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Friday, June 2, 2023

6/2 WAKE-UP CALL: Debt Deal Goes To TWH

The Senate passed wide-ranging legislation Thursday that suspends the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling while cutting federal spending, backing a bipartisan deal struck by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avert an unprecedented U.S. default. The 63-36 vote reflected support from both Democrats and Republicans, with backers saying the need to raise the nation’s borrowing limit outweighed concern about provisions related to military and domestic spending and energy policy, among other contentious issues. The measure now goes to the president for his signature with several days to spare before Monday, when the Treasury Department has said that the government will run out of money to pay all of its bills.

STUDENT LOAN FOREGIVENESS REPEALED: The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would repeal President Joe Biden's student loan debt forgiveness plan. The breakdown of yeas and nays Thursday largely mirrored that of the day before, when senators for the most part voted along party lines to proceed with a vote on the bill, underscoring their opposition to Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 of in student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers. The plan to erase some borrowers' debt is already stalled because of two cases before the Supreme Court.

➤BIDEN FALLS: President Joe Biden took a dramatic spill Thursday while passing out diplomas to graduates after giving the commencement address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The president did not appear to sustain any injuries. Gasps from the crowd followed Biden's fall, which came as he handed out the last diploma, forcing him to come down on his hands and knees. Biden, who was helped to his feet by Air Force officials and Secret Service personnel, appeared to trip on a black sandbag that was on the stage. Biden, 80, the oldest president in U.S. history, seemed to be OK and continued to stand as the ceremony concluded a few minutes later.

➤HANNITY INTERVIEWS TRUMP IN IOWA: Former President Donald Trump attended his second town hall event on Thursday ahead of the 2024 presidential election, this time speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity in front of a crowd in Iowa. Unlike the former president's first panel with CNN, however, Trump was able to speak relatively freely with Hannity, unlike his controversial town hall with CNN's Kaitlan Collins last month, in which the moderator consistently pushed back on Trump's false and misleading claims throughout the night.



Prior to Thursday's event, Hannity spoke about CNN's approach to Trump's town hall on his radio talk show, The Sean Hannity Show, and promised that his forum with the former president would look differently than his competing network's.


➤SUPREME COURT RULES BUILDERS CAN SUE UNIONS FOR WORK STOPPAGE: The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a building-materials company could sue a union it claims tried to spoil its concrete and damage its trucks during a strike, without waiting for the National Labor Relations Board to resolve allegations between labor and management.   “All agree” that federal law “protects the right to strike but that this right is not absolute,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the court, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito filed or joined opinions agreeing with the outcome on slightly different grounds. Barrett’s opinion focused heavily on the company’s allegations regarding the Seattle-area work action, which the majority viewed as egregious. “Because the Union took affirmative steps to endanger [company] property rather than reasonable precautions to mitigate that risk, the NLRA does not arguably protect its conduct,” Barrett wrote. 

➤MEDICARE COVERAGE FOR ALZHEIMER'S DRUGS: Medicare plans to widen coverage of Alzheimer’s drugs that could win full approval as soon as this summer.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday said it would cover Biogen and Eisai’s treatment Leqembi if the drug wins full approval and patients and doctors contribute to a registry that collects evidence on how the medication works. Doctors, drugmakers and patients and their families had pushed CMS to cover the drugs. Most Alzheimer’s patients in the U.S. are Medicare enrollees. Shares in Biogen and Eisai rose after the CMS announcement. The Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved Leqembi in January and has a July 6 deadline to decide whether to grant it full approval. 

➤REPORTER CLAIMS JAMIE FOXX IS BLIND AND PARALYZED AFTER SUFFERING A BLOOD CLOT TO THE BRAIN: A journalist has claimed that Jamie Foxx is reportedly blind and paralyzed. During an appearance on The Dr. Drew Pinksy Show, journalist AJ Benza claimed that sources close to Jamie revealed to him that the actor formed a bloodclot in his brain. Benza claimed that sources told him that Jamie developed the clot after receiving the COVID 19 vaccine. Foxx was allegedly hesistant about getting the shot but felt pressured due to the movie he was working on, Back In Action. Benza said, “I had somebody in the room who let me know that Jamie had a blood clot in his brain after he got the shot. He did not want the shot, but with the movie he was on, he was pressured to get it. What I found out from the man in the room was that the blood clot in the brain caused him at that point to be partially paralyzed and blind.”

➤WARNING ISSUED ON OZEMPIC: The Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers that it can’t guarantee the safety of custom-made forms of Ozempic and other popular weight-loss drugs. So many people have sought Ozempic and Wegovy to slim down that the drugs are in short supply, even for people with diabetes who need them. As a result, some people have turned to pharmacies to make a solution containing the active ingredient, semaglutide. The bespoke manufacturing, known as compounding, is legal for drugs that are in shortage.  But the FDA said this week it had received safety reports regarding people who had taken compounded semaglutide. It didn’t specify the number of reports, nor provide details of what they said. 

➤TRAGIC FLA MURDER-SUICIDE: A Florida man who stabbed his girlfriend dead before shooting himself as their infant daughter cried in a nearby crib recently learned she’d been unfaithful, close friends of the tragic couple told The Post. Beloved teacher Amanda Hicks, 26, was murdered by Carlos Diaz, 25, in the Port St. Lucie apartment they had moved into with their 11-month-old daughter, Alani, just three weeks earlier. Diaz, then turned a gun on himself on May 26. Sources told The Post how Hicks had also recently aborted a pregnancy after his family became suspicious of who the father was. “She said they were working through it,” a lifelong friend of Hicks told The Post. “But I think that was an issue among others and he just went into a rage. A blind rage.”

➤MORTGAGE RATES ARE CREEPING UP: The average 30-year mortgage rate rose this week to 6.79 percent from 6.57 percent the previous week, according to Freddie Mac. The increase reflects the expectation that the Federal Reserve will again raise interest rates this year to help fight inflation.

➤ALLEGED SERIAL KILLER ARRESTED: A man who reportedly called himself in to the Austin Police Department to confess to two murders is now being investigated in relation to a number of other murders. Raul Meza is accused of murdering two people in unrelated cases. At a press conference, Austin police said between eight and 10 other murder cases “fit these similar circumstances.” Meza was convicted in 1982 of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl but served only 11 years of a 30-year sentence before being paroled, according to Fox News.

🏀NBA FINALS:  Nuggets 104 Heat 93..Denver’s explosive offense, loaded with size, versatility, options, quickness and talented scorers, proved too much for the Heat. The Nuggets toppled Miami 104-93 Thursday for a 1-0 series lead, and the winner of Game 1 in the Finals has won the championship 69.7% of the time. Game 2 is Sunday in Denver (8 p.m. ET, ABC).


⚾MLB PADRES 10 MARLINS 1:  Joe Musgrove pitched a no-hitter into the sixth, Fernando Tatis Jr. had three doubles and four RBIs and the San Diego Padres beat the Miami Marlins 10-1 on Thursday. Recently acquired Gary Sánchez homered for the second consecutive day, helping San Diego to 11 hits after being limited to a two-hitter by three Miami pitchers Wednesday. The Padres finished 5-4 on their nine-game road trip.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Mets 4 Phillies 2
  • Blue Jays 3 Brewers 1
  • Padres 10 Marlins 1
  • Diamondback 5 Rockies 4
  • Red Sox 8 Reds 2
  • Twins 7 Guardians 6
  • Astros 5 Angels 2

🏀MAZZULLA STAYS WITH THE CELTICS: Joe Mazzulla will be back with the Boston Celtics next season, but this time the job is permanent, not interim. He was a surprise pick initially, but the Celtics went 57-25 in his first season as interim coach. That’s their best record since the 2008-2009 season. The Celtics exited the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday after losing Game 7 to the Miami Heat, 103-84.

🎾MOVING ON TO ROUND 3 AT FRENCH OPEN: Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe and Iga Swiatek all are moving on to round 3 of the French Open after defeating their opponents yesterday. But the biggest moment of the day happened on the men’s side. Daniel Altmaier defeated Jannik Sinner at the end of a match that lasted for five hours and 26 minutes. That’s the fifth-longest match in French Open history. Tennis fans gave Altmaier a standing ovation.

🏈TOM BRADY IS ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY RETIRED: Tom Brady is trying to put to rest any speculation that he could come out of retirement from football yet again. In a press event for his ad campaign for Hertz, Brady said: “I’m certain I’m not playing again. So, I’ve tried to make that clear and I hate to continue to profess that because I’ve already told people that lots of times.” That sounds pretty definite.

➤TROPICAL DEPRESSION FORMS: As if on cue, a tropical depression formed in the Gulf of Mexico on the first day of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. No coastal watches or warnings are associated with the system, known as Tropical Depression Two. At 11 p.m. Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said the depression had sustained winds of 35 mph as it moved slowly southward in the Gulf. It was centered about 290 miles west-northwest of Fort Myers, Florida, and is expected to remain offshore of Florida. A tropical depression is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 38 mph or less, according to the National Weather Service. Even though the depression could see "modest strengthening" overnight and become a tropical storm by Friday morning, the center's hurricane specialists expect it to weaken on Friday as it encounters greater wind shear and dry air. The forecast calls for it to become a remnant low-pressure system on Saturday as it approaches the western end of Cuba.



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