The Full Belmonte, 3/6/2023
Ukrainian forces are clinging to a besieged eastern city.
“What’s happening: Russian troops are trying to surround Bakhmut. Ukrainian officials have said that their forces may need to withdrawto avoid getting trapped.
Why it matters: The fight for the city has become the focus of Russia’s attempts to regain momentum in the year-long war.” [Washington Post]
Another train went off the tracks in Ohio on Saturday.
“The details: The derailment caused a brief shelter-in-place order in Springfield, about 40 miles west of Columbus. No hazardous chemicals leaked from the train, officials said.
Why it matters: It follows the Feb. 3 derailment of another Norfolk Southern train, which released toxic chemicals into the air and water.” [Washington Post]
© Associated Press / Patrick Semansky | U.S. Capitol in January.
Senators to grill Norfolk Southern on derailments
“Senators this week will press Norfolk Southern’s top executive about two freight train derailments in Ohio in the span of a month, one of which released toxic chemicals into East Palestine, while a second, involving 20 toppled cars on the tracks Saturday near Springfield left more than 1,500 customers without power as the cleanup continues.
The company and elected officials said no hazardous materials were involved in the Saturday derailment (KSBY). The cause is under investigation. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) tweeted that President Bidenand Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have offered federal assistance.
Since the Feb. 3 accident, which sparked a National Transportation Safety Board probe and fears in East Palestine of cancer-causing poisoning of residents’ air, water and the ground, Biden and Democrats moved to hold Norfolk Southern responsible while members of both parties point to a need for tougher federal laws and safety regulations.
Biden on Thursday backed a bipartisan Senate bill that would strengthen federal oversight of freight rail transporting hazardous substances (The Hill). The measure, known as the Railway Safety Act of 2023, is cosponsored by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and J.D. Vance (R). Pennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman (D) and Bob Casey (D), and Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri.
‘Ohio communities should not be forced to live in fear of another disaster,’ Brown said in a statement.
Brown, appearing on ABC’s ‘This Week’ on Sunday, said that while the derailed cars near Springfield on Saturday were empty, ‘I want to know if there are any contaminants sort of left in those mostly empty cars that might have affected Clark County near the fairgrounds, all the way into Springfield’(Politico).
One railroad workers’ union says the pending Senate measure includes ‘loopholes big enough to operate a 7,000-foot train through.’ The bill would impose limits on freight train lengths, and was introduced a day after Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) introduced a House bill that would require the Department of Transportation to impose stricter regulations on trains carrying hazardous materials.
Norfolk Southern Corporation President and CEO Alan Shaw is scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, along with federal, state and local regulators.
The Hill: Buttigieg, under fire at the Transportation Department, has spoken about lessons learned. … On Sunday during a CNN interview, the secretary fired back at Republican critics while conceding he should have visited the East Palestine derailment site earlier than he did (The Hill).” [The Hill]
Stationmaster in Greece train crash charged
“A stationmaster accused of causing Greece’s deadliest train disaster was charged with negligent homicide and jailed pending trial Sunday, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized for any responsibility Greece’s government may bear for the tragedy. Mitsotakis said last week the crash resulted from ‘tragic human error,’ launching opposition parties to accuse the prime minister of trying to cover up the state’s role and making the inexperienced stationmaster a scapegoat. At least 57 people, many of them in their teens and 20s, were killed when a northbound passenger train and a southbound freight train collided late Tuesday north of the city of Larissa, in central Greece.” Read more at USA Today
Protesters shout towards gas-throwing riot police during a massive demonstration in Athens on March 5, 2023, following the deadly train accident late on February 28. - The toll from Greece's worst rail accident rose to 57 victims after a head-on collision blamed on "human error", that has sparked angry protests.
LOUISA GOULIAMAKI, AFP via Getty Images
Voting rights
“President Biden made a fresh call Sunday for new voting protections during remarks in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 58th anniversary of the landmark ‘Bloody Sunday’ march, which galvanized the civil rights movement and helped lead to an expansion of voting rights. Biden's stop in Selma came as he and fellow Democrats have struggled to pass their own sweeping voting rights measures, with dim prospects of passage in a newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives. ‘I've made it clear: I will not let a filibuster obstruct the sacred right to vote,’ Biden said. Amid expectations that he will announce a reelection bid this year, Biden's remarks had the flavor of a campaign speech, as he ticked through what he saw as his administration's accomplishments and concluded with what many consider to be a potential 2024 slogan: ‘Let's finish the job.’” [CNN]
Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP GAN via Getty Images
“President Biden — on the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. — made a new appeal to Congress to pass legislation protecting ‘the sacred right to vote.’
Biden spoke at the Edmund Pettus Bridge — the site in 1965 of an attack by law enforcement and other spectators on roughly 600 civil Rights demonstrators, including future Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).
Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Marchers — including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton — sang ‘This Little Light of Mine’ and ‘We Shall Overcome.’” [Axios]
The DeSantis agenda
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks yesterday in the Air Force One Pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
“When Florida's 2023 legislative session opens tomorrow, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will have a veto-proof majority in both chambers. So he'll likely win passage of most or all of an aggressive conservative agenda that could be a springboard into the 2024 GOP presidential race.
‘He is about to run up the score,’ writes Patricia Mazzei, Miami bureau chief of the N.Y. Times (subscription).
Since winning a landslide re-election in November, DeSantis ‘has proposed or endorsed policy after policy that has enthralled his supporters and alarmed his detractors,’ Mazzei reports:
Allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
Block state college programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.
Increase penalties for human smuggling, and strengthen laws on detaining illegal immigrants.
Allow a death sentence without a unanimous jury.
Make it easier to sue journalists.
Further restrict abortion.” [Axios]
Trump at CPAC says indictment wouldn't push him out of 2024 race
“During his visit to this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, former President Donald Trump made clear he would stay in the 2024 race even if prosecutors in Atlanta and/or Washington, D.C., bring charges against him over efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss. ‘I won’t even think about leaving,’ Trump told reporters before a CPAC speech in which he attacked the ‘establishment’ of Democrats and Republicans, and accused prosecutors of seeking to derail his presidential bid. ‘Probably, it’ll enhance my numbers,’ Trump added.” Read more at USA Today
Former President Donald J. Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.
Jack Gruber, Jack Gruber-USA TODAY
Senate revisits Equal Rights Amendment after 40 years
“Decades after Congress set in motion the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, the movement to solidify equality under the law is gaining new life on Capitol Hill.
What is the ERA? The Equal Rights Amendment states: ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.’
•This isn't already law? Nope. Congress first approved a resolution formally proposing the amendment in 1972, triggering the requirement that 38 states ratify it before enshrinement to the U.S. Constitution. Lawmakers set a seven-year deadline for the ratification process, then extended it by another three years.
•Only 35 states adopted the amendment by the extended 10-year deadline. But in 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment, meeting the threshold required but doing so nearly four decades after the deadline lapsed.
•The House in 2020 and 2021 voted to remove the expired deadline to ratify the amendment after the 38-state threshold had been met, but the Justice Department under former President Donald Trump's administration claimed it would not be possible because the deadline expired.
Now, lawmakers are considering a joint resolution that would repeal a deadline to ratify the ERA so that it can be enshrined in the Constitution.” [USA Today]
A woman holds up a sign as members of Congress and representatives of women's groups hold a rally to mark the 40th anniversary of congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) outside the U.S. Capitol March 22, 2012 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
Winter weather update: Teen hikers rescued in Southern California amid massive snow
“Two teenage hikers were rescued after days stuck in the Southern California mountains, according to a family member. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department dispatched a helicopter to track down the two teenagers. According to Cesar Ramirez, his 17-year-old son and friend had planned a 10-day trek but were stranded in the mountains east of Los Angeles after the storm brought a foot-load of snow. ‘They’ve told us, ‘We were already convinced we were going to die,’ said Ramirez, of Cypress, California, The Associated Press reported Saturday.” [USA Today]
A crew of inmate firefighters walk back to their vehicle after shoveling and clearing snow after a series of winter storms in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California on March 3, 2023 in Crestline, California.
Mario Tama, Getty Images
Syria
“A top US general visited Syria for the first time over the weekend and met with US troops. The US maintains approximately 900 troops in Syria who are there as part of the campaign to defeat ISIS. In addition to meeting with the troops, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley inspected force protection measures, his spokesman said. The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned what it called Miley's ‘illegal’ visit to the US military base, saying it was a ‘flagrant violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity,’ according to state news agency SANA. Two weeks before Milley's visit, US and coalition forces at Green Village in Syria came under rocket attack, according to US Central Command.” [CNN]
“Rohingya refugee camp fire. An estimated 12,000 refugees are now without shelter after a devastating fire spread through a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Sunday. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency in Bangladesh, the fire tore through 2,000 shelters and burned down 90 facilities. Authorities said they were able to manage the fire in three hours, and have not reported any casualties.” [Foreign Policy]
Iran’s top leader calls suspected poisonings of schoolgirls ‘unforgivable’
In this picture released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks after planting a tree marking National Tree Planting Day, at the courtyard of his office in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 6, 2023. Khamenei said Monday that if a series of suspected poisonings at girls' schools are proven to be deliberate the culprits should be sentenced to death for committing an "unforgivable crime." (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
“DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader said Monday that if a series of suspected poisonings at girls’ schools are proven to be deliberate the culprits should be sentenced to death for committing an ‘unforgivable crime.’
It was the first time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, has spoken publicly about the suspected poisonings, which began late last year and have sickened hundreds of children.
Iranian officials only acknowledged them in recent weeks and have provided no details on who may be behind the attacks or what chemicals — if any — have been used. Unlike neighboring Afghanistan, Iran has no history of religious extremists targeting women’s education.
‘If the poisoning of students is proven, those behind this crime should be sentenced to capital punishment and there will be no amnesty for them,’ Khamenei said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency….” Read more at AP News
“Washington State women's basketball program claimed the school's first title in 82 years.” [USA Today]
Washington State center Bella Murekatete celebrates after the Cougars beat UCLA in the final of the Pac-12 women's basketball tournament.
David Becker, AP
Rule of Thirds, a Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn.Nico Schinco for The New York Times
A sake boom
“Sake, the Japanese alcoholic drink, is gaining popularity. Exports from Japan more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, and breweries are starting to pop up around the U.S. — including two in Brooklyn.
This spring, a 24,000-square-foot sake brewery is scheduled to open in Arkansas, which produces more rice than any other state. ‘The goal, really, is to move sake into the mainstream,’ said Matt Bell, the brewery’s chief executive.” [New York Times]
Renowned disability rights activist Judy Heumann dies at 75
“Judy Heumann, a renowned activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75. Heumann, who lost her ability to walk at age 2 after contracting polio, has been called the ‘mother of the disability rights movement’ for her longtime advocacy on behalf of disabled people through protests and legal action, her website says. She lobbied for legislation that eventually led to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Read more about Heumann's life and legacy.” [USA Today]
Judy Heumann, right, and Ed Roberts, left, director of the California State Department of Rehabilitation, take part in a news conference on Oct. 21, 1982 in Washington. John Duricka, AP