Thursday, June 24, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Deal Reached On Infrastructure Plan

A bipartisan group of senators reached a tentative plan for a $953 billion infrastructure deal yesterday, ahead of a meeting with President Biden today. Top aides to Biden met with the senators and later with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. A sticking point has been finding money to pay for the plan. Republicans have been against Biden's proposal to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, while Biden has rejected the GOP idea to raise the tax paid by consumers on gas at the pump. The Democrats are eyeing a two-track process ahead: the smaller bipartisan deal and a more sweeping infrastructure plan that would go through the budget reconciliation process.


➤APARTMENT BUILDING COLLAPSES NEAR MIAMI BEACH: At least one person was killed and several others injured when a 12-story apartment building in Miami partially collapsed early Thursday, prompting a massive search-and-rescue effort – with one boy seen being pulled from the rubble.

➤BIDEN ANNOUNCES NEW MEASURES TO COMBAT RISING VIOLENT CRIME: President Biden announced new measures yesterday to combat rising violent crime across the country. They include giving money to cities that need more police officers, establishing strike forces in several cities to help stop weapons trafficking, and cracking down on gun dealers who sell guns illegally. Biden said, "These merchants of death are breaking the law for profit. If you willfully sell a gun to someone who’s prohibited, my message to you is this: We’ll find you and we’ll seek your license to sell guns. We’ll make sure you can’t sell death and mayhem on our streets."

➤FIRST PERSON SENTENCED IN U.S. CAPITOL ATTACK GETS NO JAIL TIME: A 49-year-old Indiana woman who became the first person sentenced in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol wasn't given any jail time yesterday. Anna Morgan Lloyd was ordered by a federal judge to serve three years of probation, perform 120 hours of community service and pay $500 in restitution after admitting to unlawfully entering the Capitol. She pled guilty to a single misdemeanor charge in a plea deal. Meanwhile a member of the Oath Keepers extremist group, Graydon Young, pled guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The 55-year-old was accused with 15 other members and associates of the Oath Keepers of conspiring to block the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Guidelines call for him to serve between 5 1/4 years and 6 1/2 years in prison, but prosecutors may seek less time in exchange for his cooperation against other defendants.

➤MICHIGAN SENATE REPUBLICAN PROBE OF 2020 ELECTION FINDS NO WIDESPREAD FRAUD: Michigan state Senate Republicans who carried out a months-long investigation of the state's 2020 presidential election, found there was no widespread or systemic fraud. The Republican-led state Senate Oversight Committee in its report out yesterday (June 23rd) also urged the state attorney general to consider investigating people who have made baseless allegations about the results in Antrim County to raise money or for publicity. Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump in the state by 2.8 percentage points, however Trump and his allies have pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

➤ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE PIONEER JOHN MCAFEE DEAD AT 75: Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee was found dead in his jail cell in Spain on Wednesday, hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the U.S. on tax charges that could have sent him to prison for a long time. He was 75. A statement from the regional Catalan government said, "A judicial delegation has arrived to investigate the causes of death. Everything points to death by suicide." The controversial McAfee had a history of legal problems, including being sought for questioning in 2012 in connection with the murder of his neighbor in Belize, but was never charged with a crime. McAfee was arrested last October at Barcelona’s airport and had been in jail since then awaiting the outcome of the extradition proceedings. The arrest came after charges in Tennessee for evading taxes after failing to report income from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consulting work, made speaking engagements and sold the rights to his life story for a documentary.

➤BIDEN SPEAKS AT FUNERAL FOR FORMER SENATE COLLEAGUE JOHN WARNER: President Biden spoke at the funeral at Washington National Cathedral yesterday (June 23rd) for former Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, who Biden had served with in the Senate. Biden called Warner, who served three decades in the Senate, a "man of conscience, character and honor" and said, "John’s decisions were always guided by his values, by his convictions and never by personal political consequences." Warner died on May 26th at age 94.

➤BIDEN NOMINATES CINDY MCCAIN TO U.N. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE POSITION: President Biden is nominating Cindy McCain, the widow of late Senator John McCain, to be the U.S. representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. McCain crossed party lines last year to endorse Biden for president, and became a key surrogate for him in Arizona. Donald Trump had for years criticized McCain's husband. McCain is the chair and director of Phoenix-based Hensley Beverage Company.
➤BRITNEY WANTS HER FREEDOM: Britney Spears has finally confirmed what many fans have long suspected: She wants out. Out of her conservatorship, out of her care appointments as currently structured, out of paying the people — presumably her conservators — who tell her “no” all the time. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” the pop star said Wednesday during a court appearance via telephone for a hearing in her case. “I want to end the conservatorship without being evaluated.”
Speaking rapidly and occasionally losing her place in her prepared notes, Spears shared her version of the events of the last two years or so, since she last addressed the court.

“I will be honest with you — I haven’t been back to court in a long time because I don’t think I was heard on any level when I came to court,” the singer said, talking about her 2019 appearance at a closed hearing. Spears, 39, said she lied the last time she was in court when she said she was happy. “Now I’m telling the truth, OK, I’m not happy. I’m so angry it’s insane, and I’m depressed. I cry every day,” she said. All the state of California seemed able to do, she said, was to hire people using her money to complicate her life.

➤U-K TO BAN JUNK FOOD COMMERCIALS BEFORE 9PM: The U.K. is set to announce a ban on junk food advertising online and on TV before 9 p.m., starting in 2023, The Guardian reported. The restrictions on foods high in fat, salt and sugar is part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's efforts to combat growing obesity in the U.K. The online part of the ban would affect all forms of digital marketing, including social media ads, paid-search results on Google and text promos. However, there will be some exemptions, such as brand-only advertising will still be allowed. That would be something like McDonald's being able to advertise, as look as it doesn't show junk food products. Additionally, brands will still be able to promote their products on their own websites and social media accounts. Small and medium-sized companies with less than 250 employees will be exempt.

🍟EATING MORE (BAKED) FRENCH FRIES COULD BE THE SECRET TO CONTROLLING YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE:  Potatoes often get a bad rap when it comes to being healthy, until now. Purdue University researchers found that eating potatoes and baked French fries actually helps control systolic blood pressure levels even more than taking potassium supplements. Primary researcher, Dr. Connie Weaver said in a media release, “While significant emphasis is often placed on reducing dietary sodium intakes to better control for blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk, that’s only half of the story. Potassium plays just as an important role, and perhaps the ratio of potassium to sodium is most important in the context of the entire food matrix, as potato meal resulted in a greater reduction of sodium retention than the potassium alone.” Weaver adds, “Overall, we concluded that boiled or baked potatoes can help reduce systolic blood pressure- and baked French fries have no adverse effects on blood pressure and can be included as part of an overall healthy diet.”
➤883-POUND SHARK SPOTTED NEAR SEVERAL TOURIST ATTRACTIONS ALONG EAST COAST: It’s summer now, and summer means sharks. A huge great white shark has been swimming near the New Jersey and Long Island coastline, close to several popular beach destinations. The shark-tracking organization OCEARCH tweeted out a warning last week that Freya, an 11-foot-long, 883-pound great white shark, was swimming near the Atlantic City coastline. The message included a screenshot of the shark’s latest sighting, which seems to be alarmingly close to the beach. OCEARCH says Freya was first spotted in March of this year near North Carolina, and since then has slowly made her way up the coastline. 
At one point she was spotted in the Delaware Bay before heading up to New Jersey. Since then, she has continued to swim up the coastline where she made appearances near the East Hampton shoreline in Long Island before moving toward Martha’s Vineyard.

➤PSYCHOLOGISTS ON WHY YOU CONSTANTLY PLAY WITH YOUR HAIR:  You may notice you touch your hair more when you’re anxious, but did you ever wonder why? Clinical psychologist Matthew Childs says playing with your hair is “a typical nervous tic or sign of anxiety [that could] speak toward anxiety about appearance or about the way you feel within that situation.” He adds, “It can also mean the way you relate to your hair, if you consider it a positive or negative physical attribute.” Clinical psychologist Rachel Wien says if you’re constantly playing with your hair it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re nervous or anxious—some people just like the sensation of it. And if you play with your hair when flirting, it could be as simple and straightforward as wanting someone to notice your hair. Wien says that playing with your hair “can be problematic when it feels out of control or when it escalates into constant hair pulling, called trichotillomania.” If you feel you need help managing hair touching or pulling you should talk to your doctor or a therapist.

➤PEOPLE WORKING FROM HOME WORKED 45 MINUTES LESS A DAY THAN THOSE BACK IN THE OFFICE, OFFICIAL DATA SHOWS:  It turns out people who work from home work 45 minutes less per day than their co-workers working from the office, at least in the U.K. That’s where the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data that shows some people who work from home only spend six-and-a-half hours a day on work. By comparison, people still commuting to work spend around seven hours and 15 minutes a day working, including a half-hour at home. The data came from a survey of British people, who were asked about how they spent their time over the past year.

🏀YOUNG SCORES 48 POINTS IN HAWKS CONFERENCE FINALS OPENING GAME WIN: Trae Young scored 48 points last night as his Atlanta Hawks won the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks 116-113. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 34 points for the Bucks, who had their first home loss of the postseason. Game 2 is on Friday.

🏀NBA PLAYOFFS: Results from Conference Finals yesterday:
  • Atlanta Hawks 116, Milwaukee Bucks 113 - Atlanta leads series 1 game to 0

🏒ISLANDERS FORCE GAME 7 AGAINST LIGHTING WITH OT WIN: The New York Islanders forced a deciding Game 7 against the reigning champion Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-2 overtime win last night. Anthony Beauvillier scored the winning goal at 1:08 into overtime. Playoff leading scorer Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning left in the first period with an apparent injury, and his status is uncertain. Game 7 is on Friday.

🏒NHL PLAYOFFS: Results from Conference Finals yesterday:
  • New York Islanders 3, Tampa Bay Lightning 2 (OT) - Series tied at 3-3

🏀NETS HIRE UDOKA AS HEAD COACH: The Boston Celtics have hired Ime Udoka as their new head coach, according to media reports yesterday. It will be the first head coaching position for the 43-year-old, who's currently an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets. Udoka played seven seasons in the NBA before retiring in 2012 and becoming an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs. He was with them for seven seasons, before joining the Philadelphia 76ers for a year and then going to the Nets.

➤GORDON LEAVING FOX SPORTS FOR HIGH-RANKING POSITION AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: Jeff Gordon is leaving his job as a Fox Sports analyst to join Hendrick Motorsports as vice chairman and the second-ranking team official to majority owner Rick Hendrick. The four-time champion and Hall of Fame driver, who raced for Hendrick Motorsports, will begin at the start of 2022. The job positions the 49-year-old to one day succeed Hendrick.

➤TRANSGENDER RUNNER TELFER DOESN'T MEET ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT FOR OLYMPIC TRIALS: Transgender runner CeCe Telfer has been told she won't be allowed to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials in the women’s 400-meter hurdles because she hasn't met the eligibility requirements. Among them is that testosterone levels must be below a certain threshold for at least 12 months. Telfer's manager said the runner would respect the decision. Telfer competed at first for the men’s team at Division II Franklin Pierce, but then took time off and came back to compete for the women’s team. She won the NCAA title in 2019 in the 400-meter hurdles.
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