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| Good morning and happy Tuesday, Daily Briefing readers! A new WHO report on COVID-19 will outline the likely origins of the virus (a lab leak is "extremely unlikely"). A memorial service will be held for Officer Eric Talley, who was killed in the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, last week. Also, today could be a significant day in New York: State legislators may vote to legalize recreational marijuana. |
| Steve and Jane are here with Tuesday's news. |
| Let's get started with several items that people are starting their day talking about. |
| ⚖ The murder trial of Derek Chauvin, a white ex-Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd, a Black man, began Monday after a lengthy jury selection process. Click here to read our takeaways from Day 1 of the trial. And sign up for SMS texting here to receive live updates on the trial. |
| 💉 On the day the United States surpassed 550,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, President Joe Biden said that 90% of American adults will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines by April 19, and vaccination sites would be within five miles of an individual's home. |
| ⚖ Arkansas House Bill 1570, which would ban gender confirmation surgeries and hormone prescriptions for anyone younger than 18 in the state, is headed to the governor's desk. It also does not have a provision for youth who are currently transitioning. |
| 🎶 Recapping two of TV's top singing competitions: Kelsea Ballerini filled in for an under-the-weather Kelly Clarkson on Monday's episode of "The Voice," which was the first Battle Round of the season. Over on ABC, "American Idol" judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan have officially found their top 24 who will sing for America's vote. Richie had to watch the performances remotely while quarantining at home after potential exposure to COVID-19. |
| 🏀 The stakes were high Monday night in the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments. With a trip to the Final Four on the line, Houston and Baylor won on the men's side. In the women's event, UConn advanced, in controversial fashion, and Arizona secured its first-ever Final Four appearance. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, race and diversity reporter N'dea Yancey-Bragg has the latest from the Derek Chauvin trial. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
WHO report on COVID-19 outlines likely virus origins |
| A report from the World Health Organization — that is expected to be made public Tuesday — says that transmission of COVID-19 from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is "extremely unlikely," according to a draft copy obtained by the Associated Press. However, pinpointing the exact natural source of viruses is an endeavor that normally takes years, and a task the WHO team of experts never meant to do. The U.S. continues to lead the world in coronavirus cases, with more than 30 million. |
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Memorial service to be held for officer killed in Boulder shooting |
| First responders and supporters lined overpasses for miles along the I-25 interstate as the Colorado State Highway Patrol escorted Officer Eric Talley's mother from New Mexico to Boulder for her son's funeral . Talley was the first police officer to respond to frantic 911 calls during a deadly shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, where he was one of 10 killed in the attack. A funeral mass for Talley was held Monday in Denver for close friends, family and fellow officers, and a public memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. MT on Tuesday. It will be live-streamed at bouldercolorado.gov. Talley, 51, had seven children and had been with the Boulder police since 2010. |
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 | | Eric Talley was "one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department," the district attorney said. | | AP | |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 TV personality and former "Today" anchor Katie Couric, 64, went makeup-free for a magazine spread published Monday. Though she admitted she was hesitant about a bare-faced photo shoot at first, the experience made her feel "liberated and vulnerable." |
| 🔵 Nearly 200 tortoises, all younger than three months old, were found inside a suitcase wrapped in plastic at an airport on the Galapagos Islands, a province of Ecuador, over the weekend in what officials say was an attempt to smuggle the animals off the islands. |
| 🔵 Singer Lil Nas X collaborated with streetwear company MSCHF on the limited release of Satan Shoes and just 666 pairs of shoes went on sale Monday for $1,018, a reference to Luke 10:18, a Bible verse about Satan's fall from heaven. The shoes immediately sold out, according to MSCHF, and caused a social media furor. Nike has since filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against MSCHF. |
| 🔵 The Ever Given is no longer stuck in the Suez Canal, but it will take days to clear ships waiting to enter. How did they get the ship out? Our Graphics team explained how the operation unfolded. |
| 🔵 Rachel Bilson is letting the world in on the time "Bohemian Rhapsody" star Rami Malek asked her to delete an Instagram photo of the two while they were on a high school group trip that she shared in the middle of his 2019 Oscar run. |
More rain, possible floods in the forecast for swamped South |
| After a deadly and devastating weekend of flooding in portions of the South, another round of rain is forecast for the region Tuesday and Wednesday . Over the weekend, surging water battered the Nashville area, killing at least five people and forcing scores to flee their homes. Showers and thunderstorms are forecast along the Gulf Coast and are expected to expand north into Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky on Tuesday night, AccuWeather said. Unlike weather systems in recent weeks which spawned dozens of tornadoes and wide swaths of wind damage across the South, a large-scale outbreak of severe weather is not anticipated, according to AccuWeather. |
| • | 'It's been a very tough year': At least four dead as record rainfall slams Tennessee; flooding remains a threat | | • | Millions of Americans think they're safe from floodwaters. They aren't | |
Newsmakers in their own words: NCAA coach is down on COVID-19 testing |
| "I don't think my words matter, but after the games today, tomorrow, there's four teams left I think on the men's side and the women's side. They need to dump the COVID testing." |
| Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey said Monday night that the NCAA should stop COVID testing at both the men's and women's tournaments ahead of the Final Four so no player runs the risk of testing positive and being ruled out. Columnist Nancy Armour, while noting that Mulkey had COVID-19 earlier this year, says that, "to suggest that a basketball game, even one in the Final Four or for the national title, is more important than a player or coach's health is as troubling as it is ignorant." |
New York legislators could vote to legalize recreational marijuana |
| New York lawmakers could vote to legalize recreational marijuana Tuesday — which would make it the 15th state to permit the drug for recreational use. The vote comes after Senate and Assembly leaders announced on Saturday an agreement with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on a plan to legalize and regulate cannabis products for adult use in the state. If the legislation is approved, retail marijuana sales would be taxed at 13%, with 9% going to the state and 4% going to local and county governments. Criminal penalties for possession of less than three ounces would be removed, and those with prior convictions would see their records automatically expunged. The legislation is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled Legislature, and Cuomo has pledged support as well. |
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Last tickets punched: Down to the Final Four in men's, women's tournaments |
| The NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments will see the last spots in the Final Four filled with championship matchups Tuesday night. On the men's side in Indianapolis, two top seeds will take on two teams from the Pac-12 that no one expected to get this far . In the early game, which is the West Region final, sixth-seeded USC will take on the unbeaten No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga (TBS, 4:15 p.m. ET). Later, No. 11 UCLA, which played in the First Four games, will face top seed Michigan in East Region final. The winners will join Monday's victorious teams Houston and Baylor in the Final Four. On the women's side in San Antonio, Hemisfair Region top seed South Carolina will take on No. 6 Texas in the early game (ESPN, 4 p.m. ET) and the later game will feature the top two seeds in the Alamo region, No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Louisville, facing off. The victors will join UConn and first-time Final Four participant Arizona as region winners. |
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ICYMI: Some of our other top stories published Monday |
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| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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