“In what is likely to be a much-discussed topic in the media and beyond Wednesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., confirmed Tuesday he is under investigation for his sexual conduct after a New York Times report that the Department of Justice is looking into whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The alleged encounter under investigation occurred about two years ago, the Times reported, and a DOJ investigation began near the end of the Trump administration late in 2020. It should be noted that charges have not been filed against the Florida congressman and he said in a statement that he believes the investigation is related to an effort to extort him. According to Times sources, the investigation into Gaetz is part of a broader probe into Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector and an acquaintance of Gaetz. Greenberg is facing charges that include child sex trafficking and pleaded not guilty.”
A vial of the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 is shown at a one-day vaccination clinic set-up. | Ted S. Warren/AP Photo
“The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech was completely effective in preventing infection among teens 12-15 in a late-stage trial, the companies said Wednesday.
The study of nearly 2,300 teens showed the vaccine to be even more effective for that age group than for adults. Pfizer said it will seek permission in the coming weeks from the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency to market the vaccine for teens.” Read more at POLITICO
“Derek Chauvin's murder trial continues Wednesday and Genevieve Hansen, a Minneapolis firefighter who voiced frustration at being prevented from using her EMT training to help George Floyd, will be back on the stand after an emotional day in court Tuesday. A series of witnesses took the stand and several broke down in tears, including Hansen, as they recounted their memory of the day Floyd died. Through tears, Darnella Frazier, who recorded the infamous video showing Floyd's death, was one of five who testified in the murder trial of the former police officer. ‘It seemed like he knew. It seemed like he knew it was over for him,’ she said. Other witnesses Tuesday included:
•Frazier's cousin, a 9-year-old girl who wore a shirt with the word ‘love’ on it the day George Floyd died, said she felt ‘sad and kind of mad’ about what she saw that day.
•High school student Alyssa Nicole Funari, 18, recorded three videos of the incident with her friend's phone. ‘I was upset because there was nothing we could do except watch them take a life in front of our eyes,’ Funari said.
•Donald Williams, a mixed martial arts fighter, told the court he asked officers to stop the ‘blood choke,’ which is a form of chokehold that renders someone unconscious.
Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 2020 death of Floyd, a Black man.” Read more at USA Today
“Eric Nelson isn't working alone to defend Derek Chauvin: A police legal fund is backing him up with a dozen lawyers and $1 million.” Read more at USA Today
“In Pittsburgh this afternoon, President Biden will ask Congress to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure over eight years, and pay for it by increasing taxes on corporations for 15 years.
Highlights from Biden's American Jobs Plan, from Axios' Sarah Mucha, Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman:
$213 billion for addressing economic inequality by modernizing buildings such as schools and VA hospitals. That spending would mobilize union trade workers to upgrade buildings, with a specific focus on underserved communities.
Ramp up use of electric vehicles and charging stations for civilians and the government, including electrifying school buses. Plan aims to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030, and expand consumer tax incentives to purchase EVs.
$400 billion in "care infrastructure" that would expand access to home or community care for people with aging relatives, or those with disabilities.
Between the lines: The plan signals support for a wide range of energy technologies, including sources that GOP lawmakers often emphasize, like carbon capture and advanced nuclear power efforts.” Read more at Axios
“The Biden administration for the first time Tuesday allowed journalists inside its main border detention facility for migrant children, revealing a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 people, including children and families, were crammed into a space intended for 250 and the youngest were kept in a large play pen with mats on the floor for sleeping.
With thousands of children and families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks and packing facilities, President Joe Biden has been under pressure to bring more transparency to the process. U.S. Customs and Border Protection allowed two journalists from The Associated Press and a crew from CBS to tour the facility in Donna, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, the nation’s busiest corridor for illegal crossings.” Read more at AP
“On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that is tied to the NCAA's ability to limit benefits . The hearing comes after nearly 12 years of nonstop antitrust challenges to the NCAA’s athlete-compensation rules. The NCAA says that compensation rules are necessary for the preservation of a version of sports that is different from the pros and, thus, those rules are allowed under antitrust law. However, the lawyer for the group opposing the NCAA says, ‘there is absolutely no reason why they (NCAA) should be immune from the same antitrust rules that apply to everyone because of the premise that competition is always in the public interest.’ As this case has progressed, six states have passed laws to enhance college athletes’ ability to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Two bills pending in the House and/or Senate also would help athletes capitalize on their NIL.” Read more at USA Today
“A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has upheld the constitutionality of an FBI watch list of more than 1 million ‘known or suspected terrorists,’ saying it falls under the government’s power to guard its borders.
‘The government has had authority to regulate travel and control the border since the beginning of the nation,’ Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote in an opinion issued Tuesday.
Muslim American civil rights organizations have long challenged the Terrorist Screening Database, created in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, saying it violates the rights of U.S. citizens. A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., ruled in their favor in 2019, writing that there had to be a meaningful process for someone to challenge placement on a list that leads to screening by border agents, law enforcement and employers that work in national security.” Read more at Washington Post
“Republicans in key electoral states like Arizona, Texas, Michigan and Florida are moving forward with restrictive voting bills despite national outcry against a similar law just passed in Georgia. In Arizona, pending bills would repeal the state's permanent early voting list and require identification for absentee ballots. In Texas, lawmakers want to ban drive-through voting and bar election officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications. Michigan is considering a slate of nearly 40 changes to the state's voting laws. Voting rights advocates say there are so many measures cropping up in Republican-led states, they may be powerless to stop them all. Kentucky, however, is bucking the trend and just passed a bipartisan bill expanding absentee and early voting.” Read more at CNN
“Dozens of Black business leaders, including the C.E.O. of Merck and the former head of American Express, urged corporations to fight a wave of Republican-backed bills that would limit voting access.” Read more at New York Times
“Lawmakers voted Tuesday to make New York the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana, marking a key step to ending years of failed attempts to allow adults to purchase, grow and use cannabis-based drugs. The state anticipates legal marijuana sales for those age 21 and older will begin a year from now.” Read more at USA Today
“Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday announced that the Justice Department will conduct a 30-day internal review to determine how the agency can bolster the tracking and prosecutions of hate crimes and bias incidents motivated around race, gender, and other factors.
In his first executive memo to staff since taking office, Garland said hate crimes have a ‘toxic effect’ on society and emphasized that reports of rising discrimination and violence aimed at Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic required ‘renewed energy and emphasis’ from the federal law enforcement agency.
Among the aims, he said, would be improving hate crime data collection, prioritizing investigations and prosecutions, and using civil authorities to target unlawful acts of bias that do not meet the federal definition of a hate crimes.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Myanmar’s military has been conducting airstrikes on an ethnic rebel-controlled area for days now as the junta steps up aggression in the region. Children have been among those killed and injured by the strikes, according to humanitarian groups. More than two dozen ethnic armed groups have been fighting against the Myanmar military for greater rights and autonomy for decades now, and February’s military coup has just made the violence worse. The US State Department has ordered the departure of all non-emergency US government personnel and their family members from Myanmar as deadly crackdowns against protesters and opposing groups continue.” Read more at CNN
“The global gender gap. The coronavirus pandemic has had a detrimental effect on the fight for gender equality, as a new report found that parity across a range of areas would take approximately 135 years to achieve, an increase of 36 years compared to the same study in 2019. The Global Gender Gap Report, compiled by the World Economic Forum, found that women’s employment prospects were especially damaged in 2020 as they were more likely to work in professions impacted by a year of lockdowns.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Liberal initiatives introduced by Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha — a 67-year-old former army general and coup leader — could reshape the country’s once conservative society. Entrepreneurs are now poised to launch marijuana-infused food and drinks following the introduction of new cannabis laws. It’s just one of a raft of changes from abortion rights to same-sex partnerships that Prayuth is pushing as part of his business-friendly image, even as protests against his government continue.” Read more at Bloomberg
“WHO report questioned. A group of 14 countries has raised concerns over a World Health Organization report into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. In a joint statement, countries including the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom underlined ‘shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples.’ Separately, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for further research, saying the expert assessment was not ‘extensive enough.’
China’s foreign ministry has deflected criticism over the report. ‘To politicize this issue will only severely hinder global cooperation in study of origins, jeopardize anti-pandemic cooperation, and cost more lives,’ the ministry said.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Pushing back | China refuted criticism of the World Health Organization probe of the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan, noting experts had concluded it’s extremely unlikely the virus leaked from a lab and urging relevant countries to ‘respect facts.’ It comes after the White House slammed the WHO report, calling it incomplete and faulting data and access provided to its authors by China.
NASA has upset China by referring to Taiwan as a country, the latest organization to get caught in a quarrel over wording that Beijing deems politically sensitive.
Hong Kong institutions are further restricting public access to information, raising concerns over transparency as China increases its grip on the Asian financial hub.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Volkswagen of America's plan to change its name to ‘Voltswagen’ as part of its investment in electric vehicles was just a joke. ‘The renaming was designed to be an announcement in the spirit of April Fools' Day,’ a statement sent to USA TODAY read.” Read more at USA Today
“Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump have launched a website for the couple's personal offices.
The site — found at 45office.com — states it is "committed to preserving the magnificent legacy of the Trump Administration, while at the same time advancing the America First agenda."
It may serve as a platform for the Trumps' announcements. While the former first lady maintains social media accounts, the former president has been barred from most social media sites since early January.
The new site also welcomes people to ‘share your thoughts’ via submission forms, noting the Trumps ‘enjoy hearing from the American people.’ Members of the public may also request a greeting for a special occasion.
The site shares the former president and first lady's biographies and touts the Trump administration's record in office.” Read more at USA Today
“Cable news struggles to retain viewers in post-Trump era. Fox News lost almost a third of its total prime-time audience this quarter compared with the last three months of 2020, and the ratings gap between the major networks shrank as they competed for viewers while trying to define their approach following the end of Donald Trump's presidency.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The stakes were high again last night in the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments. With a trip to the Final Four on the line, UCLA, a No. 11 seed, stunned onlookers by dispatching No. 1 Michigan and unbeaten Gonzaga handily defeated USC on the men's side. In the women's event, South Carolina accomplished something never done before in a thumping over Texas and Stanford beat Louisville.” Read more at USA Today
“College basketball referee Bert Smith collapsed to the floor early in the Gonzaga-USC matchup and was removed from the arena via stretcher. Smith was not transported to a hospital and he did speak with his family, according to the NCAA.” Read more at USA Today
“G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host who also worked as a writer, actor and security consultant after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at the age of 90.” Read more at USA Today
“Lives Lived: Alvin Sykes converted to Buddhism in his 20s and led a monk’s life in the name of social justice. Though he was not a lawyer, he devoted himself to prying open long-dormant murder cases from the civil rights era, including that of Emmett Till. Sykes died at 64.” Read more at New York Times
“Lil Nas X enamored the world with his hit ‘Old Town Road’ but has generated intense backlash with ‘Montero,’ which included sexually explicit biblical and Satanic imagery. Fans celebrated the queerness in the video but others felt he went too far. Advocates say his critics are missing the bigger picture.” Read more at USA Today
“Police in France are tracking an international band of Lego thieves, issuing a warning to specialist toy shops to be on the lookout for stolen goods. A year of lockdowns has made the bricks a hot commodity, but the real money seems to be in the resale market as collectors clamor for rare Lego sets that are no longer in production.
Police were alerted to the risk posed by thieves after catching three of them looting a store near Paris. Under questioning, the trio admitted to being part of a Poland-based crew who stole Lego sets to meet collector demands. The phenomenon is not limited to Europe: In 2018, police in Portland, Oregon, uncovered a Lego theft operation, seizing $50,000 worth of Lego merchandise in a house raid.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Japan’s famous cherry blossoms have reached their flowery peak in many places earlier this year than at any time since formal records started being kept nearly 70 years ago, with experts saying climate change is the likely cause.
Japan’s favorite flower, called ‘sakura,’ used to reach their peak bloom in April, just as the country celebrates the start of its new school and business year. Yet that date has been creeping earlier and now most years the blossoms are largely gone before the first day of school.
This year peak bloom was reached on March 26 in the ancient capital of Kyoto, the earliest since the Japan Meteorological Agency started collecting the data in 1953 and 10 days ahead of the 30-year average. Similar records were set this year in more than a dozen cities across Japan.
People wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus gather on bridges as cherry blossoms bloom over Meguro River Sunday, March 28, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)