Biden says his Infrastructure vow was not intended to be a veto threat
WASHINGTON — Aiming to preserve a fragile bipartisan deal on infrastructure, President Joe Biden endorsed it “without hesitation” Saturday, walking back from a threat to veto it if Congress also didn’t pass an even larger package to expand the social safety net.
Biden said he didn’t mean to suggest in earlier remarks that he would veto the nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill unless Congress also passed a broader package of investments that he and fellow Democrats aim to approve along party lines, the two together totaling some $4 trillion.
Speaking on Thursday moments after fulfilling his hopes of reaching a bipartisan accord, Biden appeared to put the deal in jeopardy with his comment that the infrastructure bill would have to move in “tandem” with the larger bill.
Though Biden had been clear he would pursue the massive new spending for child care, Medicare and other investments, Republicans balked at the president’s notion that he would not sign one without the other. “If this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it,” Biden said then of the infrastructure bill. “It’s in tandem.”
By Saturday, Biden was seeking to clarify those comments, after his top negotiators Steve Ricchetti and Louisa Terrell worked to assure senators that Biden remained enthusiastic about the deal.
5 dead after hot air balloon crashes in Albuquerque street
A hot air balloon hit a power line and crashed onto a busy street in Albuquerque on Saturday, killing all five people on board, including the parents of an Albuquerque police officer, police said.
The crash happened around 7 a.m. in the city’s west side, police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. Police identified two of the passengers as Martin Martinez, 59, and Mary Martinez, 62 — the parents of a prison transport officer with the Albuquerque Police Department.
Police did not immediately release the others’ names but said the male pilot, and a female and male passenger were from central New Mexico.
Martin Martinez also had worked for Albuquerque police on bicycle patrol but most recently was a sergeant with the local school district’s police force, authorities said. Some Albuquerque officers who responded to the crash had worked with him and were sent home because it took a toll on them, said police Chief Harold Medina.
“It really emphasized the point that no matter how big we think we are, we’re still a tight-knit community and incidents like this affect us all,” Medina said.
Experts: Impact of Chauvin case on policing yet to be seen
Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin ‘s conviction and lengthy prison sentence in George Floyd’s murder could lead to better police hiring and training, law enforcement experts say. It could spur more effort to build trust among officers and communities.
And it might have made the public — and future jurors — more receptive to longstanding complaints about police interactions with minorities.
Even so, the case was so unusual — from bystander video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes to police department brass testifying against him — that it’s difficult to say it was a watershed moment for lasting change.
” The conviction was critically important, in part, because of how blatant the violence was and because of the way in which the video couldn’t allow the lies that police often tell in these situations to dominate the narrative,” said Sheila A. Bedi, a professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law and director of the school’s Community Justice &Civil Rights Clinic.
But the outcome in Chauvin’s case — including his 22 1/2-year sentence — doesn’t address deep-rooted issues of race and violence affecting police interactions with minorities that don’t result in charges or convictions against officers, said Bedi, who has been involved in numerous use-of-force lawsuits against the Chicago Police Department.
Portland records hottest day ever amid Northwest scorcher
PORTLAND, Ore. — Utility workers and wildlife managers across the Pacific Northwest were trying to keep people and animals safe Saturday as a historic heat wave scorched the region, toppling records and sending residents searching for relief.
Stores sold out of portable air conditioners and fans, hospitals canceled outdoor vaccination clinics, cities opened cooling centers, baseball teams canceled or moved up weekend games, and utilities braced for possible power outages.
Portland, Oregon, had the hottest day ever recorded — reaching 108 degrees Fahrenheit Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record for Oregon’s largest city was 107 F, a mark hit in 1965 and 1981.
From wire sources
Seattle reached 101 F (38.3), making it the hottest June day on record and only the fourth time in recorded history the usually temperate city had topped 100 degrees.
Other cities and towns from eastern Washington state to southern Oregon were also expected to break records, with temperatures in many areas expected to top out up to 30 degrees above normal.
In Georgia, Herschel Walker puts GOP in a holding pattern
ATLANTA — The recently ousted former senator who wants her job back. A football hero considering his first run for office. Little-known politicians eyeing promotions. And a former president overshadowing them all in a state he lost last November.
Republicans’ U.S. Senate nomination in a premier battleground like Georgia is a plum political prize, but a year before GOP voters choose a nominee for the 2022 midterms, they have no clear options. That leaves some power players worried about the party’s chances to defeat freshman Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock as they try to reclaim a Senate majority.
The glaring unknown as potential contenders consider their plans: whether political neophyte Herschel Walker will enter the race with the endorsement of his close friend, Donald Trump. Walker was a beloved Heisman Trophy winner for the University of Georgia and retired professional football star who played in the short-lived U.S. Football League when Trump was a team owner in the 1980s. Now, Trump is the former president who has divided Georgia Republicans with promises of vengeance against those he insists didn’t do enough to help him overturn his defeat.
Together, they may be the most popular duo among Georgia Republicans.
Walker, who has joined in Trump’s false assertions that the 2020 election was fraudulent, has stoked chatter about a Senate bid for months and discussed the race with national party leaders including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, head of the GOP’s Senate campaign committee.