Black researchers remain woefully underrepresented in the Federal Reserve system, comprising only 1.5% of its 945-person staff of economists, according to Fed data published publicly for the first time on Thursday.
Why it matters: The numbers highlight the Fed's struggles with diversity as its 12-bank system and Board of Governors in D.C. make crucial decisions about economic policy that have a wide range of impacts on communities of color.
Why it matters: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) told Congress in February that it found "classified national security information" in the 15 boxes recovered from Trump's home.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) will soon introduce a bill that would require all non-immigrant visa applicants, including those outside China, to declare whether they're a member of the Chinese Communist Party or another totalitarian regime, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The measure is an attempt to prevent foreign propagandists — including those from Russia and China — from continuing to piggyback on a visa program aimed at luring high-skilled workers to the U.S.
Kathy Barnette, a Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, is soaring in the polls and gaining traction among the GOP base ahead of the closely watched contest for the state's Senate primary.
Driving the news: Trump on Thursday put out a statement questioning details of Barnette's past, saying there are many things that have "not been properly explained or vetted" and warned against Pennsylvania Republicans nominating her in next Tuesday's primary.
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell was confirmed to a second term on Thursday, putting him in charge of the central bank for another four years as it grapples with the highest inflation in decades and with financial markets in tumult.
The big picture: Powell received bipartisan support, with the Senate voting 80-19in favor of confirmation. He faces the challenge of withdrawing the Fed's extraordinary pandemic stimulus implemented in his first term rapidly enough to contain inflation without tanking the economy.
President Trump on Thursday warned Republicans in Pennsylvania against nominating candidate Kathy Barnette for an open Senate seat, despite her apparent following among his base of supporters.
Driving the news: "Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats," Trump said in a statement Thursday.
The Jan. 6 House select committee subpoenaed five members of Congress on Thursday, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), along with Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala).
Why it matters: There is no precedent for a panel — outside of the Ethics committee — to issue subpoenas to sitting members of Congress and the move comes after months of debate among committee members over the legality of subpoenaing their colleagues.
Lawmakers could consider a slate of antitrust legislation in Congress ahead of the 2022 midterms. But conversations with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) at an Axios event Thursday signaled disagreement even among Democrats on the impact of those bills.
Finland's president and prime minister announced Thursday that they support an application for NATO membership, setting in motion a process that will culminate in the alliance's ninth enlargement since its founding in 1949.
Why it matters: Finland's membership in NATO would more than double the length of the alliance's borders with Russia. Sweden is expected to make an announcement on applying to NATO on Sunday. The transformation of Europe's security landscape is a nightmare for Vladimir Putin — but one triggered by his own decision to invade Ukraine.
The Interior Department announced Wednesday it won't proceed with plans for three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's Cook Inlet.
Why it matters: The move that all but ends the likelihood of the U.S. government selling new drilling leases in coastal waters in 2022 comes as gas prices hit all-time highs and after President Biden spoke of supplying European nations with fuel to ease dependence on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine, per the Washington Post.
The Trump International Hotel is officially closed after the Trump Organization reached a $375 million agreement to sell the D.C. property to a Miami investor group.
The latest: Hours after the former President Trump's family business had completed the sale, half a dozen workers moved to dismantle signs from the facade of the building on Wednesday night.
President Biden said at a Chicago fundraising event Wednesday that if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, it could next strike down other rights like same-sex marriage and contraception access.
What he's saying: "It's not only the brutality of taking away a woman's right to control her own body, and all the damage it does," Biden said in his strongest comments yet on the leaked draft decision indicating the court would overturn the landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, per a pool report.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a "severe emergency incident" and launched a nationwide lockdown on Thursday after announcing a person had tested positive for COVID-19, state media reports.
Why it matters: It's the first time Pyongyang has publicly confirmed having a case in the country, though health experts have long raised doubts that it's been unaffected by coronavirus infections. The isolated nation has no COVID vaccines, raising concerns it could become an epicenter of new variants, per the Washington Post.
California's ban on semiautomatic weapons sales to adults under 21 was ruled unconstitutional by a federal appeals court on Wednesday.
Driving the news: The court agreed in a 2-1 decision with the argument of the Firearms Policy Coalition, which brought the case challenging the law that took effect last July, saying it infringed on the Second Amendment rights of adults between the ages of 18 and 20.
Abortion's biggest political impact this year may play out in a handful of Republican-held House races in blue-state suburbs, Senate contests in Nevada and New Hampshire and governor's races in swing states with GOP-led legislatures, consultants and activists tell Axios.
Why it matters: Democrats and Republicans are studying the midterm map to gauge in which races an anticipated Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade could cause the greatest disruption.
Views about abortion highly correlate with frequency of religious service attendance, according to new Pew Research Center data provided to Axios.
Why it matters: The leaked draft Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade has raised questions about the social and political fallout it will create, including among those whose faith does — or does not — express a view about abortion.
Influential Republicans in Washington and among the nationwide party elite are having a belated "oh s--t" moment over the previously unimaginable prospect that Kathy Barnette could win their party's nomination for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: In Barnette, who's been soaring in the polls ahead of Tuesday's primary, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would be dealing with a general election candidate who'd be an opposition researcher's dream — potentially endangering the GOP effort to take back the Senate.
