“Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama overwhelmingly voted against unionization, it was announced Friday, ending a high-profile campaign that would have organized US employees at the e-commerce giant for the first time.
Workers in Bessemer, Ala., cast 1,798 ballots against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, and 738 ballots in favor, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
The union said it plans to file an objection charging Amazon with illegally interfering with the vote, creating an ‘atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals’ and spreading disinformation about the union effort.
‘Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees,’ Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, said in a statement. ‘We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception, and illegal activities go unchallenged.’” Read more at Boston Globe
“President Biden on Friday asked Congress to authorize a massive $1.5 trillion federal spending plan later this year, seeking to invest heavily in a number of government agencies to boost education, expand affordable housing, bolster public health and confront climate change.
The request marks Biden’s first discretionary spending proposal, a precursor to the full annual budget he aims to release later in the spring that will address programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The president’s early blueprint calls for a nearly 16 percent increase in funding across nondefense domestic agencies, reflecting the White House’s guiding belief that a bigger, better-resourced government in Washington can help address the country’s most pressing political and economic challenges.
Many of the programs Biden seeks to fund at higher levels starting in October are initiatives that President Donald Trump had unsuccessfully tried to slash while in the White House. In a further break with Trump, who labored to spend sizable sums on defense during his term, Biden’s new plan calls for a less than 2 percent increase for the military in the upcoming fiscal year.” Read more at Washington Post
“President Biden on Friday ordered a 180-day study of adding seats to the Supreme Court, making good on a campaign-year promise to establish a bipartisan commission to examine the potentially explosive subjects of expanding the court or setting term limits for justices.
The president acted under pressure from activists pushing for more seats to alter the ideological balance of the court after President Donald J. Trump appointed three justices, including one to a seat that Republicans had blocked his predecessor, Barack Obama, from filling for almost a year.
The result is a court with a stronger conservative tilt, now 6 to 3, after the addition of Mr. Trump’s choices, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just days before last year’s presidential election.
But while Mr. Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asserted that the system of judicial nominations is ‘getting out of whack,’ he has declined to say whether he supports altering the size of the court or making other changes — like imposing term limits — to the current system of lifetime appointments.” Read more at Washington Post
“In a trial where many key figures have spent hours on the stand, the prosecution whipped through one of their most anticipated witnesses, the doctor who performed George Floyd’s official autopsy, in a mere 50 minutes on Friday.
The reasons for their haste became clear as the witness, Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, refrained from placing the sole blame for Mr. Floyd’s death on the police as he testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former officer charged with murder.
In his testimony, Dr. Baker said police restraint was the main cause of Mr. Floyd’s death, but he also cited drug use and heart disease as contributing factors, saying that Mr. Floyd died ‘in the context of’ the actions taken by three police officers as they pinned Mr. Floyd to the street for more than nine minutes.
‘In my opinion, the law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions,’ he said.” Read more at New York Times
“Former president Donald Trump's company paid a skating rink manager more than $200,000 in annual salary, $40,000 yearly bonuses and provided free company-owned apartments for his family, according to testimony of the employee, Barry Weisselberg, and his financial documents.
Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president's business activity and finances.
Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump's longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle. Like others, this person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Although authorities have not accused Trump, Allen Weisselberg or his son of wrongdoing, investigators could use any legal vulnerability involving Barry Weisselberg to pressure his father into turning against the former president.” Read more at Washington Post
“States have delayed ordering hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses available to them even as coronavirus outbreaks escalate — a sign the nation is moving past its supply pinch and now faces more acute challenges related to demand, staffing and inoculation of hard-to-reach populations.
The question that defined the early weeks of the vaccine rollout was why states were taking so long to administer the doses they got from the federal government. Four months into the effort, what’s most mystifying is the number of states waiting to order all the doses they’ve been allotted, based on their adult populations and the supplies available that week.
When Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) last week asked White House officials if they would consider sending more vaccine doses to her state during a deadly surge, the state appeared not to have ordered 360,000 doses then available, a single-day snapshot that nonetheless puzzled federal officials who advised her to work with experts to make sure Michigan’s supply was being deployed effectively.
Michigan’s chief medical executive, Joneigh Khaldun, said late Fridaythe doses were almost all quickly drawn down, as state officials explained to the White House, noting the federal government had deposited a large number of doses in the state’s account in anticipation of their later use at a mass vaccination site. She said other doses were being preserved to address a mix-up of first and second doses by some providers.
Michigan wasn’t the only state leaving doses on warehouse shelves. At one point last week, 13 states had more than 100,000 doses apiece available and not ordered, according to a federal official familiar with the figures who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. Indiana had only pulled down 90 percent of doses available to the state, leaving 306,000 on the shelves. Texas had ordered 95 percent of its share, leaving 673,000 doses temporarily untouched.
The delays have gained notice inside the federal government, where officials have discussed whether performance metrics, including how quickly states are ordering and using their vaccine doses, and gettingthem to vulnerable groups, should be part of allocation decisions, according to three people familiar with the issue. Any new approach, however, would need sign-off from the White House, which has been at pains to avoid the appearance of penalizing some states while boosting others, including by directing additional doses to virus hot spots.” Read more at Washington Post
“The pandemic's terrible toll on kids.
The pandemic has hit American children hard. The combined impact of school closures, social isolation, household financial instability and, for many, the trauma of losing a loved one won't be fully understood for years. Testing data show that third-to eighth-grade students underperformed in math in 2020 compared with the previous year. And McKinsey estimates that Covid-related learning losses among U.S. kindergarten to 12th-grade students will reduce their lifetime earnings by between $61,000 and $82,000. Over a 40-year working life, that equals $1,348 a year less for white students (a 1.6% reduction), $2,186 a year (3.3%) for Black students and $1,809 (3%) for Hispanic ones. In addition, psychologists say the more major traumas and stressful situations a child experiences, the deeper the lasting damage tends to be, with children living in poverty or those who suffer from anxiety and depression at particular risk. When schools first shut down last spring, 13-year-old Victoria Vial of Miami said it felt like the beginning of an adventure. But her grades began to slip, her friendships frayed and she began to feel lost without her regular extracurriculars, like tennis and theater. The death of her grandfather from Covid-19 around Christmas was the biggest blow, she said, and she struggled to witness the most important adults in her life ‘breaking down.’ After improving her performance at the start of this school year, the mental slog of the pandemic has caused Victoria’s grades to slip again.
“Every day is the exact same. You kind of feel like, what’s the point?” — Victoria Vial” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The House Ethics Committee is investigating Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Tom Reed of New York.
Reed is accused of inappropriately touching a woman at a bar four years ago, and Gaetz faces a laundry list of allegations in connection with a Justice Department investigation.
Gaetz has continued to deny wrongdoing after the New York Times reported he was the subject of a federal investigation. That investigation centers around whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to the Times, which also reported investigators are looking into whether Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws. Gaetz has not been charged with a crime.
The Florida congressman also has been accused of showing pictures and videos of nude women he had relations with to other lawmakers while on the House floor.
Reed originally denied wrongdoing but later apologized to former lobbyist Nicolette Davis. In March, the Washington Post reported that while intoxicated, Reed rubbed Davis' back, moved his hand outside her shirt, unfastened her bra and continued to grope her in a bar in Minneapolis.” Read more at USA Today
AUGUSTA, Ga. — “Justin Rose was happy enough to still have the lead Friday at the Masters, even if only by a fraction on a day when Augusta National was more forgiving and he had to rally just to shoot par.
The two players right behind had reason to be thrilled just to be at the Masters.
One of them was Brian Harman, barely inside the top 100 in the world a month ago until two good weeks changed his fortunes. The other was 24-year-old Will Zalatoris, who just over a year ago was toiling in the minor leagues and still doesn’t have a full PGA Tour card.
‘I wanted to be here my entire life,’ Zalatoris said after birdies on his last three holes for a 4-under 68. ‘Some people shy away from that, but I’m excited to be here. There’s no reason to feel intimidated now. I made it to here. And obviously, the job is not done by any means.’
The job is over for defending champion Dustin Johnson, who bogeyed three of his last four holes for a 75 to miss the cut by two shots.
Ten players were within three shots of Rose, who had a 72 and was at 7-under 137. That group included former Masters champion Jordan Spieth, who is coming off a victory last week in the Texas Open and is starting to look like the Spieth of old, even at age 27.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Trump appointees in the Health and Human Services department last year privately touted their efforts to block or alter scientists’ reports on the coronavirus to more closely align with then-President Donald Trump’s more optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators.
The documents provide further insight into how senior Trump officials approached last year’s explosion of coronavirus cases in the United States. Even as career government scientists worked to combat the virus, a cadre of Trump appointees were attempting to blunt the scientists’ messages, edit their findings, and equip the president with an alternate set of talking points.” Read more at Boston Globe
“What are former top Trump administration officials doing now?
As former President Donald Trump restarts his fundraising machine ahead of the 2022 midterms, top officials from his administration are making their own moves both in and out of politics. With the twice-impeached former president and his businesses facing continuing legal threats, some corporations are hesitant to hire from among his White House, corporate leadership experts say. Still, many who served in the Trump administration are landing lobbying and boardroom roles.
Here's what some of them are up to now:
Stephen Miller: The architect of Trump's restrictive immigration agenda is launching America First Legal, a group seeking to mount legal challenges to Biden administration policies. He sees the effort as a conservative counterweight to the American Civil Liberties Union and other left-leaning organizations that tied up much of the Trump agenda in the courts. ‘It was an extraordinarily effective tactic, and there’s no counterpoint to that on our side,’ Miller said.
Steve Mnuchin: The former treasury secretary plans to start an investment firm to raise money from sovereign wealth funds in the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia control some of the largest investment funds in the Middle East, though it is unclear which governments Mnuchin will pursue. As treasury secretary, Mnuchin frequently traveled to the region, typically in relation to department’s efforts to combat terrorism financing.
Elaine Chao: Like many business leaders who later join administrations of both parties, Trump's transportation secretary made millions of dollars in the private sector, including by serving on the boards of Wells Fargo and Dole Foods. While Chao is widely expected to resume corporate work, two headhunters recently haven't had much luck on her behalf, according to the Washington Post. While Chao resigned the day after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the headhunters said many top executives are wary about the potential backlash of bringing her on, with one saying, ‘The feedback was, ‘It’s too soon.’’ A person close to Chao told the Post that she already has multiple opportunities lined up.
Mike Pompeo: The former secretary of state is contemplating running for president in 2024, and has already been to Iowa to portray himself as a loyal soldier for Trump's ‘America First’ policies. During one of several stops he made as part of a two-day trip to the state last month, Pompeo—who was also director of the Central Intelligence Agency before leading the State Department—criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies. He also expressed support for Trump's efforts to contest his election loss, which failed in dozens of lawsuits challenging the 2020 results.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Cots, tents, and respirator masks poured into the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent as officials expected to start distributing them on Saturday, a day after a powerful explosion at La Soufriere volcano uprooted the lives of thousands of people who evacuated their homes under government orders.
Nations ranging from Antigua to Guyana offered help by either shipping emergency supplies to their neighbor or agreeing to temporarily open their borders to the roughly 16,000 evacuees fleeing ash-covered communities with as many personal belongings as they could stuff into suitcases and backpacks.
The volcano, which last erupted in 1979, kept rumbling as experts warned that explosive eruptions could continue for days or possibly weeks. A previous eruption in 1902 killed some 1,600 people.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Former President Trump is set to speak to major Republican Party donors this weekend amid an internal party debate around the sway he holds over the party's financing.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is hosting a retreat in Palm Beach, Fla., though donors will make the short pilgrimage to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort Saturday evening to hear from the former president himself, a tacit sign of the gravitational pull he still holds in Republican circles.
The event comes as internal grumbling over the president’s stranglehold on the party – and the flow of contributions – has bubbled up since the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill. Trump and the party were at loggerheads earlier this year when Trump said donors should only give to his leadership PAC and forfeit contributions to party organs over their use of his name and likeness. GOP officials responded that the party still needed donations heading into a midterm cycle in which control of the House and Senate is up for grabs.” Read more at The Hill
“The Supreme Court is telling California that it can’t enforce coronavirus-related restrictions that have limited home-based religious worship including Bible studies and prayer meetings.
The order from the court late Friday is the latest in a recent string of cases in which the high court has barred officials from enforcing some coronavirus-related restrictions applying to religious gatherings.
Five conservative justices agreed that California restrictions that apply to in-home religious gatherings should be lifted for now, while the court's three liberals and Chief Justice John Roberts would not have done so.” Read more at USA Today
“Roberta S. Jacobson, the former ambassador to Mexico whom President Biden chose as his “border czar” on the National Security Council, will step down at the end of the month, she said on Friday, even as the administration struggles to confront a surge of migrants at the nation’s southwestern border.
Ms. Jacobson, who had been described as one of the Biden administration’s key players in dealing with the governments in the Northern Triangle area of Central America, praised what she called Mr. Biden’s efforts to repair and recast the nation’s immigration system after four years under President Donald J. Trump.” Read more at New York Times
“YouTube has pulled a video featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over allegations it contains misinformation about the coronavirus and mask-wearing.
The video is of a March 18 roundtable discussion in Tallahassee the governor hosted with panelists — radiologist and former White House adviser Scott Atlas, Harvard University biostatistician Martin Kulldorff, Oxford University epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford Medical School economist Jay Bhattacharya — who have publicly spoken against lockdowns and other measures enacted to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The video shared by news station WTSP Tampa Bay was taken down Wednesday because it violated a policy related to ‘COVID-19 medical misinformation,’ according to platform spokeswoman Elena Hernandez.” Read more at Washington Post
“71% — The share of Amazon employees voting in an Alabama union election who opposed joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The defeat of the closely watched campaign handed Amazon its biggest win yet in its fight against labor-organizing efforts in the U.S., where it is the second-largest private employer. Some workers at the warehouse who voted against unionizing said they ultimately didn't see how doing so would improve their pay or working conditions.
8.4% — The amount by which President Biden will ask Congress to raise discretionary federal spending next year. Biden's $1.52 trillion budget proposal would include increases in spending on education, healthcare and renewable energy and raise nondefense spending by about 16% from the previous fiscal year.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday bashed former Speaker John Boehner(R-Ohio) for what he called “drunken, bloviated scorn” in the latest tit for tat between the two GOP figures.
Cruz in a tweet responded to a clip from a ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ interview scheduled to air this weekend in which Boehner said of Cruz, ‘I don’t beat anybody up, it’s not really my style, except for that jerk.’
‘Perfect symbol, you know, of getting elected, making a lot of noise, draw a lot of attention to yourself, raise a lot of money, which means you’re gonna go make more noise, raise more money,’ Boehner said in the interview.” Read more at The Hill
The rapper Earl Simmons, better known as DMX, in 2006. His music was often menacing and dark, with the occasional nod to Christian spirituality.Credit...Michael Nagle for The New York Times
“Earl Simmons, the snarling yet soulful rapper known as DMX, who had a string of No. 1 albums in the late 1990s and early 2000s but whose personal struggles eventually rivaled his lyrical prowess, died on Friday in White Plains, N.Y. He was 50.
His family announced the death in a statement. He had been on life support at White Plains Hospital after suffering what his family called ‘a catastrophic cardiac arrest’ a week earlier.” Read more at New York Times