Jackson Weathers First Day of Senate Confirmation Hearings for Supreme Court

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In the first of four days of scheduled hearings to discuss the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that their treatment of Jackson would break along partisan lines, with Democrats highlighting her qualifications and Republicans raising questions about her record. Currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Jackson is the first Black woman, and only the third Black person overall, to be tapped for a seat on the nation’s highest court.   The first day of hearings consisted of the roughlymore

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Jackson, 1st Black female High Court Pick, Faces Senators

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WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee is beginning historic confirmation hearings Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Barring a significant misstep by the 51-year-old Jackson, a federal judge for the past nine years, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to wrap up her confirmation before Easter. Jackson is expected to present an opening statement Monday afternoon, then answer questions from the committee’s 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans over the next two days. She will be introduced by Thomas B. Griffith, a retired judge for themore

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Campus Ministries Soothe, Rally Students Shaken Over Ukraine

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Entering Yale University’s St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel, Oksana Goroshchuk spotted sunflowers adorning a candlelit altar and thought of the fields full of her country’s national blossom near her grandmother’s home in Ukraine. A mezzo-soprano launched into a traditional folk tune that Goroshchuk used to sing growing up, and the postdoctoral medical researcher broke down in tears of grief — and gratitude for the university community’s solidarity with her homeland. “It’s people who support us and people who love us,” said Goroshchuk, 32, who was born in Kyiv and whose parents recently escaped the war-torn country. Across the United States,more

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Rep. Don Young, Longtime Alaska Congressman, Dies at 88

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Alaska Rep. Don Young, who was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the U.S. House, has died. He was 88. His office announced Young’s death in a statement Friday night. “It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved. His beloved wife Anne was by his side,” said the statement from Young’s congressional office. The Anchorage Daily News reported that Young lost consciousness on a flightmore

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US Senate Approves Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

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The Senate unanimously approved a measure Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States next year. The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year. But the bill still needs approval from the House, and the signature of President Joe Biden, to become law. “No more switching clocks, more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles — that is what we get with permanent Daylight Saving Time,” Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the original co-sponsor of themore

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Zelenskyy to Deliver Virtual Address to US Congress

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a virtual address to the U.S. Congress as the Russian war on his country intensifies.  Zelenskyy will speak Wednesday to members of the House and Senate, the Democratic leaders announced. The event will be livestreamed for the public.  “It’s such a privilege to have this leader of this country, where these people are fighting for their democracy and our democracy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday during an event at the Brooklyn Bridge with New York lawmakers.  Pelosi said that Zelenskyy asked for the meeting when they spoke at the end of last week,more

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California Lawmakers Vote to Increase UC Berkeley Enrollment

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The California Legislature voted unanimously Monday to overturn a recent court ruling that would have forced one of the nation’s most prestigious universities to turn away thousands of students from its incoming freshman class. If signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill will ensure that about 2,600 freshmen admissions slots for this that had been eliminated by a judge will be restored for the University of California, Berkeley. Just two weeks ago, the state Supreme Court ordered the school — one of nation’s the top public universities — to reduce its enrollment because it said the college hadmore

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Survey: One in Five US Election Workers May Quit Amid Threats, Politics

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U.S. local election officials are increasingly concerned about threats and political pressure fueled by baseless allegations of voter fraud in the last presidential race, and one in five say they are somewhat or very unlikely to stay in their jobs through the 2024 contest, a national survey showed on Thursday. In the poll of nearly 600 election officials, more than 75% said threats against election administrators and staff have increased in recent years. The percentage saying they are “very worried” about political leaders interfering in future elections has nearly tripled since before 2020. Conducted by the Brennan Center for Justicemore

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Plane Carrying Trump Made Emergency Landing Over Weekend, Source Says

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A plane carrying former U.S. President Donald Trump made an emergency landing in New Orleans on Saturday evening after experiencing engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Wednesday. The plane, a Dassault Falcon 900, had gone about 75 miles from a New Orleans airport before turning back to the city, the person said. Other passengers included Secret Service agents, support staff and some of Trump’s advisers. A Trump representative did not immediately return a request for comment on the incident. The plane was returning Trump to his home in Palm Beach, Florida,more

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US House Lawmakers Urge Department of Justice to Investigate Amazon

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers has written a letter asking the Department of Justice to determine whether online retailer Amazon engaged in obstruction of Congress during an investigation of the company’s competitive practices.  The letter said the company had “engaged in a pattern and practice of misleading conduct” that suggested it had sought to influence or obstruct an investigation into how it operates.  The House Judiciary Committee conducted a 16-month probe into how Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook operated.  During the investigation, lawmakers focused on Amazon’s use of private-label products and collection of third-party data.  Amazon allegedly copied popular productsmore

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US Lawmakers Reach Agreement on Billions in Ukraine Aid

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U.S. lawmakers reached an agreement Tuesday to send as much as $14 billion in humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine. The bipartisan effort to confront Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the independent Eastern European nation follows congressional support for U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement he will ban Russian energy imports into the U.S. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill. …

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Venezuela Frees at Least 2 Americans After Talks With US, Sources Say

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Venezuela released at least two jailed U.S. citizens on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the Biden administration following a visit to Caracas by a high-level U.S. delegation.  One of the freed prisoners was identified as Gustavo Cardenas, one of six Citgo oil executives arrested in 2017 and convicted on charges the U.S. government says were fabricated, the sources said. The other was a Cuban American detained on unrelated charges, they said.  The weekend meetings focused not only on the fate of Americans held in Venezuela but on possibly easing U.S. oil sanctionsmore

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Biden Won’t Subsidize ‘Putin’s War,’ Bans Russian Energy Imports

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U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports on Tuesday in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Poland said it would send its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. base in Germany, presumably for Ukrainian pilots to use. In exchange, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked that the U.S. send Poland aircraft with similar operational capabilities. Biden, noting that the ban on Russian oil would not come without cost to U.S. residents, said, “We will not be part of subsidizing (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war,” In a tweet Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyrmore

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US Banning Russian Energy Imports

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Global oil prices soared Tuesday as President Joe Biden announced that the United States will ban imports of Russian energy — a move that could have a dramatic impact in punishing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime for its invasion of Ukraine. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …

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US Senate Approves $50 billion Postal Service Relief Bill

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The U.S. Senate voted 79-19 on Tuesday for a bill that would provide the Postal Service (USPS) with about $50 billion in financial relief over a decade and require its future retirees to enroll in a government health insurance plan.  The action, after the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the measure in early February, sends the bill to President Joe Biden for his signature. USPS has reported net losses of more than $90 billion since 2007, and on Tuesday reported a net loss of $1.5 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 31.  USPS has been struggling with diminishing mailmore

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US Supreme Court Rejects GOP Redistricting Plans in 2 States

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In a victory for Democrats, the Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans. In separate orders late Monday, the justices are allowing maps selected by each state’s Supreme Court to be in effect for the 2022 elections. Those maps are more favorable to Democrats than the ones drawn by the states’ legislatures. In North Carolina, the map most likely will give Democrats an additional House seat in 2023. The Pennsylvania map also probably will lead to the election of more Democrats, the Republicans say, as the twomore

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Jury to Begin Deliberating in 1st Trial Over Capitol Riot

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An armed Texas militia member led a “vigilante mob” that overwhelmed police officers and became the first group of rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol last year, a federal prosecutor said Monday at the close of the first criminal trial over the riot. A 12-member jury is scheduled to begin deliberating on Tuesday for Guy Wesley Reffitt’s trial on charges that he stormed the Capitol with a holstered handgun strapped to his waist and interfered with police officers guarding the Senate doors. He also is charged with threatening his teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement after themore

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Momentum Grows in US for Russian Oil Ban 

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U.S. lawmakers stepped up calls Monday to ban the import of Russian oil, cutting off Russian President Vladimir Putin from a key source of revenue in retaliation for the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. “How can we possibly be importing Russian oil and gas and giving the profits of those transactions to Vladimir Putin to pay for his war machine?” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said on the Senate floor Monday. Dubin introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday along with 11 other senators that would temporarily ban Russian oil imports along with suspending U.S.-Russia trade relations. He said that if passed, the result ofmore

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Republicans Make Headway in Texas’ Booming Latino Communities

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Democrats have long dreamed of flipping Texas from a bedrock Republican state to one that elects more Democrats to Congress and awards its mother lode of electoral votes to a Democratic presidential contender, something that hasn’t happened since 1976. That dream has been buoyed by dramatic demographic changes in Texas, where the population has grown at more than twice the national average for the last 20 years, and people of Latin American descent account for 60% of that growth. But Democrats have a problem. Latino voters, regarded as a key Democratic Party constituency, are showing a greater willingness to votemore

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