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| Happy Thursday, Daily Briefing readers! Many eyes likely will be on the Midwest and Washington today: In the nation's capital, a group of Democrats is set to introduce a bill to expand the Supreme Court by four seats and the Biden administration is likely to announce additional sanctions for Russia. In Minnesota, the defense will call at least one more witness in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin while in Chicago, officials will release body-camera video showing the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo. |
| Steve and Jane are here with Thursday's news. |
| Let's get started with some news items that people are talking about this morning. |
| 🌎 For the fourth night in a row, demonstrators gathered outside the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police headquarters demanding justice and accountability over the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man. Early Thursday, a Minnesota State Patrol official said about 24 people had been arrested during protests. |
| 📊 President Joe Biden has considerably higher job approval ratings than Congress as he nears his first 100 days in office, according to new national polls from Quinnipiac University and Monmouth University. |
| 🏀 Baylor University and men's basketball coach Scott Drew have refused to accept a vehicle wrapped with the school's national championship logo after an insensitive remark made by the dealership's general manager. |
| 🥤 Bubble tea products, also called boba, are becoming harder to find as another COVID-19-related shortage takes hold. The blockage of the Suez Canal by a large cargo ship last month is being blamed for the delays. |
| 😊 Your morning smile: 😊 Normally, eliminations from TV singing competitions don't provide many opportunities for smiles, but last night's episode of "The Masked Singer" saw (SPOILER ALERT!) Orca, who turned out to be Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath, quite flattered after some judges' guesses. "Dave Grohl? Bon Jovi?" he said. "My head is still as big as Orca is right now." |
| 👋 April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Join us today at 3 p.m. ET on Clubhouse for a conversation on myths, how different generations are coping – especially during a pandemic – and how the dialogue has changed over the years. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, listen to what protesters are saying on the ground in Minnesota. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
Democrats to introduce legislation to expand Supreme Court by four seats |
| Democrats will introduce a bill to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, New York Rep. Mondaire Jones said in a tweet Wednesday night. Jones said he is introducing the Judiciary Act of 2021 with Reps. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.; Hank Johnson, D-Ga. and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Nadler, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said during a Wednesday meeting that an announcement would be made Thursday. During that meeting, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, interrupted a spirited back and forth between committee members about other legislation to ask about a report in The Intercept on the Democrats' plan. Other Republicans followed suit and spoke about the potential for "court packing." Progressive groups also have spoken out against adding justices to the high court and have been pushing for a number of other ideas. Legislation to expand the court would face an uphill battle in the evenly divided Senate. |
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Defense to call at least one more witness in Derek Chauvin murder trial |
| At least one more witness will take the stand for the defense Thursday in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. The witness will appear after Judge Peter Cahill initially suggested the defense would finish calling witnesses Wednesday and told the prosecution to prepare any rebuttal overnight. However, at the end of the session, Cahill noted at least one more witness was expected to testify. Thursday's witness will follow five hours of testimony Wednesday from Dr. David Fowler, a medical expert for the defense, who said the manner of Floyd's death was "undetermined." Fowler's testimony contradicts that of several prosecution witnesses, who said Floyd died from low oxygen due to law enforcement restraint. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death in police custody on May 25, 2020. |
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What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 Ex-Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, officer Kim Potter was released on $100,000 bond Wednesday after she was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright during a. |
| 🔵 The official Instagram account for the British royal family shared a rare photo of the late Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II with all of their great-grandchildren. |
 | | Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip pose with their great-grandchildren in 2018. | | The Duchess of Cambridge via Getty Images | |
| 🔵 Windsor, Virginia, Police Department Chief Rodney D. Riddle said he does not think Army Lt. Caron Nazario, a Black and Latino military officer, is in need of an official apology after two of his officers accosted Nazario, who was threatened with a Taser and pepper sprayed. |
| 🔵 Former "Bachelor" star ex-NFL player Colton Underwood has come out as gay. The dating show alum, 29, opened up about coming to terms with his sexuality during an interview on "Good Morning America." |
 | | Former "Bachelor" Colton Underwood came out as gay on ABC's "Good Morning America." | | USA TODAY | |
| 🔵 A body recovered from the Mississippi River in Louisiana was identified as missing LSU freshman student Kori Gauthier, authorities said. |
Chicago to release body-camera video showing fatal shooting of Adam Toledo |
| Chicago city officials announced they will release "video and other materials related to" the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by an officer who chased him into an alley. The decision comes after the Toledo family viewed police body camera video showing the shooting Tuesday. Officials informed the Toledo family, through their attorney, about the planned release of the video, according to a statement from the city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability. The materials released will include bodycam footage, as well as response and arrest reports. Toledo was killed in the early morning hours of March 29. When police arrived on the scene on the city's West Side after eight gunshots were detected, Toledo and a 21-year-old man fled, authorities said. The officer shot Toledo once in the chest after an "armed confrontation," police said. Prosecutors have said the boy was holding a gun when the officer shot him. |
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Newsmakers in their own words: Reaction to Biden's Afghanistan plan |
| "I'm hopeful that I am wrong and that the Afghan government can stave off the Taliban. "But I am not optimistic that will occur." |
| –Retired Maj. Gen. Mark Quantock, the former intelligence chief for Central Command, which oversaw operations in Afghanistan, is quite pessimistic about what will happen to the country's U.S.-supported government once the U.S. pulls its remaining troops from the nation. |
| Quantock sketched out how he sees the near future unfolding while speaking to Tom Vanden Brook. |
United States poised to announce sanctions on Russia |
| The Biden administration is preparing to announce sanctions in response to a massive Russian hacking campaign that breached vital federal agencies, as well as for election interference, a senior administration official told the Associated Press. The sanctions, which will be announced Thursday, would represent the first retaliatory action announced against the Kremlin for last year's hack , known as the SolarWinds breach. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely-used software with malicious code that enabled them to access the networks of at least nine agencies. The measures are intended to send a clear retributive message to Russia and to deter similar acts in the future. They come amid an already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia, with President Joe Biden telling Russian President Vladimir Putin this week that the U.S. would "act firmly in defense of its national interests." |
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Thursday is a busy day in the world of sports: |
| 🔴 All players, managers, coaches and umpires will wear No. 42 to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, marking the anniversary of the date the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer made his Major League Baseball debut and broke the sport's color barrier in 1947. |
| 🔴 After years of discussion, the NCAA will allow athletes in football and basketball to transfer schools once during their undergraduate careers without losing a year of eligibility. |
| 🔴The WNBA will welcome new talent to the league Thursday night with the 2021 draft (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), which will feature 36 picks over three rounds ahead of the league's 25th season. All eyes will be on Dallas as the Wings hold three of the top five picks, including the first two. |
Suspect in Kristin Smart case to be arraigned |
| The "prime suspect" in the 25-year-disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart will be arraigned Thursday . Paul Flores, 44, the last person seen with Smart before she vanished in 1996, was taken into custody in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday and has been booked on the charge of murder with zero bail. His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was also arrested at his Arroyo Grande home. Smart, 19, of Stockton, California, vanished in May 1996 while returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo after a party. She was seen with Paul Flores, who was a student at the time. Smart's body has not yet been recovered by police, but physical evidence linked to her has been recovered, according to authorities. |
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ICYMI: Some of our other top stories published Wednesday |
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| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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