AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT
Biden leaves door open for Senate changes to advance agenda
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden at his first news conference Thursday left the door open to backing fundamental changes in Senate procedure to muscle key parts of his agenda like immigration and voting rights past Republican opposition "if there´s complete lockdown and chaos."
Even as his administration navigates the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic damage, Biden is grappling with how to deliver on a host of big promises despite a razor-thin Senate majority. He teased that changes to Senate rules that would allow bills to pass with fewer votes may be necessary for him to achieve some of those goals.
"If there´s complete lockdown and chaos, as a consequence of the filibuster, then we´re going to have to go beyond what I´m talking about," he said.
Despite strong poll numbers, Biden faces headwinds in delivering on his ambitious legislative agenda. His party's congressional majorities are narrow, Republican opposition appears entrenched and not all Democrats are aligned in reforming Senate rules on the filibuster.
Biden at first backed a modification - but not elimination - of the arcane procedural tactic. But he then suggested, at least on certain issues, he would go further, saying the filibuster - which requires 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate - was being "abused in a gigantic way" by Republicans.
___
Vaccination race enlists grassroots aides to fight mistrust
CHICAGO (AP) - His last job was selling cars, but in his new gig, working to turn the tide against a pandemic, Herman Simmons knows not to be too pushy or overbearing.
He´s one of more than 50 outreach workers a Chicago hospital has enlisted to promote vaccination against COVID-19 in hard-hit Black and brown neighborhoods.
Their job is approaching strangers at laundromats, grocery stores and churches, handing out educational material and making vaccination appointments for those who are willing.
"I see myself as my brother´s keeper. I don´t try to force them. I´m persistent,´´ he said.
Top U.S. health officials say they´re in a race to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible as COVID-19 variants spread, mask and distancing rules are relaxed, and Americans crave a return to normalcy.
___
Georgia Gov. Kemp signs GOP election bill amid an outcry
ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp drew protests Thursday as he signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run.
Democrats and voting rights groups say the law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color. It is part of a wave of GOP-backed election bills introduced in states around the nation after former President Donald Trump stoked false claims that fraud led to his 2020 election defeat.
As Kemp was delivering remarks shortly after signing the bill, he was interrupted by a commotion inside his ceremonial office and asked an aide "what's the problem" before a livestream of the event cut out.
Just outside Kemp's office were about 10 protestors, including Democratic state Reps. Park Cannon and Erica Thomas, both African Americans. Cannon was arrested by Capitol police after knocking on the door of the governor´s office during his remarks.
The Republican changes to voting laws in Georgia follow record-breaking turnout that led to Democratic victories in the presidential contest and two U.S. Senate runoffs in the once reliably red state.
___
Texas death toll from February storm, outages surpasses 100
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas officials on Thursday raised the death toll from February's winter storm and blackouts to at least 111 people - nearly doubling the state's initial tally following one of the worst power outages in U.S. history.
The frigid weather also was blamed for dozens of more deaths across other Southern states including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.
The majority of the Texas deaths are associated with hypothermia, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. And the dramatic number of new victims is still a potential undercount, as officials continue investigating deaths that happened around the time the storm knocked out power to more than 4 million customers in Texas.
Many homes went without power or drinkable water for days after subfreezing temperatures, failing power plants and record demand for heat pushed Texas' electric grid to the breaking point.
Texas officials earlier this month put the initial tally of deaths at 57 but warned it would increase. The toll now officially exceeds that of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which was blamed for 68 deaths in Texas.
___
Tornadoes pummel Alabama, killing at least 5
Deadly tornadoes roared through Alabama on Thursday, toppling trees, demolishing homes and knocking out power to thousands, part of a broad swath of violent weather sweeping across the Deep South. At least five fatalities and an unknown number of injuries were reported.
All of the deaths happened in eastern Alabama's Calhoun County, Coroner Patrick Brown said. Farther west, in Shelby County near Birmingham, a family in the Eagle Point subdivision was able to escape from a home that a tornado had turned to rubble, firefighters said. Other homes in the complex were missing upper floors or roofs.
In the city of Pelham, also in Shelby County, authorities posted video and photos showing large trees blocking roads and damaged utility poles leaning menacingly over streets littered with debris from badly damaged homes.
"We can confirm local residential structures have been completely destroyed," Shelby County, Alabama, Sheriff John Samaniego told The Associated Press in an email.
Search and rescue efforts were complicated by strong weather that continued to rake across the region. The Calhoun County emergency management agency opened shelters for the displaced and warned that storms were expected to continue into the night.
___
EXPLAINER: Suez Canal block could hit product supply chains
The cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal is holding up traffic that carries nearly $10 billion worth of goods every day, so a quick clearing of the logjam is key to limiting the economic fallout.
Efforts continued Thursday to dislodge the Ever Given container ship and restore traffic on the critical man-made waterway that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides a shipping shortcut between Europe and Asia.
___
HOW VITAL IS THE CANAL TO SHIPPING?
About 10% of all global trade flows through the 120-mile-long (193-kilometer-long) canal, which allows tankers and container ships to avoid a long trip around the southern tip of Africa.
___
AP PHOTOS: Honduran boy, mom fly after border detention
HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) - Wearing a Superman zip-up hoodie, the 5-year-old Honduran boy looked out the airplane window, pointing at the sky in seeming disbelief that such a large craft was reaching the clouds.
A few days ago Yancarlos Amaya was walking along the muddy river bank after crossing the Rio Grande and landing on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico. His mother, Celestina Ramirez, 28, said they turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol officers and later spent hours in custody, a night under a bridge and three more days in a detention facility.
Now they were on a flight from Harlingen, Texas, to Houston, then on to a connecting flight to Baltimore, where her brother's family lives.
Even though flying seemed luxurious compared to her journey through Central America and Mexico and border detention, Ramirez was still anxious because it was her first time on a plane. She also hadn't seen her brother for more than a decade.
"It's been 14 years," she said. She was just 14 when her brother left Honduras.
___
Russia opposition leader Navalny's health worsens in prison
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accused prison authorities of failing to provide proper treatment for his back pain and leg problems, saying in a letter posted Thursday that his physical condition has worsened in prison and he now has trouble walking.
Navalny blamed his health problems on prison officials failing to provide the right medicines and refusing to allow his doctor to visit him behind bars. He also complained in a second letter that the hourly checks a guard makes on him at night amounted to sleep deprivation torture.
Copies of his letters to penitentiary officials and Russia´s top prosecutor were posted on Navalny's website.
The 44-year-old Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin´s most outspoken opponent, was arrested on Jan. 17 upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.
Last month, Navalny was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation while convalescing in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated - and which the European ourt of Human Rights has ruled to be unlawful.
___
'Arrested Development' actor Jessica Walter dies at 80
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jessica Walter, whose roles as a scheming matriarch in TV´s "Arrested Development" and a stalker in "Play Misty for Me" were in line with a career that drew on her astringent screen presence more than her good looks, has died. She was 80.
Walter's death was confirmed Thursday by her daughter, Brooke Bowman, an entertainment industry executive. A cause of death and other details were not immediately provided.
"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off," Bowman said in a statement.
Walter will also be well-remembered for "her wit, class and overall joie de vivre," or life of love, her daughter added.
"She was a force, and her talent and timing were unmatched," Tony Hale, her "Arrested Development" co-star said on Twitter.
___
In shift, oil industry group backs federal price on carbon
WASHINGTON (AP) - The oil and gas industry's top lobbying group on Thursday endorsed a federal price on carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, a reversal of longstanding policy that comes as the Biden administration has pledged dramatic steps to address climate change.
The American Petroleum Institute, whose members include ExxonMobil, Chevron and other oil giants, announced the shift ahead of a virtual forum Thursday by the Interior Department as it launches a months-long review of the government´s oil and gas sales.
API also called for fast-tracking commercial deployment of long-sought technology to capture and store carbon emissions, as well as federal regulation of methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas wells, after strongly resisting such regulations proposed by the Obama administration.
"Confronting the challenge of climate change and building a lower-carbon future will require a combination of government policies, industry initiatives and continuous innovation," API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement.
The reversal comes as President Joe Biden has made tackling climate change a top priority, moving in his first days in office to suspend oil and gas lease sales from federal lands and waters and cancelling the contentious Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Canada.
