Seven people pleaded guilty to charges related to the Capitol insurrection this week, including an armed man who threatened to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Why it matters: Over 600 known federal defendants face charges in connection to the deadly riots. About 10% have pleaded guilty, according to CNN.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to block a Tennessee law barring abortions after the detection of a "fetal heartbeat."
Why it matters: The ban, which also prohibits abortions if the justification relates to race, gender or medical diagnoses such as Down syndrome, is one of several restrictive abortion laws enacted in recent years.
The Biden administration on Friday appealed a court ruling that called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program unlawful.
Why it matters: The appeal was expected. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in July had ordered the Biden administration to cease approving new DACA applications but specified that the decision would not affect current recipients for now.
The First District Court of Appeal on Friday granted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) approval to uphold an order banning mask mandates in schools, per court documents filed Friday.
Why it matters: The move reverses a decision from earlier this week that paused the state's ability to enforce a ban on strict mask mandates in schools. The state will be able to resume punishing school districts that enforce mandates, which up until this point has included withholding funds from schools.
The White House announced Friday that 21 U.S. citizens and 11 lawful permanent residents have been brought safely out of Afghanistan in the latest departures since the full U.S. troop withdrawal on Aug. 31.
State of play: A chartered Qatar Airways flight held 19 U.S. citizens while two other U.S. citizens and 11 lawful permanent residents traveled separately overland.
Unvaccinated people were about 11 times more likely to die of COVID-19 and were more than 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease, a new study from the CDC released on Friday found.
A former associate of Rudy Giuliani pleaded guilty to soliciting campaign contributions from a foreign national on Friday, almost two years after being charged with campaign finance violations, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Igor Fruman's plea may put pressure on Giuliani, who is the subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation into his dealing in Ukraine, which Furman assisted with.
President Biden on Friday accused some Republican governors of being "cavalier" with children's health for resisting calls for implementing widespread coronavirus vaccine requirements.
Driving the news: Several Republican governors and the Republican National Committee on Thursday vowed to take the Biden administration to court over the president's plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccination or testing for more than 80 million private-sector employees.
The U.S. will have to find new ways to get unvaccinated Americans inoculated against the coronavirus to curb the pandemic, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said during an Axios virtual event on Friday.
Why it matters: President Biden announced several efforts to boost new vaccinations, including requiring more than 80 million Americans working in the private sector to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or produce a negative test result at least once a week.
About 1 in 3 female service members in the Air Force and Space Force said they've experienced sexual harassment during their careers, according to a report released Thursday.
Driving the news: The review, completed by the Air Force Inspector General, also found that minorities and women are underrepresented, specifically at the senior leader level.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the House proxy voting protocols that were implemented last year as a pandemic precaution.
Driving the news: McCarthy issued a statement Thursday blasting the proxy voting protocols, which allow lawmakers who are not present to choose other members as proxies to cast their votes.
The House select committee in charge of investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot announced late Thursday that it had received "thousands of pages of documents" in relation to the investigation.
Driving the news: On Aug. 25, the committee sent requests to federal agencies asking them to preserve records and documents that contained information related to the attack. The panel gave the agencies a Sept. 9 deadline to hand over the materials.
Kentucky's Republican-dominated legislature voted on late Thursday night to revoke a statewide mask mandate in public schools meant to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
Why it matters: The vote came on the final day of an emergency special legislative session called by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) in response to surging cases in the state.
The White House plansto lean into attacks on proposed taxes to pay for President Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda as "an inflection point where leaders need to choose which side they’re on."
Why it matters: Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are heading into an epic fall debate over the size and funding of transformational social and climate programs. The 2022 midterms are the backdrop, with Democrats running partly on jobs created by infrastructure spending.
Top Republicans are calling for a public uprising to protest President Biden's broad vaccine mandates, eight months after more than 500 people stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn the election.
Why it matters: It has been decades since America has witnessed such blatant and sustained calls for mass civil disobedience against the U.S. government.
President Biden directed the Transportation Security Administration on Thursday to double fines on travelers who refuse to wear masks.
Why it matters: It's part of the Biden administration's effort to control the coronavirus as cases and hospitalizations largely driven by the Delta variant surge nationwide.
President Biden says he's met the enemy — and it's America's unvaccinated.
The big picture: The majority of U.S. sentiment may be with him. But Biden's still taking a major political risk, and he and his team know it. He's testing business leaders' resolve, putting Democrats' standing in swing states and districts on the line ahead of 2022's midterm elections and tempting a tsunami of litigation over new requirements that could touch 100 million Americans.
A federal judge on Thursday acquitted Chinese Canadian researcher Anming Hu of all fraud charges, bringing to a close the government's controversial first trial under the Justice Department's China Initiative.
Why it matters: The case drew attention after it ended in a mistrial and heightened the scrutiny surrounding the DOJ initiative, which faces accusations that it leads to racial profiling against Asians in the U.S.
Afghanistan is close to universal poverty, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released Thursday.
Why it matters: The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan along with the COVID-19 pandemic and severe drought have set up the poverty rate to balloon. As much as 97 percent of Afghans could be below the poverty line by mid-2022, according to the UNDP.
Nine major national groups representing mayors, teachers, public employees and the private sector are coordinating to push Congress to repeal the cap on state and local tax deductions, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: This adds another complication to Democrats' efforts to reach agreement inside their party about how big to go on infrastructure spending — and how to pay for it.
President Biden on Thursday announced aggressive new mandates on vaccinations and testing. Axios experts break down what the announcement means for politics, business and health care.
Axios' political reporter Hans Nichols: White House officials know that Biden was elected to contain the virus — and that if he’s not successful, his entire presidency is at risk.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) outlined his thinking on infrastructure strategy in a Thursday phone interview with Axios.
Why he matters: Gottheimer's role as a leader among centrists, with a razor-thin Democratic majority in the House, makes him crucial to the party's internal negotiations.
A number of Republican governors and the Republican National Committee vowed to take the Biden administration to court over the president's plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccination or testing for more than 80 million private-sector employees.
Driving the news: The new rule is part of a six-pronged plan by the administration to ramp up efforts to combat the nation's latest surge in virus cases and hospitalizations due to the Delta variant.
