What A Day

A White gunman attacked three spas in the Atlanta area on Tuesday killing eight people including six women of Asian descent. The shootings happened in the larger context of increasing violence and racism faced by Asian-Americans.  Yesterday we talked about the surge in migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border. Today, we spoke to Atlantic staff writer Caitlin Dickerson to get a better sense...

Nearly 10,000 children seeking asylum have arrived to the United States southern border since February, and a lack of shelter space has led many of them to detention centers with substandard conditions. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the number of people arriving at the border this year is expected to reach a 20-year high. Moderna is beginning to test its COVID vaccine in children ages 6-mo...

Italy, Germany, France and several other countries in Europe are halting use of Astrazeneca’s coronavirus vaccine amid concerns over side effects in handful of people. The company is defending the drug while authorities assess the situation further.  Derek Chauvin’s defense lawyers have requested to postpone and relocate his trial following news of a $27 million settlement for the killing of Georg...

Covid cases continue to decline, though at a much slower rate than in January. That leveling off, plus the continued threat of variants has public health officials warning people to stay vigilant. Meanwhile, Italy goes back into lockdown.  The Governor Cuomo saga continues to worsen with new reporting that his vaccine czar inappropriately called local officials to secure their support for Cuomo. T...

President Biden said last night that he wants states to make all US adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1st. In the coming days, he and VP Harris have plans to travel to sell the relief bill to the American people, and the first round of direct payments could be going out as soon as this weekend. Mississippi just approved the first anti-trans law of 2021, which would require public sch...

Today marks one year since the World Health Organization officially called the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The US vaccination effort offers a glimpse of hope, though, with the total number of fully vaccinated Americans now exceeding the number of reported cases we've had nationwide. We spoke with Sana Khan, a PhD student at the University of Arizona who is also a vaccination site volunteer, t...

The House passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act on Tuesday, a bill that’s been called the biggest expansion of labor rights since the New Deal. Now, the question is whether the filibuster will kill this bill in the Senate… or if the bill will kill the filibuster. We discuss, and hear from Faiz Shakir, founder of More Perfect Union, on what this moment means for the labor movement.  Today...

The CDC said fully vaccinated Americans can safely gather indoors together, and laid out other guidelines for our current stage of the pandemic. The daily rate of vaccination continues to increase, with a record of 2.9 million shots being given last Saturday. The jury selection process in the trial of Derek Chauvin was delayed yesterday due to a dispute over whether a third degree murder charge ca...

Senate Democrats passed the $1.9 trillion economic relief bill on Saturday, without any support from Republicans. The final bill pared back some elements of the House's version, including a minimum wage hike. Still, it's a massive cash infusion for low and middle income Americans, and could cut child poverty in half by some estimate. Yesterday was the 56th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," where civ...

Republican governors in West Virginia and Alabama have continued to advise wearing masks, bucking the trend of governors in Mississippi and Texas who want to rush things back to normal. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that his state will start sending 40 percent of doses to its most vulnerable neighborhoods. New data out this week from a Basic Income experiment in Stockton, California s...

Jury selection begins next week for the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on George Floyd’s neck and killed him last summer. We spoke to Jamiles Lartey, staff writer at The Marshall Project, about Chauvin’s history of using excessive force and how that could play into the trial. And in headlines: the House passes a bill to fight voter suppression and protect democ...

Biden is now saying that we'll have enough vaccine doses for every American by the end of May, instead of July. Meanwhile, states like Texas and Mississippi lifting their mask requirements and relaxing restrictions -- something that public health officials have warned against. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to congress yesterday, defending his agency’s handling of intelligence in advance...

The coronavirus relief bill moves to the Senate this week. A group of progressive House Democrats are continuing to push for a minimum wage increase in the bill. Meanwhile, Senator Warren and other Democrats introduced a wealth tax proposal aimed at addressing economic inequality. We talk to Representative Pramila Jayapal about why she's pushing for it now. Protests in Myanmar are ongoing followin...

The US vaccination campaign is accelerating, with the country hitting over 2 million doses a day last Friday and Saturday. Following a plunge in new cases over the last few weeks, health experts are expressing some concern that progress may be plateauing. This week the Supreme Court is hearing a case that could determine the future of the Voting Rights Act. It comes as Republicans around the count...

The House is expected to pass its COVID relief bill as soon as today, but there's still a question of what happens when the bill gets to the Senate. Yesterday the Senate parliamentarian said the minimum wage increase couldn’t pass via the budget process. We explain the ruling, the reaction and where things could go from here.  With Black History Month almost over, we spoke to Black history educato...

The FDA put out analyses yesterday showing that Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine is highly effective, setting the stage for its approval as early as this weekend. The CDC put out new guidelines for safely reopening schools earlier this month, and it comes as the Biden administration has said they are working to get a majority of K-8 schools open in their first 100 days. We spoke to Wash...

Former Capitol security officials appeared before the Senate yesterday, citing communications failures for their inadequate response to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The Senate also confirmed two more members of Biden’s cabinet: Linda Thomas-Greenfield as UN ambassador and Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary.  Facebook has now un-banned news on its platform in Australia, after blocking i...

The Supreme Court threw out the final Trump lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 election, and also paved the way for Trump’s taxes to be disclosed to a New York Grand Jury. The US is behind other countries in our ability to sequence and track COVID variants, but the White House announced they would devote $200 million to expanding those efforts and there’s even more in the upcoming economi...

The US is approaching 500,000 deaths from Covid-19. But there is good news, too: New studies suggest that the vaccines might prevent transmission, and Biden’s goal of administering 100 million COVID vaccine shots in 100 days seems very much within reach.  The extreme weather in Texas is improving, with power back on. Now, the focus is shifting to ensuring people have food and safe water. Some Texa...

Black Americans still frequently have to break barriers to become elected, appointed, or hired to do a thing. We spoke to people who have become the 'firsts’ to hold their position this past year, how they feel about it being celebrated, and the pressures that come with their new roles. Congress held its first hearing on last month’s GameStop insanity, with CEOs of trading platforms and hedge fund...

Over two million Texans are still without power, and there’s a new storm on the way that’s expected to prolong the icy conditions. Oregon, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia are among the other states dealing with fallout from the extreme weather. New York’s AG Letitia James sued Amazon this week, alleging that some of its warehouses failed to keep workers safe during the pandemic. We also spoke to...

President Biden was in Wisconsin yesterday on his first official trip since taking office making the pitch for his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. The House is preparing to vote on the bill by the end of next week, and after that, it heads to the Senate, where we could see a fight over whether to include the $15 minimum wage increase. Extreme winter weather has debilitated Texas’s weather grid, c...

Donald Trump’s second annual impeachment trial is over, after a vote of 57 to 43 led to his acquittal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday that an independent commission will be established to investigate the insurrection. Yesterday, the WHO granted emergency use authorization for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which will kick off a UN-backed program to get vaccines to developing countries. I...

President Biden announced yesterday that the US will have enough doses to vaccinate all Americans by the end of July. We talk to Dr. Anthony Fauci about the vaccines on the way, what they’ll mean as we start to face new variants, and mask guidance in the meantime. And in headlines: House managers wrapped up their final arguments in Trump’s second impeachment trial, queer and trans Americans will b...

The House Impeachment managers began to make their case against Trump yesterday, showing graphic and never-before-seen video footage that illustrated the scale and severity of the attack on the Capitol. We talk about our key takeaways from the day. The CDC updated its information on masks, saying that double masking can greatly reduce Covid transmission. Meanwhile, the Biden administration announc...