 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| We made it to Friday, Daily Briefing readers! What a week it has been. The U.S. is on track to reach a major COVID-19 vaccine milestone, much quicker than the Biden administration said it would happen. President Joe Biden will travel to Atlanta with Vice President Kamala Harris to meet with Asian American leaders in the aftermath of the deadly Georgia spa shootings. |
| Steve and Jane are here with Friday's news. |
| Let's start with some items that people are talking about this morning. |
| 🌲 The fallout from USA TODAY's reporting on the actions of the athletic department administrators at Louisiana State University continues as Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called on the Oregon State University Board of Trustees to fire President F. King Alexander if its independent review finds he did not uphold his ethical and legal responsibilities to protect students during his time at Louisiana State University. |
| 🐶🐱 A congressional subcommittee has asked Elanco to voluntarily recall its Seresto flea and tick collars, after a March 2 story by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and USA TODAY on thousands of reports about pet and human harm linked to the use of the collar. |
| ⚖ A woman accused movie star Armie Hammer of raping and beating her in Los Angeles in April 2017. Los Angeles police say they're investigating the allegation. "He abused me mentally, emotionally and sexually," the 24-year-old woman named Effie said during a Zoom press conference with her lawyer Gloria Allred. Hammer, 34, denies the allegations. |
| 🏀 The NCAA Tournament returned in style with some good game action Thursday night. Unfortunately, that was, at least partly, overshadowed by the NCAA acknowledging the discrepancy in amenities between the men's and women's basketball tournaments after images posted to social media drew significant backlash. Our columnist friend Dan Wolken took the NCAA to task saying, it's "really bad at doing the substantive things that make it clear they consider players essential parts of their money-making machine." |
| 🎵 Justin Bieber's new 16-track album "Justice" was released today and as Jennifer McClellan explains, the singer, now 27, "has found his voice as an adult, husband and man of faith. After half a lifetime in the spotlight, he's comfortable in his skin and it shows in a fully realized pop album." |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, health reporter Elizabeth Weise explains how anti-Asian sentiment grew on social media after Donald Trump first tied COVID-19 to China on Twitter. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
US on track to reach COVID-19 vaccine milestone |
| The Biden administration on Friday is expected to mark 100 million coronavirus shots administered in the country. That's weeks ahead of President Joe Biden's goal of achieving the milestone within 100 days of his term. "Next week, I'll announce our next goal to put shots in arms," Biden said in announcing the news on Thursday. He had directed states to make doses available to all adults no later than May 1, a deadline that many states say they have no trouble meeting. In fact, Biden's directive doesn't create an especially high bar. But former health officials said that wasn't the point. |
| |
Remembering some of the victims of the Georgia spa shootings |
| • | Xiaojie Tan made a life in the United States after her arrival from China, built a family and launched two businesses for starters. She dreamed of traveling the world and celebrating her 50th birthday with her daughter. Instead, Jami Webb, 29, and her father, Michael Webb, 64, spent Tan's birthday planning her funeral at a Catholic church. "She did everything for me and for the family. She provided everything. She worked every day, 12 hours a day, so that me and our family would have a better life," Jami Webb said of her mother. | | • | Among the victims in the Acworth, Georgia, spa, Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, leaves behind a 13-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter. She and her husband had been married less than a year. The family has had to start a GoFundMe page that reads, in part, "We could really use the help to cover her funeral expenses. She has two beautiful babies she is leaving behind." | |
Biden, Harris to meet with Asian American leaders in Atlanta |
| President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Asian American leaders in Atlanta on Friday in response to fears after a gunman's shooting rampage killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, at three spas in the area . Zheng Yu Huang, president of the Chinese American leadership group Committee of 100, praised the Biden administration for starting to address the concerns of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. "But there is a huge amount of work that needs to be done around education, training, funding and community outreach at the federal, state and local levels to put an end to the anti-Asian xenophobia and hate," Huang said. The trip to Atlanta was arranged prior to the shootings for the president to tout benefits of his recently approved $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. That political piece of the trip now has been postponed, the White House said, "given the tragedy in Georgia." |
| |
What else people are reading: |
| ⚖ Former President George W. Bush says the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol nauseated and "disgusted" him, describing it as an attack on democracy. "I was sick to my stomach," Bush said in a recorded interview broadcast Thursday for the SXSW conference. |
| ⚖ The House on Thursday passed a bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for millions of "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, with bipartisan support, but it will likely face an uphill battle in the Senate. |
| ‼️ A 75-year-old Asian American woman who was suddenly attacked and punched by a man on a San Francisco street fought back, leaving him battered, bloodied and hospitalized. "You bum, why did you hit me?" Xiao Zhen Xie said in Chinese. |
| 🚓 Capt. Jay Baker, a spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office which is investigating the Georgia massage parlor shootings, was removed from the case Thursday after social media posts went viral showing him promoting a T-shirt with controversial language about China and the coronavirus. |
Judge in Derek Chauvin trial to rule on defense's requests |
| The judge in Derek Chauvin's trial will rule Friday on the defense's requests to delay the proceedings and to submit evidence related to George Floyd's 2019 arrest. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Floyd last May, which sparked worldwide protests over racism and police brutality. All 12 jurors for the trial have now been selected after several were cut over concerns about impartiality. On Thursday, after a week and a half of questioning prospective jurors on their views on discrimination, policing people of color and Black Lives Matter, lead defense attorney Eric Nelson told a prospective juror, "This case is not about race." |
| |
NCAA Tournament's first round gets underway on a different day |
| The first round of this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament will have a different schedule than years past, taking place on Friday and Saturday , with the second round scheduled for Sunday and Monday. Also, all of the games will take place in Indiana, with most of them happening in Indianapolis. The first round will begin with Virginia Tech taking on Florida at 12:15 p.m. ET Friday. Friday's slate also features two No. 1 seeds in action, with Baylor and Illinois scheduled to take the floor against Hartford and Drexel, respectively. Action kicked off in style Thursday night with the First Four and the cherry on top of a good night featured UCLA sending Michigan State home after pulling away in overtime. |
| |
Marvel's 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' premieres on Disney+ |
| Fresh off the success of "WandaVision," the first Disney+ TV series connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" kicks off its six-episode run Friday. Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/The Falcon) and Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier) reprise their roles as Avengers and friends of Steve Rogers/Captain America. The spotlight is on them as they team up in a post-"Avengers: Endgame" world featuring more geopolitical turmoil than ever. But the two heroes do more bickering than bonding to start. "There's no two people on Earth who are more opposite, so it kind of works perfectly," Mackie says. Brian Truitt notes that the series is in the "style of a buddy action film, even as it tackles timely themes of patriotism and race." In her ★★½ (out of four) review, TV critic Kelly Lawler says, "For those who love the punchy, kicky, international espionage Marvel movies, 'Falcon' will likely check all the boxes." |
| |
ICYMI: Our top stories published Thursday |
| • | Have you not received your stimulus check yet? Use the IRS 'Get My Payment' tool to find the status of new COVID relief payments | | • | The Georgia sheriff spokesman in the spa shootings was removed from the case after his glib comment and the discovery of an controversial anti-China shirt | | • | From stimulus checks to Tax Day 2021: We've got answers to your questions about IRS changes, COVID relief and more | | • | Could these long-gone vehicles make a comeback? Chevrolet, Cadillac and Dodge classic cars offer an opportunity | |
| |
| |
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment