“WASHINGTON — Congressional lawmakers are set to return to the Capitol on Monday facing a pivotal week for the future of infrastructure reform, as bipartisan negotiations continue and work proceeds to advance a flurry of bills to improve the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports, and Internet connections.
At the center of the debate is an infrastructure compromise brokered by 10 Senate Democrats and Republicans. The bloc, largely composed of moderates, now faces the new, tough task of selling their deal to both fellow lawmakers and the White House, just days after talks between President Biden and another group of GOP leaders reached a political impasse.
‘We’re talking to folks, one by one, and just asking folks to be open,’ said Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, in advance of the new plan’s release.
Some Democrats already have expressed discomfort with the early details of the nearly $1 trillion, five-year package, arguing it should be bigger and more robust in scope. Republicans, meanwhile, signaled there may not be widespread support for it within their own party, either. And the White House said at the end of last week it has ‘questions’ about lawmakers’ approach, as fresh concerns emerged over the potential changes to the gas tax that could help finance the new proposal.
But congressional Democrats have said they are not willing to wait much longer in courting Republicans. They've already started laying the groundwork to proceed on infrastructure potentially on their own, relying on a process known as reconciliation that might allow them to advance their favored fixes with only 51 votes, not the 60 that are typically required in the nearly deadlocked Senate.
Even though some in the party are not yet comfortable with the move, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, stressed the goal is to forge ahead on ‘two tracks’ so that lawmakers can keep to their stated timeline of tackling infrastructure in July.” Read more at Boston Globe
“BRUSSELS — President Biden used his first appearance at a NATO summit since taking office to call on President Vladimir Putin of Russia to step back from provocative actions targeting the United States and its allies on Monday. NATO leaders joined the United States in formally accusing Moscow and Beijing of malign actions.
Biden’s sharp words for Russia and his friendly interactions with NATO allies marked a sharp shift in tone from the past four years and highlighted the renewed US commitment to the 30-country alliance that was frequently maligned by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Biden, wearing a NATO lapel pin, said that in his extensive talks with NATO leaders about his planned meeting with Putin on Wednesday, all were supportive of his plans to press the Russian leader to halt Russian-originated cyber attacks against the West, end the violent stifling of political dissidents, and stop interfering in elections outside its borders.
‘I’m going to make clear to President Putin that there are areas where we can cooperate, if he chooses,’ Biden told reporters as he ended his day at NATO headquarters. ‘And if he chooses not to cooperate and acts in a way that he has in the past relative to cybersecurity and other activities, then we will respond, we will respond in kind.’” Read more at Boston Globe
“The vaccine divide. While their vaccination programs have slowly led to easing restrictions in the United States and European Union, the two powers disagree on how to vaccinate the rest of the world. The U.S. decision to back a vaccine patent waiver proposal at the World Trade Organization reportedly surprised European leaders, leading them to put forward a hastily designed counter proposal. The EU decision is not unanimous across its institutions: its democratically elected parliament voted to back the waiver last week.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“WASHINGTON — John C. Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, will step down at the end of next week, according to an email he sent to his staff on Monday. His departure was arranged months ago but comes amid backlash over investigations into leaks of classified information.
Mr. Demers was the longest-serving Senate-confirmed official from the Trump administration to remain at the Justice Department during the Biden presidency.
‘You can probably imagine that I’ve stayed much longer than planned, but long ago I told the new folks that when school was out, I was out,’ Mr. Demers, who has school-age children, wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. ‘And that’s the end of next week.’
Mark J. Lesko, the acting top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, will replace Mr. Demers on an interim basis until the division’s new leader is confirmed by the Senate, according to an official familiar with the matter. President Biden has nominated Matthew G. Olsen, an Uber executive who has served in several national security roles in government, to serve as the head of the national security division. His Senate confirmation hearing could take place as soon as next month.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court asked the Biden administration to weigh in on a legal challenge to Harvard University’s race-conscious undergraduate admissions policies.
The justices, in a brief written order on Monday, asked the U.S. Solicitor General’s office to submit the federal government’s views on an appeal that argued Harvard unlawfully discriminated against Asian-American applicants.
The move effectively delays for months any decision by the high court on whether it will hear the case. It also gives the Biden administration a chance to distance itself from arguments made by the Trump-era Justice Department, which supported the lawsuit against Harvard and more broadly challenged the consideration of race in college admissions.
The Harvard case dates back to 2014, when a group called Students for Fair Admissions, led by conservative legal activist Edward Blum, filed a lawsuit alleging the school’s undergraduate admissions practices violated federal civil-rights law. The group said Harvard held Asian-American applicants to a higher standard and used racial balancing, similar to a quota system, artificially limiting the number of Asian-American applicants it admitted.
The challengers are urging the Supreme Court to overturn decades of precedent and ban race as a factor in college admissions. Current law permits schools to consider an applicant’s race, but not use it as a determinative factor. In a 1978 case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the controlling opinion by Justice Lewis Powell, specifically cited the Harvard admissions process to exemplify the permissible use of race as a plus factor in assembling an undergraduate class.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court limited the scope of a 2018 law aimed at reducing sentencing disparities for drug offenses, ruling unanimously on Monday that it provides no relief to offenders convicted of crimes that don’t carry mandatory minimum sentences.
The First Step Act, passed under the Trump administration with rare bipartisan support, extended an Obama-era initiative to reduce the disparity in punishment for crack-cocaine offenses, which popularly had been associated with Black communities, compared with that for powder-cocaine crimes more often committed by white offenders.
The measure made retroactive sentencing reductions that Congress had approved in the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. That law lifted the thresholds triggering mandatory minimum sentences for possessing specific quantities of crack, raising to 28 grams from 5 the amount for five years, and to 280 grams from 50 for a 10-year minimum.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A cyberespionage campaign blamed on China was more sweeping than previously known, with suspected state-backed hackers exploiting a device meant to boost internet security to penetrate the computers of critical U.S. entities.
The hack of Pulse Connect Secure networking devices came to light in April, but its scope is only now starting to become clear. The Associated Press has learned that the hackers targeted telecommunications giant Verizon and the country’s largest water agency. News broke earlier this month that the New York City subway system, the country’s largest, was also breached.
Security researchers say dozens of other high-value entities that have not yet been named were also targeted as part of the breach of Pulse Secure, which is used by many companies and governments for secure remote access to their networks.
It’s unclear what sensitive information, if any, was accessed. Some of the targets said they did not see any evidence of data being stolen. That uncertainty is common in cyberespionage and it can take months to determine data loss, if it is ever discovered. Ivanti, the Utah-based owner of Pulse Connect Secure, declined to comment on which customers were affected.
But even if sensitive information wasn’t compromised, experts say it is worrisome that hackers managed to gain footholds in networks of critical organizations whose secrets could be of interest to China for commercial and national security reasons.” Read more at AP News
Journalist Christiane Amanpour in 2019. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)
“With her characteristic poise, Christiane Amanpour stared directly into the camera just as she does every day to deliver the news. Only this time, it was personal. The world-renowned CNN chief international anchor shared with her viewers Monday that she has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Amanpour, 63, told her audience that she has had a ‘successful major surgery’ to remove it and that she is undergoing ‘several months of chemotherapy,’ hoping for the ‘very best possible long-term prognosis.’
‘I’m confident,’ she said at the beginning of her daily program focused on international news.
The British Iranian television journalist is known primarily for her coverage of international conflicts, including the Persian Gulf War, the genocide in Rwanda and the Bosnian War, making her one of the most prominent war correspondents of her generation.” Read more at Washington Post
“WASHINGTON — A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of QAnon, the conspiracy theory embraced by some in the mob that stormed the US Capitol, could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies don’t come true.
Many QAnon followers believe former president Trump was fighting enemies within the so-called ‘deep state’ to expose a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex trafficking ring. Trump’s loss to Joe Biden disillusioned some believers in ‘The Storm,’ a supposed reckoning in which Trump’s enemies would be tried and executed. Some adherents have now pivoted to believing Trump is the ‘shadow president’ or Biden’s victory was an illusion.
The report was compiled by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and released Monday by Senator Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat. It predicts that while some QAnon adherents will pull back, others ‘likely will begin to believe they can no longer ‘trust the plan’ referenced in QAnon posts and that they have an obligation to change from serving as ‘digital soldiers’ towards engaging in real world violence.’” Read more at Boston Globe
“The experience was so demeaning that Susie Angel did not vote again for two decades.
It was 1991, she recalled, and she was a 21-year-old learning to live independently with cerebral palsy, which she has had since birth. She waited in line at her polling place in Austin, Texas, for hours. Then she waited for a poll worker who could help her complete her ballot. Finally, the worker refused to take her aside, making her name her preferred candidates in full view and earshot of other voters.
Ms. Angel, who has limited use of her limbs and a speech impairment and uses a foot-operated power wheelchair, left understanding that, unlike other Americans, she couldn’t vote privately. It was only when she began working for the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities in 2010, and learned about the adaptive equipment available to her, that she was able to vote independently — an experience that brought her to tears.
Now, Ms. Angel is watching the Texas Legislature pursue sweeping voting restrictions, afraid that she and others with disabilities might again be deterred from voting.
‘They’re really making it so we don’t have a voice anymore,’ she said. ‘And without that, we can’t get the things that we need to survive.’” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has advised President Biden to restore sweeping environmental protections to three major national monuments that had been stripped away by former President Donald J. Trump.
In a report sent to the White House earlier this month that has not been made public, Ms. Haaland recommended that Mr. Biden reinstate the original boundaries, which included millions of acres at Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante, two rugged and pristine expanses in Utah defined by red rock canyons, rich wildlife and archaeological treasures.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Spencer J. Cox of Utah confirmed Monday that Ms. Haaland had made the recommendations.
Mr. Trump had sharply reduced the size of both national monuments at the urging of ranchers and many Republican leaders, opening them to mining, drilling and development. At the time, it was the largest rollback of federal land protection in the nation’s history.” Read more at New York Times
“One woman was killed and three people were injured after a man plowed his car into a group of protesters in Minneapolis late Sunday. The suspect is in police custody after demonstrators pulled him from his vehicle following the crash, police said.
Officials had not identified the driver or the victim as of Monday, but Garrett Knajdek told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that his older sister, Deona M. Knajdek, of Minneapolis, was the protester who was killed. Police said the victim died at a hospital.” Read more at Washington Post
“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday visited the Holocaust Museum and apologized for previously comparingcoronavirus face-mask policies to the Nazi practice of labeling Jews with Star of David badges.
But the Georgia Republican declined to walk back other controversial statements she has made, including one in which she compared the Democratic Party to Hitler’s party, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
Greene’s latest remarks come days before a fellow House member, Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.), is set to introduce a resolution to censure her over the Holocaust comparison.” Read more at Washington Post
A makeshift memorial to the victims of the mosque massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. A planned Hollywood film about the mass shootings has drawn a sharp backlash in New Zealand, with Muslims denouncing the director's decision to focus not on the community's pain and resilience, but instead on the response by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.MATTHEW ABBOTT/NYT
“AUCKLAND, New Zealand — A planned Hollywood film about the Christchurch mosque massacre has drawn a sharp backlash in New Zealand, with Muslims denouncing the director’s decision to focus not on the community’s pain and resilience, but instead on the response by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
More than 60,000 people have signed a petition calling for the movie to be shut down. Ardern released a statement distancing herself from the film, which she said she had not been consulted on. The mayor of Christchurch said that the movie’s crews would not be welcome in her city, and one New Zealand producer dropped out of the production Monday.” Read more at Boston Globe
In this May 10, 2021, file photo, Israelis waved national flags during a Jerusalem Day parade, in Jerusalem. Israel’s new government on Monday approved a contentious parade by Israeli nationalists through Palestinian areas around Jerusalem's Old City, setting the stage for possible renewed confrontations just weeks after an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.ARIEL SCHALIT/ASSOCIATED PRESS “JERUSALEM — Israel’s fragile new coalition government gave a first glimpse of its priorities Monday, as ministers announced intentions to repair Israeli ties with the US Democratic Party and the Jewish diaspora, investigate a disaster at a religious site last month that killed 45, and permit a far-right march through Jerusalem on Tuesday that some fear will lead to violence.
The raft of initiatives highlighted the complexities and contradictions of the new coalition, which replaced Benjamin Netanyahu’s government Sunday night in a confidence vote in Parliament that passed by just a single vote: 60 votes to 59, with one abstention. The coalition is an unlikely alliance of the hard right, the left, and the center, as well as — for the first time in Israeli history — an independent Arab party.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Aung San Suu Kyi’s trials. The trial of Myanmar’s ousted democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi began on Monday in the first of a string of cases brought by the country’s military junta after its Feb. 1 coup. Suu Kyi, who has been in military detention since the coup while protestors continue to demand her release, faces charges ranging from illegally possessing walkie talkies and breaking coronavirus regulations to sedition and bribery. Her lawyer said that she appeared unwell in court on Monday. ‘This trial is clearly the opening salvo in an overall strategy to neuter Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy party as a force that can challenge military rule in the future,’ Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, told the Associated Press.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, 75, who is running for a fourth consecutive term, has launched a broad campaign of repression since early June aimed at decimating the opposition ahead of November elections, according to analysts, human-rights activists and Western governments.
In recent days, police beat one opposition presidential hopeful before putting him in prison. Another would-be opposition candidate was arrested shortly after he filmed a video saying goodbye to his family in case he, too, was detained. A third prominent opposition leader was photographed by police after they stormed his home to arrest him. In the picture, he looked frightened as he stood next to a police commander accused by the U.S. of human-rights violations.
The wave of arrests, seen by analysts as among the worst crackdowns against civil society in Latin America in decades, presents another problem for the Biden administration as it struggles to deal with a region mired in grinding poverty and endemic corruption that is sending hundreds of thousands of migrants to the U.S. and threatening the new administration’s agenda.
The wave of arrests came as top U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, visited Central America last week to promote good governance and find ways to slow illegal immigration to the U.S.
At least 13 prominent Nicaraguan members of the opposition, including four possible presidential contenders, have been arrested in the past two weeks. The potential candidates had all been jockeying to be nominated on behalf of the opposition, a loose coalition of parties and civic groups.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Lin-Manuel Miranda, center in blue, poses with the cast of ‘In the Heights’ at last week's New York premiere. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)
“With critical acclaim for the new film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical ‘In the Heights’ quickly came criticism over the film’s lack of dark-skinned Afro-Latino leads. Miranda apologized Monday evening, saying he had heard the “hurt and frustration over colorism.”
‘I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy,’ Miranda wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. ‘In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short. I’m truly sorry.’
‘In the Heights’ takes place in the largely Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan. The film, directed by Jon M. Chu (‘Crazy Rich Asians’) and written by Quiara Alegría Hudes (who wrote the original book), follows characters played by Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera and Corey Hawkins as they each work to pursue their career dreams.” Read more at Washington Post
“Most of the staff at two restaurants run by Edouardo Jordan, an acclaimed chef in Seattle who has been celebrated with some of the industry’s top awards, quit on Sunday after an investigation by The Seattle Times surfaced 15 allegations against him of sexual misconduct or unwanted touching.
The two restaurants, JuneBaby and Salare, were closed on Sunday after the staff departures, according to The Seattle Times. A representative of Mr. Jordan confirmed on Monday that nearly all of the employees at both restaurants had resigned.
Attempts to reach Mr. Jordan by phone and email on Monday were unsuccessful. The representative said in an email that Mr. Jordan was ‘taking a step back’ and ‘in a deep state of remorse for the pain he has caused former coworkers and restaurant staff.’
The Times investigation included five women who said that Mr. Jordan had groped or given them unwanted kisses from 2012 and 2017, and 10 women who described sexual comments or unwanted touching as recently as 2019. Four of the women said he had groped them at work.” Read more at New York Times
