Pandemic aid bill stalls over immigration restrictions
An election-year dispute over immigration policy emerged Tuesday as the latest obstacle to quick approval of a $10 billion coronavirus response bill, as Senate Republicans refused to advance the measure without a vote to keep in place pandemic-era border restrictions that President Joe Biden has moved to lift. While lawmakers in both parties have said they support the money for vaccines, testing and therapeutics, Republicans blocked action on it Tuesday, insisting that the chamber first vote to maintain the immigration policy, known as Title 42, which has restricted immigration at U.S. land borders since the beginning of the pandemic.
Oklahoma lawmakers approve near-total ban on abortion
Oklahoma lawmakers on Tuesday approved a near-total ban on abortion, making it the latest Republican-led state to forge ahead with stringent abortion legislation as the Supreme Court weighs a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade this year. The measure, Senate Bill 612, would make performing an abortion “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency” a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The Oklahoma House voted 70-14 to send the bill, which passed the Senate last year, to Gov. Kevin Stitt.
EPA to propose restrictions on asbestos
The Biden administration said it intends to ban one form of asbestos, the first time the federal government has moved to significantly restrict the toxic industrial material since 1989. Under the regulation proposed Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency would prohibit the use, manufacture and import of chrysotile asbestos, a type of asbestos that has been linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma. Chrysotile is the only raw form of asbestos known to be currently imported, processed or distributed for use in the United States. Known as “white asbestos,” it is used in roofing materials, textiles and cement.
Forecasters face loss of data
The National Weather Service has cut back on weather balloon launches at some of its sites because of shortages of hydrogen and helium used to lift them, potentially affecting forecasts and weather and climate research. The cutbacks, coupled with the closing of a launch site on Cape Cod last year, could especially affect forecasting in the New York-New England area, some scientists said. The agency said it would use data from balloons launched at nearby sites and from its other sources. “This temporary adjustment will not impact weather forecasts and warnings,” the agency said in announcing the cutbacks.
Canada introduces bill requiring online giants to share revenues with publishers
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government introduced legislation Tuesday that would require companies like the parents of Google and Facebook to pay Canadian media outlets for allowing links to news content on their platforms. Canadian publishers, many of which are struggling financially, have long pushed the government for such a measure, arguing that the advertising revenue that previously was the foundation of their businesses has overwhelmingly migrated to global online giants. That pressure increased after Australia passed a similar measure in 2021 and Europe revised its copyright laws to compensate publishers.
200,000 dead, one lone defendant as Darfur trial begins
They were known as the janjaweed. Their leader was reputed to be Ali Kushayb, who human rights groups say stood out for his ruthless efficiency in the government-led campaign to crush a 2003 rebellion in the Darfur region of Sudan. On Tuesday, Kushayb went on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is charged with 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, all of which he denies. Kushayb is the first suspect to be tried on charges of playing a major role in the campaign that took more than 200,000 lives and drove more than 2 million people from their homes.
Stolen Darwin notebooks, missing for decades, are returned
Twenty-two years after a pair of notebooks filled with Charles Darwin’s early musings went missing from the Cambridge University Library, they were anonymously returned last month along with a note: “Happy Easter.” Filled with Darwin’s scrawled handwriting and sketches from 1837, including the famous “tree of life” drawing, the notebooks recorded his thought process as he began sketching out ideas that would later develop into world-famous theories. There’s no way to know what prompted someone to hand back the notebooks. But Jessica Gardner, the university librarian, said she believed the public appeal for information in 2020, which prompted worldwide media coverage, could have been a factor.
White House to extend student loan pause
The Biden administration plans to freeze federal student loan payments through Aug. 31, extending a moratorium that has allowed millions of Americans to postpone payments during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an administration official familiar with the White House’s decision-making. Student loan payments were scheduled to resume May 1 after being halted since early in the pandemic. But following calls from Democrats in Congress, the White House plans to give borrowers additional time to prepare for payments. The action applies to more than 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student debt held by the federal government, according to the latest data from the Education Department.
Official: Sacramento shooting suspect seen on video with gun
A second suspect arrested Tuesday in connection with the mass shooting that killed six people in Sacramento had posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun hours before gunfire erupted, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Smiley Martin, 27, who is the brother of the first suspect taken into custody, was arrested while hospitalized with bullet wounds from the shooting in California’s capital. Martin was released from prison on probation in February after serving his term for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, prosecutors said.
By wire sources