January 21 top news briefs
It is January 21. Here are today’s top news briefs.
President Joe Biden has signed several executive orders.
Last night he mandated people to wear masks on all federal properties, rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, and to provide support for under-served communities.
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Biden said former President Donald Trump left him a very generous letter and said he will keep it private until he is able to talk with Trump.
There were more executive orders signed today. One order directs federal agencies to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of items needed to test, treat, and vaccinate people for Covid-19. Biden will sign a memo to direct the FEMA to fully reimburse states for vaccination and testing supplies and for the costs of National Guard deployments if it is related to the pandemic.
Biden also moved to freeze student loan repayments through September. He revoked a Trump executive order that excluded undocumented immigrants from the census. He rescinded the Keystone XL pipeline permit. He rejoined the World Health Organization. He removed Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries.
At the Capitol, Vice President Kamala Harris swore in three new Senators. Two won elections in Georgia: Raphael Warnock (D) and Jon Ossoff (D). The third is Alex Padilla (D), who was appointed by the California governor to replace Harris’ Senate seat.
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The Senate is now controlled by Democrats. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is the majority leader, while Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is now the minority leader.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the article of impeachment against Donald Trump will be sent to the Senate “soon.” There were some who thought Pelosi should drop it so there could be unity, but Pelosi said Trump committed an act of incitement of insurrection and it’s not unifying to say, “Oh, let’s just forget it and move on.” Pelosi said we can’t “make nice and forget that people died here on Jan. 6.” A total of five people died, including a U.S. Capitol police officer. Pelosi said the trial may begin in a few days and that they are ready.
Last night in Portland, Oregon, about 150 protesters marched on streets and went to the headquarters of the state’s Democratic Party. There was some property damage. Some protesters said they were not happy with President Biden and wanted revenge for police murders. Portland Police declared an unlawful assembly and 8 were arrested. There were smaller protests in Seattle and Denver by far-left groups or Antifa followers. A federal courthouse in Seattle and an Amazon Go store had windows shattered.
In Florida, two members of the Proud Boys were arrested and charged with being a part of the Capitol mob. One of them, Joseph Biggs, posted on Parler prior to the storming for people to dress in black so they would look like Antifa protesters.
A Houston police officer, Tam Pham, was charged with being a part of the Capitol riots after federal agents found deleted videos and selfies in his phone that showed he was inside of the building. He resigned from his job last week — he was a 18 year veteran.
That’s all the top news briefs for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.npr.org/sections/president-biden-takes-office/2021/01/21/959048903/on-day-2-biden-to-focus-on-covid-19-strategy-with-10-executive-actions
https://www.axios.com/biden-harris-day-1-what-mattered-7cd265f3-8070-444a-8024-2536e9619f49.html
https://www.c-span.org/video/?508140-1/avril-haines-confirmed-senate-director-national-intelligence-84-10
https://www.c-span.org/video/?508154-1/president-biden-signs-executive-orders-mask-mandate-rejoining-paris-climate-accord
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-defends-impeachment-biden-unity
https://www.foxnews.com/us/anti-biden-antifa-portland-police
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-capitol-siege-florida-riots-arrests-572d757c0d5a7d6863fee6447ef8a2ee
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/houston-police-officer-charged-capitol-riot-after-fbi-agents-find-n1254911