Centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a pivotal vote in the U.S. Senate, on Sunday advocated making the procedural maneuver called the filibuster more "painful" to do, with Democrats concerned about Republicans obstructing President Joe Biden's legislative agenda. Some Democrats have advocated eliminating the filibuster to prevent Republicans from blocking Biden's initiatives. White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield made clear on Sunday that the president is not calling for ending the filibuster.
An Ohio college student is being kept alive so his organs can be donated after a fraternity hazing incident on Thursday left him in critical condition. Stone Foltz, 20, a sophomore at Bowling Green State University and a new member of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, was allegedly hazed during an initiation event where he was made to drink alcohol, school officials said. Foltz was taken to the hospital after the alleged incident, and remains there as of Sunday.
On the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday โ the name given to the events on March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama, which included a civil rights march led by the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and the violent response from state police โ former President Barack Obama's foundation revealed the text that will appear on the exterior of his planned presidential library in Chicago. The words will come from a speech Obama, the United States' first Black president, gave in Selma on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in 2015.
Two additional women accused New York governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment on Saturday, including a former press aide who detailed an uncomfortable embrace in a dimly lit hotel room and an assistant who said he made her feel like โjust a skirt.โ Former press aide Karen Hinton told the Washington Post that Cuomo, then head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, forced her into a โvery long, too long, too tight, too intimateโ embrace in a dimly lit Los Angeles hotel room in December 2000. The married press aide retreated but said โhe pulls me back for another intimate embrace.โ
French billionaire Olivier Dassault was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, a police source said, with President Emmanuel Macron paying tribute to the 69-year old conservative politician. Dassault was the eldest son of late French billionaire industrialist Serge Dassault, whose namesake Dassault Aviation, builds the Rafale war planes and owns Le Figaro newspaper. "Olivier Dassault loved France.
Security is being stepped up outside Trump Tower in New York ahead of the former president's first visit to the city since leaving the White House. Donald Trump was expected to arrive in Manhattan on Sunday night having moved to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida in January. Speculation was fuelled by reports of police planning to augment security outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, the building where he launched his bid for the presidency in 2015.
Far too many students were skipping online classes and failing this fall at Shaw High School in East Cleveland, one of the poorest districts in the nation and that the state had declared in โacademic distressโ before the pandemic. As absences increased through the holiday season, that โacademic distressโ was only getting worse. We saw students struggle in the remote period,โ said Henry Pettiegrew, CEO of the district of 1,800 students at Cleveland's border.
President Biden said Saturday that the Senate passage of his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package means the $1,400 direct payments for most Americans can begin going out later this month. Driving the news: The Senate voted 50-49 Saturday to approve the sweeping legislation. The House is expected to pass the Senate's version of the bill next week before it heads to Biden's desk for his signature.
Former President Donald Trump was often accused of having a complete disregard for the truth. When Saddam Hussein invaded the oil-rich emirate of Kuwait in August 1990, President George HW Bush snarled: "This will not stand." The Kuwaiti government-in-exile promptly hired a US public relations firm, Hill & Knowlton, whose Washington DC office was run by Bush's former chief of staff.
The Duke of Sussex is determined to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother at the unveiling of a statue of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whatever the fallout from his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Prince Harry hopes that the brothers can present a united frontย ย at Kensington Palace on July 1, which would have been the Princess's 60th birthday, in an attempt to move past their rift. A source close to Prince Harry insisted that whatever had been said and done, he desperately hoped to attend the event and considered it a priority.
An Iowa man was arrested after being accused of breaking into multiple women's homes. Trenton Williams, 29, is accused of recording women while they were sleeping. Williams is facing various charges, including three counts of stalking.
Tucker Carlson appeared to change his tune on supporters of the false QAnon conspiracy theory during his primetime show on Friday, describing them as โgentle people waving American flagsโ following the Capitol insurrection. The Fox News host said QAnon supporters โlike this countryโ and suggested some were โmaybe kind of confused with the wrong ideasโ while referring to the entirely inaccurate conspiracy theory, which claims former President Donald Trump is defending the world from a wealthy network of child predators, conveniently including his apparent political enemies, like Hillary Clinton, while ignoring his own friends and allies. โDo you ever notice how all the scary internet conspiracy theorists โ the radical QAnon people โ when you actually see them on camera or in jail cells, as a lot of them now are, are maybe kind of confused with the wrong ideas, but they're all kind of gentle people now waving American flags?โ he asked during his opening show on Friday, adding: โThey like this country.โ
The Queen has stressed the importance of keeping in touch with family to โtranscend boundaries or divisionโ in her annual Commonwealth Day message. It came as the world awaited the explosive revelations made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their Oprah Winfrey interview, as the Royal family braced itself for the damaging fallout. The Queen will not watch the controversial interview, which is being broadcast by CBS in the US at 1am UK time, but will receive a full breakfast briefing from aides in the morning.
A manhunt was underway Sunday in Minneapolis after the fatal shooting of a man near "George Floyd Square," an intersection that serves as a memorial to the man whose death at the hands of police in May set off Black Lives Matter protests across the nation. Police provided few details of the shooting, which took place less than 48 hours before jury selection is set to begin in the murder trial of the police officer charged in Floyd's death. Police spokesman John Elder said police were alerted to Saturday'sย shooting at about 5:45 p.m. local time and were told the victim or victims had been brought to the "autonomous zone" at the edge of the intersection.
When lawyers asked Donald Trump more than a decade ago to identify who estimated values on some of his signature properties, he pointed to his longtime accountant, Allen Weisselberg.
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert told Fox News that the Democrats are "obsessed with conspiracy theories." The congresswoman once said she hopes the QAnon conspiracy theory was real but denied being a follower. Freshman GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who has previously expressed support for QAnon, accused Democratic of being "obsessed with conspiracy theories."
A snorkeler spotted 25 bricks of cocaine while swimming off the Florida Keys on Wednesday. The unexpected find was reported to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and US Border Patrol. The bricks of cocaine are valued at more than $1.5 million.
The Queen will increase her official engagements this week as the Royal family responds to the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' Oprah Winfrey interview with a clear message about where the โfocusโ lies. Her Majesty, 94, is expected to be seen at least once this week as she carries out official duties via Zoom from Windsor Castle. All other senior members of the Royal family will also be highly visible as they conduct a raft of engagements, including marking International Women's Day.
When former President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky became the most powerful Republican in Washington DC. With the upper chamber evenly split between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, 79-year-old McConnell, who was reelected to his seventh term last year, will most certainly fight hard to regain the majority in 2022. However, McConnell, always a tactician, has created a list of successors in case he doesn't serve out his full term, which will expire in January 2027, according to The Intercept.
Daniel Joseph Morozewicz, a Maryland police officer, has been arrested on one count of child pornography. Authorities on Friday arrested a police officer from Maryland on a child porn possession charge while he had been on duty at a mass vaccination site. Daniel Joseph Morozewicz with the Rockville City Police Department is believed to have been in possession of "downloads containing images and videos of nude pre-pubescent females engaged in sexually explicit conduct," according to a statement from the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.
Mississippi GOP Gov. Tate Reeves defended his decision to end the state's mask mandate. Reeves told CNN's Jake Tapper that it was never his "objective" to eradicate the virus. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, in an interview Sunday defended his decision to roll back the state's mask requirement even as public health officials warn such actions are premature.
At long last, the USS Nimitzย returned home Sunday, close to a year after the aircraft carrier left Sinclair Inlet in Washington state. The 100,000-ton warship, in completing a deployment that includedย flying sorties against the Islamic State in the Middle East to navigating the disputed waters of the South China Sea, returns to Bremerton, Washington, having logged 99,000 miles. Most of its 3,000-plusย sailors, roughly half of which were serving in their first-ever deployment,ย boarded the warship April 1, 2020 to quarantine for COVID-19.
Federico Klein, a former State Department aide who was arrested after the Capitol riot, complained of his cell conditions to a judge. Klein is believed to the first Trump appointee arrested in connection with the Capitol riot. Authorities arrested Federico Klein, a former staff assistant at the State Department after he participated in the January 6 insurrection, during which he had been "assaulting officers with a riot shield," an affidavit said.
The youngest suspect charged in the Capitol riots wrote a letter begging a judge to release him. Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, previously boasted on Instagram of storming the Capitol and fighting inside. Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, faces a slew of federal charges related to the January 6 insurrection, including assault on a federal officer, engaging in physical violence, violent entry or disorderly conduct, and civil disorder.
University faculty members were placed on leave after racially offensive photos of them resurfaced. The three Alabama professors were captured at an on-campus costume party in 2014, WKRG-TV reported. One professor posed in a Confederate uniform, while the other two posed with a noose and whip.
โTaking humans to Mars would require an investment astronomically out of kilter with the possible benefits.โ
โCan a Mars settlement be a freer society than we enjoy on Earth? Maybe.โ
โWhat we learn...may spark the next revolution that will make life in 2071 beyond anything we can imagine right now.โ
โOur presence on Mars could jeopardize one of our main reasons for being there โ the search for life.โ
โThe future of geologic investigation of other worlds lies with highly improved versions of our Mars rovers.โ