US Senators Reach Agreement on Infrastructure Framework

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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators said on Wednesday it had reached agreement on a framework for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment proposal that it planned to present to the White House on Thursday. A Democratic negotiator, Joe Manchin, said White House officials had signed off on the deal. The group of 21 senators, or “G-21,” has been working on an eight-year bipartisan framework to rebuild roads, bridges and other traditional infrastructure sought by Democratic President Joe Biden. A team of White House officials met during the afternoon with nine Democrats, one independent and 11 Republicans in the Senate, and was due tomore

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Congress Member Describes Continuing Mental Trauma From January 6 Riots

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Images of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are seared into many Americans’ minds and remain especially vivid for members of Congress who witnessed the riot. One congressman has been especially forthcoming about the mental trauma he has been experiencing months after the riot. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti spoke with the lawmaker and filed this report. Camera: Saqib Ul Islam   Produced by: Adam Greenbaum     …

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Biden Takes on Gun Violence Warning of Summer Spike 

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U.S. President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday to reduce gun violence as he warned the nation about a dangerous summer spike in killings.“We’re taking on the bad actors doing bad and dangerous things in our communities and to our country,” he said in a U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, accompanied by U.S. President Joe Biden, delivers remarks on steps to curtail U.S. gun violence, in Washington, June 23, 2021.Local partnersSpeaking just prior to the president, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said prosecutors across the country would work with local partners “to establish an immediate plan to address the spike in violent crimemore

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US Capitol Rioter Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Cooperate With Investigators

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A man involved in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has pleaded guilty to two charges as part of a plea deal to cooperate with investigators probing the riot. Graydon Young, a member of a right-wing group called the Oath Keepers, was accused along with 15 other members of conspiring to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The Florida man pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, the latter of which could carry a sentence of up to 20 years. But he will likely serve less time, given his agreement to cooperate with investigators. Hemore

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Michigan Republicans Reject Trump Vote Fraud Claims

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A Republican Party-led investigation in Michigan has concluded that, despite claims by former president Donald Trump and his allies, there was no widespread 2020 election fraud in the Midwestern political battleground state that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.The Republican-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee said in a report released Wednesday that the state’s citizens should be confident that the ballot count in the state, which Biden won by about 155,000 votes, represented “true results.”Trump, who won the state in 2016 enroute to a four-year term in the White House, and some of his supporters had pushed debunked conspiracy theories thatmore

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Eric Adams Leads New York City Mayor Race

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Former police officer Eric Adams was leading all candidates in Tuesday’s preliminary election to select the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor.   With nearly 85% of all voting precincts reporting, Adams, the president of the city’s historic neighborhood of Brooklyn, emerged in first place out of 13 candidates with nearly 32% of those who voted in person or during the early voting period. Maya Wiley, a former civil rights attorney and top aide to outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, was in second place with 22% of the vote, followed by former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia with over 19%.   Tuesday’smore

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Eric Adams Takes Lead in New York City’s Democratic Mayoral Nominating Election

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Former police officer Eric Adams was leading all candidates in Tuesday’s preliminary election to select the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor.   With nearly 85% of all voting precincts reporting, Adams, the president of the city’s historic neighborhood of Brooklyn, emerged in first place out of 13 candidates with nearly 32% of those who voted in person or during the early voting period. Maya Wiley, a former civil rights attorney and top aide to outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, was in second place with 22% of the vote, followed by former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia with over 19%.   Tuesday’smore

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Senate Republicans Block US Voting Rights Bill

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Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked the advancement of a major voting rights bill Tuesday.The Senate’s top Democrat, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, set a procedural vote for the For the People Act, but with 60 votes required to advance the bill for debate and Republicans opposing the measure in the evenly split 100-member chamber, the bill stalled.Lindsey Graham, a prominent South Carolina Republican, called the measure “an insane idea” in a statement released shortly after he voted no. “Simply put, this is the biggest power-grab in modern American history. S.1 has nothing to do with making voting easier — it has everythingmore

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Biden Supports Work to Address Problems around Big Tech, White House Says

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U.S. President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech.Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work under way in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms.”These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country’s ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businessesmore

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Senate Republicans Poised to Block US Voting Rights Bill

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Republicans in the U.S. Senate are expected to block the advancement of a major voting rights bill Tuesday.   The Senate top’s Democrat, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, set a procedural vote for the so-called For the People Act, but with 60 votes required to advance the bill for debate and Republicans opposing the measure in the evenly split 100-member chamber, the bill as it stands is set to stall.   There are ongoing efforts to put forth a revised version, led by Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. His proposed changes include adding a national voter ID requirement andmore

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STEM Jobs Lead List of Fastest-Growing Occupations

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The number of STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — have sped past the number of non-STEM jobs by three times since 2000. And experts say there might not be enough graduates in those fields to fill the jobs.  “Look around at how many times a day you touch a computer, tablet, phone … these industries are accelerating so much that these high school kids will have jobs that don’t even exist yet,” said Kenneth Hecht, the leader of the National STEM Honor Society, an membership program that engages students from kindergarten into their career in STEM project-based learning (NSTEM). STEM covers both high-tech and long-established professions. For example, STEM jobs in demand include those in cloudmore

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Senate Republicans Set to Block US Voting Rights Bill

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Republicans in the U.S. Senate are expected to block the advancement of a major voting rights bill Tuesday.   The Senate top’s Democrat, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, set a procedural vote for the so-called For the People Act, but with 60 votes required to advance the bill for debate and Republicans opposing the measure in the evenly split 100-member chamber, the bill as it stands is set to stall.   There are ongoing efforts to put forth a revised version, led by Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. His proposed changes include adding a national voter ID requirement andmore

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US Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against NCAA Limitations

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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the NCAA cannot limit the compensation that student-athletes can receive, as long as it is related to their education.  In a 9-0 ruling, the court upheld a lower court ruling that expanded education-related benefits for U.S. college athletes beyond athletic scholarships. Such benefits could include free computers, graduate school tuition, study abroad programs, musical instruments and tutoring. The ruling allows schools to offer such perks to compete for the attention of college-bound athletes.  The NCAA determines the rules and regulations of U.S. collegiate competitions at schools across the country, including restrictions on athlete compensation.more

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STEM Jobs Lead Fastest-Growing Occupations

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The number of STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — have sped past the number of non-STEM jobs by three times since 2000. And experts say there might not be enough graduates in those fields to fill the jobs.  “Look around at how many times a day you touch a computer, tablet, phone … these industries are accelerating so much that these high school kids will have jobs that don’t even exist yet,” said Kenneth Hecht, the leader of the National STEM Honor Society, an membership program that engages students from kindergarten into their career in STEM project-based learning (NSTEM). STEM covers both high-tech and long-established professions. For example, STEM jobs in demand include those in cloudmore

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New Yorkers to Cast Votes in Mayoral Primary

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This Tuesday, local voters will cast their ballots in a primary election on the path to selecting the next mayor of New York. Some experts call the country’s biggest city and its financial capital a bellwether, despite the city’s overwhelmingly liberal lean.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

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Suspect Arraigned in Killing of American Student in Russia

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A court in central Russia on Sunday arraigned a suspect on murder charges in the death of an American woman who was studying at a local university.The body of 34-year-old Catherine Serou was found Saturday in a wooded area near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. She had been missing since Tuesday.Her mother, Beccy Serou, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, told U.S. National Public Radio that her daughter had last texted her: “In a car with a stranger. I hope I’m not being abducted.”State news agency RIA-Novosti cited the local court as saying the suspect gavemore

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Women’s College Sports Get Boost in TV Ratings, Visibility 

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Odicci Alexander became an overnight sensation at the Women’s College World Series.James Madison’s dynamic, endearingly humble pitcher was well-known among die-hard softball fans, but she introduced herself to a national audience by throwing a complete game to help her unseeded squad stun tournament favorite Oklahoma in the opening game earlier this month. She threw another complete game the next day in a victory over Oklahoma State and a star was born.As her team was being eliminated in the semifinals, Alexander drew a standing ovation when she left the field. Fans watching on TV and streaming devices were sorry to seemore

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11 US Mayors Say They are Committed to Paying Reparations for Slavery

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Eleven U.S. mayors said Friday they are committed to paying reparations for slavery but gave few details on how they would accomplish the task.The group, led by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, announced a coalition to pursue reparations, Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity (MORE).“Our coalition stands on the belief that cities can — and should — act as laboratories for bold ideas that can be transformative for racial and economic justice on a larger scale,” the group said on its website.It said the 11 cities would create local commissions comprised of representatives from Black-ledmore

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US Supreme Court Again Rejects a Health Care Law Challenge

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The U.S. Supreme Court for the third time rejected a challenge to the country’s chief health insurance law that provides millions of Americans with coverage to help pay their medical costs.The court, in a 7-2 decision, dismissed on Thursday a bid by 18 Republican-led states and the administration of former President Donald Trump to upend the 2010 Affordable Care Act.It was the signature legislative achievement of former President Barack Obama, Trump’s immediate predecessor, and is popularly known in the U.S. as Obamacare.The country’s highest court also rejected challenges to the law in 2012 and 2015, with all three decisions keepingmore

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Athletes Abused by Late Doctor Demand U-Michigan Probe

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Former athletes on Wednesday urged the University of Michigan’s governing board to launch a full investigation of sexual abuse committed by a late doctor and how the school failed to stop him during his decades on campus.Standing near the school’s historic football stadium, they said a May report that detailed numerous complaints about Robert Anderson and the university’s failure to act was not enough.”So Board of Regents, so the University of Michigan — say my name,” said Jon Vaughn, a running back from 1988-91 who was repeatedly assaulted. “Because the time is now for all of you who have beenmore

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Loan Relief Granted to Defrauded For-profit College Students

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The U.S. Education Department said Wednesday it’s erasing student debt for thousands of borrowers who attended a for-profit college chain that made exaggerated claims about its graduates’ success in finding jobs.The Biden administration said it is approving 18,000 loan forgiveness claims from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed in 2016 after being dealt a series of sanctions by the Obama administration. The new loan discharges will clear more than $500 million in debt.The move marks a step forward in the Biden administration’s effort to clear a backlog of claims in the borrower defense program, which providesmore

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Biden to Approve Creation of Juneteenth Holiday

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U.S. President Joe Biden is set to sign into a law Thursday the creation of a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.Juneteenth National Independence Day will be observed each year on June 19.WATCH LIVE at 3:30pm EST The holiday marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers informed a group of enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, of their freedom, 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.Many U.S. states already have Juneteenth as a holiday.It joins 10 other federal holidays and is the first added since Martin Luther King Jr. Daymore

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US Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law Again

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The U.S. Supreme Court for the third time on Thursday upheld the legality of the country’s chief health insurance law that provides millions of Americans with coverage to help pay their medical costs. The court, in a 7-to-2 decision, rejected a bid by 18 Republican-led states and the administration of former President Donald Trump to upend the 2010 Affordable Care Act. It was the signature legislative achievement of former President Barack Obama, Trump’s immediate predecessor, and is popularly known in the U.S. as Obamacare. The country’s highest court had also rejected legal challenges in 2012 and 2015, with all three decisions keeping inmore

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