What happened last week? The House held its GameStop hearing, Texans lost power, NASA’s Mars Rover landed, and Ted Cruz went to Cancun.

• What happened last week? Robinhood’s CEO testified in a House committee.
• A winter storm cut off power to millions in Texas. 
• Senator Ted Cruz faced criticism for the timing of his family trip to Mexico.  
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

What happened last week?

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed safely on Mars last week. Mission control hosted a live broadcast during the landing. The rover started beaming back photos, and, in the coming days, it plans to launch a small helicopter to study the Red Planet. You can read all about the biggest space stories of the year here. 

Here’s what else happened last week.

Robinhood and Reddit went (virtually) to Washington

The House Committee on Financial Services last week held its hearing on the GameStop saga, which included an appearance from investor Keith Gill, a.k.a. Roaring Kitty and u/DeepFuckingValue.

Gill told the committee: “I am not a cat. I am not an institutional investor. Nor am I a hedge fund.”

Robinhood CEO, Vlad Tenev, also appeared. He apologized to the family of a 20-year-old trader who died by suicide after the Robinhood app showed a negative balance of about $730,000. 

Texans lost power during a winter storm

A winter storm hit Texas, cutting power to millions, and causing as much as $50 billion in damage. The storm brought such unusual cold that it confused weather satellites. 

As the storm hit, António Guterres, UN secretary-general, said it was clear climate change was making storms worse.

"If you look at hurricanes, if you look at storms, but also if you look at heat waves and cold waves, they are becoming more extreme because of climate change," Guterres said.

Senator Ted Cruz went to Mexico

As a winter storm knocked out power for millions of Texans, senator Ted Cruz boarded a plane headed to Cancun, the Mexican resort town.

The forecast called for low 80s and sun, according to The Weather Channel. But Cruz headed back to Texas a day after arriving, amid mounting criticism about the timing of his trip. 

"With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends," Cruz said on Thursday in a statement.

Here's a timeline of how senator political rivals Ted Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reacted to the disaster. 

ICYMI

Although recent reports said Apple held brief talks with Nissan about developing electric cars together, Nissan repeatedly denied it had been in talks with the company.

The week before last, South Korean manufacturer Hyundai denied being in talks with Apple over the vehicle.

Here's what happened the week before last. See you next week. 

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