They grew up legally in the US but can’t stay after they turn 21
More than 200,000 children grew up in the U.S. under the protection of their parents’ temporary visas, which can be renewed indefinitely. But the children risk losing their legal status when they turn 21. Unable to become permanent residents because of backlogs or because they were never eligible, they must obtain a different visa, remain in the United States without legal status or leave entirely. Now some of them are urging the Biden administration, if it will not provide a path to citizenship, to offer a way for them to legally remain in the country.
Connecticut moves to blunt impact of other states’ anti-abortion laws
Connecticut lawmakers approved a bill Friday that takes direct aim at states that have passed aggressive anti-abortion laws as the country prepares for a Supreme Court ruling this summer that could weaken or overturn the constitutional right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade. The Connecticut bill, which Gov. Ned Lamont has said he intends to sign, would expand the field of people who can perform certain types of abortions beyond doctors. The law would also shield abortion providers and patients from lawsuits initiated by states that have banned or plan to ban abortion, even outside their own borders.
Naomi Judd, of Grammy-winning duo The Judds, dies at 76
Naomi Judd, the Kentucky-born singer of the Grammy-winning duo The Judds and mother of Wynonna and Ashley Judd, has died. She was 76. The daughters announced her death on Saturday in a statement provided to The Associated Press. The statement said that they lost their mother to “the disease of mental illness.”It did not elaborate further. The Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday. Led by Wynonna’s powerful vocals and Naomi’s harmonies, their hits included “Love Can Build a Bridge,” “Mama He’s Crazy,” and “Rockin’ With the Rhythm of the Rain.” The mother-daughter performers scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades.
Man charged with hate crimes after nooses and racist notes found
A Michigan man who is accused of attempting to intimidate supporters of the Black Lives Matters movement by leaving nooses and threatening notes in his community and making racist threats in phone calls has been charged with hate crimes, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday. The man, Kenneth Pilon, 61, faces six counts of interfering with federally protected activities after racist notes were found in Saginaw, Michigan, and racist calls were made to Starbucks stores in the summer of 2020, prosecutors said in court filings in the U.S. Eastern District of Michigan.
Engineers discover 19 Revolutionary War cannons in Georgia river
The first cannon pulled up from Georgia’s Savannah River surprised the workers for the Army Corps of Engineers who dredged them out of the riverbed’s clay. The next two piqued their interest and brought divers, archaeologists and sonar operators to search for more centuries-old treasures. By the time the dredging project ended in March, the corps had brought 19 cannons to the surface. All were thought to be from the HMS Savannah, one of several British vessels sunk in an area called Five Fathom Hole. The Savannah was sunk to block the advance of French troops, who were allied with the rebels, in September 1779.
Pakistani airstrikes escalate conflict on Afghan border
Predawn airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost and Kunar provinces two weeks ago, killing at least 45 people, marked a serious escalation of the cross-border conflict in this remote, wild and rocky stretch of the country and exacerbated tensions between the two countries that have navigated a delicate relationship since the Taliban seized power last year. In recent months, attacks by Pakistani militants have surged: Since August, the Pakistani Taliban have carried out 82 attacks in Pakistan, more than double the number over the same period of the previous year, according to the Islamabad-based Pak Institute of Peace Studies.
Angelina Jolie makes surprise Ukraine visit, meets children
Hollywood actress and U.N. humanitarian Angelina Jolie has made a surprise visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. The area’s regional governor said Jolie — who has been a UNHCR Special Envoy for Refugees since 2011 — had come to speak Saturday with displaced Ukrainians who had found refuge in Lviv. Those included children undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in the Russian missile strike on the Kramatorsk railway station. The attack in the eastern Ukrainian city appeared to deliberately target a crowd of mostly women and children trying to flee a looming Russian offensive, killing at least 52 and wounding dozens. Jolie also visited a school, talking with students and taking selfies with them.
By wire sources