Capitol Police officers stand near the car that crashed into a barrier on Capitol Hill. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Just a week after some security fencing was removed from the Capitol, a police officer was killed by a man who rammed a vehicle into two officers at a barricade.
Why it matters: The Capitol insurrection was less than three months ago, so today's lockdown triggered all-too-recent memories among staff and press.
The unidentified suspect was killed after exiting the vehicle, reportedly brandishing a knife, reports Axios' Kadia Goba and Ursula Perano.
Both officers who were rammed were hospitalized, and one passed away from his injuries.” Read more at Axios
“Americans who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely travel at home and abroad, as long as they take basic precautions like wearing masks, federal health officials announced on Friday, a long-awaited change from the dire government warnings that have kept many millions home for the past year.
In announcing the change at a White House news conference, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed that they preferred that people avoid travel. But they said growing evidence of the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines — which have been given to more than 100 million Americans — suggested that inoculated people could do so ‘at low risk to themselves.’
The shift in the C.D.C.’s official stance comes at a moment of both hope and peril in the pandemic. The pace of vaccinations has been rapidly accelerating across the country, and the number of deaths has been declining.
Yet cases are increasing significantly in many states as new variants of the coronavirus spread through the country. Just last Monday, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the C.D.C. director, warned of a potential fourth wave if states and cities continued to loosen public health restrictions, telling reporters that she had feelings of ‘impending doom.’” Read more at New York Times
“The most senior Minneapolis police officer said Derek Chauvin's use of force on George Floyd was ‘totally unnecessary,’ testifying that ‘if your knee is on a person's neck, that can kill him.’” Read more at Axios
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the state government from issuing so-called ‘vaccine passports’ and said businesses can't require customers to show proof they have received COVID vaccines.” Read more at Axios
“The U.S. economy added a whopping 916,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate fell to 6% from 6.2%.” Read more at Axios
“Major League Baseball sent a warning shot on Friday to Republicans considering new laws to restrict voting, pulling its summer All-Star game out of suburban Atlanta in a rebuke to Georgia’s new election rules that will make it harder to vote in the state’s urban areas.
The announcement by the baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, came after days of lobbying from civil rights groups and discussions with stakeholders like the Major League Baseball Players Association. The action is likely to put additional pressure on other organizations and corporations to consider pulling business out of Georgia, a move that both Republicans and Democrats in the state oppose despite fiercely disagreeing about the new voting law.
The league’s decision comes as other states are moving closer to passing new laws that would further restrict voting. In Texas, the State Senate passed a bill this week that would limit early voting hours, ban drive-through voting, add restrictions to absentee voting, and make it illegal for local election officials to mail absentee ballot applications to voters, even if they qualify. In Florida, the State Legislature has introduced a bill that would severely limit drop boxes.” Read more at New York Times
“Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) hammered Major League Baseball (MLB) over its decision to move its All-Star Game from Georgia over a sweeping voting bill he signed into law last month.
Kemp berated the MLB in a statement for what he said was an example of ‘cancel culture’ in the face of Democrats' criticism of Georgia’s new law, adding that he ‘will not back down.’
‘Today, Major League Baseball caved to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies,’ said Kemp. ‘Georgians - and all Americans - should fully understand what the MLB's knee-jerk decision means: cancel culture and woke political activists are coming for every aspect of your life, sports included. If the left doesn’t agree with you, facts and the truth do not matter.’
‘This attack on our state is the direct result of repeated lies from Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams about a bill that expands access to the ballot box and ensures the integrity of our elections,’ he added, referencing President Biden and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, whom Kemp defeated in the 2018 gubernatorial race. ‘I will not back down. Georgians will not be bullied. We will continue to stand up for secure, accessible, fair elections.’
David Ralston, the Republican speaker of the Georgia state House, also vowed to support the new law and said the MLB’s decision will hurt Georgians.
‘This decision is not only economically harmful, it also robs Georgians of a special celebration of our national pastime free of politics. But Georgia will not be bullied by socialists and their sympathizers. We will continue to stand for accessible, secure elections that are free and fair. And we will continue to speak truth despite extortion and intimidation,’ he said.
The rebukes came after the MLB announced its decision to pull the July 13 game out of Atlanta, a move Commissioner Rob Manfred said is ‘the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.’
‘Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,’ Manfred said.” Read more at The Hill
“Now that Georgia's restrictive voting legislation has been signed into law, the corporate and legal fallout has been swift. At least three lawsuits have been filed challenging various elements of the law.
Corporations with ties to Georgia have come out with increasingly stern statements expressing concern over the law. On Wednesday, the CEO of Delta airlines broke the dam with a statement calling the Georgia law ‘unacceptable.’ Microsoft, Coke and Apple quickly followed suit. Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred Jr. announced Friday that the All-Star Game and 2021 draft will be moved from Atlanta after Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a restrictive voting bill into law last week.
Meanwhile, attention has turned to Texas, where Republicans are pushing similarly restrictive voting measures. On Thursday, the Texas Senate passed a bill that will make it more difficult for communities of color to vote.” Read more at Talking Points Memo
“Black CEOs Condemn Voter Curbs, Urge Peers to Fight Back
Black executives across the U.S. have joined a call for corporations to oppose voting-rights legislation being advanced by Republicans in at least 43 states that’s seen as an effort to limit participation by ethnic-minority voters. Carolina Gonzalez and Riley Griffin detail the open letter that has garnered the signatures of 72 Black leaders.” Read more at Bloomberg“The growing backlash in Georgia isn't that surprising for North Carolina, which lost an estimated $3.8 billion in business after a 2016 law limiting legal protections for LGBTQ+ people.
Why it matters: ‘North Carolina is a perfect case study,’ political scientist Michael Bitzer told Axios Charlotte's Katie Peralta Soloff.
North Carolina lost an NBA All-Star Game.
Companies canceled plans to move jobs there.
Entertainers boycotted performances.” Read more at Axios
Stanford’s Haley Jones blocking a shot by South Carolina’s Brea Beal. Jones led Stanford with 24 points.Credit...Eric Gay/Associated Press
“SAN ANTONIO — Stanford is back in the N.C.A.A. women’s tournament title game for the first time since 2010 after sneaking past South Carolina on Friday night, 66-65, in a back-and-forth battle that came down to two missed shots by the Gamecocks on the final possession.
Haley Jones grabbed an offensive rebound and put up a running shot with 32 seconds left to give Stanford a 1-point lead. Then, as the Cardinal tried to run out the clock, Aliyah Boston stole the ball with six seconds left, starting a fast break with a clear chance to win. But Brea Beal missed a layup from the left side while running at a full sprint, and Boston missed a short follow-up chance off the back of the rim.” Read more at New York Times
“China’s Rebound Edges It Closer to Overtaking U.S. Economy
The recovery in the Chinese economy from the pandemic has sped up this century’s most significant economic shift — its rapid catch-up and likely toppling of the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy. As Jin Wu and Tom Hancock note, some now predict China will overtake the U.S. by 2028, two years earlier than previously forecast.” Read more at Bloomberg“Russian authorities detained opposition figure Alexei Navalny earlier this year after he returned to the country from Germany, where he was recovering from being poisoned, allegedly by the Russian government. Since then, his Instagram posts have gone from optimistic about the challenges of enduring a yearslong prison term to nightmarish. He has described being woken up eight times a night and losing the ability to feel or stand on his right leg due to what he says is a pinched nerve. The politician said this week that he has embarked on a hunger strike to protest a lack of treatment for his deteriorating health and demanded access to a doctor. Navalny is being held in a high-security facility about 60 miles east of Moscow that is known for particularly harsh treatment of inmates. His decision to declare a hunger strike adds more fuel to his confrontation with President Vladimir Putin, with Navalny’s followers saying that hundreds of thousands of sympathizers have pledged to demonstrate for the dissident’s release. After contending with mass protests by Navalny supporters this winter, Russian authorities have warned renewed demonstrations are illegal and have reportedly sought to boost supplies of anti-riot gear.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Biden administration has abandoned the Trump administration’s opposition to emergency nutrition assistance going to the lowest income households already at the maximum benefit levels.
In two lawsuits in Pennsylvania and California, plaintiffs argued that former president Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue misinterpreted a section of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in a way that denied millions of the neediest Americans access to emergency allotments of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, the program formerly called food stamps. In Pennsylvania, the suit alleged that the Department of Agriculture under Trump denied any emergency allotments to nearly 40 percent of the state’s SNAP households.” Read more at Boston Globe
“$50,000 — The typical cost of adopting a child in the U.S., though it can balloon higher. As of 2018, just 11% of employers offered some form of adoption assistance, compared with 27% of those offering fertility assistance. The latter is becoming a trendy benefit at some blue-chip companies, but without similar levels of adoption support, some families who would rather adopt are sometimes forced to go through the fertility process anyway—which also costs tens of thousands of dollars and can lead to miscarriages and hormonal changes.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“$5 billion — The estimated advertising revenue Facebook earns annually from China, despite being blocked in the country since 2009. Some Facebook staffers have recently raised concerns about Chinese organizations purchasing ads that claim to show Uyghur Muslims thriving in the Xinjiang region of China. The U.S. and some European governments have said Beijing is committing a genocide against the minority group in the region, citing a vast network of internment camps there and alleging a campaign of forced labor, mass sterilizations and other abuses.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“170,000 — The approximate number of migrants who were arrested by U.S. authorities in March, marking a 15-year high for border crossings. Single men, families with young children and unaccompanied minors contributed significantly to the increase. The Biden administration has been enforcing a Trump-era policy that allows border agents to turn migrants away after they're caught crossing the border without formally arresting them, while also denying them a chance to apply for asylum. The policy has led many people to try crossing multiple times.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“2.3% — The wage increase that Germany's largest trade union, IG Metall, agreed to this week. The pact will affect 3.9 million metal and engineering workers nationwide. As part of the agreement, some workers will be allowed to move to a four-day work week without a significant loss in wages.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“70% to 99% — The projected share of Australia's Great Barrier Reef that is set to die without “transformative action” to reverse climate change, according to a report from the Australian Academy of Science. The report found that if global temperatures rose two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, just 1% of the reef would survive. Scientists estimate that Australia is currently experiencing 1.4 degrees of warming above that baseline.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The N.B.A. fined Kevin Durant, the Nets star, $50,000 for using ‘offensive and derogatory’ language on social media, an apparent reference to screenshots of a private social media conversation between Durant and Michael Rapaport, an actor and podcast host.
On Tuesday, Rapaport posted screenshots of an Instagram conversation with Durant in which Durant used homophobic and misogynistic language to refer to Rapaport, who was critical of an interview Durant did on TNT in December.” Read more at New York Times
Cuddle bandit - “This is the face of a dog who has gotten exactly what he wants. A Dollar General store in Kenansville, North Carolina, had to call animal control on Sisu, a local stray dog, after Sisu kept coming into the store and stealing the same purple stuffed unicorn. Sisu tried to emancipate his stuffed buddy six times before he was busted, but the Duplin County Animal Services officer who arrived to take him to a shelter ended up buying the toy for Sisu. And who wouldn't?! The department posted a photo of their larcenous canine cuddling his new best friend, and adoption offers started pouring in. Now, Sisu's headed to a new home, and of course, the stuffed purple unicorn has to come along.” Read more at CNN