Colleges scrambling to resolve campus protests |
As pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations jolt campuses across the country, colleges are increasingly turning to ways to deescalate the situations ahead of planned commencement ceremonies — either through force or peaceful agreement. The Hill's Lexi Lonas reports that multiple universities sent in law enforcement to arrest hundreds of protesters this week, while at least two schools have been able to reach deals with activists to peacefully shut down encampments. Violence erupted between police and student protesters Tuesday night and Wednesday morning at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with more than 300 arrested overnight in New York alone. At UCLA, the university declared the encampments unlawful. But it has yet to be cleared, and classes were canceled Wednesday. Police also clashed with demonstrators on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, according to reports, and arrested at least 10 people Wednesday. But, as CNN reported, more tents were erected once police left campus.
The New York City Police Department entered through a second-story window at Columbia's Hamilton Hall, which had been seized by demonstrators, and cleared out the protesters.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams's (D) office said about 300 protesters were arrested, and they believe those who occupied the building were not affiliated with Columbia. The campus has been closed to people without IDs for about two weeks. Reactions: - Former President Trump praised the police for forcibly clearing protesters.
"The police came in and in exactly two hours everything was over," he said during a campaign rally Wednesday. "It was a beautiful thing to watch. New York's finest."
- NYC Mayor Adams blamed an alleged "global" effort to "radicalize young people" for the uprising, though students on Columbia's campus and protest organizers have maintained the effort is student-led.
"Young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children, and I'm not gonna allow that happen as the mayor of the city of New York," Adams told reporters Wednesday. Two schools facing on-campus protests — Northwestern University and Brown University — struck deals with protesters this week and have instructed them to peacefully remove their encampments. At Brown, "the exchange means the board will take a vote in the fall on whether to divest from Israel," Lonas reports.
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Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Liz Crisp, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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- Former President Trump confirmed to supporters at a Wisconsin campaign event that he told Secret Service agents that he wanted to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Michael Cohen, former President Trump's ex-"fixer," has become a star of Trump's hush money trial, and he hasn't even taken the stand.
- Disney's EPCOT in Orlando, Fla., will host a special exhibit of former President George W. Bush's artwork.
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Trump, Biden court support in Great Lakes states
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With a rare day away from the courthouse, former President Trump hit the campaign trail Wednesday, holding rallies in crucial battleground states Wisconsin and Michigan. President Biden will be trekking to Michigan later this month for an NAACP dinner. Trump won both of the Great Lakes states in his successful 2016 campaign bid, but lost Michigan and Wisconsin to Biden four years later. The Hill's Alex Gangitano reports: "Biden's support among Black voters in swing states, including Michigan, has dipped compared to the support he had in the 2020 election." Recent polls have shown Trump with a slight edge in both states at this early point in the race, based on aggregates from The Hill / Decision Desk HQ. |
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Harris makes case for flipping Florida as abortion ban goes into effect |
Vice President Harris bashed former President Trump in Florida on Wednesday as the state's new six-week abortion ban went into effect.
"As of this morning, 4 million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they had last night. This is the new reality under a Trump abortion ban," Harris said during a campaign rally. "Starting this morning, women in Florida became subject to an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant.
"Which, by the way, tells us the extremists who wrote this ban either don't know how a woman's body works or they simply don't care," she added.
The Biden campaign is hoping to flip the Sunshine State blue in the November election.
Harris's event highlighted the escalating abortion restrictions since the Supreme Court, with the help of a trio of Trump appointees, upended nearly two years ago the long-standing Roe v. Wade ruling that had guarded reproductive rights for decades.
Trump said he thinks the issue should be handled by states. "It's irrelevant whether I'm comfortable or not. It's totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions," he said in an interview Time released this week. "And by the way, Texas is going to be different than Ohio. And Ohio is going to be different than Michigan. I see what's happening."
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Greene: Effort to force vote on Johnson's ouster coming next week |
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) says she's not giving up her fight to force fellow House members to vote on whether Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) should be removed from the GOP leadership ranks. Greene told reporters Wednesday she'll make her move next week to trigger a vote, after filing a motion to vacate more than a month ago. The proposal has gained little traction in the weeks since she first floated the idea, with only two other Republicans publicly saying they support the effort.
"I voted for Mike Johnson because his voting record before he became Speaker was conservative … but once he became Speaker, he has become a man that none of us recognize," Greene said. "We're not going to have a House majority if we keep Mike Johnson."
The effort will most likely fail, especially after Democratic leaders said they will protect Johnson from Greene's coup attempt.
Greene said even if the effort fails she views the forced vote as a "win for the American people because that's a list of names," of members who voted to keep Johnson as Speaker.
After Greene's announcement, Johnson slammed her effort in a brief statement.
"This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country," he wrote.
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Fed holds interest rates at 23-year high as inflation rises
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The Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates at a 23-year high as inflation continues to climb and the labor market remains strong.
Interest rates will remain at a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent, where they have been since last July, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said in a statement Wednesday. The Fed had signaled in December that it could start cutting rates this year, but now it's looking like any chance of cuts likely won't come until November at the earliest, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. "It is likely that gaining such greater confidence will take longer than previously expected," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters.
Rates were increased from 0 percent in March 2022 to their current level, in a move to curb pandemic-induced inflation. The Fed has since extended the runway for bringing rates down as inflation remains high.
Consumer prices were up 3.5 percent in March from a year ago, according to the latest consumer price index. The Fed's general target is 2 percent.
The FOMC's latest move signals that members are not yet confident the economy is stable enough to bring down inflation without triggering a recession. (The Hill) |
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"The Pentagon is lying about UFOs," writes Marik von Rennenkampff, a former analyst with the State Department's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. "November will hinge on the youth vote — so why are politicians snubbing millennials and Gen Z?" writes Max Burns, veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies. |
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74 days until the Republican National Convention.
110 days until the Democratic National Convention.
187 days until the 2024 general election. |
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Thursday: - Former President Trump's criminal trial resumes in New York.
- President Biden campaigns in Wisconsin.
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