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For half a century, the federal government has treated marijuana as one of the more dangerous drugs in the United States. On Tuesday, the Biden administration signaled a significant shift in approach. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The Times, explains how big an impact the proposed changes could have.

Persons: Biden, Zolan Kanno Organizations: The Times Locations: United States

The Justice Department plans to forward a recommendation for easing restrictions on marijuana to the White House in what could amount to a major change in federal policy, according to three people familiar with the matter. Even though the move, which if approved would kick off a lengthy rule-making process, does not end the criminalization of the drug, it would be a significant shift in how the government views the safety and use of marijuana for medical purposes. It could also lead to the softening of other laws and regulations that account for the use or possession of cannabis, including sentencing guidelines, banking and access to public housing. One person familiar with the recommendation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland would tell the White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday that the government should change the drug’s classification.

Persons: General Merrick B, Garland Organizations: Department, White, Office of Management

☆ Biden Warms Up for a Media Roast on Saturday
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden has been sharpening his jokes as of late, mostly to target his opponent, former President Donald J. Trump. On Saturday, he is expected to extend the roast to members of the press during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Mr. Biden will deliver his third attempt at a humorous speech for the gathered crowd and most likely continue his bit of roasting news outlets and his Republican rivals. During an interview on Friday with the Sirius XM radio host Howard Stern, Mr. Biden said he would emphasize the importance of a free press. But Mr. Biden, who has held fewer news conferences than his predecessors, also hinted that could come with some criticism.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Howard Stern Organizations: White, ’ Association, Washington Hilton, Republican, Sirius XM

☆ ‘Don’t Inject Bleach’: Biden Mocks Trump on Anniversary of Covid Comments
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Four years ago this week, President Donald J. Trump suggested that Americans might want to inject disinfectant into their bodies to treat the coronavirus. The Biden campaign is intent on making sure nobody forgets it. On Air Force One, on social media and from the presidential lectern, President Biden has homed in on the infamous moment — one that crystallized the chaos of the Trump presidency — as he trolls his political opponent. “Remember when he was trying to deal with Covid, he said just inject a little bleach in your veins?” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday after picking up the endorsement of North America’s Building Trades Unions. It all went to his hair.”Just a day before, Mr. Biden shared a video of Mr. Trump’s suggestion to inject disinfectant on X, the platform formally known as Twitter.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Biden, —, Mr, “ Organizations: Air Force, Trump, Covid, Twitter Locations: America’s

☆ Biden Called Putin a ‘Crazy S.O.B.’ The Kremlin Called Biden a ‘Cowboy.’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a television interview, Mr. Putin said he thought he knew why Mr. Biden had lashed out. Mr. Putin said he believed Mr. Biden’s remark was a result of that endorsement. “If I stood here 10 to 15 years ago and said all this, you’d all think I should be committed,” Mr. Biden said. He added that Mr. Trump has been terrible for the Republican Party. That seems to be lost with some of the things this fellow has been saying,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Trump.

Persons: Putin, Mr, Biden, Biden’s, “, ” Mr, Vladimir, Donald J, Trump, Aleksei A, they’ve Organizations: Republican Party, Mr Locations: U.S, In California, Russian, American

☆ Biden Cancels $1.2 Billion in Student Loan Debt for 150,000 Borrowers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden announced the cancellation of an additional $1.2 billion in student loan debt for about 153,000 borrowers on Wednesday, his latest effort at student debt relief after the Supreme Court blocked a more sprawling plan last year. Mr. Biden has now canceled $138 billion of student debt for almost 3.9 million borrowers through about two dozen executive actions, according to the White House. Wednesday’s action comes as some Democrats have pleaded for Mr. Biden to highlight his success in relieving debt to galvanize crucial constituencies, including young voters and Black borrowers who disproportionately shoulder student loan debt. Since the Supreme Court blocked Mr. Biden’s ambitious plan to cancel $400 billion in student debt for about 43 million borrowers, the White House has tapped into various smaller programs to forgive debt for specific groups. The administration is making efforts to ensure Mr. Biden receives credit for the cancellation, with the affected borrowers set to receive an email from Mr. Biden on Wednesday informing them that their debt will be erased this week.

Persons: Biden, Mr Organizations: White

☆ Harris Calls Special Counsel Report on Biden ‘Clearly Politically Motivated’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back forcefully on Friday against a special counsel report that questioned President Biden’s memory, describing it as “politically motivated.”“The way the president’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated,” Ms. Harris said in response to questions from reporters at the White House. She also said Mr. Biden had sat down for in-person interviews with the special counsel’s office just a day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. “It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,” Ms. Harris said. “He was in front of it all, coordinating and directing leaders who are in charge of America’s national security.”

Persons: Kamala Harris, ”, Ms, Harris, Biden, “ Organizations: White Locations: Israel, United States of America

The soaring number of people crossing into the United States from Mexico has been a political vulnerability for President Biden for the past three years, chipping away at his approval rating and opening him up to political attacks. But now, the crisis is threatening to upend America’s support for the war in Ukraine, throwing the centerpiece of Mr. Biden’s foreign policy into jeopardy. After a meeting with Mr. Biden at the White House on Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson insisted that the Republican-led House would not pass legislation to send aid to Ukraine unless Democrats agreed to sweeping new restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border. And even if the two sides do come to some sort of agreement, many Republicans, especially in the House, would be loath to give an election-year win to Mr. Biden on an issue that has given them a powerful line of criticism toward the White House. The issue is also at the center of the candidacy of Mr. Biden’s likely opponent this fall, former President Donald J. Trump.

Persons: Biden, Mike Johnson, Biden’s, Donald J, Trump Organizations: White, Republican, Mr Locations: United States, Mexico, Ukraine, U.S

Below the shattered windows of the high-rise hotels in downtown Acapulco, people walk alongside towering hills of garbage bags filled with rotting food and debris, from mattresses to Christmas decorations. Volunteer firefighters from distant states clear the waste, wiping away swarms of cockroaches from their arms. Miles from the coastal beachside resorts, Elizabeth Del Valle, 43, listened as her teenage daughter Constanza Sotelo, described the “mountains of trash” still blocking many streets surrounding their home. “We have no way to find face masks to keep ourselves healthy,” said Ms. Del Valle. “We expect that we’re going to get an infection from the smell, from the garbage.”Weeks after Hurricane Otis shocked forecasters and government officials by intensifying rapidly into the strongest storm to hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast and devastate much of Acapulco, residents say they now face an unfolding public health disaster.

Persons: Miles, Elizabeth Del Valle, Constanza Sotelo, ”, Del, “, Hurricane Otis Locations: Acapulco, Del Valle, Coast

On the night Hurricane Otis barreled into Acapulco, Mexico, Saúl Parra Morales received a video that only hours before would have seemed unbelievable. For days, forecasters had predicted little more than a tropical storm. But Mr. Parra Morales watched in horror as his brother filmed the deafening gusts of wind and waves cracking against the deck of the Litos, the yacht where he worked and that proved no match for what became the most powerful storm to hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast. “This is getting more intense,” Mr. Parra Morales’s brother, Fernando Esteban Parra Morales, said in the video. “We are nervous, but we are safe.”

Persons: Saúl Parra Morales, Parra Morales, Mr, Parra Morales’s, Fernando Esteban Parra Morales Locations: Acapulco, Mexico, Coast

Miranda Villasmil guided her daughter and son past hundreds of huddled migrants, many still muddied and swollen from their trek here to Costa Rica from South America. The family of three carried just two grocery bags of their belongings from their past lives in Venezuela. When they reached the row of shuttle buses that would carry them to the Nicaraguan border, Ms. Villasmil was so overwhelmed with relief that she texted her relatives back home who were also considering fleeing. The Costa Rican government, she wrote them, was willing to provide “safe passage.”“We move forward,” Ms. Villasmil told her family in Venezuela. Ms. Villasmil is one of thousands of migrants taking advantage of new busing programs adopted by Costa Rica and other Central American countries trying to contend with a historic tide of migration passing through their borders.

Persons: Miranda Villasmil, Villasmil, ”, Ms Organizations: Costa, Central Locations: Costa Rica, South America, Venezuela, Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, Panama, Costa Rica’s

The tourists were bused out of Acapulco to find relief as far away as Mexico’s capital. But thousands of residents were left behind to deal with the chaos and destruction of Hurricane Otis, which had turned their paradise into a wasteland. Three days after the Category 5 storm came ashore in Mexico, residents on Saturday were navigating streets coated in broken glass, uprooted trees and fallen telephone poles. People throughout Acapulco were searching ransacked stores for water and other sustenance. Others were using amateur radio to try to find loved ones.

Persons: Hurricane Otis, “, ”, Roberto Alvarado Locations: Acapulco, Hurricane, Mexico

☆ After Hurricane Otis, Mexican Officials Race to Assess the Damage
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mexican officials have been working since Wednesday to restore communication and power to the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca after Otis, which made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, cut off power for more than half a million residents, battered hotels and ripped the roofs from buildings. Authorities were particularly concerned about Acapulco, a Pacific Coast port city of more than 852,000 people that was in the direct path of Otis. The city, in Guerrero State, was hosting an international mining industry convention when the storm hit; additionally, many hotels were packed with tourists. People stuck there posted videos on social media showing ravaged hotel rooms, doors ripped from hinges and collapsed ceilings. With the region effectively cut off from the outside world, the extent of possible injuries and deaths was still unclear.

Persons: Otis Organizations: Otis Locations: Mexico, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Acapulco, Pacific Coast, Guerrero State

Hurricane Otis exploded onto the southwest coast of Mexico early Wednesday, shocking forecasters as it emerged as one of the more powerful Category 5 storms to batter the region and create what one expert called a “nightmare scenario” for a popular tourist coastline. Few meteorologists initially thought the tropical storm would make landfall as a catastrophic hurricane. Most models failed to predict that the storm would intensify over the Pacific Ocean, leading forecasters to believe it would be at most a weak hurricane. But it strengthened with remarkable speed, and by Tuesday evening forecasters and Mexican officials were rushing to warn residents of its potential for destruction. The storm slammed ashore with sustained winds of 165 miles per hour; just a day earlier, Otis brought winds of 65 miles per hour.

Persons: Otis Organizations: Otis Locations: Mexico, Guerrero, Oaxaca

An armed group ambushed and killed more than a dozen law enforcement officers in southwestern Mexico on Monday, including a local security secretary and a police chief, adding to a soaring number of deadly attacks against the police in the region. Guerrero is now the second most dangerous state in Mexico for law enforcement officers, with more than 34 killed so far in 2023, according to Common Cause, a Mexico-based organization tracking the killings of police officers in the country. The group said more than 340 police officers had been killed so far this year in the nation, and more than 400 killed last year. Mr. López Obrador has said much of the violence in the nation is because of the United States’ inability to prevent guns from being trafficked south into Mexico. Leaders from both countries discussed the roots of such violence during high-profile meetings in Mexico City this month.

Persons: Coyuca de Benítez, Alfredo Alonso López, Honorio Salinas, Guerrero, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López Obrador Organizations: United Locations: Mexico, Coyuca de, Mexican, Guerrero, Honorio Salinas Garay, United States, Mexico City

The woman had learned that Ms. Menchaca could send her abortion pills from Mexico, where the procedure has been decriminalized in several states. But the growing U.S. demand for abortion care is not limited to deliveries of medication, according to advocates like Ms. Menchaca, who lives in Coahuila state in northeastern Mexico. Clinics in Tijuana and Mexico City, as well as activists in the northwestern city of Hermosillo, say they have seen women crossing the border from Texas, Louisiana and Arizona seeking access to abortion. “Before, the women from Sonora would go to the United States to access abortions in clinics,” said Andrea Sanchez, an abortion-rights activist, referring to the Mexican state that borders Arizona. “And now the women from the United States come to Mexico.”

Persons: Cynthia Menchaca, Menchaca, ”, Andrea Sanchez Organizations: Clinics, Mexico City Locations: Texas, Mexico, Coahuila, Tijuana, Hermosillo, Texas , Louisiana, Arizona, Sonora, United States

As the Biden administration struggles to tackle a humanitarian and political crisis at America’s doorstep, it is focusing increasingly on keeping migrants far from the U.S.-Mexico border by establishing migration processing centers in Central and South America. But the program is off to a rocky start, with demand for appointments far outstripping supply, leading to periodic shutdowns of the online portal and some countries’ limiting applicants over concerns that the centers will cause migrants to overwhelm their own borders. The centers, in Colombia, Costa Rica and others planned in Guatemala, have become a primary focus of the president’s migration strategy, U.S. officials said, and the administration is already exploring expanding the program to other nations in the region, including opening a similar office in Mexico. The program, known as the safe mobility initiative, is “the most ambitious plan I’ve seen,” said Sean Garcia, the deputy refugee coordinator for the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, who has worked on migration for over a decade.

Persons: Biden, ”, Sean Garcia Organizations: U.S, Embassy Locations: U.S, Mexico, Central, South America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala

The Dominican Republic said it would seal its border with Haiti on Friday morning amid a conflict over access to a river shared between the two historically contentious neighbors. The move would further isolate Haiti, a nation that has descended into gang violence and growing hunger. Tensions have grown in recent days over construction in the Massacre River, which straddles both nations. President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, who claimed that the excavation of a canal on the river in Haiti would harm Dominican farmers, froze Haitian visas this week and threatened to close the more than 220 miles of border if the two sides did not reach a resolution. A Haitian delegation met with the Dominicans in Santo Domingo, the capital, on Wednesday for 11th-hour negotiations, but there was no apparent resolution, and on Thursday, Mr. Abinader announced his decision to shut the boundary between the two Caribbean island nations starting at 6 a.m. local time Friday.

Persons: Luis Abinader, Abinader Organizations: Haitian, Dominicans Locations: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Dominican, Santo Domingo

Federal agents arrested a record number of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally in August, two officials with preliminary data said, highlighting the Biden administration’s most prominent immigration challenge after rolling out new border policies this spring. The roughly 91,000 migrants who crossed together as families exceeded the 84,486 such crossings recorded in May 2019, the height of the border crisis during the Trump administration. The Biden administration ended the practice of detaining migrant families in 2021 for humanitarian reasons. The number of migrant families crossing between official ports of entry started to rise in July, and illegal crossings overall in August increased from the previous month to about 177,000. Illegal crossings increased by 33 percent between June and July and went up another 33 percent in August.

Persons: Trump, Biden Organizations: Biden, Washington Post

☆ Biden to Discuss Migration With the President of Costa Rica
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden will host President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica at the White House on Tuesday as their countries try to rein in a surge of migration in the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Biden and Mr. Chaves, who was elected last year, will also discuss economic ties and job creation, administration officials said. The Biden administration’s plan to stem illegal migration in the United States involves cracking down on asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border while working with Central American nations, like Costa Rica, to develop ways for migrants to apply for protection closer to their home countries. Costa Rica recently agreed to build two centers where migrants can be processed for such legal protections without crossing the border. About 38,000 migrants from Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala have registered for legal protection through the program.

Persons: Biden, Rodrigo Chaves, Chaves Organizations: White, Central, . Locations: Costa Rica, United States, U.S, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala

The new three-way security pact sealed by President Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David on Friday was forged with threats by China and North Korea in mind. But there was one other possible factor driving the diplomatic breakthrough: Donald J. Trump. Both Japan and South Korea struggled for four years as Mr. Trump threatened to scale back longstanding U.S. security and economic commitments while wooing China, North Korea and Russia. In formalizing a three-way alliance that had long eluded the United States, Mr. Biden and his counterparts hoped to lock in a strategic architecture that will endure regardless of who is in the White House next. “This is not about a day, a week or month,” Mr. Biden said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea.

Persons: Biden, Camp David, Donald J, David, ”, Trump, Mr, Fumio Kishida, Yoon Suk Organizations: Trump, South Korea Locations: Japan, South Korea, Camp, China, North Korea, South, U.S, Russia, United States

Native tribes and environmental groups have long lobbied for the government to permanently protect the area around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining, which they say would damage the Colorado River watershed as well as areas with great cultural meaning for Native Americans. Under the proposed designation, all new uranium mining will be blocked. Uranium mining has already been restricted in the area in question since 2012, but that Obama-era moratorium was set to expire in 2032. Mr. Biden’s designation would make the conditions permanent. Surveys show young voters, who turned out in force during the 2020 election, are particularly concerned about global warming.

Persons: Obama, Biden’s, Biden Organizations: Washington Post, University of Maryland Locations: Colorado, Arizona

☆ Kamala Harris Takes on a Forceful New Role in the 2024 Campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In recent weeks, Vice President Kamala Harris has dashed off to Florida on short notice. She sparred with the state’s conservative governor, Ron DeSantis, over how to teach slavery in schools. And she flew into Iowa to defend abortion rights while 13 Republican presidential candidates were having dinner a few miles away. Once a rising star as a senator in California, Ms. Harris has for years been saddled by criticism of her performance as vice president. Concerns about her future spread as Democrats pondered whether she would be a political liability for the ticket.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Ron DeSantis, Harris, Joseph R, Biden, “, ”, Cedric Richmond, Republican Party — assertively Organizations: Republican, Republicans, White House, Democratic National Committee, Republican Party Locations: Florida, Iowa, California

☆ Bidens’ Dog Has Bitten Several Secret Service Agents, Emails Show
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of President Biden’s dogs has bitten several Secret Service agents, and even sent one to the hospital, part of a series of at least 10 incidents of “aggressive behavior,” according to internal emails recently obtained by a conservative watchdog group. The correspondence shows that Commander, the nearly 2-year-old German shepherd, has struggled to adjust to life at the White House, where he arrived in 2021, and Delaware, where the Bidens own two homes. Early in November 2022, for instance, officials on the White House medical team chose to send an officer whom Commander had bitten on the arm and thigh to the hospital, according to the emails obtained by Judicial Watch, a Washington-based conservative group. Just a week later, while walking with Jill Biden, the first lady, Commander bit an agent on the left thigh. That same month, another agent was left “shaken,” according to the emails, when he felt the need to hoist up the chair he was sitting on to use as a shield when Commander began barking at him from the top of a White House staircase.

Persons: Biden’s, Jill Biden, “ Organizations: Service, White, White House, Judicial Watch Locations: Delaware, Washington

☆ Biden Pledges Long-Term Backing for Ukraine, but a U.S. Election Looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Moments after President Biden assured Volodymyr Zelensky that he could count on United States support for as long as it took, the Ukrainian leader used the opportunity to speak not only to NATO allies but also to an audience thousands of miles away. “I understand that it’s all your money,” Mr. Zelensky said, addressing Americans directly. “You spend this money for our lives.”Despite Mr. Biden’s repeated promises of staying by Ukraine’s side in its war against Russia, questions about the shelf life of support among American people and lawmakers hung over the summit of Western allies. The two G.O.P. candidates leading in polls, Donald J. Trump and Ron DeSantis, have also expressed reservations about maintaining the war as a priority for the United States, fueling concern among some Western allies and injecting the American electoral cycle as a major element in Ukraine’s prospects for victory.

Persons: Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, “, ” Mr, Zelensky, ”, Biden’s, Donald J, Trump, Ron DeSantis Organizations: United, NATO, Republican Party Locations: United States, Russia, Washington, Ukraine

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