An Ignoble Experiment: What's in and what's out of Biden's big compromise

By Liza Hearon

Friday, Oct. 29

BIDEN'S BUILD BACK BETTER BILL WHITTLED DOWN TO APPEASE 2 PEOPLE President Joe Biden said he struck a deal with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) to move forward with a $1.75 trillion spending and tax bill, a whittled-down amount designed to appease them and get something passed. Find out what's included and what didn't make the cut — like prescription drug pricing reform. [HuffPost]

ANDREW CUOMO FACING SEX CRIME CHARGE Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing a misdemeanor charge in Albany City Court related to the alleged groping of a former aide. The charge carries a penalty of up to one year in prison. Cuomo resigned in August after an investigation by New York state Attorney General Letitia James concluded he had sexually harassed multiple female employees and created a "hostile work environment for women." [HuffPost]

'HELL NO': DEM DRAMA OVER INFRASTRUCTURE VOTE House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a quick vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill, but progressives said they're still not ready to go along ― and Pelosi ultimately backed off the vote plans. Progressives have said for weeks that they want to see the legislative text of the Build Back Better bill before agreeing to vote on the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. [HuffPost ]

HISTORIC HEARING ON BIG OIL'S CLIMATE DENIAL FEATURES... MORE DENIAL A landmark congressional hearing to probe the extent to which the oil industry misled the public about global climate change featured executives of some of the world's largest fossil fuel companies and industry trade groups further downplaying climate science. None of the industry representatives would commit when asked to pledge to no longer direct funds to efforts aimed at obstructing climate initiatives. [HuffPost]

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REMAINS FOUND IN DESERT IDENTIFIED AS MISSING WOMAN LAUREN CHO Human remains found earlier this month in a California desert have been identified as missing woman Lauren Cho, the San Bernardino County coroner's office said. The coroner's office hasn't yet determined the cause and manner of Cho's death. The 30-year-old Korean American from New Jersey, whom friends called "El," had been missing since the afternoon of June 28, when she reportedly walked away from her friend's Airbnb property. [HuffPost]

OKLAHOMA CARRIES OUT THIRD CONSECUTIVE BOTCHED EXECUTION After a six-year pause, Oklahoma carried out its third consecutive botched execution Thursday, causing 60-year-old John Marion Grant to vomit, convulse and curse as he was killed with a lethal injection of three drugs. Grant "became a human experiment for the other death-row prisoners' challenge to Oklahoma execution process," Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said. [HuffPost]

'COUP MEMO' ATTORNEY NOW BLAMES PENCE FOR NOT TOSSING OUT ELECTION Lawyer John Eastman, architect of a Donald Trump scheme to overthrow the 2020 election, admitted to a progressive activist posing as a fan that he was counting on former Vice President Mike Pence to thwart American voters and toss Joe Biden's victory. But Pence turned out too be too much of an "establishment guy at the end of the day," Eastman complained on video. [HuffPost]

AMERICAN AIRLINES DIVERTS JET AFTER PASSENGER ASSAULTS FLIGHT ATTENDANT An American Airlines flight from New York to California was diverted to Denver after a male passenger reportedly punched a female flight attendant in the face multiple times. "As far as we know, she may have bumped him," a spokesperson for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said. [HuffPost]

'UNITE THE RIGHT' TRIAL KICKS OFF WITH FOCUS ON ORGANIZERS' CALLS FOR VIOLENCE Lawyers for community members argued that white nationalist organizers of the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, planned for and encouraged violence. The defendants in the case are 14 individuals including white supremacist leaders Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler and "crying Nazi" Christopher Cantwell. [HuffPost]