US Lawmakers Nearing COVID-19 Aid Deal Ahead of Holiday Break 

On

U.S. lawmakers are nearing agreement on an almost $750 billion aid deal addressing the economic impact of the coronavirus.“We made major headway toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package that would be able to pass both chambers with bipartisan majorities,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday.The aid package is based on a $908 billion proposal unveiled by a bipartisan group of senators Monday and will likely set aside the two major points of contention between the parties: business liability protections and state and local aid.FILE – A restaurant closed for indoor dining to curbmore

Leave a comment

Pompeo Quarantines, but Tests Negative for Coronavirus

On

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is quarantining after an encounter with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, the State Department said Wednesday. Pompeo tested negative. The top U.S. diplomat “is being closely monitored by the department’s medical team,” a spokesperson said. The agency said that “for reasons of privacy,” it would not identify the infected person who came in contact with Pompeo. “The secretary has been tested and is negative,” the spokesperson said, but in accordance with the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “he will be in quarantine.” It was not known how Pompeo encountered someone infectedmore

Leave a comment

Barr Resignation Caps Controversial Term

On

U.S. Attorney General William Barr abruptly resigned this week, capping a controversial tenure during which he was applauded by Republicans for restoring the rule of law and excoriated by critics for acting more like President Donald Trump’s personal attorney than the nation’s top law enforcement officer.   Trump announced Barr’s resignation Monday on Twitter, writing that the 70-year-old attorney general will be stepping down on December 23, a little less than two years after the president tapped him to replace his first, ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions.   Controversy over Barr’s 22 months at the helm of the Justice Department, the secondmore

Leave a comment

US Supreme Court Takes Up NCAA Appeal over Benefit Limits for College Athletes 

On

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a bid by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to defend its limits on education-related compensation for college basketball and football players. The justices took up an appeal by the NCAA, the major governing body for U.S. intercollegiate sports, of a May decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that deemed the organization’s rules anticompetitive under a federal law called the Sherman Antitrust Act.The justices also agreed to hear a related appeal brought by major college sports conferences including all of the big-money so-called Power Five conferences: the Bigmore

Leave a comment

Mexico’s President Congratulates Biden on Election Win

On

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory, after U.S. state electors voted Monday to make Biden’s election official.  Speaking at his daily news conference in Mexico City on Tuesday, López Obrador told reporters he intentionally waited until after the Electoral College vote before writing Biden. The Mexican leader read the letter as it was displayed behind him, in which he called for good bilateral relations with the United States and the Biden administration “based on collaboration, friendship and respect for our sovereignty.” López Obrador said he was certain that with Biden as president itmore

Leave a comment

Biden to Pick Former Michigan Gov. Granholm as Energy Secretary

On

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to be secretary of energy in his administration, two people familiar with the decision said Tuesday. Granholm, 61, was Michigan’s first female governor, serving two terms in the battleground state from 2003 to 2011. She worked with Biden, who was vice president under former President Barack Obama, on the 2009 bailout of automobile manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler. A spokesman for Biden’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Granholm did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. While governor, Granholm supported efforts to buildmore

Leave a comment

No Sign of Trump Concession as Top Senate Republican Admits Biden Won

On

After weeks of silence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, following Monday’s formal vote by the Electoral College that cemented Biden’s victory in the November 3 election. Yet there is still no sign President Donald Trump is willing to accept defeat. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports. …

Leave a comment

Mackenzie Scott Gives $4.2 Billion to Help ‘Vulnerable’

On

MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, said Tuesday she has given $4.2 billion to groups helping the vulnerable, as the pandemic hits lives like “a wrecking ball.” Scott, who formerly went by the name MacKenzie Bezos, last year signed a “giving pledge” to donate the bulk of her wealth to charity. In a round of donations early this year, Scott gave nearly $1.7 billion to groups devoted to race, gender and economic equality, as well as other social causes. “This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,” Scott said in a post detailing hermore

Leave a comment