NEWS AROUND US: March 2021

Wednesday, 31 March 2021

Quite a Job, You Have to Admit

By BY DEB AMLEN from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/2PfYOwj

Child Care in Crisis: Can Biden’s Plan Save It?

By BY ALISHA HARIDASANI GUPTA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3cBeZNs

For many college students, pandemic life is disappointing. For others, it is a financial crisis.

By BY STEPHANIE SAUL from NYT World https://ift.tt/3ucGrHm

Aides helped Cuomo draft book while simultaneously obscuring nursing home deaths.

By BY JESSE MCKINLEY, DANNY HAKIM AND ALEXANDRA ALTER from NYT World https://ift.tt/3dmkv5Q

Analysis: Biden is using his ‘infrastructure week’ to argue that government can do big things that the private sector cannot.

By BY DAVID E. SANGER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31DryRW

Matt Gaetz Screams 'Extortion!' To Drown Out Sex Trafficking Investigation

Matt Gaetz might be trying to distract us with talk of extortion whenever someone brings up him being investigated for sex trafficking underage girls, but don't take the bait. The extortion story has nothing to do with it.

His father, Don Gaetz may have been approached by a couple of shady dudes via text message about a missing FBI agent, but that is not connected to Matty's DOJ troubles in any way, shape or form. It's just a happy coincidence for Gaetz the younger that Papa Gaetz also has weirdo connections looking for a missing-likely-dead FBI agent in all the wrong Gaetzes. (If, indeed, that is what's going on.)

According to the Washington Post:

The men who approached Gaetz’s father, people familiar with the matter said, had no apparent connection to the sex crimes investigation of his son, other than having somehow learned about it before it was publicly reported. But when news of law enforcement’s interest in Gaetz surfaced Tuesday, the congressman asserted that the allegation was “rooted in an extortion effort against my family for $25 million,” and he identified by name a former federal prosecutor who he said was part of the effort.

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PM-covid-update

By Unknown Author from NYT Slideshows https://ift.tt/2QU3ybi

Pentagon issues new rules overturning Trump’s ban on transgender troops.

By BY HELENE COOPER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3m7LIgk

Man Is Charged With Smuggling in Crash That Killed 13 Migrants in California

By BY JACEY FORTIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3rEXTT2

Jill Biden, in California, Lends Support to Farmworkers Seeking Vaccinations

By BY KATIE ROGERS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3fwmzL9

Investigators say a Trump aide took it upon himself to award hefty pandemic contracts.

By BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG from NYT World https://ift.tt/3sFiKHh

40 Years After Reagan, a Bet Big Government Can Get Something Done

By BY DAVID E. SANGER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3sHDwWz

Clerk Who Questioned $20 Bill Watched Floyd Arrest With ‘Disbelief and Guilt’

By BY JOHN ELIGON, SHAILA DEWAN, TIM ARANGO AND NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3rG9Ac0

Investment Firm’s Collapse Put Unseen Risks on Full Display

By BY MATT PHILLIPS from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3fwm9EE

Matt Gaetz investigado por posible tráfico sexual, según fuentes

By BY MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, KATIE BENNER AND NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/31zxH1N

Nationals Player Tests Positive for Virus Before Opening Day

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3dl8Ioh

As Cuomo Sought $4 Million Book Deal, Aides Hid Damaging Death Toll

By BY JESSE MCKINLEY, DANNY HAKIM AND ALEXANDRA ALTER from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3sHjv2D

Factory Mix-Up Ruins Up to 15 Million Vaccine Doses From Johnson & Johnson

By BY SHARON LAFRANIERE AND NOAH WEILAND from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2OaIH2l

Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Meets Skepticism, Signaling Fight to Come

By BY EMILY COCHRANE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/39uyzsG

As Virus and Economic Woes Ravage Brazil, Bolsonaro Improvises and Confounds

By BY ERNESTO LONDOÑO AND LETÍCIA CASADO from NYT World https://ift.tt/3sBzTBA

Biden bets that tackling climate change will create jobs, not kill them.

By BY CORAL DAVENPORT, NOAM SCHEIBER AND LISA FRIEDMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3u7EV9p

As devastating video played in court, George Floyd’s brother was there to watch.

By BY TIM ARANGO from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3rEcYV3

Minnesota Court Ruling Fuels Calls to Change Sexual Assault Law

By BY CHRISTINA MORALES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2PmXKXn

Tuesday, 30 March 2021

G. Gordon Liddy, Mastermind Behind Watergate Burglary, Dies at 90

By BY ROBERT D. MCFADDEN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2PMvRHS

South Carolina Rolls Past Texas Into the Final Four

By BY GILLIAN R. BRASSIL from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3dhCNVS

Bloomberg Employees Get Access to Hospital’s Vaccine Slots

By BY KATIE ROBERTSON from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3u5Tni4

A federal judge threw out a confidentiality agreement signed by a Trump campaign aide.

By BY ERIC LIPTON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3dmnScJ

For Syrians, the pandemic has increased the need for humanitarian assistance, but donations prove ‘woefully inadequate.’

By BY RICK GLADSTONE from NYT World https://ift.tt/3ueJij7

‘It Wasn’t Right’: Young Witnesses Offer Emotional Testimony in Chauvin Trial

By BY JOHN ELIGON, TIM ARANGO AND NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31Bsuq9

The Morning

By Unknown Author from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/3m7kaYL

Baseball’s back, so teams are deciding whether their stadiums will continue to serve as vaccination venues.

By BY MADELEINE NGO from NYT World https://ift.tt/2PK1H8s

G. Gordon Liddy, Mastermind Behind Watergate Burglary, Dies at 90

By BY ROBERT D. MCFADDEN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2PdkRnn

Biden to call for increase in corporate taxes to pay for $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

By BY JIM TANKERSLEY AND EMILY COCHRANE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2PK1EJO

Democrats debate their strategy for pushing through voting rights legislation.

By BY NICHOLAS FANDOS AND MICHAEL WINES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2QOvhdj

Biden to Pay for Infrastructure Plan With 15 Years of Corporate Taxes

By BY JIM TANKERSLEY AND EMILY COCHRANE from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3wmgmaP

Chauvin Trial: Day 2 Key Moments

By BY CHRISTINA KELSO AND LUCAS LILIEHOLM from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3sGx3Ly

‘No Place for a Child’: Inside the Tent Camp Housing Thousands of Migrant Children

By BY MIRIAM JORDAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3wea64D

Amazon partners with Seraphim on AWS accelerator for space startups

Amazon will soon be a big part of the space economy in the form of its Kuiper satellite internet constellation, but here on Earth its ambitions are more commonplace: get an accelerator going. They’ve partnered with space-focused VC outfit Seraphim Capital to create a four-week program with (among other things) a $100,000 AWS credit for a carrot.

Applications are open now for the AWS Space Accelerator, with the only requirement that you’re aiming for the space sector and plan to use AWS at some point. Ten applicants will be accepted; you have until April 21 to apply.

The program sounds fairly straightforward: a “technical, business, and mentorship” deal where you’ll likely learn how to use AWS properly, get some good tips from the AWS Partner Network and other space-focused experts on tech, regulations and security, then rub shoulders with some VCs to talk about that round you’re putting together. (No doubt Seraphim’s team gets first dibs, but there doesn’t appear to be any strict equity agreement.)

“Selected startups may receive up to $100,000 in AWS Activate credit,” the announcement says, which does hedge somewhat, but probably legal made them put that in.

There are a good amount of space-focused programs out there, but not nearly enough to cover demand — there are a lot of space startups! And they often face a special challenge of being highly technical, have customers in the public sector and need rather a lot of cash to get going compared with your average enterprise SaaS.

We’ll understand more about the program once the first cohort is announced, likely not for at least a month or two.

As launch market matures, space opportunities on the ground take off

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Chauvin Trial Witness Refuses Portrayal As 'Angry Black Man'

A witness in the Derek Chauvin trial pushed back on defense attorney Eric Nelson on Tuesday for suggesting he was an "angry" Black man.

On the second day of testimony, Nelson said that Donald Williams II became "angry" at police officers after he witnessed Chauvin killing George Floyd.

"As you were there and interacting with Officer Thao and Officer Chauvin, you grew more and more upset," Nelson stated. "Would you agree with that?"

"I grew control and professionalism," Williams replied.

"You said, "Like, I really wanted to beat the shit out of the police officers,'" Nelson pressed. "You were angry."

"No, you can't paint me as angry," Williams insisted. "I was in a position where I had to be controlled. A controlled professionalism. I wasn't angry because I stayed on the curb."

At that point, Nelson tried to get Williams' answer stricken from the record.

"Overruled," the judge said.

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