Today’s edition of quick hits:
* It’s important to watch what Russia does, not what it says: “Russia’s deputy defense minister said Moscow would ‘drastically’ reduce its military presence near Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, as Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Istanbul on Tuesday for a fresh round of peace talks.”
* In related news: “Security guarantees for Ukraine will be a key issue in ongoing talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Turkey on Tuesday, Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podoliak has said.”
* A big announcement from the CDC: “Americans ages 50 and older can now receive a second booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Hours after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the second booster on Tuesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued a statement allowing shots to begin immediately.”
* On a related note: “The BA.2 subvariant of omicron was estimated to be more than half, or 54.9 percent, of the coronavirus variants circulating in the United States as of Saturday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.”
* A new law, generations in the making: “President Biden signed into law Tuesday a historic bill to make lynching a federal hate crime in the U.S. for the first time…. The new law comes after more than 200 attempts to codify federal anti-lynching legislation.”
* This ought to be interesting: “The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is expected to interview former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner later this week.” * Lying in state: “The late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the longest-serving member of the current Congress, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall on Tuesday. Young, 88, died March 18 while traveling home to Alaska. A cause of death was not provided by his office.” * We live in such strange times: “A Nebraska state lawmaker apologized on Monday after he publicly cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that schools are placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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