Biden Signs $1 Trillion Infrastructure Legislation

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President Joe Biden on Monday signed a trillion-dollar package for infrastructure improvements across the United States that will repair deteriorating roads and bridges, improve rail service, expand public transportation and widen broadband internet service.  Congressional lawmakers, state governors and city mayors – both Democrats and Republicans – watched Biden’s signing ceremony just outside the White House on a cool, sunny fall afternoon.  Biden’s signature on one of his key legislative proposals marked a rarity in politically fractious Washington: passage of a major initiative on a bipartisan basis. Nineteen Republicans joined all 50 Democrats to approve the measure in the Senate,more

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Wisconsin Legislator from Gambia Measures Success by Others’ Access

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The different diaspora groups that now make up the United States inevitably have fought for representation through the voting process. VOA is profiling a group of emerging politicians from the African diaspora who are changing the face of American politics. One is Samba Baldeh, who came from Gambia. Here is his story in his own words. Video: Betty Ayoub, Abby Sun in Wisconsin; Bubacar A. Batchilly in Gambia Producers: Betty Ayoub and Carol Guensburg …

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Chinese Students in US Reflect on COVID Chaos

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Ryan Wang was among hundreds of thousands of Chinese students at U.S. colleges or universities who struggled over whether to return home to China or remain in the United States when the COVID-19 pandemic surged in the spring of 2020. “When the pandemic started in China [months earlier], I felt lucky I was already back to the U.S. for the new semester,” Wang, a Chinese undergraduate studying economics at Columbia University in New York City, told VOA. Unlike Wang, many international students had not returned to the United States from winter break in January 2020 and fretted that they wouldmore

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Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy Won’t Seek Reelection

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Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving member of the Senate, said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022 to the seat he has held for eight terms. Leahy, 81, said he and his wife, Marcelle, have concluded that “it is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home.” The announcement marks the end of a political era. First elected to the Senate in 1974, Leahy is the last of the so-called Watergate babies who were elected after President Richard Nixon’s resignation.more

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Former US Congressman Beto O’Rourke to Challenge Texas Governor Abbott

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Beto O’Rourke, the former U.S. congressman from Texas whose surprisingly close 2018 loss to Senator Ted Cruz made him a Democratic star, said on Monday he will challenge Republican Greg Abbott in next year’s race for governor of the state. O’Rourke has been seen as his party’s best option for the 2022 gubernatorial race even after his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination failed to garner much support amid a crowded field of candidates. No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas, the second most populous U.S. state, in three decades. Abbott, who is facing two Republican challengersmore

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Unseated Representative Pushes for DC Statehood, Healthcare

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The different diaspora groups that make up the United States inevitably have fought for representation through the voting process. VOA is profiling a group of emerging politicians with direct ties to Africa who are changing the face of American politics. One is Oye Owolewa, whose parents came from Nigeria. Video: Betty Ayoub and Abby Sun Producers: Betty Ayoub and Carol Guensburg …

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In Minnesota Statehouse, Lawmaker With Nigerian Ties Promotes Inclusion

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The different diaspora groups that make up the United States inevitably have fought for representation through the voting process. VOA is profiling a group of emerging politicians with direct ties to Africa who are changing the face of American politics. One is Esther Agbaje, whose parents came from Nigeria. This is her story in her own words. Video: Betty Ayoub Producers: Betty Ayoub and Carol Guensburg …

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Low Expectations Ahead of Biden-Xi Meeting

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White House officials are taking pains to lower expectations ahead of the meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping Monday evening.  Both the U.S. and the Chinese are referring to it as a “virtual meeting” rather than a summit as a way to temper hopes of a major breakthrough. “This meeting is about our ongoing efforts to responsibly manage the competition, not about agreeing to a specific deliverable or outcome,” said a senior administration official in a briefing to reporters Sunday evening. Other White House officials have underscored this point in recent days. There are certainlymore

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 US Colleges, Universities See Sharp Losses During Pandemic

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The number of students studying at U.S. colleges and universities sharply declined for the school year that started in September 2020. Experts attribute the decline to the COVID-19 pandemic.   A survey of almost 3,000 institutions of higher education in the U.S. showed a 15% decrease in the number of international students attending the 2020-2021 school year.   The number of new student enrollments was slashed by 45.6%.  This brings the total of enrolled international students to 914,095, the first time since the 2015-2016 academic year the number fell below the 1 million mark after a decade of swift increases.   International students comprise 4.6% of the nearly 20 million students enrolled in U.S. higher education.   The number ofmore

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Bannon Indicted on Contempt Charges for Defying House Subpoena

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Steve Bannon, a longtime ally to former President Donald Trump, was indicted Friday on two counts of contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.  The Justice Department said Bannon, 67, was indicted on one count for refusing to appear for a deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. It wasn’t immediately clear when he would be due in court.  Attorney General Merrick Garland said the indictment reflects the Justice Department’s “steadfast commitment” to ensuring that the department adheres tomore

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Court Temporarily Delays Release of Trump’s January 6 Records

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A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, granting — for now — a request from former President Donald Trump. The administrative injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the end of this month the release of records that were to be turned over Friday. The appeals court set oral arguments in the case for November 30. The stay gives the court time to consider arguments in a clash between the former president,more

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Biden: Better Treatment Needed for Veterans Exposed to Toxic Air in War Zones

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On his first Veterans Day in office, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered his administration Thursday to provide better medical treatment for veterans exposed to toxic air and to study the diseases they may have contracted while serving overseas.  For years, American service members were exposed to open-air fire pits during tours of duty in Iraqi and Afghan war zones. Dangerous materials such as electronics, vehicles and human waste were routinely sprayed with jet fuel and set ablaze, spewing toxic fumes and carcinogens into the air.  For Biden, the directive is personal. He has suggested, without proof, that the cancer thatmore

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Report Lists 13 Instances of Illegal Political Campaigning by Trump Appointees 

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A federal agency charged with making sure that government employees do not use their positions to influence elections released a scathing report this week, finding that at least 13 senior members of the administration of former President Donald Trump, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, engaged in “willful violation” of the Hatch Act, a federal law limiting their political activities. The report, released by the Office of Special Counsel, reveals a major problem for the United States when it comes to preventing senior administration officials from misusing their positions for political gain. According to the OSC, the only personmore

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Biden Visiting Baltimore Port to Tout Infrastructure Spending

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U.S. President Joe Biden is headed to the eastern port of Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday to trumpet his newly approved $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package that he hopes will improve the efficiency of U.S. dock operations and end the logjam of container ships that are anchored off the U.S. Pacific coast waiting to be unloaded.  The construction measure is aimed chiefly at repairing the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges and expanding broadband internet service throughout the U.S. But it also includes $17 billion for port infrastructure and waterways and another $25 billion for airports to ease the shipment of consumermore

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Are Britain’s Top Universities for Sale?

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Some of Britain’s prestigious colleges — including the ancient universities of Cambridge and Oxford — are being accused of losing their moral compass by accepting donations from what critics say are dubious sources. The University of Oxford, London School of Economics and University College, London, have prompted a firestorm of criticism for accepting millions of pounds from the charitable trust of the late motor-racing tycoon Max Mosley, whose fortune was largely inherited from his father Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists during the 1930s and 1940s. Oxford was given $8 million from a charitable trust set upmore

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Former US Senator Max Cleland Dies at 79

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Max Cleland, who lost three limbs to a Vietnam War hand grenade blast yet went on to serve as a U.S. senator from Georgia, died on Tuesday. He was 79. Cleland died at his home in Atlanta from congestive heart failure, his personal assistant Linda Dean told The Associated Press.  Cleland, a Democrat, served one term in the U.S. Senate, losing a 2002 re-election bid to Republican Saxby Chambliss. He also served as administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration, as Georgia Secretary of State and as a Georgia state senator. Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when hemore

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The Feel-Good Moment for Infrastructure Is Over, Now Comes the Wait 

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Last week’s passage of a major bipartisan infrastructure spending package in the House of Representatives was broadly seen as a victory for President Joe Biden at a time when he desperately needed one. But unlike some of Biden’s earlier legislative wins, this one is not likely to produce immediate changes in the lives of most Americans. In the early months of his presidency, Biden was able to secure major stimulus packages that sent cash flowing from the federal government directly into the bank accounts of millions of Americans, many of whom were facing financial struggles due to the coronavirus pandemic.more

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Hong Kong Student Group Shutdown Seen as Move Against Critics

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Hong Kong’s universities have been under fire in a series of student arrests and university organization clampdowns since the territory’s controversial national security law was implemented in 2020. In the latest episode, the student union at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one of Hong Kong’s most prestigious universities, dissolved itself in October under pressure to register legally as an independent organization rather than just being recognized by the university. Established half a century ago, the student organization became history after the collective resignation of its student council – its governing body – and the organization’s decision to dissolve itself.more

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Latest Exit From Fed’s Board Gives Biden Three Slots to Fill 

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Randal Quarles announced Monday that he will resign from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors at the end of the year after completing a four-year term as its top bank regulator, opening up another vacancy on the Fed’s influential board for President Joe Biden to fill. Quarles has served as the Fed’s first vice chair of supervision, which gave him wide-ranging authority over the banking system. In that role, he oversaw a broad loosening of some of the financial regulations that were put in place after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and recession.  Quarles’ deregulatory approach prompted criticism from somemore

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Bomb Threats Investigated at Brown, Columbia, Cornell

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Bomb threats at three Ivy League college campuses caused evacuations and police investigations Sunday, with at least two schools saying the threats there were unfounded. Cornell, Columbia and Brown universities alerted students to the threats. Authorities at Columbia and Brown said campus buildings had been cleared Sunday evening. In Ithaca, New York, Cornell police cordoned off the center of campus on Sunday after receiving a call that bombs were placed in four buildings. In New York City, Columbia University police issued a campuswide emergency alert after receiving bomb threats at university buildings about 2:30 p.m. The university deemed the threatsmore

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US Supreme Court to Hear Case of Surveillance of Muslims

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The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday whether the U.S. government can invoke the protection of “state secrets” to withhold information about its surveillance of Muslims at mosques in California. The dispute began a decade ago when three Muslim men filed suit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, alleging the top U.S. law enforcement agency deployed a confidential informant who claimed to be a convert to Islam to spy on them based solely on their religious identity. The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the practice of one’s religion. But the government is claiming in this case that it canmore

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White House ‘Confident’ Its Vaccination Mandate Will Be Upheld

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The White House said Sunday it is confident that the courts will eventually approve President Joe Biden’s mandate that U.S. businesses with 100 workers or more insist their workers either be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be frequently tested despite an initial court ruling halting the vaccination requirement.  White House chief of staff Ron Klain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show, “I’m quite confident that when this finally gets fully adjudicated, not just a temporary order, the validity of this requirement will be upheld.”  Klain characterized the Biden vaccination order, which affects 84 million private sector workers and is setmore

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Ivy League President Calls College, University Rankings ‘Daft’

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The president of Princeton University, which routinely leads the lists of best colleges and universities, advises applicants to be wary of choosing a school based on ranking lists. “My university has now topped the U.S. News & World Report rankings for 11 years running. Given Princeton’s success, you might think I would be a fan of the list,” wrote Christopher Eisgruber in The Washington Post on October 21. “Not so. I am convinced that the rankings game is a bit of mishegoss — a slightly daft obsession that does harm when colleges, parents or students take it too seriously,” Eisgruber wrote,more

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