Tuesday, March 19

Europe

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RBG Award gala to honor likes of Musk, Murdoch canceled after late justice’s family objects
Europe

RBG Award gala to honor likes of Musk, Murdoch canceled after late justice’s family objects

A Washington, D.C., spring gala to honor Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Milken, Martha Stewart and Sylvester Stallone has been canceled, organizers said Monday.The invitation-only celebration at the Library of Congress on April 13 was being organized to bestow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award honors on the tech, media, finance, food and film luminaries.On Monday, the chairman of the Opperman Foundation, which chooses honorees and organizes the event independent of the late Supreme Court justice's survivors and estate, said in a statement that the group was pulling the plug to avoid fueling controversy over the 2024 recipient list."Keeping in mind that our goal is only to do good, the foundation is not interested in creating controversy," Julie Opperman said. "It is not i...
Chicago begins evicting migrants from shelters as residents decry ‘lack of respect’
Europe

Chicago begins evicting migrants from shelters as residents decry ‘lack of respect’

CHICAGO — Chicago has begun evicting some migrants from its shelters, a controversial policy that has been delayed for months but appeared haphazard, one migrant told NBC News on Monday. Migrants who have been evicted, as well as those who are facing a rapidly approaching deadline, said there has been widespread confusion about the process and frustration with being forced to leave while they still lack the resources to find their own places to stay. In the first two days of enforcement, less than 10 migrants have been evicted from their shelters, according to the city. Five migrants were forced to leave Monday due to the policy, a city spokesperson said, while three were evicted on Sunday.Franklin Romero, a 29-year-old Venezuelan migrant, said he was told by someone at the Woodlawn she...
Biden speaks with Netanyahu amid escalating tensions in U.S.-Israel, warns against Rafah invasion
Europe

Biden speaks with Netanyahu amid escalating tensions in U.S.-Israel, warns against Rafah invasion

WASHINGTON — During a critical phone call Monday, President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Israel's carrying out a planned military operation in Rafah, the White House said."Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the White House briefing where he outlined the leaders' conversation. "It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally," Sullivan added. He said more than a million people have taken refuge in Rafah, a city in the southwestern Gaza Strip along Egypt's border, after having moved ...
Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels allowed to testify in Trump hush money trial
Europe

Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels allowed to testify in Trump hush money trial

A New York judge on Monday denied Donald Trump's bid to keep his former lawyer Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels from testifying in the former president's criminal trial related to a 2016 hush money payment.Judge Juan Merchan gave both Cohen and Daniels the green light to take the stand, but placed some restrictions on Daniels' testimony, namely that she can’t testify about a lie detector test she took in 2018 indicating she’d been truthful about her comments about Trump.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump alleges that he falsified business records to hide money he was paying Cohen to reimburse him for $130,000 the attorney paid Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels has claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump...
After convictions of Michigan school shooter’s parents, victims’ families seek school accountability
Europe

After convictions of Michigan school shooter’s parents, victims’ families seek school accountability

While the historic trials of the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley resulted in guilty verdicts, the parents of the four students killed at Oxford High School in 2021 said Monday their quest for accountability is far from over.They are turning their attention back to the school district and school administrators, some of whom were called as witnesses in the trials, to demand lasting efforts from state leaders, including changes to governmental immunity laws that protect schools from being sued and requiring independent reviews after any mass shooting.They also want a continued investigation into the response at Oxford, with subpoena power to force people to cooperate, saying a third-party report released last year was "scathing" but also had shortcomings, in part, because...
Trump and Ohio’s GOP establishment clash on the eve of a rowdy Senate primary
Europe

Trump and Ohio’s GOP establishment clash on the eve of a rowdy Senate primary

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On the eve of an Ohio Republican Senate primary awash in resentment and rage, two leading candidates stuck close to their tribes Monday, reinforcing battle lines in a race that has become a referendum on former President Donald Trump.Allies of Trump and his preferred candidate, Bernie Moreno, barnstormed the state, warning that a vote Tuesday for state Sen. Matt Dolan would deal a blow to their MAGA movement. Dolan, meanwhile, campaigned here with Gov. Mike DeWine, who despite feuding with the right-wing base has remained popular among moderates and independents key to Dolan’s coalition.The last-minute rush followed a weekend rally that Trump headlined for Moreno and reflected a contest that many see as a tossup for the GOP nomination to face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Bro...
Funding deal eludes Congress just days ahead of government shutdown deadline
Europe

Funding deal eludes Congress just days ahead of government shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders still haven’t reached an agreement on how to fund a broad swath of the federal government, with just over four days to go before the deadline.Money expires at the end of Friday for the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services and a host of other agencies.Three sources familiar with negotiations tell NBC News the Homeland Security (DHS) portion is the final sticking point between lawmakers, with the other five funding bills covering the rest of the affected departments effectively settled.Heading into the weekend, negotiators were poised to release a package that includes the five other funding bills and funds DHS separately on an extended stopgap basis, largely continuing the status quo. But now they’re back to...
House races in Illinois, Ohio and more
Europe

House races in Illinois, Ohio and more

Joe Biden and Donald Trump may have secured their parties’ presidential nominations, but there is plenty of intrigue further down the ballot heading into the next primary day Tuesday.While much of the focus will be on Ohio’s Senate race, where Republicans are competing to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, Tuesday’s results will set the stage this fall for pivotal House battleground races in the Buckeye State and in Illinois. Two incumbents in Illinois are also facing competitive primary challenges in safe seats. And in California, voters will decide whether Republicans’ narrow House majority will receive an immediate jolt.  Here are four dynamics to watch in Tuesday’s House primaries.A test for Trump’s endorsementTrump’s endorsement will be put to the test in Illinois’ 12th Distric...
A city in Pennsylvania embraces immigrants as tensions over ‘sanctuary’ policies rise across the country
Europe

A city in Pennsylvania embraces immigrants as tensions over ‘sanctuary’ policies rise across the country

Officials in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recently codified into law city policies that have been in effect since 2019 limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.The all-Democrat Lancaster City Council unanimously passed an ordinance last month preventing local police and any city official from inquiring about a person’s immigration status unless it's required by state or federal law or by court order, or reasonably necessary in the course of a criminal investigation. It also prohibits them from providing any information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that could result in civil or noncriminal immigration enforcement actions.Such “sanctuary” policies have been at the center of the national debate over immigration and border security ahead of the 2024 presidential ...
A Louisiana town, battered by hurricanes, tries to hang on in a warming world
Europe

A Louisiana town, battered by hurricanes, tries to hang on in a warming world

NASA estimates that Louisiana has lost almost 750 square miles of its coastal wetlands since 1984. In a report published in February, researchers predicted that three quarters of Louisiana’s wetlands could be underwater by 2070.In many U.S. coastal cities, sea level rise is exacerbated by land that is slowly sinking due to fossil fuel and water extraction. By 2050, the sinking phenomenon could put over 500,000 extra people at risk of significant flooding.A stormy upbringingAnna Dupont, 21, one of the few young people left in Cameron Parish, loves to listen to her parents’ stories about old Cameron.Anna DuPont, 21, is one of the few young people left living in Cameron after a series of devastating hurricanes.Michael Gemelli / NBC NewsBefore Hurricane Rita, the community was vibrant and t...