The three white men charged in the death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery last year pled not guilty to federal hate crime charges at a court proceeding in Georgia Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Arbery's case is one of several that propelled nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
The political action committee of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is releasing bilingual ads that target four House Republicans over their support for former President Trump and their votes to challenge the election results, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The four Republicans represent districts with large Latino populations in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California. They each won their seats by narrow margins last year.
Prosecutors unveiled murder charges against the white man accused of shooting and killing eight people, six of whom were Asian women, at Atlanta-area spas, AP reports.
Driving the news: A prosecutor filed notice that she plans to seek hate crime charges and the death penalty in the case. Two separate grand juries have now indicted the suspect on murder charges.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday that members will be allowed to remove their masks on the House floor while recognized to address the chamber.
Why it matters: The move is a relaxing of the House's COVID-19 safety guidelines. Pelosi introduced a mask requirement in July 2020 after several Republican members refused to wear them.
The American Medical Association released a report on Tuesday detailing its past failings in ensuring equitable care and outlining a three-year strategy to fight racism in health care.
Why it matters: "[T]he plan marks a major change for a 174-year-old organization marred by a racist history of excluding Black physicians for more than a century," Stat News reports.
A Texas bankruptcy judge on Tuesday sided with the New York Attorney General's office and dismissed the National Rifle Association's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Law360 reports.
Why it matters: The NRA filed for bankruptcy months after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit to dissolve the organization, alleging the group committed fraud by diverting roughly $64 million in charitable donations to support reckless spending by its executives.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) plans to introduce legislation this week to grant signing bonuses to new hires, he announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: The bonuses would replace expanded unemployment benefits and are aimed at boosting employment. Sasse called the numbers in the latest jobs report "crummy."
Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving Johns Hopkins University $150 million to diversify its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhD programs, the institution announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: Minorities account for 11% of students in Johns Hopkins' STEM PhD programs, which is far from representative of the overall population, the university said.
Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the head of the Vatican's doctrine office, sent a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urging them to carefully deliberate before making a decision on whether Catholic public figures — like President Biden — should be denied Communion if they support abortion rights, AP reports.
The state of play: While the choice to deny Communion to individuals would be up to individual bishops, the issue has created a major division within the conference. Some members strongly support the measure, whereas others believe the move would be "politically polarizing," AP notes.
Virginia Republicans on Monday night nominated Glenn Youngkin, former co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, to take on Terry McAuliffe in the year's only open-seat governor's race.
Why it matters: Private equity candidates can become proxies for the industry, and how the public views it.
President Biden plans to nominate Rahm Emanuel, former President Obama's chief of staff, as U.S. ambassador to Japan, the Financial Times first reported and Axios has confirmed.
The state of play: Biden plans to announce the nomination later this month, along with a slew of other ambassadorship nominations, per FT.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) told CNN on Tuesday that he believes former President Trump is dividing the Republican Party.
Why it matters: Hutchinson, who is barred from seeking a third term as governor in 2022, is one of the few prominent Republicans to push against the growing consensus that Trump must play a dominant role in the party going forward.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Monday three separate investigations found "no evidence" of criminal wrongdoing by prosecutors and sheriff's officials over a plea deal with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, per the Palm Beach Post.
Why it matters: Epstein's victims criticized Palm Beach sheriff's officials and prosecutors including Alexander Acosta, a Trump administration labor secretary, over the 2008 deal that resulted in the financier avoiding federal prosecution for his participation in an international sex operation.
China's population increased 72 million over the past 10 years to 1.41 billion in 2020, with an annual average growth rate of 0.53%, data published by the country's National Bureau of Statistics Tuesday shows.
Why it matters: It's the slowest population growth for over half a century. The birth rate also dropped for the fourth consecutive year in 2020, with 12 million babies born, raising the prospect of a "demographic crisis that could stunt growth in the world’s second-largest economy," per the New York Times.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Monday signed into a bill repealing a citizen's arrest law from 1863.
Why it matters: Thelegislation was passed in response to the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, who Kemp said had been "a victim of vigilante-style violence that has no place in our country or our state."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) extended a drought emergency declaration to cover 41 of the state's 58 counties on Monday.
Why it matters: Most of California and the American West are experiencing an "extreme" or "exceptional" drought, per the U.S. Drought Monitor. Newsom and other officials are concerned California could experience a repeat of the catastrophic 2020 wildfire season.
As Republicans fight among themselves, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is showing the myriad ways she deals with the GOP herself.
Between the lines: We've seen Pelosi cut opponents off at the knees, like she did with President Trump, or pretend to forget their names, as she did to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Now she's feeding oppo research against her House counterpart, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), so others can use the same harsh rhetoric to frame the Republicans as the party of dysfunction.
Forty-four states plus Washington, D.C., saw an increase in voter turnout in 2020 compared to 2016, according to a new census data analysis by the Brookings Institution that was reviewed by Axios.
By the numbers: Turnout for non-college-educated, white voters — a key voting bloc for Donald Trump — dropped in just six states. Meanwhile, turnout for white college grads fell in 15 states, and non-white voter turnout fell in 13.
New foreign-agent filings are finally detailing a massive Beijing propaganda operation that's fueled a sixfold increase in disclosed Chinese foreign influence efforts in the United States in recent years.
Why it matters: Propaganda is central to China fulfilling its geopolitical aspirations, and its efforts to sow discord and disinformation in the U.S. have very real consequences for the American business, political and social climates.
The late Rep. John Lewis is the voice behind a new ad campaign pushing senators to support a comprehensive federal voting rights bill that backers say is needed to counter the efforts by Republicans to curb voter access in many states.
Driving the news: Just Democracy, a left-leaning civil rights group, is launching the "Your Vote Is Precious" ad as the Senate Rules Committee prepares to consider the For the People Act during a hearing Tuesday focused on what legislation will go to the Senate floor. The House passed its version of the bill in March.
The big picture: Buttigieg praised President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan for dedicating funding for both maintenance as well as research and development to innovate new infrastructure technologies, saying that both are part of the country's national security.
