Today’s edition of quick hits.
* By the new standards the FDA has in mind, Covid vaccines might not be available for healthy kids and adults this fall: “The Food and Drug Administration is planning major changes for how Covid vaccines are rolled out and who will be able to get the updated shots this fall.”
* In Gaza: “Israel’s threats to drastically escalate the war in Gaza and its blockade of humanitarian aid to a Palestinian population at risk of famine have drawn the sharpest condemnation yet from some powerful Western allies since the conflict began 19 months ago.”
* SCOTUS news: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the Maine House of Representatives cannot bar a Republican lawmaker from speaking in the chamber or voting as a result of comments she made about a transgender student athlete. In a brief order, the high court granted an emergency request from Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby, who faced considerable blowback from a social media post in February when a transgender girl won a pole vault event in the state championship earlier this year.”
* So many bad ideas: “President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to merge the government’s wildland firefighting efforts into a single agency, a move some former federal officials warn could increase the risk of catastrophic blazes and ultimately cost billions of dollars. Trump’s budget would centralize firefighting efforts now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments into a single Federal Wildland Fire Service under the U.S. Interior Department. That would mean shifting thousands of personnel from the U.S. Forest Service — where most federal firefighters now work — into the new agency with fire season already underway.”
* This might sound wonky, but it’s a big deal that I’ll be writing about in detail soon: “The U.S. Senate will move this week to block California from enforcing a series of vehicle emissions standards that are tougher than the federal government’s, including first-in-the-nation rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.”
* I liked it better when the Justice Department launched worthwhile investigations, instead of absurdities like this: “The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Monday that it was opening an investigation into the city of Chicago after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s comments Sunday highlighting prominent Black officials in his administration.” * Not the first tariff-related price hike, and not the last: “Subaru said Monday it would raise car prices for customers in the United States, in another sign of how tariffs are beginning to affect consumers. A statement by the Japanese carmaker avoided any mention of tariffs, saying only that ‘the changes were made to offset increased costs.’” * Five years after George Floyd’s murder: “With the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s death approaching this weekend, Congress still has not passed any legislation seeking to even reform, let alone abolish, qualified immunity. The Supreme Court has rejected dozens of cases asking it to do the same. What minor changes have occurred, via court rulings or state legislative actions, have had little practical impact on a nationwide basis.” 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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