Month: June 2022

President Joe Biden called on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months to save consumers 18 cents a gallon. Biden said the administration will meet with oil refinery executives Thursday to urge them to bring more refineries back online to lower prices at the pump.

Biden also called on states to order similar gas-tax holidays, saying in a live-streamed announcement: “I fully understand that a gas tax holiday alone will not fix the problem, but it will bring families some relief. Last week I sent a letter to the CEOs of the largest oil-refining companies, asking them to work with my administration to bring refineries back on line to get more gas to the pump at lower prices.” 

Biden also had a direct message to oil companies: “To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump, this is a time of war, global peril, Ukraine. These are not normal times. Bring down the price at the pump to reflect what you’re paying.”  The President reiterated that prices are up about $2 a gallon since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and said he warned at the time that opposing Vladimir Putin by supporting Ukraine would not come without a cost.

Biden called for the gas tax holiday to take effect soon and run through the end of September. In addition to the 18 cents per gallon the move would shave off regular gasoline prices, it would also suspend the 24-cents-per-gallon federal tax on diesel fuel. The federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel go toward maintenance and repairs for infrastructure nationwide.

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The superintendent for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced that the embattled police chief Pete Arredondo has been placed on administrative leave. Arredondo has been criticized for his handling of the shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24 that killed 19 third and fourth graders and two teachers, and the decision to delay police entry into the classrooms where the gunman carried out the attack. Arredondo served as the incident commander on the scene of the shooting.

Dr. Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, said in a statement Wednesday that the leave will take effect immediately, and Lt. Mike Hernandez will assume the duties of the Chief of Police.  Said Harrell: “From the beginning of this horrible event, I shared that the district would wait until the investigation was complete before making personnel decisions. Today, I am still without details of the investigations being conducted by various agencies. Because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations, I have made the decision to place Chief Arredondo on administrative leave effective on this date.”

During a state Senate hearing Tuesday on school safety, police training and social media in the wake of the shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw read aloud from a transcript of police radio communications, revealing that nearly an hour after the gunman entered the school, an officer told the police chief, “People are going to ask why we’re taking so long.” Arredondo replied, per the transcript, “We’re trying to preserve life.”

Earlier this month, Arredondo said he did not consider himself the commanding officer on the scene on the day of the shooting, and that no one told him about the 911 calls that came in during the 77 minutes before the gunman was taken down. He said:  “We responded to the information that we had and had to adjust to whatever we faced. Our objective was to save as many lives as we could, and the extraction of the students from the classrooms by all that were involved saved over 500 of our Uvalde students and teachers before we gained access to the shooter and eliminated the threat.”

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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that State programs that provide money for public school tuition cannot exclude schools that offer religious instruction. The 6-3 Supreme Court decision fell along partisan lines, with the three liberal judges dissenting.

The case itself centered on a pair of schools in Maine, Bangor Christian Schools and Temple Academy, which has limited that state’s tuition assistance payments to “nonsectarian” schools since 1981. Petitioners were seeking tuition assistance to send their children to either school, however neither school qualifies as “nonsectarian,” making them ineligible for Maine’s tuition assistance payments. Both institutions are accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, which is another requirement to receive funding.

Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett: “The question presented is whether this restriction violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Maine’s ‘nonsectarian’ requirement for its otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Regardless of how the benefit and restriction are described, the program operates to identify and exclude otherwise eligible schools on the basis of their religious exercise.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent: “Today, the Court leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a constitutional violation. If a State cannot offer subsidies to its citizens without being required to fund religious exercise, any State that values its historic anti-establishment interests more than this Court does will have to curtail the support it offers to its citizens. With growing concern for where this Court will lead us next, I respectfully dissent.”

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A passenger plane carrying 126 people caught fire after landing on Tuesday at Miami International Airport.

Miami-Dade Aviation Department spokesman Greg Chin said that Red Air Flight 203 from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, had landed around 5:30 p.m. when the landing gear in the nose of the plane collapsed.

Three people were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries; while other passengers were bussed from the plane to the terminal. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue posted on Twitter that fire crews had placed the fire under control and were mitigating fuel spillage.

TV news images showed the plane appeared to have come to rest in grass beside the runway and it and a large area around it were apparently doused with with firefighters’ chemicals. At least three firefighting vehicles were positioned nearby. Some flights were delayed due to the fire, MIA officials said. Travelers were encouraged to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.

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Authorities said on Monday that a New York City taxi driver collided with a bicyclist, veering onto the sidewalk and striking pedestrians in the city’s Flatiron district. The incident happened near the intersection of Broadway and 29th St., about four blocks south of the Empire State Building, at about 1 p.m. ET.  Six people, including the cab driver, were taken to the hospital, with three patients in critical condition, according to the New York Police Department.

Deputy Chief John Chell with the New York Police Department said at a press conference Monday afternoon that the collision with the bicyclist appears to have been an accident, but is under investigation. The driver of the yellow medallion cab is seen on video slowing down and jumping the curb after hitting the bicyclist, and then speeding up, striking two women on the sidewalk and pinning them against a wall, Shell said.  Bystanders rushing to try to lift the taxi off two women pinned by the vehicle. After striking the pedestrians, the cab crashed into a building.

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