Category: Latest News

Controversial St. Croix refinery ceases operations given ‘extreme financial constraints’

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Limetree Bay Refining, facing tens of millions of unpaid bills and multiple class-action lawsuits, leaves the island with an uncertain future

Limetree Bay, a massive oil refinery in the Caribbean, announced Monday that it is ceasing operations following a number of catastrophic errors that rained oil droplets on St. Croix, sent residents to emergency rooms after noxious gas releases and raised fears among homeowners that their drinking water was laced with toxic chemicals.

The plant, which had closed a decade ago under a previous owner after toxic spills helped push it into bankruptcy, was plagued with problems from the start after the Trump administration granted it permission to reopen in February.

“Limetree had a very high rate of environmental violations over a very short period of time,” said Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency official who monitored the plant under the Obama administration. “It was an environmental catastrophe unfolding in real time.” Continue reading.

White House announces allocation plan for 55M more global vaccine doses

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The White House on Monday announced where the U.S. would send 55 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated for other countries.

The Biden administration had already committed these doses as part of a pledge to allocate 80 million by the end of June, and an initial 25 million doses, announced earlier this month, have “begun shipping,” the White House said. 

Officials gave more details Monday on where the remaining 55 million doses would be headed and the timeline for their shipment.  Continue reading.

Medicaid enrollment swells during the pandemic, reaching a new high

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The number of Americans relying on Medicaid swelled to an apparent all-time high during the coronavirus pandemic with nearly 74 million Americans covered through the safety-net health insurance, new federal figures show.

From February 2020 through January, Medicaid enrollment climbed nationwide by 9.7 million, according to a report, based on the most recent available data, released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some people signed up last year as the pandemic’s economic fallout took away their jobs, income and health benefits. But according to federal health officials and other Medicaid experts, much of the increase is because of a rule change that was part of the first coronavirus relief law adopted by Congress last year. Continue reading.

House to take big step on eliminating Trump-era rules

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The House is gearing up for votes this week to undo three Trump-era rules, using a special legislative tool to repeal some of the previous administration’s agency actions.

Democrats will draw on the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to take aim at rules governing methane regulations, lending practices and employment discrimination cases.

The three resolutions, which made it through the Senate on simple majority votes that included Republicans crossing the aisle on two of the measures, all have a good chance of clearing the House. Continue reading.

Minnesota House Passes Compromise Transportation Budget

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Transportation Budget Bill following a bipartisan compromise reached with the Senate. The legislation invests in all modes of transportation across the state by funding improvements for pedestrian and bike infrastructure, transit development and services, road safety improvements, bridge replacements, as well as freight and passenger rail projects. 

“I’m proud we’ve reached bipartisan agreement with the Senate after working to secure strong transportation investments across the state,” said House Transportation Chair Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis). “Minnesotans expect us to improve and maintain our transportation system because it keeps us safe, creates good jobs in a time of economic recovery, and gives all people and communities the opportunity to grow and prosper.”

The compromise transportation budget notably invests $57.5 million in arterial Bus Rapid Transit, funds the 2nd daily train to Chicago, reopens driver’s exam locations closed due to COVID-19, ends driver’s license suspensions for non-public safety offenses, and delivers funds for needed road and bridge repairs and safety improvements statewide.

Continue reading “Minnesota House Passes Compromise Transportation Budget”

On Fox News, ‘Concerned Parents’ Are Actually GOP Activists

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Nearly a dozen of the Fox News guests the network has presented as concerned parents or educators who oppose the teaching of so-called “critical race theory” in schools also have day jobs as Republican strategists, conservative think-tankers, or right-wing media personalities, according to a Media Matters review.

Critical race theory is an academic legal framework which examines the systemic impact of racism in the United States. But “critical race theory,” like “cancel culture” and “political correctness” before it, also functions as an umbrella term the right-wing movement uses to turn its mostly white adherents’ racial anxiety into political energy.

In this case, a sophisticated, nationwide network of conservative think tanks, advocacy groups, media outlets, and GOP officials have seized on the term and, in the words of Christopher Rufo — a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and a key player in the effort — sought to render it “toxic” and apply to it “the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.” Republicans have proposed or passed a slew of legislation restricting “critical race theory” and hope to use it as a core part of their political strategy in upcoming local, state, and federal elections. Continue reading.

Garland tries to untangle the Trump legacy at the Justice Department

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Three months into his new job, judge-turned-attorney-general Merrick Garland, who inherited a demoralized and politicized Justice Department, is facing criticism from some Democrats that he is not doing enough to quickly expunge Trump-era policies and practices.

On a host of issues ranging from leak investigations to civil and criminal cases involving former president Donald Trump, Garland has been beset by a ­growing chorus of congressional ­second-guessers, even as he insists he is scrupulously adhering to the principles of equal justice under the law.

How he charts his way through the current controversies and still-unresolved politically sensitive cases is likely to determine how much of a long-term impact the Trump presidency has on the Justice Department. Continue reading.

‘Final straw’: Priest warns Catholic bishops their parishioners are furious church is choosing Trump over faithful Biden

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Father Edward Beck spoke to CNN on Sunday to explain that the idea by Catholic bishops to punish pro-choice Democrats isn’t going over very well with people who are for or against a woman’s right to choose.

“I had mass this morning, a few of them actually, and unsolicited, I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and were really upset about this,” said Father Beck. “I mean, across the political spectrum. And basically what they were saying was, you had a former president who checked none of the ‘life issue’ boxes for the Catholic church except that he said he would appoint Supreme Court justices that could overturn Roe v. Wade. And that’s all that seemed to matter.”

He also recalled Trump’s photo-op he did with the Bible after peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters were tear-gassed in Lafayette Square. He also recalled the times in which Trump appeared to make fun of Pope Francis. Continue reading. Continue reading.

New book offers fresh details about chaos, conflicts inside Trump’s pandemic response

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At one point, the president mused about transferring infected American citizens in Asia to Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as White House officials debated whether to bring infected Americans home for care, President Donald Trump suggested his own plan for where to send them, eager to suppress the numbers on U.S. soil.

“Don’t we have an island that we own?” the president reportedly asked those assembled in the Situation Room in February 2020, before the U.S. outbreak would explode. “What about Guantánamo?”

“We import goods,” Trump specified, lecturing his staff. “We are not going to import a virus.” Continue reading.

Feds investigating whether Roger Stone ‘radicalized’ Trump supporters who stormed Capitol: Report

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Roger Stone is reportedly under investigation for his role in planning the Jan. 6 insurrection to undo Donald Trump’s election loss.

Federal prosecutors are building a conspiracy case against right-wing militants who allegedly plotted the insurrection, and investigators are looking into the roles Stone and Alex Jones may have played in radicalizing Trump supporters who joined the assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman.

“I think they are leaving no stone unturned to kind of portray and determine the color of what happened here, were the insurrectionists influenced by staff, members of Congress, Trump loyalists like Roger Stone and Alex Jones,” Litman told MSNBC’s Zerlina Maxwell. “They’re really wanting to paint a full picture rather than — we see the biggest charges against some of the people, they are criminal conspiracy and insurrection, they pack plenty of wallop already, and that is the overall code they are going after but the picture deservedly is one of terrorism. These were domestic terrorists.” Continue reading.