Largest US Colleges Push Student Vaccines With Mandates, Prizes 

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As a new semester begins amid a resurgence of the coronavirus, 26 of the 50 largest public university campuses in the U.S. are not mandating that students be vaccinated, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.Approaches on enforcement vary widely, even among universities that do have vaccine mandates, with some offering leniency for students who opt out and others expelling those who do not comply.Administrators are emphasizing high student vaccination numbers as key to bringing some normalcy back to campus and keeping instruction in classrooms rather than online. Where mandates face political opposition, schools are relying on incentives andmore

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California Governor Newsom Beats Back Recall Challenge

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California voters have rejected a move to unseat their governor in a recall election, a rarely used provision of direct democracy in some 20 U.S. states.As the ballot count continued Wednesday, nearly two-thirds of voters had rejected the recall effort, and Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, turned back 46 challengers in an election where former President Donald Trump was an unseen player.Democrats urged a “No” vote on the recall, but Newsom said Tuesday night at a victory celebration that the result was an affirmation of his and his party’s values.“We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. Wemore

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White House Defends Top General Who Voiced Trump Concerns

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The White House on Wednesday defended the top U.S. military commander, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, against calls for his resignation following disclosures in a new book by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.  According to the book, titled “Peril,” Milley told senior military officials that any attack orders coming from former President Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency must be cleared with him. The book also disclosed that Milley twice called China to assure Beijing that no U.S. attack was imminent. Under U.S. law, the president is the commander in chief and there ismore

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2 Women of Color to Face Off in Boston Mayoral Race

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A preliminary runoff election in the northeastern U.S. city of Boston has narrowed the field of mayoral candidates to two women of color, ensuring the city’s next elected mayor will be someone other than a white man for the first time in about 200 years. Two city councilors, Michelle Wu, who is of Taiwanese descent, and Annissa Essaibi George, a self-described Arab Polish American, won Tuesday’s runoff, defeating three other candidates that included acting Mayor Kim Janey. Wu and Essaibi George will face off in November.  Janey was the first woman and Black city resident to hold the position of actingmore

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US Justice Department Files Emergency Motion Against Texas Restrictive Abortion Law

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The U.S. Justice Department has filed an emergency motion with a federal judge asking him to block the southwestern state of Texas from enforcing a new law that bans nearly all abortions in the state.   In a 45-page motion filed late Tuesday with a federal district court, the Justice Department argued that the new law, commonly known as Senate Bill 8, was drafted “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights” to obtain an abortion.  The emergency motion is the second legal action the Biden administration has taken against Texas over the new law, after filing a lawsuit last week citing the samemore

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California Voters Reject Attempt to Remove Gov Newsom in Recall Election

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Voters in the western U.S. state of California have rejected an effort to remove Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom from office.   Nearly 70% of voters overwhelmingly voted “no” in ending Newsom’s tenure early, with just more than 30% voting “yes,” according to figures released shortly after polls closed in the large state late Tuesday night.   The Associated Press, CNN and NBC News are all projecting the recall effort has failed. Speaking to reporters early Wednesday morning as the results showed him prevailing, Newsom said he was humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Californians that exercised their fundamental right to vote.” WATCH: California election Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, youmore

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Biden Pushes $3.5 Trillion Climate Change Solution 

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U.S. President Joe Biden says extreme weather caused by climate change is putting America in a “code red” situation. He’s pushing two massive bills in Congress, totaling in the trillions of dollars, to reverse the damage. From Washington, VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell looks at what’s at stake.  Produced by: Jesusemen Oni  …

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Biden Pitches Spending Plan as Key to Fight Climate Change

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President Joe Biden tried to advance his domestic spending plans in Colorado on Tuesday by warning about the dangers of climate change while highlighting how his clean-energy proposals would also create well-paying jobs.The trip to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Flatirons Campus outside Denver capped the president’s two-day swing to the West, and it offered Biden the chance to continue linking the need to pass his spending package to the urgent threat posed by climate change.”Here’s the good news: Something that is caused by humans can be solved by humans,” Biden said. He deemed the need for a clean-energy futuremore

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