White House prepares for legal and political battle on abortion pill
Meryl Kornfield et al., The Washington Post
The Biden administration, seeking to reassure abortion rights activists without provoking the courts, is privately promising an array of liberal groups that it will wage a fierce legal battle to preserve access to abortion medication, while also developing contingency plans in case those efforts fall short.
Biden plans to focus on the economy in Belfast speech marking Good Friday Agreement anniversary
Kevin Liptak, CNN
When President Joe Biden speaks here Wednesday to mark a quarter-century of the Good Friday Agreement, it won’t be from the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly – currently suspended over a Brexit trade dispute – but from a new university campus downtown.
Biden makes huge push for electric vehicles. Is America ready?
Tanya Snyder, Politico
An EPA proposal to cut cars and light trucks’ greenhouse gas pollution in half by 2032 is “a win for the American people,” the White House says. But it will have a fight on its hands.
Biden Administration Proposes Evenly Cutting Water Allotments From Colorado River
Christopher Flavelle, The New York Times
As the river shrinks, the Biden administration is getting ready to impose, for the first time, reductions in water supplies to states.
Biden’s drug czar declares fentanyl laced with animal tranquilizer an ‘emerging threat’ facing U.S.
Daniel Arkin, NBC News
Xylazine mixed with fentanyl has been linked to a sharp increase of overdose deaths across the U.S.
‘It feels like Groundhog Day’: Federal officials frustrated by whiplash as Biden turns to Trump-era border policies
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
US asylum officers are frustrated by policy whiplash under President Joe Biden, and some are considering leaving their posts, as administration officials contemplate restarting controversial Trump-era border policies that would largely limit who could seek refuge in the United States.
U.S. Officials in Moscow Haven’t Been Allowed to Visit WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich
Louise Radnofsky and William Mauldin, The Wall Street Journal
Nearly two weeks after Russian security agents picked up Evan Gershkovich at a restaurant during a reporting trip, Moscow still hasn’t granted U.S. Embassy officials permission to visit The Wall Street Journal reporter in detention—a pattern that follows other cases of American citizens jailed in Russia.
U.S. Officials Speak to Ukrainians After Document Leaks
Michael Crowley, The New York Times
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken talked to their counterparts in Kyiv, but offered little detail on the investigation into the breach.
Leaked U.S. intel document claims Serbia agreed to arm Ukraine
Jonathan Landay and Aleksandar Vasovic, Reuters
Serbia, the only country in Europe that has refused to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, agreed to supply arms to Kyiv or has sent them already, according to a classified Pentagon document.
US, Philippines Follow Taiwan Drills With Biggest Exercises
Philip Heijmans and Andreo Calonzo, Bloomberg
The US and the Philippines kicked off the largest version of their flagship military exercise in more than 30 years on Tuesday, a high-profile display of their renewed alliance that includes live-fire training targeting a decommissioned vessel near the South China Sea.
How L.A.’s Doug Emhoff became the White House’s voice against antisemitism
Courtney Subramanian, Los Angeles Times
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff was furious. Kanye West, now known as Ye, had spent weeks giving Americans a crash course in antisemitic lies.
