DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Opinion | Civil Liberties Make for Strange Bedfellows
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last Thursday, Sonia Sotomayor helped protect the country from Donald Trump, and she did it in an unexpected way — by defending the National Rifle Association. Attempts to target the free speech of political opponents are often the first sign of a decline into authoritarianism. It is the right which they first of all strike down.”That’s exactly right, and that’s why Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court upholding the free speech rights of the N.R.A. against a hostile attack from a Democratic official in New York has ramifications well beyond New York politics and well beyond the battle over gun rights. By upholding the free speech rights of the N.R.A., the Supreme Court reinforced the constitutional wall of protection against vengeful government leaders, including Trump.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Donald Trump, Frederick Douglass, “, ”, Sonia Sotomayor’s Organizations: National Rifle Association, Democratic, Trump Locations: Boston, New York

☆ 2 Black Heroes, 2 Cities in New York: A Journey Into the Past
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Shayla Martin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There are certain American cities that are known for Black history. But African American history and culture can, of course, be found across the United States, in seemingly unlikely cities, like Portland, Maine, say, or Providence, R.I. There are currently more than 700 Network to Freedom locations across 39 states, in addition to Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Many are in the Northeast, a region that is not always strongly associated with Black history. Curiosity about these lesser-known destinations is how I found myself on the road to Auburn and Rochester, N.Y., the homes of two American heroes: Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

Persons: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman Organizations: Service’s, Freedom, National Underground Railroad Network, Underground Railroad, Washington , D.C, U.S . Locations: Memphis, Atlanta . Birmingham, United States, Portland , Maine, Providence, R.I, Washington ,, U.S, U.S . Virgin Islands, Northeast, Auburn, Rochester, N.Y

Omar Victor Diop History, inheritance and possibility are re-imagined through the lens of the Senegalese photographer, one of the most successful young artists on the continent. Through his bold images, Diop examines the interplay between African and diasporic experiences by knitting together the past and present. Douglass sat for over 160 portraits, including a daguerreotype circa 1855 (bottom), to challenge negative representations of African Americans. Cultural Archive/Alamy In a 2015 self-portrait (top), from Diop’s series “Project Diaspora,” the artist emulates Frederick Douglass, who was the most photographed man of his era. Douglass sat for over 160 portraits, including a daguerreotype circa 1855 (bottom), to challenge negative representations of African Americans.

Persons: Omar Victor Diop, Frederick Douglass, Diop, Selma, ”, ” Omar Victor Diop, Douglass, “, ” Diop, Mama Casset, Malick Sidibé, Samuel Fosso, Martin Luther King Jr Organizations: paisley, West Locations: Senegalese, American, United States, Soweto, South Africa, Africa, “, African American, Dakar, Paris, Nigeria, Senegal, France, Nairobi, Lagos, Mali, America, African

☆ Biden touts billions for northeast US rail corridor
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday will announce the latest tranche of federal dollars to modernize key portions of the nation's busiest rail corridor that stretches from Boston to Washington DC. Biden is highlighting $16.4 billion in funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law for 25 passenger rail projects on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which supports some 800,000 trips per day in a region that represents 20% of the nation's gross domestic product. "The bottom line is that for the over 200 million passengers who ride this rail corridor every year, these improvements are going to shorten travel times and improve reliability," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. Monday's event marks at least the third time Biden has held an event to highlight funding the Northeast Corridor line, underscoring the president's personal connection with the corridor. He believes strongly in improving America's passenger rail and he knows the Northeast Corridor like no one else," White House infrastructure czar Mitch Landrieu said.

Persons: Joe Biden, Finnegan, Maisy, Erin Scott, Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Frederick Douglass, Mitch Landrieu, Jarrett Renshaw, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, Washington DC, U.S . Transportation, Amtrak, Thomson Locations: Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, U.S, Boston, Washington, New York, Hudson, New Jersey, Maryland, Wilmington, Amtrak's Wilmington

☆ Opinion | The Laws of Campus Culture War
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

They represent the moral and philosophical foundations for the concrete constitutional rules of culture war that directly apply on campus. One of the most powerful and compelling arguments for free speech in American history was born out of mob suppression. In 1860, Frederick Douglass wrote his “Plea for Free Speech in Boston” after a violent mob shut down an antislavery event. Every college and university — public or private — that receives federal funds has an affirmative duty to protect students’ civil rights. In the recent past, schools have sometimes been too enthusiastic about stopping harassment, defining the term so broadly that university anti-harassment policies actually violate students’ free speech rights.

Persons: George Washington, ”, “, Abraham, ” Washington, Johnson, Watts, they’re, Deactivating, Frederick Douglass, ” Douglass, Biden, Davis, VI, Scott Alexander’s, it’s, — Organizations: State University System of, Justice, Cooper Union, Cornell University, Trees School, . Ohio, Klan, Hamas, Civil, of Education, Cornell, Democratic Locations: State University System of Florida, Palestine, New York City, Ithaca, N.Y, ”, United States, America, Newport, R.I, Texas, Terminiello, Chicago, Brandenburg, ., Ohio, “, Gaza, Florida, Boston, Monroe County

☆ Ed Dwight was NASA's first Black astronaut candidate in the 1960s. A new documentary tells his forgotten story.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Two decades before Bluford's flight, Ed Dwight was an Air Force pilot who trained to be the first Black astronaut. Whitney Young of the National Urban League urged Kennedy to push the Air Force to find and train the first Black astronaut. Dwight said the famed pilot felt slighted and not being included in the decision to train a Black astronaut. "All of a sudden we were able to hire astronauts who didn't look like the classic NASA astronaut," Bolden said. During his flight, Glover had a group call with Dwight, Bluford, Bolden, and other Black astronauts.

Persons: Ed Dwight, Robert Lawrence, NASA didn't, —, Guion Bluford, Bluford, Dwight, Lisa Cortés, hadn't, John F, Kennedy, Whitney Young, Cortés, Dwight wasn't, Chuck Yeager, Yeager, Frederick Gregory, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Park, Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Luther King, Craig F, Walker, Ed, Leland Melvin, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Bernard Harris , Jr, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Ron McNair, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Charles Bolden , Jr, Tamayo Méndez, Gregory, Bolden, McNair, they'll, Charles Bolden, Melvin, de Mendoza, Katherine Johnson, Ed's, kickstart, Victor Glover, George Floyd, who's, Leland D, Victor, Glover Organizations: NASA, Service, Air Force, Black, Atlanta Constitution, National Urban League, Bettmann, Denver's, Denver, Getty, Soviet Union, Space Shuttle Challenger, Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Station, NASA’s Office, Education, Geographic, Disney Locations: Atlanta, Rosa, Cuban, Cuba, United States, Soviet Union

☆ When Club Music Went Commercial, Remixes Kept It Real
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Craig Seymour | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Remixes can free a song from the dictates of radio trends, marketability and the pop conventions of boy-meets-girl. It makes me think about what, on the surface, seems so irrational: a Black queer person risking alienation from the larger Black community to shape a distinct identity around the inexplicable wants of the heart. You just had to learn it for yourself.”There is another function of the remixes I cherish most: They instigate precious memories. The beat is the confession, which recognizes, changes, and conquers time.” Some remixes remind me of the 1980s and ’90s, when music forged in Black queer spaces began reaching the mainstream. Remixes were one way of preserving Black queer aesthetics amid economic incentives to make club music more commercial.

Persons: Diana Ross, ” Jody Watley, Mariah Carey, ”, Quincy Jones’s, Arthur Baker, Baker, Chaka Khan’s, Frederick Douglass, “, Whitney, David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Oz, Glinda, “ You’ve, James Baldwin Locations: Houston

☆ Analysis: Here’s why many Black people despise Clarence Thomas. (It’s not because he’s a conservative.)
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

CNN —Long before he became a Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas told a story at a public gathering that still sounds shocking years later. Justice Clarence Thomas jokes with his clerks in his chambers at the Supreme Court building in Washington in 2016. AP“His entire judicial philosophy is at war with his own biography,” Michael Fletcher, co-author of “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas,”. “He’s arguably benefited from affirmative action every step of the way.”Thomas has admitted that he was accepted at Yale Law School under an affirmative action policy. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas looks at the displays inside the Pin Point Heritage Museum.

Persons: CNN — Long, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Ronald Reagan, ” Thomas, Diana Walker, Thomas ’, Emma Mae Martin, he’s, Harlan Crow, Crow, ”, Sen, Sheldon Whitehouse, Chip Somodevilla, “ fawning, Reagan, John L, Nikki Merritt, Merritt, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Roe, Wade, ” Sen, Alyssa Pointer, Anita Hill’s, Uncle Tom, Thomas “, Juan Williams, “, Armstrong Williams, ” Williams, Amul Thapar, Jonathan Ernst, ” Thomas ’, Thomas doesn’t, they’ve, Thurgood Marshall, ” Michael Fletcher, “ He’s, I’d, Critics, White, Malcolm X, Richard Burkhard, you’ve, pounced, “ Clarence Thomas, Black, ” Tori Otten, ” Otten, ” Juan Williams, Virginia “ Ginni ” Thomas, Trump’s, John Duricka, Williams, — Trump, Booker T, Washington, Marcus Garvey, Obama, ” “ We’ve, –, “ It’s, “ Thomas, Steven Ferdman, Jim Crow, Frederick Douglass, ” Clarence Thomas, nodded, ” Merritt Organizations: CNN, White House, Commission, Texas Republican, Republican, National Bar Association, Democrat, Georgia Senate, Georgia State Capitol, NAACP, Supreme, National Museum of, Thomas Others, Reuters, Yale Law School, Catholic, College of, Cross, AP, Yale, Heritage Museum, Savannah Morning, USA, The, New, Morehouse College, Fox News Channel Studios, Reagan Administration, Bettmann Locations: Storm, Texas, New York, Washington, Memphis, Georgia, handouts, Atlanta, American, America, Cincinnati, Pin, Savannah , Georgia, New Republic, Wisconsin, Arizona, Virginia, Black, China, India, Brazil, New York City

☆ Florida state colleges may allow entrance exam favored by many conservatives
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Sharon Bernstein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Students stage a walk out from Hillsborough High School to protest after Florida education officials voted to ban classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in all public school grades. The Board of Governors of the 12-campus State University System of Florida will consider the adoption of the Classic Learning Test (CLT) on Friday. The test's adoption would mark the third time that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken on the non-profit College Board, which administers the SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test. The College Board has pushed back against the new test, criticizing as flawed a study meant to compare students' scores on the CLT with scores on the SAT. Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California; editing by Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Octavio Jones, Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Priscilla Rodriguez, Jeremy Tate, Tate, Thomas Aquinas, Dante Alighieri, Frederick Douglass, Flannery O'Connor, Sharon Bernstein, Grant McCool Organizations: Hillsborough High School, REUTERS, Governors, State University System, ACT, Florida, Board, Republican, College, American Studies, The, College Board, Thomson Locations: Florida, Tampa , Florida, U.S, Southern U.S, Sacramento , California

☆ Opinion | Using Frederick Douglass to Rationalize Slavery? In Florida, Yes!
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Charles M. Blow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last month, the Florida Department of Education announced that grade-school teachers could use videos produced by Dennis Prager’s PragerU Kids in their classrooms. PragerU is no more a university than Trump University was. In fine type at the bottom of its webpage, it admits that “PragerU is not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be. We don’t offer degrees, but we do provide educational, entertaining, pro-American videos for every age.”In reality, PragerU is little more than a propaganda media site. The Southern Poverty Law Center takes an even dimmer view of its credentials, saying, “PragerU seems to be yet another node on the internet connecting conservative media consumers to the dark corners of the extreme right.”

Persons: Ron DeSantis’s, Dennis Prager’s, “ PragerU, ” Organizations: Republican, Florida Department of Education, Trump University, Southern Poverty Law Center Locations: Florida

REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived part of a lawsuit claiming that the District of Columbia enforced an anti-graffiti law against anti-abortion protesters in Washington but not racial justice demonstrators in 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. The foundation claimed D.C. authorities abandoned enforcement of the anti-graffiti law during widespread protests in the city following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg dismissed the lawsuit in 2021, finding that the groups did not produce evidence of discriminatory intent by the D.C. government. “It is fundamental to our free speech rights that the government cannot pick and choose between speakers, not when regulating and not when enforcing the laws,” the court said.

Persons: Samuel Alito, Wade, Elizabeth Frantz, “, Frederick Douglass, George Floyd, Erin Hawley, James Boasberg, Andrew Goudsward, David Bario, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Washington , D.C, REUTERS, of Columbia, Appeals, Frederick, Frederick Douglass Foundation, Life, Washington, Alliance Defending, District, D.C, U.S . Constitution, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, Washington, America, Minneapolis, U.S .

☆ Gov. Wes Moore wants Democrats to deliver results. If he pulls it off, he could change Maryland for decades.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

When speaking about the Democratic Party in Maryland, Moore leaned into a similar message. "If you look at the work that we're doing here in the state of Maryland, it's results," he said. Moore in his office at the Maryland State House in Annapolis. Moore told me that he had full confidence in the legality of the legislation, calling it "the right thing to do." Moore gives his first State of the State address at the Maryland State House on February 1, 2023.

Persons: Wes Moore, Moore, Wes Moore's, —, Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, Marylanders, We're, Biden, Frederick Douglass, we're, Del, Dan Cox, Michael Robinson Chávez, Moore —, Gov, Aruna Miller —, Annapolis —, we've, Jarrod Ramos, Christian Segovia, Jr, Brian Witte, Atlanta , Georgia —, J.B . Pritzker, Matt McClain, I've, he's Organizations: Maryland Gov, NRA, Black, Republicans, Democratic, Democratic Party, Democrats, GOP, Maryland National Guard, Maryland State House, Washington Post, National Guard, US, 82nd Airborne Division, Gazette, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore's Brooklyn Homes, Guardians, Capital Gazette, AP, National Rifle Association, Morehouse College —, Democratic Gov, Illinois, Washington, Getty, of Commerce Locations: ANNAPOLIS , Maryland, Maryland, Annapolis, Afghanistan, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, Buffalo , New York, Baltimore's Brooklyn, Sr, Md, Atlanta , Georgia

☆ On the Fourth of July, Telling the Full, Flawed Story of America - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Esau Mccaulley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Douglass wondered what the enslaved might say if they were called from the plantations to reflect on themes of liberty, justice and equality. How might their words differ from the prose of the free orators normally asked to comment on American ideals? On Independence Day, what would those who lost loved ones in the Buffalo mass shooting have to say about justice in America? What musings about liberty could we expect from those who endure unjust sentencing or are pulled over for driving while Black? On the Fourth of July we are encouraged to unfurl our flags, belt out a rendition of “God Bless America” and grill burgers in humble gratitude.

Persons: Frederick Douglass, Douglass, Black Organizations: Buffalo, America Locations: America

☆ Opinion | What Frederick Douglass Knew That Trump and DeSantis Don’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Here, it is worth taking a brief tour of the history of birthright citizenship in the United States. Although the idea of birthright citizenship was present in English common law at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, the Constitution as ratified said nothing about acquiring citizenship by either birth or naturalization. To the extent that citizenship came with rights, the scope of those rights was a question of state laws and state constitutions. But there were always proponents of a broader, more expansive and rights-bearing birthright citizenship. “Our common country is the United States,” Delany wrote.

Persons: ”, Martin Delany, ” Delany, Martha S, Jones Organizations: Colored People, Rights, Antebellum, Convention Locations: United States, Union, Antebellum America, America, Rochester , New York

[1/2] U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses during a group portrait at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., October 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, under scrutiny following revelations that he did not disclose luxury trips paid for by a billionaire Dallas businessman, has received an extension to file his mandatory annual financial disclosure, the court said on Wednesday. Some congressional Democrats have proposed imposing new ethics standards on the Supreme Court following reporting on conduct by some of the justices, in particular Thomas. Supreme Court justices are not bound like other federal judges by a code of conduct that includes avoidance even of the "appearance of impropriety." The three conservative justices appointed by former President Donald Trump drew additional income as law professors.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Evelyn Hockstein WASHINGTON, Samuel Alito, Thomas, Harlan Crow, Crow, Frederick Douglass, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Sotomayor, John Roberts, Donald Trump, Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, George Mason University's Antonin Scalia, Amy Coney Barrett, Roberts, Andrew Chung, John Kruzel, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, REUTERS, Conservative U.S, Judicial Conference, Politico, Liberal, Vogue, Random, Charter Communications, Texas, University of Notre Dame Law School, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Dallas, Crow, Colorado, New York, Washington

☆ What John Blake discovered when he met the White mother he never knew
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +25 min

It’s a story about my mother, and the White relatives who shunned me at birth—and still somehow became family. I now know one of the reasons my family didn’t tell me about my mom’s illness is because they didn’t know how. I vividly recall thinking as I looked at my mom: I didn’t know a White person could suffer like this. I saw White, Black, and brown people hug and call each other “brother” and “sister” after worship service. John Blake is a Senior Writer at CNN and the author of “More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.”

☆ Inside the Wild World of Celebrity Keynote Speakers: Drugs, Alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

"I never saw myself as a speaker, let alone a motivational speaker," Leonard tells me while his assistant irons his jeans. 'When I ramble," Hunter told me, "hit me in the leg!" Every plane had been grounded, including the one stuck on the tarmac with an increasingly inebriated Hunter Thompson trapped inside. But by far the most all-consuming task was booking gigs for Hunter Thompson. Just before a debate with G. Gordon Liddy at Brown University, Hunter demanded that Betsy Berg, whom I now worked alongside at GTN, score him some crystal meth.

☆ Opinion | Tim Scott Faces Long Odds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Scott is obviously not the first Black person to vie for the Republican presidential nomination. That distinction goes to Frederick Douglass, who received one vote at the 1888 Republican convention. Alan Keyes ran for the Republican nomination in 1996, 2000 and 2008; Herman Cain ran and withdrew in 2011; and Ben Carson ran in 2016. Tim Scott, however, would be the first Black Republican officeholder to run for the party’s presidential nomination, should he move past the exploratory phase. Even then, there were few Black people elected to national office, with a total of eight serving between 1914 and 1965.

☆ In Harlem, a 19th-Century Home That’s Playfully Modern Inside
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Vivian Marino | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

(“I hired him to be a collaborative partner, then he became my partner partner,” she said.) The Harlem townhouse is going back on the market for $3.25 million, according to the listing brokers Stan Ponte and Colin Montgomery of Sotheby’s International Realty. Measuring around 4,900 square feet over four stories, the townhouse has five bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a powder room. “In the late 1800s it was a place for horses, and now it’s a place to park your car,” Mr. Montgomery said. “What was a luxury then is still a luxury today.”

☆ Putin gave Biden a $12,000 writing set in 2021. It was among the unusual presents world leaders offered the US president that year.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

These are 7 of the most unusual, unique, or noteworthy presents gifted to President Joe Biden that year. These are 7 of the most unusual presents gifted to President Joe Biden in 2021. Putin gave Biden a $12,000 desk setLess than a year before Vladimir Putin launched his unprompted war in Ukraine, the Russian president gifted Biden a Kholuy Lacquer miniature workshop desk writing set and pen valued at $12,000, according to the State Department. Queen Elizabeth gave the president a photo of herselfThe late Queen Elizabeth gave the gift of herself during the 2021 G7 summit in England. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 1, 2021, in Washington.

Biden noted that 2,200 trains ride through it daily, making it the busiest tunnel in the United States. "Folks talk about how badly the Baltimore tunnel needs an upgrade. Trains that travel through the tunnel now at 30 miles per hour will travel at 110 mph when renovations are through, Biden said. In Washington, Biden faces a colder reality as Republicans, now in control of the House of Representatives, threaten to block his economic agenda, bog down his programs in investigations and prevent the raising of the debt ceiling to force spending cuts. Biden plans a similar event on Tuesday in New York related to that city's Hudson Tunnel project.

☆ Biden to promote Baltimore spending as Republicans try to force cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In Washington, Biden faces a colder reality as Republicans, now in control of the House of Representatives, threaten to block his economic agenda, bog down his programs in investigations and prevent the raising of the debt ceiling to force spending cuts. Monday's event takes Biden, a Democrat who touts his alliance with labor unions, to liberal Baltimore at an event expected to be attended by the state's governor and two senators, all Democrats. He is expected to announce an agreement between Amtrak and a labor group on the tunnel project, according to a White House official. Biden plans a similar event on Tuesday in New York related to that city's Hudson Tunnel project. On Friday, he will highlight the infrastructure bill's provisions replacing toxic lead pipes at an event in Philadelphia.

☆ Watch: Biden touts latest infrastructure project, replacing the 150-year-old train tunnel in Baltimore
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. President Joe Biden is in Baltimore, Md. on Monday to laud the latest road project funded by his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, highlighting the state's plans to replace a 150-year-old tunnel that runs Amtrak trains between Washington, D.C. and New York City. The current Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel opened during the Ulysses S. Grant administration and is used daily for commuters with an estimated 9 million passengers travel through the tunnel annually. He will continue his infrastructure tour on Tuesday in New York, NY where he will trumpet the Hudson Tunnel project, also paid for by the new law. Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday where funding from the law is being used to remove lead pipes.

The group of hard-line Republicans standing firm in opposing Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker has coalesced around an alternative: Rep. Byron Donalds, a conservative two-term lawmaker from Florida who is considered a rising star in the GOP but is still relatively unknown nationally. Donalds said the incident inspired him to change his life and eventually emerge from businessman to politician. In 2021, Donalds was denied membership in the Congressional Black Caucus and insisted it was because of his conservative views. Donalds’ wife, Erika Donalds, with whom he has three children, is also a conservative Republican and involved in state politics. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., center right, speaks with a colleague in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol, on Wednesday.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

Search resuls for: "Frederick Douglass"

25 mentions found