President Biden and Vice President Harris leave yesterday's Rose Garden event, where they spoke about updated guidance on masks. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
“At 2:08 p.m. yesterday, America changed with this declaration from Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC:
If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment, when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.
President Biden, in the Rose Garden shortly thereafter, called it ‘a great day for America in our long battle with the coronavirus’:
If you’re fully vaccinated and can take your mask off, you’ve earned the right to do something that Americans are known for all around the world: greeting others with a smile — with a smile.” Read more at Axios
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he would sign executive orders Friday ending the mask mandate he enacted by emergency authority last July. The move comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new masking guidelines that carry welcome words: Fully vaccinated Americans, with just a few exceptions, no longer need to wear masks indoors.The agency also said fully vaccinated people don't have to wear masks outdoors, even in crowded spaces. The announcement represents a quantum shift in recommendations and a major loosening of the mask restrictions that Americans have had to live with since early 2020.” Read more at CNN
“Parents rush to get Covid-19 vaccines for their children. The Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for 12- to 15-year-olds has set a off scramble for appointments.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, told me for ‘Axios on HBO’ that more Christians need to get vaccinated.
Using the cadence of an altar call, he gave this preacher's plea:
I want people to know that God loves them. ... He will forgive you and God will accept you into his presence. ... I want people to know that COVID-19 can kill you. But we have a vaccine out there that could possibly save your life. And if you wait, it could be too late.
See the clip.” View at Axios
“The relaxation of U.S. guidelines on wearing masks was met in some corners of Washington with relief that bordered on euphoria. ‘Free at last,’ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Yet for many, the announcement poses a dilemma. As Richard Clough, Matthew Boyle and Emma Court report, some U.S. companies still plan to insist shoppers cover their faces in their stores. Others are reviewing their policies.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based its recommendation on growing evidence that vaccines are effective against Covid-19 variants and fully vaccinated people are at low risk of spreading the virus.
News from elsewhere is more worrying. Seychelles, which has vaccinated more of its population than any other country, faces a renewed surge in cases.
While infections and fatalities are decreasing in much of the developed world, developing countries like India and Brazil are still gripped by horrific tolls. Others are months from having enough vaccines to protect their people.
The proliferation of more potent variants from places like India and England pose obvious dangers.
The British government is so worried by mutations it may speed up the timing of second vaccine doses and consider local lockdowns.
Countries mainly in the Asia-Pacific that had initial success checking Covid-19 must weigh how to rejoin the rest of a world still awash in the pathogen, even as cases in financial hubs like Singapore tick higher again.
As New York, London and other big cities return nearer to business as usual, for example, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo risk being left behind as they maintain stringent border curbs.
Whatever each country does on its own risks being insufficient because the pandemic is global — it will ruthlessly exploit any chink in the world’s armor.” Read more at Bloomberg — Karl Maier
“Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said he would pardon Floridians who had violated mask or social distancing mandates.” Read more at New York Times
“Three-quarters of people between the ages of 18-29 say vaccination should be required to return to campus or work, according to new Generation Lab/Axios polling. 37% would refuse to come back unless those conditions are in place.
“Several lawmakers are expected to reconvene Friday to decide who will replace Rep. Liz Cheney as the chair of the House Republican Conference. The overwhelming expectation is Rep. Elise Stefanik will be voted in. The New York congresswoman has already been endorsed by party leaders like Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and former President Donald Trump, who called her the ‘superior’ choice to Cheney, who was removed from her leadership position Wednesday amid her outspoken criticism of Trump.” Read more at CNN
“Millions of job openings remain unfilled in the U.S., many for hourly or entry-level roles, and some of the country's largest employers are moving quickly to fill them. High demand for workers is pushing up wages for private-sector employees, with average earnings increasing by 21 cents last month to $30.17 an hour. That jump is notable, economists say, because an increase in hiring for lower-wage jobs in industries like hospitality typically drags down wages. Restaurant operators like McDonald's and Chipotle are planning to pay their employees more as dining rooms reopen: The former announced an average 10% raise for the 36,500 employees at company-owned U.S. stores (although those make up only about 5% of its national total), and the latter has pledged to raise the average wage at its 2,800 restaurants to $15 by the end of next month. For years, unions and activists have pushed major U.S. employers of hourly workers to boost wages. While legislation to mandate a $15 federal minimum wage has stalled, the recent upward pressure on lower-income workers’ earnings could deliver higher pay to many without action from Congress.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“WASHINGTON — More than 1.9 million Americans in Alabama, Mississippi, and 14 other Republican-led states are set to have their unemployment checks slashed significantly starting in June, as GOP governors seek to restrict jobless assistance in an effort to force more people to return to work.
The cuts are likely to fall hardest on roughly 1.4 million people who benefit from stimulus programs Congress adopted at the height of the pandemic, including one targeting those who either are self-employed or work on behalf of gig-economy companies such as Uber. Beginning next month, many of these workers are likely to receive no aid at all.” Read more at Boston Globe
A tanker driver delivers 9.000 gallons of fuel to a gas station in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday.TRAVIS LONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The largest US fuel pipeline was running at less than half capacity Thursday after hackers hit its system nearly a week earlier, with fuel shortages persisting from Florida to Virginia.
Colonial Pipeline Co. resumed shipments Wednesday evening. But flows eastbound near the start of the system, which transports gasoline, diesel. and jet fuel from Gulf Coast refineries as far north as New York, were far from normal.
Earlier, it was reported that the operating company had paid almost $5 million in untraceable cryptocurrency to Eastern European hackers last week to help get gasoline and jet fuel flowing again along the Eastern Seaboard.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The payment, reportedly totaling nearly $5 million, allowed the pipeline operator to obtain decryption tools to unlock its computer systems, but it isn’t clear what role that played in resolving the crisis. DarkSide, a criminal hacking group believed to be based in Eastern Europe, employed a ransomware attack that locked Colonial’s computer systems, U.S. officials have said. But according to reporting by Bloomberg, the tool provided after payment wasn't effective at restoring operations, raising questions about whether the ransom directly enabled Colonial to restart its 5,500-mile pipeline that runs from Texas to New Jersey. It instead managed to restore operations by using system backups, Bloomberg reported, and the company said that the entire conduit was back online by Thursday. The FBI has long warned against paying hackers in ransomware attacks out of concern that doing so feeds a lucrative criminal marketplace. While the pipeline has been reopened, energy analysts say it could take a couple of days before gas shortages in some Southeastern states ease. As of Thursday morning, the majority of gas stations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia had run dry.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The state trial for the three former Minneapolis police officers accused of aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd has been postponed until next March so a federal trial can take place first. J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao all have pleaded not guilty to two state charges. A federal grand jury last week indicted all of the officers, including Derek Chauvin, in connection with Floyd's death, alleging they violated his constitutional rights. Meantime, the Supreme Court is tackling a different case that could provide more guidance on the legal doctrine of qualified immunity that shields law enforcement from some liability. The case was brought by the parents of Nicholas Gilbert, who say their son died in police custody in St. Louis after officers put their weight on his back as he was shackled facedown.” Read more at CNN
PHOTO: MAHMUD HAMS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“Israeli artillery pounded Gaza early Friday as part of a large operation to attempt to destroy a vast network of tunnels beneath Gaza City used by militants to evade surveillance and airstrikes, the military said. The operation has brought the front lines closer to dense civilian areas and paves the way for a potential ground invasion . Israel has troops along the border and called up 9,000 reservists following days of fighting with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired some 1,800 rockets and the military has launched more than 600 airstrikes, toppling at least three apartment blocks.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday moved to repeal a Trump-era regulation that it said weakened the government’s ability to curb air pollution that threatens public health and is driving climate change.
Critics said the regulation distorted the costs of reducing air pollution while diminishing the associated benefits. It is one of several Trump administration policies that have been reversed by Michael S. Regan since he became the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in March.
Finalized at the end of the Trump administration, the so-called cost-benefit rule was designed to change how the EPA calculated the economic costs and benefits of new clean-air and climate-change rules. Agency economists would have been required to calculate the public health benefits that stem directly from a new regulation and separately the value of ancillary benefits, or ‘co-benefits’ — such as the reduction of pollutants not directly governed by the regulation. Direct benefits and ‘co-benefits’ would have to be presented as separate categories.
Experts said that requirement appeared designed to give industries a way to legally block the EPA over future air pollution rules. It would have also allowed the EPA to avoid putting a price tag on certain health benefits if the scientific evidence was deemed limited.” Read more at Boston Globe
“A network of conservative activists mounted a campaign to discredit perceived enemies of Donald Trump inside the government, including F.B.I. employees and one of Trump’s national security advisers.” Read more at New York Times
“Missouri’s governor, a Republican, said he would not support an expansion of Medicaid that voters approved last year.” Read more at New York Times
“The Biden administration is looking to identify vulnerable migrant families in Mexico and admit them to the US instead of expelling them under a Trump-era border policy known as Title 42. The policy was enacted at the start of the pandemic, and critics say it puts migrants and asylum-seekers in harm’s way, exposing them to potentially dangerous conditions in Mexico. Because of Title 42, many migrant families have opted to separate from their children, since the rule does not apply to minors. Two large emergency intake sites in Texas that have sheltered unaccompanied children during this year's influx of arrivals will close by early June, marking some of the first closures as the number of kids in border facilities drops.” Read more at CNN
“A Florida politician who is central to the investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz for possible sex trafficking of a minor signaled Thursday that he will plead guilty in his own federal case, a court entry shows, a troubling development for the congressman as it suggests prosecutors have secured a potentially important witness against him.
Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector for Seminole County, Fla., had since last year been outlining to prosecutors how he and Gaetz (R-Fla.) would pay women for sexusing cash or gifts as he tried to negotiate a plea deal to resolve his own legal woes, according to a person familiar with the matter. Gaetz has adamantly denied paying for sex.” Read more at Washington Post
“President Biden, Democratic lawmakers and congressional Republicans all say they want to do something — anything — to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure. But they don’t yet agree on much else, including what “infrastructure” actually means.
The lingering schisms surfaced anew as Biden hosted Senate Republicans at a closely watched Oval Office meeting on Thursday. Even as both sides stressed their commitment to a bipartisan deal, they acknowledged afterward that they’re still haggling over what it should include — and haven’t even touched the fierce debate over how to pay for it.
The latest round of infrastructure talks came as the White House inched closer to its self-imposed Memorial Day deadline, a date by which it says it expects progress on advancing Biden’s jobs and infrastructure plan.” Read more at Washington Post
“Democrats rebuked Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday over her confrontational approach toward Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as tensions between the two parties escalated over the safety of the Capitol as a workplace and the level of security needed following the Jan. 6 attack.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said early Thursday that the Georgia congresswoman’s ‘verbal assault’ on Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was ‘so beyond the pale’ that it should be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
‘This is beneath the dignity of a person serving in the Congress of the United States and is a cause for trauma and fear among members,’ Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during her weekly news conference.
On Wednesday afternoon, Greene followed Ocasio-Cortez out of the House chamber, quickening her pace behind her and shouting accusations that the Democrat supports terrorists and is a ‘radical socialist’ who doesn’t ‘care about the American people.’” Read more at Washington Post
“20% — The approximate share of Chinese citizens who are over age 60. The country's latest demographic numbers indicate that population growth there is stagnating, a trend that could eventually crimp economic growth as more financial resources are committed toward older people who no longer work.
75,000 — The amount of workers Amazon has said it plans to hire at warehouse facilities in states including New Jersey, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Washington. The e-commerce giant said that the roles, some of which will include a $1,000 signing bonus, will pay an average of $17 an hour. Amazon already employs about 950,000 people in the U.S.
3.9 — The aggregated percentage points by which U.S. public opinion surveys overstated support for Joe Biden in the popular vote two weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Polls were the most inaccurate in 40 years, according to experts.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The 2021 WNBA season — the league's 25th — gets started Friday with eight of the league's 12 teams in action. The first game of the night will see the Indiana Fever take on the New York Liberty in Brooklyn, New York (7 p.m. ET on NBA TV). However, the game of the night appears to be the Phoenix Mercury traveling to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Lynx, a matchup of two teams that made the playoffs last season.” Read more at USA Today
“LONDON — The families of 10 civilians killed during a British military operation in Belfast half a century ago sharply criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday after he sent a member of his Cabinet to Parliament to apologize for the deaths, instead of doing so himself.
Their outrage came after Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told the House of Commons that the government ‘profoundly regrets and is truly sorry’ for the deaths in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in 1971.
Lewis spoke two days after a coroner’s court ruled that the victims were ‘entirely innocent.’ Johnson sent a letter of apology to the victims’ families, but he hasn’t spoken publicly on the matter.” Read more at Boston Globe
“China is conflicted over the US troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. At a forum of Central Asian leaders this week, China's foreign minister said Beijing supports the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. But a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry earlier had criticized the decision, calling it abrupt and saying it will lead to instability. China supported the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, even though it typically dislikes foreign intervention. However, Afghanistan under Taliban rule had become a source of instability on China's border. Now, China is facing two possibilities: The US withdrawal could mean greater Chinese military engagement in the region, or it could once again plunge Afghanistan into war and chaos, leaving China off-balance.” Read more at CNN
“A top House Foreign Affairs Committee member is calling on the Biden administration to enact sanctions in response to the ongoing human rights abuses in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. A CNN investigation found that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea were blocking critical humanitarian aid to starving and wounded civilians, sometimes even disguising themselves in old Ethiopian military uniforms. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation in November against the region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Both Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have been accused of enacting mass killings and widespread sexual violence.” Read more at CNN
“Target says it’s done with trading cards — at least for the time being — after a dispute outside one of its Milwaukee-area stores escalated into violence and multiple arrests.
A spokesman for the retail giant said in a statement that it will stop selling MLB, NFL, NBA and Pokémon cards in stores on Friday ‘out of an abundance of caution,’ but that they’ll still be available online.
The company declined further comment.
The baseball card industry — a blanket term for all trading cards, including popular game and collection brands Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh — has exploded during the pandemic, according to aficionados, as people reengage with old habits, and many face financial pressures. ‘Grading’ companies, or firms that appraise a card’s value, have been inundated with submissions from new and existing collectors resulting in backlogs of millions of items.” Read more at Washington Post
“Lives Lived: The chemist Spencer Silver set out to create an adhesive strong enough to be used in aircraft construction. He instead invented one that found use in a ubiquitous office product: the Post-it Note. Silver died at 80.” Read more at New York Times