Month: March 2021

NBC News: “Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a crucial swing-vote in the Senate Democrats’ slim majority, said Sunday that he won’t bend in his support for the filibuster, a Senate rule that forces most legislation to require bipartisan support to pass. But he added that he would be open to Democrats passing more important legislation like voting reforms…

Axios: “Sen. Lindsey Graham told “Axios on HBO” that Donald Trump has a “dark side” but he tries to “harness the magic” because he succeeded where Republican candidates like John McCain and Mitt Romney failed. Why it matters: The South Carolina Republican gyrates between support and criticism of the former president, even after Trump harshly criticized McCain —…

Reuters: “The district attorney investigating whether former U.S. President Donald Trump illegally interfered with Georgia’s 2020 election has hired an outside lawyer who is a national authority on racketeering, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has enlisted the help of Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, who wrote a…

USA Today: “President Joe Biden expressed support Sunday night for Amazon warehouse workers’ push to unionize in Alabama, saying in a video that they have the right to organize without pressure from their employer. Biden did not mention Amazon by name, but referenced “workers in Alabama” facing a “vitally important” vote over the coming weeks. He said unions “lift…

Wall Street Journal: “The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Friday signaled it didn’t intend to reverse $16 billion in electric overcharges that an independent market monitor had flagged as stemming from the state’s weeklong blackouts. Commission Chairman Arthur C. D’Andrea said it was too difficult to reprice the energy markets and involved too many…

CBS News: “A bill moving through Kentucky’s Senate would make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer during a riot. Supporters say the bill targets people who unlawfully “cross the line” but opponents call it a blatant attempt to crush protests and a violation of First Amendment rights. Senate Bill 211 mandates up…

The Hill: “President Biden on Wednesday denounced the governors of Texas and Mississippi for lifting coronavirus restrictions, calling the moves “Neanderthal thinking.” “I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the two states lifting their mask mandates and all capacity limits on businesses on Tuesday. “I hope everybody’s…

Politico: “Joan Higginbotham, a former NASA astronaut and the third Black woman to go to space, is seriously considering running for Senate in North Carolina as a Democrat, according to multiple people familiar with her deliberations. Higginbotham, 56, has never run for political office before and would be entering what is expected to be one…

Axios Charlotte: “By the numbers: Bitzer, a Catawba professor who runs the Old North State Politics site, says that while most people are focused on the overall number of defections (20,218 Republicans have gone unaffiliated vs. 9,595 for Democrats), he’s most interested in where they’re coming from.  31% are from suburban counties like Cabarrus and Gaston and others just…

The Guardian: “The archdiocese of New Orleans, as well as Roman Catholic leaders in St Louis, Missouri, have told local Catholics to avoid the Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine, because its early development used “morally compromised cell lines created from two abortions”. The leadership in New Orleans said two other vaccines in use in the…