“Biden expects U.S. to have vaccines for all adults by end of May. The president said enough doses would be available two months earlier than he had previously indicated, after regulators authorized Johnson & Johnson's one-shot Covid-19 vaccine and Merck agreed to help produce it.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Defying warnings from federal health officials about the need to stay vigilant against the coronavirus, the Republican governors of Texas and Mississippi said they're lifting COVID-19 restrictions , including mask mandates. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced that, starting Wednesday, all county mask mandates would be lifted and businesses allowed to operate at full capacity. ‘Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!’ Reeves said. Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he's moving to ‘open Texas 100%’ and will issue a new executive order to take effect March 10 rescinding most of his earlier orders. The U.S. has more than 28.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 516,400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.” Read more at USA Today
“President Joe Biden's months-long crusade to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan may enter its final stretch Wednesday, when senators could begin 20 hours of debate on the measure that is expected to come to a vote later in the week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats are ‘on track’ to pass the bill by March 14, when a federal boost to unemployment benefits expires. ‘I expect a hearty debate. I expect some late nights on the floor,’ he said. Meanwhile in the House, leaders are eyeing a final vote as soon as Monday, a timeline that means the bill – with its $1,400 stimulus checks, funding to state and local governments and tax credits for families – could become law by next week.” Read more at USA Today
“The Supreme Court seemed ready on Tuesday to uphold two election restrictions in Arizona and to make it harder to challenge all sorts of limits on voting around the nation.
In its most important voting rights case in almost a decade, the court for the first time considered how a crucial part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 applies to voting restrictions that have a disproportionate impact on members of minority groups. The court heard the case as disputes over voting rights have again become a flash point in American politics.
The immediate question for the justices was whether two Arizona measures ran afoul of the 1965 law. One of the measures requires election officials to discard ballots cast at the wrong precinct. The other makes it a crime for campaign workers, community activists and most other people to collect ballots for delivery to polling places, a practice critics call ‘ballot harvesting.’
Several members of the court’s conservative majority said the restrictions were sensible, commonplace and at least partly endorsed by a bipartisan consensus reflected in a 2005 report signed by former President Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker III, who served as secretary of state under President George Bush.
The Biden administration, too, told the justices in an unusual lettertwo weeks ago that the Arizona measures appeared to be lawful. But the letter disavowed the Trump administration’s position that the relevant section of the Voting Rights Act should not be widely used to keep states from enacting more restrictive voting procedures.
Much of the argument on Tuesday centered on that larger issue in the case, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, No. 19-1257, of what standard courts should apply to challenges under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The court’s answer to that question could determine the fate of scores if not hundreds of laws addressing election rules in the coming years.
As Republican-controlled state legislatures increasingly seek to impose restrictive new voting rules, Democrats and civil rights groups are turning to the courts to argue that Republicans are trying to suppress the vote, thwart the will of the majority and deny equal access to minority voters and others who have been underrepresented at the polls. Read more at New York Times
“At least 13 people died after an SUV packed with dozens of passengers collided with a semi-truck near the U.S.-Mexican border Tuesday, according to California Highway Patrol officials . Investigators are still piecing together why more than two dozen people were crammed into the vehicle, where they were coming from and where they were going. "Obviously, that vehicle is not meant for that many people," said California Highway Patrol Division Chief Omar Watson. ‘It’s unfortunate that that number of people were put into that vehicle.’ Macario Mora, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in Yuma and El Centro, said the Border Patrol was helping other law enforcement with the crash. He said the immigration status of those in the SUV was unknown and being investigated.” Read more at USA Today
“The Biden administration has unleashed sanctions on Russian officials and entities in response to the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Among others, the sanctions target the head of Russia's security services, the FSB. The State Department also sanctioned the FSB as an entity, which according to department spokesperson ‘speaks to where we believe culpability lies.’ The US intelligence community has determined ‘with high confidence’ that the FSB poisoned Navalny in August with the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has now been detained in Russia since mid-January. The US’ punitive actions were coordinated with the European Union, which also unveiled sanctions, and represent the first significant move against Moscow since Biden became President.” Read more at CNN
“Three women media workers were shot dead in Afghanistan yesterday. They’re the latest victims in a wave of killings spreading fear among professionals in urban centers. Shootings and small bombs attached to vehicles have targeted journalists, civil society workers and mid-level government employees in Afghanistan in recent months as the government and Taliban negotiators try to broker a peace deal and the US withdraws some troops. The Afghan government and some foreign powers have blamed the attacks on the Taliban, which denies involvement. The US embassy condemned the latest slayings, saying the attacks are meant to intimidate and stifle freedom of speech.” Read more at CNN
“Three-quarters of the people on earth live in countries where freedom is declining. That’s one of the grim takeaways in an annual report produced by Freedom House, the Washington-based pro-democracy think tank and watchdog. This year’s survey, published Wednesday, marked the 15th consecutive year of global democratic backsliding — ‘a long democratic recession,’ in the organization’s words, that is ‘deepening.’
Freedom House grades individual countries on 25 indicators that evaluate the health of a given nation’s democracy (or lack thereof). The cumulative score then enables the organization, which has been in operation since 1941, to rank a given country as ‘Free,’ ‘Partly Free,’ or ‘Not Free’. Of the 195 independent countries evaluated, 73 saw aggregate score declines and only 28 saw growth.
That margin is the widest of its kind in the past decade and a half. Moreover, 54 countries are now labeled ‘Not Free,’ or about 38 percent of the world’s population, the highest share since 2005. Less than 20 percent of the world’s population lives in countries now classified as ‘Free.’” Read more at Washington Post
“Lives Lived: Raised in segregation-era Atlanta, Vernon Jordan first glimpsed the world of power and influence that had largely been denied to Black Americans while he was waiting tables at a private club. He became a civil-rights leader, a Washington lawyer and an adviser to presidents. He died at 85.” Read more at New York Times
“Neera Tanden, Biden’s choice for budget director, withdrew from the nomination after senators criticized her combative Twitter history. Biden indicated that he would name her to another post.” Read more at New York Times
“Two other positions that havebeen confirmed: Cecilia Rouse, dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, will chair the Council of Economic Advisers. And Gina Raimondo, the first woman governor of Rhode Island, will serve as Biden's secretary of commerce.” Read more at CNN
“Dolly Parton received a dose of the Moderna vaccine, which she helped fund. She tweeted that she had gotten ‘a dose of her own medicine.’” Read more at New York Times
“Volvo says it will sell only electric vehicles by 2030.” Read more at New York Times
“Nearly a year after the death of George Floyd, police reform advocates are launching new moves to limit or eliminate legal liability protections for officers accused of excessive force, Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras writes.
Why it matters: Revising or eliminating qualified immunity — the shield police officers have now — could force officers accused of excessive force to face civil penalties in addition to their departments. But such a change could intensify a nationwide police officer shortage.” Read more at Axios
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