Author: Chris LAVOIE

An expert witness testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin on Tuesday that officers used excessive force against George Floyd during his fatal May 2020 arrest. LAPD Sergeant Jody Stiger, an expert in tactics and de-escalation training, reviewed the case and testified for the prosecution.

“My opinion was the force was excessive,” Stiger said.

Stiger said Floyd initially actively resisted officers when officers were attempting to get him inside the police vehicle, and at that point, officers were justified in using force. However, once Floyd was placed in handcuffs on the ground and stopped his resistance, the former officers should have slowed down or stopped their force as well. 

Read the rest of the story at CBS News

Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed a bill Monday that would have made Arkansas the first state to restrict gender-affirming medical care, such as puberty blockers, for transgender minors.

Calling the bill “a vast government overreach,” Hutchinson, a Republican, said at a news conference that the law would create “new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Last June, nearly a month after the death of George Floyd, the chief of the Minneapolis Police Department issued a blistering statement about the officers involved in Floyd’s arrest.

Chief Medaria Arradondo, the first Black person to hold the position, described Floyd’s death as “tragic” and said it “was not due to a lack of training.”

“This was murder — it wasn’t a lack of training,” Arradondo said, adding that that was why he “took swift action” and fired the four officers involved in the incident a day after Floyd’s death.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The trial of a former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd’s death is expected to turn toward the officer’s training on Monday after a first week that was dominated by emotional testimony from eyewitnesses and devastating video of Floyd’s arrest.

Derek Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in the May 25 death of Floyd. Chauvin, who is white, is accused of pinning his knee on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds as Floyd lay face-down in handcuffs outside of a corner market.

Read the rest of the story at KKCO-TV

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan would pay for itself while upgrading infrastructure from decades past.

“Right now, we’re still coasting off of infrastructure choices that were made in the 1950s,” Buttigieg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Now’s our chance to make infrastructure choices for the future that are going to serve us well in the 2030s and on into the middle of the century.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico

A former supervisor of the fired Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death testified Thursday that the officer violated police use-of-force policies in his restraint of Floyd last May.

The sergeant, David Pleoger, who recently retired from the Minneapolis Police Department after a 27-year career in law enforcement, was called to the witness stand by the prosecution in Derek Chauvin’s trial on charges of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

A man who witnessed George Floyd’s arrest broke down on the stand as he watched composite footage from the encounter.

Charles McMillian, who lives near the Cup Foods, was driving by when he saw Floyd’s encounter with police, he said. McMillian can be heard talking to Floyd in the viral video taken by a bystander, telling him, “You can’t win, man.”

Prosecutor Erin Eldridge played new video in the courtroom — a composite of surveillance footage taken by a camera at Cup Foods and former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin’s body camera that showed McMillian confront former Chauvin after Floyd was taken away in the ambulance.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

As more older Americans get vaccinated an increasing number of new COVID-19 cases are impacting younger adults, prompting warnings that Americans remain vigilant in an effort to prevent more people from becoming sick.

The number of new COVID-19 cases increased more than 10% in 26 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico since last week, a possible signal that the country is on the cusp of a new surge.

0

Nearly two years after Joe Biden began his presidential campaign at a union hall in Pittsburgh with the promise to “rebuild the backbone of the country,” the president will return to the Steel City to launch an effort to make good on that pledge.

In a speech Wednesday, Biden will to lay out the first part of a massive two-part, multitrillion-dollar infrastructure plan that is expected to include projects as varied as highways and “human infrastructure,” like child care. The kitchen-sink approach is designed to push the economy in a greener and more equitable direction, paid for with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

During his opening statement Monday, the attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in George Floyd’s death claimed that the crowd of onlookers who witnessed Floyd’s death last May had made the responding officers worry for their safety and diverted their attention from him.

On Tuesday, the defense attorney, Eric Nelson, doubled down. He asked four witnesses, including the teenager who recorded the widely seen video of Floyd being detained, whether they and others in the crowd were angry as they watched Floyd pinned on the pavement by the former officer, Derek Chauvin.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Congress is preparing for a heated battle over the way Americans vote, with the two parties set to clash over proposed federal election standards and Republican-led state restrictions.

At issue is the fate of the House-passed For the People Act that would remake American elections from start to finish. It would force states to offer at least 15 days of early voting, universal access to mail-in voting and same-day registration for federal races. It’d make Election Day a national holiday, too.

The divisions between the two parties are sharp. President Joe Biden and Democrats say federal intervention is needed to stop Republicans from reviving racist Jim Crow-style restrictions that make it harder for minorities to vote. Republicans say Democrats are executing a power grab to remove necessary protections on the voting process and usurp authority from states.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The giant container ship that blocked traffic in the Suez Canal for the last week resumed its journey on Monday after being successfully refloated.

“The efforts to float the delinquent Panamanian container ship Ever Given are successful,” Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said in a statement.

The crucial waterway will now reopen after days of intense salvage efforts to free the ship.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

National civil rights leaders appeared alongside several family members of George Floyd at a prayer service Sunday night, hours before opening statements were set to begin in the murder trial of the former Minneapolis police officer charged in his death.

Several dozen attendees congregated in the benches at Greater Friendship Missionary Church, where preachers led worship and a choir sang.

The speakers called for justice in George Floyd’s death, mirroring the words spoken by leaders during a protest earlier Sunday in downtown Minneapolis.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The Senate will take up legislation as soon as next month on hate crimes against Asian Americans, as well as background checks for gun buyers and a massive voting rights package, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday.

The New York Democrat used a letter to colleagues and a floor speech to outline three broad areas the Senate will focus on when it returns from its forthcoming two-week recess: voting rights, economic growth and climate change, and guns.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

President Joe Biden said Wednesday he was tapping Vice President Kamala Harris to lead his administration’s effort to stem migration from Central America, as the United States deals with a surge of unaccompanied minors crossing its southern border.

The role will represent the first significant item in the vice president’s portfolio, and her involvement has the potential to elevate the issue within the White House and broader administration.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Dr. Rachel Levine’s confirmation to the Department of Health and Human Services by the Senate on Wednesday made her the first openly transgender federal official in the nation’s history.

Levine, who previously served as Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, was confirmed in a 52-48 vote as the assistant secretary to the federal agency. She will serve under Xavier Becerra, who is the first Latino to serve as health and human services secretary.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Levine’s confirmation part of many “historic firsts” achieved under President Joe Biden’s administration.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday unveiled a proposal to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service, describing his 10-year plan as necessary to stanch billions of dollars in losses and put the agency on the path to profitability. But critics are voicing concerns about key elements of the plan, including slower delivery standards and planned closures of some postal offices.

DeJoy said the plan will “erase” a projected $160 billion loss over the next decade by boosting revenue through expanded parcel delivery and potential postage hikes. Other savings would require action by Congress to change requirements for pre-funding retiree pension obligations and by integrating the postal service’s retiree health care coverage with Medicare.

Read the rest of the story at CBS News

The Biden administration is extending a special Obamacare enrollment season it opened for the pandemic, giving Americans three more months to shop for health coverage after Congress recently boosted insurance subsidies in the Covid stimulus package.

President Joe Biden during his first weeks in office opened a new special enrollment period, citing increased need for coverage during the twin economic and health crises. Biden announced the sign-up extension Tuesday evening as he marked the health care law’s 11th anniversary and touted its biggest expansion yet during a speech in Ohio.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

President Joe Biden is dispatching top officials to Mexico and Central America as the crisis on the southern U.S. border persists with a surge of asylum-seeking migrants who are fleeing their countries.

The crisis at the border has created a difficult situation for Biden, who is caught between his promises to progressives to establish a more humane immigration system and pressure from conservatives to send a tougher message to deter migrants from traveling to the U.S. to seek asylum. The influx has overwhelmed border facilities and driven the national conversation on immigration.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Results from AstraZeneca’s recent Covid-19 vaccine trial “may have included outdated information” that “provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” a federal health institute said early Tuesday.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases issued the unusual statement after AstraZeneca announced Monday that the trial showed no serious side-effects, and that its vaccine was 100 percent effective in stopping severe and fatal cases.

The NIAID said that it had been notified late Monday about the “concern” by the the data and safety monitoring board, a panel of independent experts that reviews safety and efficacy data for vaccines in the United States.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., on Sunday apologized to the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct last week and said that he will not seek to get elected for any office once his term ends.

Nicolette Davis, who is currently an Army officer but was working as a lobbyist at the time of the alleged incident in 2017, accused Reed of rubbing her back and unhooking her bra without consent during a networking trip that year. The allegations were published by the Washington Post Friday.

Reed initially told the publication, “This account of my actions is not accurate,” but in another statement, published Twitter Sunday, he apologized.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Military leaders, veterans and veterans groups are slamming Fox News host Tucker Carlson after he attacked the notion of pregnant women serving in the armed forces.

Carlson called women in “maternity flight suits” a mockery of the U.S. military, while also making a transphobic aside in his speech during a Tuesday night broadcast. His segment was in response to President Joe Biden’s acknowledgment that the military has tailored combat uniforms for women during his International Women’s Day remarks.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The next batch of stimulus checks will be deposited into some bank accounts this weekend, the White House said Thursday.

“People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news briefing after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on Thursday afternoon.

Psaki said that the checks are “the first wave” and they will continue to flow over “the next several weeks.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

House Democrats on Wednesday passed a massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill with the goal of having it on President Joe Biden’s desk by the end of the week, just days before key federal unemployment benefits start to expire for many workers on March 14.

By a 220-211 vote — with no Republicans voting in favor — Democrats handed Biden a crucial first legislative victory. The White House said he would sign the measure into law on Friday.

“For weeks now, an overwhelming percentage of Americans – Democrats, Independents, and Republicans – have made it clear they support the American Rescue Plan. Today, with final passage in the House of Representatives, their voice has been heard,” Biden said in a statement praising House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spoke on the House floor just before the vote.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

House Democrats on Tuesday approved the most significant expansion of labor rights since the New Deal, advancing legislation that would neutralize right-to-work laws in 27 states and bolster workers’ ability to organize after years of eroding clout.

The bill — the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act — would amend decades-old labor law to shield workers seeking to form a union from retribution or firing, strengthen the government’s power to punish employers who violate workers’ rights and outlaw mandatory meetings that employers often use to try to quash an organizing drive.

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times

The Republican National Committee is defending its right to use former President Donald Trump‘s name in fundraising appeals after he demanded they put an end to the practice.

In a Monday letter to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel J. Justin Riemer said the committee “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech” and said “it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

The spear-wielding self-described shaman who stormed the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 will remain behind bars pending trial, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

The decision by Jacob Chansley, an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy theory, to speak to CBS’ “60 Minutes+” and other media outlets appears to have backfired, as U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said Chansley’s statements underscored his ongoing dangerousness. Lamberth repeatedly cited Chansley’s comments to “60 Minutes+” — as well as his mother’s — as evidence that he shouldn’t be released.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

The pressure of being under the microscope drove Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to thoughts of suicide, Prince Harry’s wife said Sunday in an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.

She said she had been the victim of “character assassination” and that the pressure drove her to the point of self-harm.

“Look, I was really ashamed to have to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry especially, but I knew that if I didn’t say that, I would do it,” an emotional Meghan said. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday addressed the sexual harassment scandal he’s facing and apologized for his actions.

“I want New Yorkers to hear from me directly on this: First, I fully support a woman’s right to come forward and I think it should be encouraged in every way,” Cuomo said. “I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable. It was unintentional and I truly and deeply apologize for it. I feel awful about it and frankly I am embarrassed by it.”

He continued, “I never touched anyone inappropriately. I never meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause anyone any pain.”

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

President Joe Biden criticized the decisions in Texas and Mississippi to roll back statewide mask mandates and other Covid-19 health guidelines as “Neanderthal thinking.”

“I think it’s a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody realizes by now that masks make a big difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because the way in which we are able to get vaccines,” Biden told reporters.

“The last thing we need is the Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off our mask, forget it,” he added.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

President Joe Biden said Tuesday the United States will have enough vaccines for every adult by the end of May, two months earlier than the administration had previously estimated.

He said the U.S. was able to speed up the timeline under a deal with Johnson & Johnson to accelerate production of its single-dose vaccine, including an agreement in which Merck will assist Johnson & Johnson with its production, and use of the Defense Production Act to secure necessary equipment and materials.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

President Joe Biden has lost his first Cabinet-level pick.

Neera Tanden, the embattled nominee for Biden’s Office of Management and Budget director, has officially withdrawn her nomination for the position after days of uncertainty over whether she had enough votes to be confirmed in the US Senate.

“Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities,” Tanden, the president of the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, said in a statement released Tuesday.

Read the rest of the story at Vox

Donald and Melania Trump received the coronavirus vaccine before leaving the White House, according to multiple news reports on Monday.

Citing unnamed advisers, the New York Times, CNN and other outlets reported that while other officials, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the former vice-president Mike Pence, chose to get their shots publicly to encourage confidence in the vaccines, the Trumps opted to quietly get vaccinated in January. There was no detail on which shot they received or how many doses they had been given.

Both Donald and Melania contracted and recovered from Covid-19 during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Read the rest of the story at The Guardian

A third woman has alleged unwanted advances by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Anna Ruch told the New York Times Monday that Cuomo placed his hands on her face during a wedding reception in New York City in September 2019 and “asked if he could kiss her.” A photo of the alleged incident was taken and shared with the paper.

The revelation came on the same day New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her investigation into previous allegations of sexual harassment.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is using his crucial vote to push Democrats into lowering the income threshold of the $1,400 stimulus checks in President Joe Biden‘s $1.9 trillion relief package.

Senator Jon Tester of Montana confirmed that a group of moderate Democrats met with Biden at the White House on Monday to discuss amendments to the coronavirus economic relief bill passed by the House of Representatives on Friday evening.

“We talked about the package and we talked about targeting dollars,” he said.

Read the rest of the story at Newsweek

In a speech here Sunday to close out the Conservative Political Action Conference, former President Donald Trump teased his political future and repeated the lie that he won the 2020 election.

“I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we began together four years ago is far from over,” the former president said in his first speech since leaving the White House last month. “We are gathered this afternoon to talk about the future — the future of our movement, the future of our party, and the future of our beloved country.”

The former president began his roughly 90-minute address by asking the crowd: “Do you miss me?” before reviving false claims that he beat President Joe Biden in November — lies that inspired the deadly pro-Trump riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine was endorsed on Friday by a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration, clearing the last hurdle before a formal authorization expected on Saturday, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans. The nation’s first shipments will go out in the days after that.

It will be the third shot made available to the United States in the year since the first surge of coronavirus cases began washing over the country, and it will be the first vaccine to require just one dose instead of two.

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times

U.S. Capitol Police plan to maintain their enhanced level of security around the Capitol at least through President Joe Biden’s first official address to Congress because intelligence suggests that extremists could be planning an attack, acting Chief Yogananda Pittman said Thursday.

“We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6th have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union, which we know that date has not been identified,” she told members of Congress, referring to Biden’s coming first address to a joint session of Congress.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The House will vote on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package Friday, just days after the U.S. crossed 500,000 deaths from the coronavirus.

The Democratic-controlled House is expected to pass the sweeping bill, which includes $1,400 direct payments, a $400-a-week federal unemployment bonus, a per-child allowance of up to $3,600 for one year and billions of dollars to distribute the coronavirus vaccines and to assist schools and local governments.

It would be the sixth round of aid from the federal government; the economy is still reeling from widespread shutdowns, and most Americans continue to wait their turns to be vaccinated.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police told members of Congress on Thursday that while they knew armed extremists could commit violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, intelligence collected in advance of the assault showed “no credible threat” of the size and scale of the riot that occurred.

Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in her opening statement that her department prepared for that day’s events based on the information gathered by law enforcement, including the FBI and the intelligence community.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

President Joe Biden, while seeming to acknowledge it would take some effort, said Tuesday that he still sees a path forward for Neera Tanden to head up the Office of Management and Budget despite bipartisan pushback that has thrown her hopes for confirmation into question.

“We’re going to push. I still think there’s a shot — a good shot,” Biden told reporters Tuesday afternoon, echoing press secretary Jen Psaki, who said that it was the White House’s expectation that Tanden would be confirmed.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Tiger Woods was “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room,” after having a rod put into his leg during surgery following a rollover car crash in the Los Angeles area, his team said in a statement Tuesday night.

Woods, 45, “suffered significant orthopaedic injuries to his right lower extremity” that were treated in emergency surgery, Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer and interim CEO at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said in the statement, which was tweeted on Woods’ account.

The rod was inserted into his tibia to stabilize fractures, and screws and pins were used to stabilize injuries to the foot and ankle, according to the statement.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Johnson & Johnson can deliver 20 million doses of its single-shot coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. government by the end of March, an executive will testify tomorrow.

“Assuming necessary regulatory approvals relating to our manufacturing processes, our plan is to begin shipping immediately upon emergency use authorization, and deliver enough single-doses by the end of March to enable the vaccination of more than 20 million Americans,” Johnson & Johnson’s Richard Nettles, vice president of medical affairs for the company’s pharmaceutical unit Janssen, will tell a House Energy & Commerce subcommittee Tuesday.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to shield his taxes from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The ruling clears the way for DA Cyrus Vance to enforce a grand jury subpoena for the records.

At issue is whether the Trump Corporation artificially inflated the value of Trump’s properties to get the best possible loans. Investigators also want to know whether the company presented different values to tax authorities.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, pledged Monday to make the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol his top priority if confirmed by the Senate.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing, Garland said in his opening statement that if confirmed, he would “supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Dominion Voting Systems are suing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for $1.3 billion in damages by the electronic voting company alleging defamatory accusations related to the 2020 presidential election.

Dominion had threatened legal action against Lindell as he continued to spread the baseless conspiracies that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 general election, a lie that Trump himself also promoted and appears to believe, and was largely the reason for the deadly capitol insurrection that occurred on January 6th by Trump supporters.

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite

Eyewitnesses in the air and on the ground said they watched in horror and shock as parts of a jet engine exploded and broke apart shortly after takeoff from Denver, raining debris over homes.

Although there were no reported injuries or deaths during Saturday’s incident over Broomfield, Colorado, residents and passengers told ABC News they are still shaken up.

“It was more along the lines of, ‘Hey, is everything going to be OK?’ That’s not normal,” Brett Guy, who was a passenger aboard United Flight 328, told ABC News. “I didn’t know what to think.”

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, is expected to face questions Monday about how he would navigate some daunting challenges, including investigations of Biden’s son and the actions of former President Donald Trump and his close advisers.

During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland is likely to stress protecting the independence of the Justice Department from White House political interference in investigations after Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, was frequently accused by federal judges and others of putting Trump’s interests ahead of the department’s.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The recent winter weather slamming the U.S. has delayed COVID-19 vaccine deliveries and forced vaccination sites to close.

The unforeseen setbacks have impacted all 50 states and left a backlog of about 6 million doses of vaccine and 2,000 vaccination sites left without power, according to White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt.

“We anticipate that all the backlog doses will be delivered within the next week, with most being delivered within the next several days,” Slavitt said during a press briefing on Friday.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

As the Texas power grid collapsed under a historic winter storm, Jose Del Rio of Haltom City, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, saw the electricity bill on a vacant two-bedroom home he is trying to sell slowly creep up over the past two weeks. Typically, the bill is around $125 to $150 a month, he said. But his account has already been charged about $630 this month — and he still owes another $2,600.

“If worse comes to worst, I have the ability to put it on a credit card or figure something out,” Del Rio said. ”There is no one living in that house. All the lights are off. But I have the air at 60 because I don’t want the pipes to freeze.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

After a nerve-wracking seven-minute descent, NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Mars on Thursday afternoon, as part of one of the agency’s most ambitious deep-space missions to search for signs of ancient life on the red planet.

“What an amazing day,” a joyful Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator, said shortly after the landing was confirmed.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

When Joe Biden met with a group of mayors and governors last week he bluntly told them to get ready for a legislative defeat: his proposed minimum wage hike was unlikely to happen, he said, at least in the near term.

“I really want this in there but it just doesn’t look like we can do it because of reconciliation,” Biden told the group, according to a person in the room. “I’m not going to give up. But right now, we have to prepare for this not making it.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Extreme energy demand and overloaded frozen utility plants amid an unprecedented deep freeze in Texas are among the factors that led to nearly 4.5 millions customer without power in the Lone Star State on Tuesday, experts say.

Outages spread across Texas left millions in the dark and bitter cold amid single-degree temperatures and a winter storm that buried the state in snow and ice in recent days.

“No matter which way you cut it, this is a massive failure for a grid and a state that holds up energy and electricity as a shining example,” said Varun Rai, the director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

Read the rest of the story at USA Today

Former President Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers conspired to violate the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which prohibits any actions designed to prevent Congress from carrying out its duties, when they incited the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, a new lawsuit from the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee alleged.

The insurrection was the result of a carefully orchestrated plan by Trump, Giuliani and extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, all of whom shared a common goal of employing intimidation, harassment and threats to stop the certification of the Electoral College, said Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Now that former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial is over, President Joe Biden is working this week to shift attention back to his ambitious agenda, with COVID-19 and his $2 trillion relief package taking center stage.

As Biden continues to work to get at least some Senate Republicans on board, he’ll also take his message outside of Washington and directly to the American people while making his first official trips as president.

On Tuesday, Biden will take part in a televised CNN town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before heading to Kalamazoo, Michigan Thursday, where he is expected to tour a Pfizer manufacturing facility currently producing the COVID-19 vaccine and meet with workers.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should have been convicted in his second impeachment trial, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Monday.

While 58 percent of Americans overall believe the former president should have been convicted, the poll split largely along party lines. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats believe Trump should have been convicted, while 64 percent of independents and just 14 percent of Republicans agree.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have been on a major decline since their peak numbers from the middle of January, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

There were 71,844 new cases reported on Sunday, a nearly 19,000 drop from the number of cases reported on Saturday, according to the tracking project. In January, the number of new daily cases reached higher than 225,000, the health data showed.

Since Jan. 12, the seven-day average of new cases has decreased by nearly 64%, according to the tracking project.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

On the third anniversary of the Parkland school shooting, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass stricter gun laws, including banning assault weapons. In a statement from the White House, Mr. Biden on Sunday asked Congress to pass laws requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers. 

“Today, as we mourn with the Parkland community, we mourn for all who have lost loved ones to gun violence,” Mr. Biden said. 

Read the rest of the story at CBS News

President Biden’s allies say that with the distraction of the impeachment trial of his predecessor now over, he will quickly press for passage of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan before moving on to an even bigger agenda in Congress that includes infrastructure, immigration, criminal justice reform, climate change and health care.

Mr. Biden has so far succeeded in pushing his agenda forward even amid the swirl of the impeachment, trial and acquittal of former President Donald J. Trump. House committees are already debating parts of the coronavirus relief legislation he calls the American Rescue Plan. Several of the president’s cabinet members have been confirmed despite the Trump drama. And Mr. Biden’s team is pressing lawmakers for quick action when senators return from a weeklong recess.

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times

President Biden announced Thursday his administration has finalized an order for 200 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered by July 2021, adding to the 400 million doses that the Trump administration had already ordered from Pfizer and Moderna by that date. The two drug companies both produce a two-shot regimen, so the total 600 million doses will vaccinate 300 million people — most of the U.S. population.

“Within three weeks, round-the-clock work of so many people, people standing behind me and in front of me, we’ve now purchased enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all Americans and now we’re working to get those vaccines in the arms of millions of people,” Mr. Biden said in remarks at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Read the rest of the story at CBS News

The Biden administration is withdrawing the federal government’s support for a challenge to Obamacare, telling the Supreme Court that the law should remain on the books.

The move by the Justice Department follows speculation on whether Biden would try to withdraw from the high-profile red state lawsuit — fully supported by the Trump administration — to strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Wearing a mask — any mask — reduces the risk of infection with the coronavirus, but wearing a more tightly fitted surgical mask, or layering a cloth mask atop a surgical mask, can vastly increase protections to the wearer and others, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

New research by the agency shows that transmission of the virus can be reduced by up to 96.5 percent if both an infected individual and an uninfected individual wear tightly fitted surgical masks or a cloth-and-surgical-mask combination.

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) plays a video montage of the riots at the US Capitol on January 6 and argues that former President Trump’s words inspired the attack.

See the video at CNN

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office has opened an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 2 phone callurging Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results.

“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump told Raffensperger in the phone call, which is expected to play a prominent role in Trump’s impeachment trial this week.

Raffensperger’s office confirmed that it had opened the inquiry after it received a complaint about Trump’s conduct.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that officials are considering a requirement that passengers provide a negative COVID-19 test ahead of domestic flights, according to an interview published on Sunday.

One of President Biden‘s first confirmed Cabinet members told “Axios on HBO” that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is engaged in “an active conversation” on whether to implement the requirement.

“What I can tell you is it’s going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine and by the input of the people who are actually gonna have to carry this out,” he said. “But here’s the thing: The safer we can make air travel in terms of perception as well as reality, the more people are gonna be ready to get back in the air.”

Read the rest of the story at The Hill

The Biden administration will begin removing all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys appointed during the Trump administration, with two exceptions, a senior Justice Department official said.

The process, which is not uncommon, could start as early as Tuesday. They will be asked to resign.

John Durham will remain in place to investigate the origins of the Russia probe, but not as U.S. attorney for the district of Connecticut, the official said. He was appointed as a special counsel and given extra protections for the inquiry by Attorney General William Barr last fall.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The demand for Covid-19 vaccine doses may outpace supply at the moment, but availability is already looking better for the months ahead, Anthony Fauci said Sunday morning.

“The demand clearly outstrips the supply right now,” Fauci told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “If you look at the escalation of availability of doses purely on the ability and the capability of manufacturing, it’s going to escalate and will continue to escalate as we go from February to March to April and beyond.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers capped the strangest season in pro football history Sunday night by staging a familiar scene: Tom Brady hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Brady threw three touchdown passes, two to longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski, as Tampa Bay defeated the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the first modern title game ever played on the home field of one of the two finalists.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

A woman arrested in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol will be able to go on a prepaid trip to Mexico this month, after a judge granted her request Friday.

Jenny Cudd, a flower shop owner in Midland, Texas, initially faced two misdemeanor charges — entering a restricted building and violent or disorderly conduct — after allegedly posting a social media video in which she boasted about participating in last month’s Capitol riot, according to the FBI affidavit.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

House Democrats asked Donald Trump to testify under oath for his Senate impeachment trial, challenging him to respond to their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol. A Trump adviser said the former president won’t testify.

Although Democrats might not have the power to force Trump’s testimony, the request from House impeachment managers is part of their overall effort to put the violent events of Jan. 6 on the record for history and hold him accountable for his words. Democrats will look to use his refusal to testify against him as they argue that the ex-president has avoided responsibility for his actions.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Smartmatic, one of the voting systems companies subjected to a torrent of conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election, has filed a massive $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, top Fox stars Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

The suit accuses Fox News, its hosts, and guests of running a “disinformation campaign” against the company.

That disinformation campaign, which included false statements about Smartmatic and another voting systems company, Dominion, was waged in service of the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election.

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite

Johnson & Johnson applied to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday for emergency use authorization for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine. The FDA could grant the authorization within weeks.

If it is authorized, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine would be the third approved in the U.S., joining the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

“Today’s submission for emergency use authorization of our investigational single-shot Covid-19 vaccine is a pivotal step toward reducing the burden of disease for people globally and putting an end to the pandemic,” Dr. Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientific officer, said in a news release.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

President Biden told House Democrats in a phone call Wednesday that he’s still committed to pursuing a large COVID relief package even as Senate Republicans are pushing him for a much smaller, more targeted relief bill, but he also expressed a willingness to negotiate.

“You have my back, I’ll have yours,” the president said, according to sources on the call.  

Mr. Biden met with Republican senators on Monday to hear their proposal for a $600 COVID relief package, roughly a third of the size of the $1.9 trillion package the White House crafted. While the two plans have similar dollar figures allocated for a national vaccination program, testing, and disaster relief, the administration wants to spend more on unemployment insurance, stimulus checks, and aid to state and local governments, among other things.  

Read the rest of the story at CBS News

Liz Cheney, the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House, held on to her title as House GOP conference chair during a secret ballot Wednesday.

Three sources said the vote among Republican House members was 145-61.

Cheney refused to apologize for voting to impeach former President Donald Trump during the closed-door meeting with her GOP conference Wednesday evening, according to a source in the room. Cheney was among the 10 House Republicans who voted for the article of impeachment accusing Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, which led to the deaths of five people.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden paid respects Tuesday night to Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries suffered during last month’s violent siege on the U.S. Capitol, as he lies in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.

The first couple walked up to the memorial to Sicknick, and the president placed a hand on Sicknick’s urn. The two paused and placed their hands on their heart to pay their respects, before moving to flowers placed in the room in his honor.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Top House Democrats are moving to force Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off multiple committees this week — with or without Kevin McCarthy’s help.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivered an ultimatum to McCarthy on Monday: Either Republicans move on their own to strip Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee assignments within 72 hours, or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor.

The Democrats’ move, while highly unusual, comes amid intense fury within the Democratic Caucus over Greene’s long record of incendiary rhetoric, including peddling conspiracy theories that the nation’s deadliest mass shootings were staged. Greene also endorsed violence against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats before she was elected to Congress.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Look up in the sky. What do you see? A former Wisconsin pharmacist allegedly believed the sky was a shield to stop people from seeing God. The recently released FBI search warrant application on defendant Steven R. Brandenburg, 46, reveals more context around the alleged motivations and mindset that fueled him sabotaging 570 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

His pharmacy technician at Advocate Aurora Health Systems told investigators the defendant was big on conspiracy theories, according to documents (h/t The Daily Beast). For example, he would tell her the earth was flat, and the sky was not real. Instead, what we see up there is “a shield put up by the Government to prevent individuals from seeing God.” Also, “Judgment Day” was coming.

His attorney of record did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.

Read the rest of the story at Law & Crime

President Joe Biden has agreed to meet a group of 10 Republican senators who have proposed a slimmed-down coronavirus relief plan that they say can win bipartisan support.

The Republicans’ proposed package is much smaller than Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal, and includes $160 billion for vaccines, $4 billion for health and substance abuse services, the continuation of current unemployment aid and unspecified “targeted” economic assistance and help for schools.

The invitation came late Sunday after the senators requested the meeting.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Two men identified as members of the Proud Boys have been indicted on federal conspiracy and other charges in the Capitol riot as prosecutors raise the stakes in some of the slew of cases stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine who authorities say was seen on video smashing a Capitol window with a stolen Capitol Police riot shield, and William Pepe, who authorities said was photographed inside the building, were arrested earlier in the month on federal charges that included illegally entering a restricted building. The two, both from New York state, have now been indicted in Washington on charges that newly include conspiracy.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Dominion Voting Systems spokesperson Michael Steel offered a thorough rebuttal to former president’s “big lie” about its machines engaging in election fraud and confirmed his company had drafted a demand letter to Trump in case it pursues a lawsuit against him.

Steel, who was previously the chief press secretary for GOP House Speaker John Boehner, told Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace that those pushing conspiracy theories about Dominion “have attacked a great American company” and “undermined the American people’s confidence in the democratic system.”

Steel then walked viewers through a few examples from a Washington Post debunking of the false claims made by Trump and his legal advocates Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, both of whom have now been named as defendants in separate $1.3 billion defamation lawsuits.

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite

The first two U.S. cases of the emerging Covid-19 variant first identified in South Africa were detected in South Carolina, state public health officials said Thursday.

Although no evidence suggests it causes more severe disease, the variant first identified in South Africa is known to be more resistant to current vaccines and may spread more easily and quickly than other variants.

There is no known travel history of the infected, and no connection between the two cases, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said in a release.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Thursday accused Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of “trying to get me killed” by challenging the election results in the lead up to the Capitol riot and demanded that he resign.

The progressive lawmaker criticized Cruz after he said he agreed with her call for an investigation into why personal trading app Robinhood stopped allowing users to buy stocks including GameStop.

“I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign,” she told Cruz in a tweet.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 Response Team, said it will “be months” before all Americans who want a Covid-19 vaccine can get one. 

“I want to level with the public that we’re facing two constraining factors. The first is getting enough supply quickly enough, and the second is the ability to administer the vaccines quickly once they’re produced and sent out to the sites,” Slavitt said.

Read the rest of the story at CNN

Department of Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske has issued a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) bulletin warning the public of a “heightened threat environment” across the United States following last week’s presidential inauguration. The advisory, which comes after the violent assault on the Capitol on January 6, runs through the end of April. 

“Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence,” DHS said in issuing the bulletin. 

Read the rest of the story at CBS News