Month: April 2022

In a speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden called on Congress to immediately pass a measure for $33 billion in additional emergency support to Ukraine to defend against Russian forces. The United States have already given billions to the Ukraine war effort.

In his remarks Thursday, the president stressed the importance of U.S. aid in repelling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.  Biden said: “We need this bill to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom. We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as Russians continue their aggression and atrocities in Ukraine. We’re helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. As long as the assaults continue, we will continue to provide assistance.”

The White House said in a statement earlier Thursday: “President Biden will send a proposal for a comprehensive legislative package that will enhance the United States government’s authority to hold the Russian government and Russian oligarchs accountable for President Putin’s war.”

The U.S. has already provided Ukraine with more than $3 billion since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24. The new efforts announced Thursday include greater ability to seize Russian assets, transfer some of those assets to Ukraine, tightening sanctions and expanding prosecution powers.

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On Thursday, the Oklahoma House passed a bill banning abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, sending it to Governor Kevin Stitt for his signature to become law. The S.B. 1503 bill (detailed in full here) is modeled after Texas’ six-week abortion ban law.

The bill states in part that the law is to be “enforced exclusively through a private civil action” empowering “any person” to bring civil action against doctors who perform abortions in violation of this bill. It also allows any person to sue someone who “aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion” if it is performed in violation of the bill. That includes anyone who pays for an abortion or reimburses the costs of an abortion.

Stitt signed into law another anti-abortion bill April 12, making it a felony for medical providers to perform nearly all abortions in the state. Medical workers could go to prison for up to 10 years and be fined up to $100,000 for performing abortions unless they are done to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.

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On Wednesday, a judge in Miami vacated the life sentence of Thomas “Jay” Raynard James, a 55-year-old Black man who prosecutors said was wrongfully convicted because of mistaken identity in 1991.  As he left a Miami courtroom with his attorneys and family members, James said: “I feel good. Real good.”

Still wearing his red prison uniform and shackles, James stood behind his mother, Doris Strong, earlier in the day as Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle detailed a 90-page motion her office filed asking for the conviction to be vacated. James, who was 23 when he was convicted, was expected to be released after paperwork was completed Wednesday.

Fernandez Rundle said that over the past year members of her office’s ‘Justice Project’ reviewed over 20,000 pages of documents, reinterviewed witnesses, resubmitted fingerprints and retested DNA samples. She said the case has gone through numerous appeals, post-conviction reviews, and reviews by a private investigator and the Innocence Project of Florida Inc. In a 90-page motion to vacate the conviction, prosecutors said “what appears to be a chance coincidence that the defendant, Thomas Raynard James, had the same name as a suspect named by witnesses and anonymous tipsters … led to the defendant’s photograph being included in a lineup, and set in motion a mistaken identity.”

At the trial, eyewitness Dorothy Walton told jurors that she was sure that James pulled the trigger. However beginning last fall, Walton said she had some concerns about her testimony.  She initially refused to meet with prosecutors, but earlier this month made contact and said she now believes she made a mistake in identifying James as the gunman.  Over the years there have been conflicting stories about detectives confusing James with another man who shared his name, but that man had been arrested and was in jail at the time of the shooting.

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The alleged suspect in a shooting that killed three people at a hotel in Biloxi on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast was found dead in the nearby city of Gulfport hours later, after a standoff with police. Gulfport Police Department’s incoming chief Adam Cooper said that the man holed up at a Gulfport store after fleeing from a vehicle that had been carjacked.

Cooper said police fired teargas about 20 to 30 minutes after arriving at the scene and trying to negotiate with the man. After getting no response, police entered the store to find the man dead.  Police say the carjacking victim in Gulfport was injured but he did not know whether that driver was hit by gunfire that was reported at the scene.

Gulfport and Biloxi police were working to confirm whether the dead man is connected to the triple homicide Wednesday morning at the Biloxi Broadway Inn. Biloxi Police Department Capt. Milton Houseman confirmed that three people were killed but had no details on their identity.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dead-mississippi-hotel-shooting-police-standoff-84349819

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The White House announced on Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19. CNN reported that the vice president’s positive test results rerouted her plans to attend an intelligence briefing Tuesday at the White House, where she was initially tested.

According to the vice president’s press secretary Kirsten Allen, Harris is fully vaccinated with Moderna and has also received two booster shots — her first booster was administered in October, and her second booster in early April.  Harris is not symptomatic after receiving results from rapid and PCR tests, said Allen, adding: “She has not been a close contact to the president or first lady due to their respective recent travel schedules.”   Harris’s last in-person contact with President Joe Biden was during April 18’s Easter Egg Roll, according to an official, after which she left for California.

Harris will continue to work from home at the Naval Observatory, and plans to return to the White House upon testing negative.

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On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.4% – over 800 points — while the S&P 500 lost 2.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite 4%. The market’s losses adds to what has already been a big sell-off so far in April: The Dow is down over 4%, the S&P 500 roughly 8% and the Nasdaq nearly 13%.  Following Tuesday’s losses, the Dow is down 4.2% for the month of April, while the S&P 500 has dropped 7.8% and the Nasdaq has plummeted 12.2% for the period.

Microsoft and Google parent, Alphabet, were both down during regular trading, declining 3.74% and 3.59% respectively as both reported earnings after the bell.  However Alphabet reported near misses on revenue, which grew 23% to $68.01 billion in the first quarter, down from 34% in 2021. The company’s stock fell nearly 6% after the bell.

U.S. markets followed major indexes in Europe and Asia amid concerns that COVID-19 outbreaks and corresponding lockdowns in China could harm the global supply chain. And shares of Tesla fell 12.18% as the company has a factory in Shanghai and faced continued pressure from CEO Elon Musk’s decision to purchase Twitter for $44 billion.

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