Monday, April 26

á           The Census Bureau released its 2020 census data, roughly capturing the United States population as of April 2020. With the new tally Texas will receive two more seats in the House; Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Montana and Oregon will gain one; while California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will each lose one seat each.

á           Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Justice Department launched a probe into the Louisville, Kentucky police department, whose officers shot and killed Breonna Taylor last year in her own home, to examine whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing there.

á           The administration of President Joe Biden announced that it plans to share up to 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses with other countries, which could be available for export in the next few months. Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not say where those vaccines would be distributed. AstraZenecaÕs vaccine has not yet been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

á           The U.S. sanctioned Guatemalan officials accused of corruption — a member of its Congress and a former presidential chief of staff — which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said will Òsupport efforts by the people of Guatemala to end the scourge of corruption.Ó

á           Vice President Kamala Harris told Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei that the U.S. will give $310 million in humanitarian relief to Central America Òin light of the dire situation and acute suffering faced by millions of people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras,Ó according to a statement from her office. The aid will include $125 million to help mitigate the impact of drought, food shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tuesday, April 27

á           Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the special envoy for talks with the Taliban, said he believes peace is still possible in Afghanistan and that keeping U.S. forces in the country does not make sense because the conflict could not be resolved by continued fighting.

á           Biden issued an executive order to raise the federal contract worker minimum wage to $15 from the current $10.95 by March next year.

á           The Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidelines to ease rules for prescribing buprenorphine, a medication that helps people suffering from opioid addiction.

Wednesday, April 28

á           The White House said it is considering lifting intellectual property restrictions on the vaccine to maximize global production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines, especially to countries where case and death rates are rising like India.

á           The Justice Department charged three white men in Georgia with federal hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Ahmaud Arbery, who they shot dead while he was jogging through a suburb last year. The men had already been charged with murder in the case.

á           Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress. He said the country is Òmoving forwardÓ again, Òturning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.Ó

Thursday, April 29

á           The Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. government was at fault for improperly notifying a man who had come illegally from Guatemala, Agusto Niz-Chavez, of his removal hearing. The decision, which divided the courtÕs conservative majority, could affect hundreds of thousands of immigration cases by ruling that federal immigration law requires authorities include all relevant details for a hearing notice to appear in one document rather than several, upending years of practice by the Department of Homeland Security.

á           The Senate passed a $35 billion measure to clean up the nationÕs water systems, a facet of BidenÕs infrastructure plan that received widespread bipartisan support.

á           A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced proposed legislation to remove military commanders from their role in prosecuting service members for sexual assault, a move spearheaded by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) that has failed to gain traction in previous iterations.

Friday, April 30

á           Brian D. Miller, the special inspector general for pandemic recovery, said in a report that there was an oversight breakdown in his ability to track trillions of dollars of economic relief money due to an internal dispute within the Treasury Department.

á           The White House followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control with an announcement that it would begin to restrict travel from India to the U.S. next week.

á           A newly declassified report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence showed national security surveillance plummeted during the pandemic.

Saturday, May 1

á           The Biden administration disclosed a set of secret rules issued by former President Donald Trump in 2017 for counterterrorism Òdirect actionÓ operations like drone strikes and commando raids outside war zones.

Sunday, May 2

á           The Indian Health Service agreed to keep its emergency departments and inpatient care open for another year at a hospital in New Mexico that serves 9,100 tribal citizens in a crucial dispute between tribal communities and the federal government over access to and quality of health care.

á           The U.S. denied a report from IranÕs state-run broadcaster claiming that the two countries reached a deal that would see prisoners swapped and the U.S. unfreezing $7 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

á           Secretary of State Blinken said China is acting Òmore repressivelyÓ at home and Òmore aggressivelyÓ overseas in a test of its growing influence.