s home, he said, so relatives ran a gas stove to keep warm, a practice he acknowledged was dangerous.

“We had to do what we had to do,” said Monett, 43. “We would have froze to death in here.”

His loved ones called 911 when his blood sugar dipped dangerously low and he nearly passed out Sunday night, but they were told it would take hours to get to the home, Monett said. He eventually recovered on his own.

Officials have said at news briefings that it was impossible to respond to emergency calls at the time.

Monett ultimately made it to dialysis after climbing through the snow and having neighbors help dig out his buried vehicle, sister Maria Monett said.

The National Weather Service predicted that as much as 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) more snow could fall Tuesday in Erie County, which includes Buffalo and its 275,000 residents. County Emergency Services Commissioner Dan Neaverth Jr. said officials also were somewhat concerned about the potential for flooding later in the week, when the weather is projected to warm and start melting the snow.

The rest of the United States also was reeling from the ferocious winter storm, with at least an additional two dozen deaths reported in other parts of the country, and power outages in communities from Maine to Washington state.

On the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s reservation in South Dakota, snowmobiles were being dispatched Tuesday to reach residents after food boxes were delivered by helicopter and trucks over the weekend, the tribe said. Ohio officials assessed water damage in the Statehouse after a pipe burst amid the freezing weather that accompanied and followed the storm.

Even in central Florida, temperatures plunged as low as 27 degrees (minus 2.7 Celsius) over the weekend. Growers’ groups were relieved Tuesday not to find widespread damage to the fruit and vegetable crops that supply much of the U.S. with fresh winter produce.

In Buffalo, the dead were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some perished while shoveling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises. Poloncarz, a Democrat, called the blizzard “the worst storm probably in our lifetime,” even for an area known for heavy snow. More bodies are expected to be found as the snow is cleared or melts.

The winter blast stranded some people in cars for days, shuttered the city’s airport and left some residents shivering without heat. More than 4,000 homes and businesses were still without power late Tuesday morning.

President Joe Biden offered federal assistance Monday to New York, allowing for reimbursement of some storm-relief efforts. Gov. Kathy Hochul toured the aftermath in Buffalo, her hometown, and called the blizzard “one for the ages.” Almost every fire truck in the city became stranded Saturday, she said.

Hochul, a Democrat, noted the storm came a little over a month after the region was inundated with another historic snowfall. Between the two storms, snowfall totals are not far off from the 95.4 inches (242 centimeters) the area normally sees in an entire winter season.

The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) at 10 a.m. Monday. Officials said the airport will be shut through Wednesday morning.

Roughly 3,000 domestic and international U.S. flights were canceled Tuesday as of about 2 p.m. Eastern time, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will look into Southwest Airlines flight cancellations that left travelers stranded at airports across the country amid the winter storm. Many airlines were forced to call off flights, but Southwest was by far the leader.

___

Peltz reported from New York. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Julie Walker in New York; and Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place for the time being a pandemic-era order allowing U.S. officials to rapidly expel migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border so it could consider whether 19 states could challenge the policy’s end.

The court granted a request by a group of Republican state attorneys general to consider whether they could intervene in a dispute over the emergency order known as Title 42 and challenge a lower court’s ruling invalidating the policy.

The states had argued lifting the policy could lead to an increase in already-record border crossings.

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Police in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, were investigating a suspected bomb threat in the city’s hotel section, close to where President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was staying before his Jan. 1 inauguration, the federal district’s security department said on Tuesday.

A Reuters witness said sirens and helicopters could be heard from the hotel where Lula was staying. Brasilia’s military police said a backpack had been found and the bomb squad had been called out of precaution.

Brasilia has grown increasingly tense after Lula beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October in the country’s most fraught election in a generation.

On Dec. 24, Brasilia police said they foiled a bomb plot, arresting a man with ties to an encampment of pro-Bolsonaro election deniers camped outside the army headquarters, who have been urging the military to overturn Lula’s victory.

George Washington Sousa, who confessed to making the device and plotting with other camp-dwellers to explode it, said he hoped that the bomb would “provoke a military intervention … to prevent the installation of communism in Brazil.”

Earlier in December, a group from the army encampment tried to invade the federal police HQ after the arrest of a pro-Bolsonaro indigenous leader for alleged anti-democratic threats.

The political tensions in the capital have prompted Lula’s team to beef up security protocols for Sunday’s inauguration, incoming Justice Minister Flavio Dino said on Monday.

On Tuesday, Dino said the transition team will ask the Supreme Court to suspend the carrying of firearms in Brasilia for the next few days.

Since Bolsonaro began loosening gun laws in 2019, the number of registered gun-owners has surged sixfold to around 700,000 people. Some of Bolsonaro’s most extreme supporters have registered as gun-owners to stockpile arms, and they are increasingly being seen as a public security threat.

“We will ask Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading the inquiry into anti-democratic acts (at the Supreme Court), to suspend the carrying of firearms in the Federal District between tomorrow (Wednesday) and Jan. 2 or 3,” Dino told journalists.

“The goal is that even people who have permits … have this suspension by court order, so that it is configured that any carrying (of firearms) in this period will be considered a crime.”

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Wall Street ended lower at the beginning of a holiday-shortened week on Tuesday, as rising U.S. Treasury yields pressured interest rate sensitive megacap shares.

Growth stocks (.IGX) dragged the tech-laden Nasdaq down the most. The S&P 500 joined the Nasdaq in negative territory, while value stocks helped the Dow hold on to nominal gains.

“Higher (Treasury) yields are pressuring growth stocks, and on the other hand industrials, utilities and energy are outperforming,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska. “Money’s flowing out of the growth areas and working its way to the value side of things, which is a microcosm of what we’ve seen all year.”

“It’s important to remember that there are other groups that can take up the baton when the high-flyers come back to earth,” Detrick added.

Shares of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) tumbled 11.4%, and the electric car maker was the heaviest drag on the S&P and the Nasdaq after a review by Reuters of an internal schedule revealed the company plans to scale back production at its Shanghai plant.

With Tuesday’s move, Tesla stock has lost 69% of its value this year.

Rising Treasury yields put interest rate sensitive growth stocks under pressure, a recurring theme in 2022. For the year, growth shares have plunged over 30% compared with value’s slide of about 7.5% over the same period.

With just four trading days remaining in 2022, all three indexes are on course to post their biggest annual loss since 2008, the nadir of the global financial crisis.

“It was a bad year for stocks, but a worse year for bonds. That’s extremely rare,” Detrick said. “It’s an unfortunate reminder that the markets can sometimes surprise.”

Beijing eased its strict COVID-19 curbs, which have battered the $17 trillion economy, fueling hopes of a revival in global demand and an improving supply chain.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department’s initial take on the U.S. goods trade balance showed the deficit narrowing by 15.6%, while S&P Case-Shiller showed home price growth in its 20-city composite cooled to 8.6% year-on-year, the lowest reading since November 2020.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 37.63 points, or 0.11%, to 33,241.56, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 15.57 points, or 0.40%, to 3,829.25 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 144.64 points, or 1.38%, to 10,353.23.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, six ended the session red, with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) and communication services (.SPLRCL) suffering the steepest percentage loss.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms including JD.Com Inc , Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) jumped between 1.4% and 4.9% after Beijing announced it was relaxing travel restrictions.

Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) tumbled after harsh weather forced the discount commercial carrier to lead its peers in cancellations. The broader S&P 1500 Airlines index also ended the session in the red.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.18-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.93-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 96 new highs and 448 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.35 billion shares, compared with the 11.35 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

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The BTC.com cryptocurrency platform was the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of $3 million worth of crypto assets.

BTC.com is a website that provides services for managing and transferring Bitcoin, it offers a digital wallet for storing Bitcoin, a trading interface for exchanging Bitcoin with other cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, and a mining platform for participating in the extraction of new Bitcoin coins. BTC.com is one of the largest platforms for transferring Bitcoin globally and is used by millions of users worldwide.

BTC.com announced it was the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of approximately $3 million worth of crypto assets. According to the company, the attack took place on December 3rd, 202 and stolen assets belong to both customers and the company.

$700,000 worth of crypto owned by the company’s clients and $2.3 million in digital assets owned by the company were stolen in the cyberattack.

“BIT Mining Limited, a leading technology-driven cryptocurrency mining company, today announced that the Company’s subsidiary, BTC.com, experienced a cyberattack on December 3, 2022. In the cyberattack, certain digital assets were stolen, including approximately US$700,000 in asset value owned by BTC.com’s clients, and approximately US$2.3 million in asset value owned by the Company.” reads the press release published by BIT Mining Limited.

The company reported this incident to Chinese law enforcement, and some of BTC.com’s digital assets have already been secured. The authorities launched an investigation into the security breach on December 23rd, 2022.

“The Company reported this incident to law enforcement authorities in Shenzhen, China. Due to coordination locally and within the Company internally, some of BTC.com’s digital assets have already been secured.” continues the press release. “On December 23^rd, 2022, the authorities had launched an investigation, began collecting evidence, and had requested assistance from and coordination with relevant agencies. The Company will devote considerable efforts to recover the stolen digital assets.”

The company announced the adoption of technology to detect and neutralize similar attacks in the future. It also added that BTC.com operations are not affected and also client fund services are unaffected.

“BTC.com is currently operating its business as usual, and apart from its digital asset services, its client fund services are unaffected.” the company concludes.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Bitcoin)

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