Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told the Associated Press in an interview Saturday his department may take enforcement actions against airlines that do not abide by consumer-protection standards.
Driving the news: As air travel has rebounded from lows because of the coronavirus pandemic, widespread flight disruptions caused by airline staffing shortages and weather have upended schedules and left travelers stranded or scrambling.
Native Americans on reservations and innearby urban enclaves have lived for decades in dilapidated, overcrowded structures. A South Dakota community development group is turning to Oglala Lakota traditions to change that.
Why it matters: The Thunder Valley Community Development Corp. is helping Oglala Sioux tribal members navigate mazes of homeownership by offering classes, credit plans, and homes that break from "a colonial mindset."
Philadelphia is experimenting with a new way to help renters: an "eviction diversion" program that requires landlords to go through a mediation process when a tenant is in danger of being kicked out.
For more than a year, Black and Hispanic homebuyers have gotten $5,000 in down payment or closing cost assistance from JPMorgan Chase, part of a new program meant to help close the racial wealth gap.
Why it matters: If adopted on a wider scale, this kind of targeted program — which specifically tracks lending to borrowers of color, a radical departure — might help increase Black homeownership rates. JPMorgan is the first bank to give it a try.
Reparations are getting an increasingly serious look by state and local governments as one way to help Black Americans make up lost ground on housing and broader damages.
Why it matters: With legislation to create a national reparations commission stalled in Congress, some state and local efforts are gaining momentum and could lead to ground-level efforts to redress generations of damages from slavery and other state-sanctioned discriminatory practices.
Some cities are defying the trend of the homeownership gap between Black and white Americans — which is worse today than when race-based housing laws and policies were in effect decades ago.
The big picture: An Axios analysis of census data shows that some large cities like Fort Worth, Texas, and midsize cities like Gilbert, Arizona, have higher rates of homeownership for people of color than other cities of the same size.
The Navy has terminated about a dozen officers over the last several months due to a “loss of confidence” in their ability to command, NBC News reports.
Driving the news: Earlier this month, five officers were let go in the span of a week. The Navy said the series of dismissals is not related, but did not elaborate on what actions or circumstances specifically led to the decisions.
The free school lunch waivers that the federal government authorized in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic are set to end June 30 amid high inflation.
Why it matters: Experts warn that many families, facing the end of waivers and rising food and fuel prices, could struggle to feed their children if Congress and the Department of Agriculture does not act quickly enough, according to NBC News.
Driving the news: Burdensome tax laws for Americans living abroad is the most common reason expats are considering the step, according to the survey conducted by Greenback Expat Tax Services, which polled 3,200 Americans living in 121 countries.
A TV crew filming for the "CBS Late Show With Stephen Colbert" was arrested Thursday night by the U.S. Capitol Police, the Associated Press reports.
Driving the news: After receiving a call for a disturbance around 8:30pm, police found seven people in the Longworth House Office Building. They were arrested and charged with unlawful entry.
The Jan. 6 committee has obtained new information to connect the dots on some well-known aspects of Jan. 6 — including former President Trump's tweets — Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The committee is giving Americans the most palpable and detailed sense yet of how close the nation came to a full-blown constitutional crisis, producing consistentbombshellrevelations, with more likely to come.
Residents in the Texan city of Odessa could see safe tap water restored as early as Saturday after a water outage this week, AP reports.
Why it matters: After a major water line break struck the city of more than 122,000 people amid scorching temperatures, local officials warned residents to protect themselves against the "imminent threat" of "widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property."
About 20 students at a Michigan high school have sued their school district, arguing their constitutional rights to safety and education were violated after four students were killed and seven wounded in a mass shooting at Oxford High, AP reports.
Why it matters: The lawsuit comes in the wake of several mass shootings, including one that killed 19 children at an elementary school in Texas, as the U.S. struggles to move forward on gun control and school safety.
Russian state media released footage Friday of two U.S. military veterans who went missing while fighting in Ukraine.
Why it matters: The video confirms that both are alive but also raises concerns about their future in Russian captivity. Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh are believed to be the first U.S. citizens detained by Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine, per AP.
