As Biden Runs Again, Black Voters’ Frustration Bubbles
President Joe Biden began his reelection campaign this past week vowing to “finish the job” he started in 2021. No one wants him to do that more than Black voters, who resurrected Biden’s struggling presidential campaign and sent him to the White House. Some of Black voters’ biggest policy priorities — stronger federal protections against restrictive voting laws, student loan debt relief, and criminal justice and police accountability measures — have failed or stalled. Those disappointments, highlighted in interviews with more than three dozen Black voters, organizers and elected officials in recent weeks, leave open the question of just how enthusiastic Democrats’ most important group of voters will be in 2024.
Rape Case Places Trump in Legal Jeopardy. Politically, He’s Thriving.
During E. Jean Carroll’s first day on the witness stand, her lawyer asked what had brought her to a federal courtroom. “I am here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” Carroll replied. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I am here to try to get my life back.” A day later, Trump, who has denied the attack, campaigned in New Hampshire. He did not mention Carroll’s testimony or the civil trial going on 250 miles away, instead remarking cheerfully on a poll released that day that showed him far and away leading the 2024 Republican primary field.
George Santos, Instead of Shrinking From the Spotlight, Steps Into It
Four months after his whole concocted biography unraveled, Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., remains a pariah. But rather than shrinking from the attention, the 34-year-old congressman is stepping ever more definitively toward the spotlight. Santos seems eager to test whether he can make the journey from laughingstock to legitimacy by aligning himself with former President Donald Trump — or at least signaling that he’s in on the joke. “I’m not going anywhere,” he recently declared. “You’re going to have to drag my dead, cold body out of this institution.”
South Carolina Democrats Elect First Black Woman to Run State Party
South Carolina Democrats elected Christale Spain, the former executive director of the state Democratic Party, as state party chair at their convention Saturday. She ran with the backing of the party’s top brass, including Rep. James Clyburn, and will be the first Black woman to lead the state party. A longtime organizer in Palmetto State politics, Spain was considered the front-runner in the race. Her connections, paired with her campaign strategy — characterized by social media blasts and regular visits to county party meetings and cattle calls — ultimately delivered her the victory. She won with the support of nearly 700 of the party’s roughly 1,000 state delegates in a standing vote.
New California Rule Would Ban Sale of Diesel Trucks by 2036
California state regulators approved Friday a ban on the sale of new big rigs and buses that run on diesel by 2036, going beyond the federal government in issuing requirements to reduce emissions and setting the stage for other states to follow suit. The rule is the latest in a series of increasingly ambitious moves by California and the federal government to curb planet-warming pollution from vehicles, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases. The California Air Resources Board approved the regulation, which by 2045 would fully eliminate the sale of new trucks that emit carbon dioxide across the state.
Sudan’s Conflict Ignites Fears of Civil War in Darfur
After a cease-fire faltered in Sudan’s capital, two weeks of fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group have reignited violence in Darfur, a region scarred by two decades of genocidal conflict. A cease-fire scheduled to end Sunday night fell apart Saturday as the capital, Khartoum, came under artillery fire and airstrikes. In the Darfur region, a security vacuum has emerged. Armed groups have looted health care facilities and burned households, and marketplaces have gone up in flames. “The tensions and the fighting we’re facing, they could lead to a civil war,” said Ahmed Gouja, a human rights monitor based in Nyala, Darfur’s largest city.
Large Fire Burns at Crimea Fuel Depot After Suspected Drone Attack
A drone attack on a fuel depot in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea set off an enormous fire Saturday, a Russian official said, in the latest assault on a peninsula key to Moscow’s war effort. The port city is home to the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet. The Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 and has been heavily fortified in the years since, has increasingly become a target of attacks. The Kremlin-appointed local governor, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said the blaze was caused by “enemy drones” and that there would be no evacuation of the local area. Ukrainian officials did not claim responsibility for Saturday’s blaze.
After Warmth From Biden, South Korea’s Leader Faces a Different Tune at Home
When President Yoon Suk Yeol went to Washington to reset South Korean diplomacy by drawing closer to the United States and taking a larger role on the international stage, President Joe Biden welcomed him as “my friend.” Yoon is bringing home is the “Washington Declaration,” a joint statement in which Biden promised that Washington would embrace South Korea as a close consultative partner in its nuclear strategy over the Korean Peninsula — though American presidents will remain the sole authority on whether to actually use nuclear weapons. But like everything else Yoon has done since his election last year, the reviews in South Korea were polarized.
Ticketmaster Finds Itself in a Royal Mess Over Coronation Concert
At five minutes past noon Tuesday, Ticketmaster sent many people in Britain an email: “Congratulations, you have been successful in the ballot” for two tickets to King Charles’ coronation concert. But dozens of people who believed they had secured entry to the concert were quickly let down once they tried to collect tickets. Many Twitter users posted screenshots of the “congratulations” email and expressed frustration about the confusing messaging. Ticketmaster was tasked with issuing 10,000 free tickets to the concert being held on May 7 through balloting, a process that fans are saying the site has made a mess of.
Scientist Looks Anew at Wuhan Market Data, Stressing the Unknowns
A new study of genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, said the data did not support the case that the pandemic had started with illegally traded animals, touching off fresh debate about how COVID-19 reached humans. The study said it was difficult to draw conclusions about whether samples of the virus had come from infected live animals or were simply from incidental contamination. Several outside experts said the analysis, posted online this past week by the study’s author, Jesse Bloom, a virus expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, could have been affected by a number of unknown variables and decisions about how to filter the data.
Under the Hollywood Spotlight, a Fading Welsh Town Is Reborn
Wales has its legends of heroes, but few could have predicted that an unlikely pair of Hollywood actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, would waltz into Wrexham, a working-class town, just over two years ago and buy its ailing soccer club, Wrexham AFC, the country’s oldest team. After paying around $2.5 million, Reynolds and McElhenney revitalized the training facilities and upgraded the roster, offering salaries that attracted established players from the upper levels of English soccer. Last Saturday, the story got its Hollywood ending — the team’s promotion after its winning season into the English Football League — after a 15-year absence. In that moment, a town was reborn.
By wire sources