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…

Watauga Watch: “Very interesting interview appeared in the Whiteville News Reporter in which Doug Smith, president of the North Carolina Oath Keepers, disavowed what happened in Washington on January 6th and said he and his fellow NC members wanted nothing to do with those guys who sacked the Capitol. Whiteville is the county seat of Columbus County, which…

CNBC: “The governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced Tuesday that they are lifting mask mandates and allowing businesses to reopen at full capacity even as the decline in daily Covid-19 cases slows and federal officials urge states to exercise caution. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news briefing at Montelongo’s Mexican Restaurant in Lubbock…

The Progressive Pulse: “North Carolina law enforcement officers searched Black drivers and/or their vehicles almost twice as often as their white counterparts, and at a much higher rate than drivers of other races, according to a report released by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center on Monday. The Center within the Governor’s Crime Commission is charged…