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| We made it to Friday, Daily Briefing readers! Job well done! We've got an exclusive interview with Vice President Kamala Harris as part of our Women's History Month coverage. Also on the docket: President Joe Biden will continue putting the final touches on another ambitious legislative effort. And if you enjoy entertainment franchises being brought back decades after you thought they were long gone, "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers" is the series for you! |
| Steve and Jane are here to close the week with Friday's news. |
| Let's get started with what people are talking about today. |
| 🌪 At least five people died Thursday as multiple tornadoes touched down in Alabama, the second line of severe storms to slam the state in two weeks. The tornadoes moved across Alabama and neighboring Georgia, the National Weather Service said, and there were reports of homes destroyed, trees knocked over, and people injured and trapped. Some storms may occur Friday as well. |
| ⚖ Georgia Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon was arrested by Capitol police after knocking on the door of Gov. Brian Kemp's office as he signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections. The controversial legislation includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run. |
| 📺 Jessica Walter, the star of TV shows such as "Arrested Development" and "Archer," died Wednesday in New York City. She was 80. Walter's three "Arrested Development" TV sons, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Tony Hale, shared tributes online. |
| 📻 Rob Lederman, host of "The Morning Bull Show" in Buffalo, compared Serena Williams, Halle Berry and Gayle King's skin tones to toaster settings, despite acknowledging that he "may get into trouble for this." He did: Lederman got fired and co-hosts Chris Klein and Rich "Bull" Gaenzler were suspended, according to a report. |
| 🏀 Grand Canyon University senior basketball player Oscar Frayer was killed in a car accident in California on Tuesday, the San Joaquin Medical Examiner's Office confirmed. His sister, 28-year-old Andrea Moore, also died. The accident happened three days after Frayer scored eight points in GCU's men's NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Iowa. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, you can hear part of USA TODAY's interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| And, have you been paying attention to the news? Test your knowledge with our weekly quiz! |
| Here's what's happening today: |
Vice President Harris' message to women: 'You are strong' |
| In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY's editor in chief Nicole Carroll and columnist Suzette Hackney published Friday morning, Vice President Kamala Harris said the pandemic has been "devastating" for women , especially women of color. Women are leaving the workforce in alarming numbers. Burdened with the brunt of child care responsibilities while children are learning from home, Black and Latina women in particular are falling deeper into poverty. Harris called the regression a "national emergency." She also expressed empathy and concern for women trying to claw their way out of the abyss, with their family members. "Know you are not alone," Harris said. "Know that you are supported and know that your voice is strong. It's strong, and don't let any circumstance diminish that or take your power from you. You are powerful." |
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President Biden plans to unveil next major legislative effort |
| President Joe Biden is planning to introduce his administration's next major legislative effort in Pittsburgh on Friday, alluding to it during his first White House news conference a day earlier. Although Biden wasn't directly asked about the planned legislation, he addressed it, pivoting from a question about gun control to describe a sweeping economic recovery bill. "The next major initiative … is to rebuild the infrastructure, both physical and technological infrastructure of this country, so that we can compete and create significant numbers of really good paying jobs, really good paying jobs," he said. "There's so much we can do." |
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What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 Prince Albert II of Monaco gave his take on Prince Harry's and Duchess Meghan's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, saying he found their "public display of dissatisfaction" inappropriate. "It's very difficult to be in someone's place," he acknowledged. But he said he believes "these types of conversations should be held within the intimate quarters of the family." |
| 🔵 USA TODAY Editorial Board members David Mastio, a libertarian conservative, and Jill Lawrence, a center-left liberal, have a few opinions about President Biden's first news conference Thursday. As Mastio explains, "For Republicans looking for a fall-down-on-the-floor laughing gaffe from a befuddled and overwhelmed 78-year-old president, that press conference was a disaster. There was nothing to grab on to." |
| 🔵 The NBA's trade deadline came and went and there was a flurry of player movement. Some of the winners: the Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets and the Chicago Bulls. One of the losers: the Houston Rockets. |
| 🔵 Richard Gilliland – whose numerous acting credits include the CBS sitcom "Designing Women," where he met his wife of nearly 34 years, Jean Smart – died last week following a brief illness. He was 71. |
Updates expected in Colorado mass shooting |
| Boulder police will hold a news conference Friday morning to discuss the latest in their investigation of the March 22 supermarket shooting that left 10 people dead. A judge on Thursday ordered the suspect, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, to be held without bail pending an assessment "to address his mental illness." Researchers and advocates earlier said any rush to cast blame on a mental illness is misplaced. "There's no psychotic illness whose symptom is shooting other people," said Dr. Jonathan Metzl, director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University. Meanwhile, the shooter's Ruger AR-556 pistol has stirred an ongoing national debate on guns — with experts concerned that the rifle-looking weapon is helping people skirt firearm laws. The Ruger looks like a rifle and operates like one, but is not — at least, not under current gun laws. |
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Newsmakers in their own words: Lawmakers vs. tech CEOs |
| "This panel has done something truly rare in Washington these days: It has united Democrats and Republicans. Your industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself." |
| Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, was one of the lawmakers who slammed the leaders of Facebook, Google and Twitter for the role of their companies in a series of issues currently facing Americans: the deadly Capitol attack and for failing to police hate speech, conspiracy theories, extremism, and COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation on their platforms. These were some of the hearing's key moments. |
Poet Amanda Gorman talks to Oprah |
| Amanda Gorman, who became a household name after reciting her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's and Vice President Kamala Harris' inauguration, recently sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey. The conversation, which will revisit her history-making moment, will air on Apple TV+ on Friday. She's also expected to talk about the women who inspire her, including Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Winfrey herself, as well as discuss how she approached the now-famous poem's creation, personal stories that shaped her past, and her hopes for the future. |
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New 'Mighty Ducks' series debuts on the same day as Disney+'s price hike |
| Emilio Estevez returns to the acting spotlight as youth hockey coach Gordon Bombay in "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers," a 10-episode Disney+ series that premieres Friday. In the follow-up to the 1990s movie franchise, Gordon has a new challenge: help 12-year-old Evan (Brady Morrow) and his mom, played by Lauren Graham, create a new team after Evan gets dropped by the Ducks, who have morphed into a completely different and more cut-throat squad compared to the bunch fans fell in love with decades ago. Estevez, who had largely traded acting for directing, promises the series captures the films' "magic" but offers more than nostalgia. Coincidentally, the series will debut on the same day Disney+'s price hike will go into effect. As of Friday, the price of Disney+ will be $7.99/month or $79.99/year, a jump from $6.99 and $69.99. The price of The Disney Bundle with Hulu and ESPN+ (ad-supported) will be $13.99 per month, up from $12.99. |
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ICYMI: Some of our other top items published Thursday |
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| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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