Archives for May 2021

Today in History

Today is Friday, May 28, the 148th day of 2021. There are 217 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 28, 1977, 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.

On this date:

In 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of freed Blacks, left Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.

In 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a “state of absolute unpreparedness,” improperly tested safety equipment and an “indifference to danger” as some of the causes of an “unnecessary tragedy.”

In 1918, American troops fought their first major battle during World War I as they launched an offensive against the German-held French village of Cantigny (kahn-tee-NYEE’); the Americans succeeded in capturing the village.

In 1929, the first all-color talking picture, “On with the Show!” produced by Warner Bros., opened in New York.

In 1934, the Dionne quintuplets — Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne — were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight which both primates survived.

In 1964, the charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization was issued at the start of a meeting of the Palestine National Congress in Jerusalem.

In 1972, Edward, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the English throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, died in Paris at age 77.

In 1987, to the embarrassment of Soviet officials, Mathias Rust (mah-TEE’-uhs rust), a young West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow’s Red Square without authorization. (Rust was freed by the Soviets the following year.)

In 2003, President George W. Bush signed a 10-year, $350 billion package of tax cuts, saying they already were “adding fuel to an economic recovery.”

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama praised Poland’s transition to democracy following a meeting in Warsaw with President Bronislaw Komorowski (kah-mah-RAWF’-skee). After a four-year blockade, Egypt permanently opened the Gaza Strip’s main gateway to the outside world. North Korea freed Eddie Jun, an American it had held for a half year for reportedly proselytizing.

Five years ago: A 3-year-old boy fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo; he was rescued by a team that shot to death a 400-pound gorilla named Harambe after the rescuers concluded that the boy’s life was at stake, a decision that led to mourning and criticism around the globe. New Orleans Pelicans guard Bryce Dejean-Jones was shot to death by an apartment resident after kicking down the door of what he mistakenly thought was his girlfriend’s flat in Dallas.

One year ago: People torched a Minneapolis police station that the department was forced to abandon amid spreading protests over the death of George Floyd. Protesters in New York defied a coronavirus prohibition on public gatherings, clashing with police; demonstrators blocked traffic and smashed vehicles in downtown Denver before police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. At least seven people were shot as gunfire erupted during a protest in Louisville, Kentucky, to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot by police in her home in March. The government reported that about 2.1 million Americans had lost their jobs in the preceding week despite the gradual reopening of businesses around the country. Organizers of the Boston Marathon canceled the event for the first time in its 124-year history because of the coronavirus; participants who verified that they ran 26.2 miles on their own would receive their finisher’s medal.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Carroll Baker is 90. Producer-director Irwin Winkler is 90. Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West is 83. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is 77. Singer Gladys Knight is 77. Singer Billy Vera is 77. Singer John Fogerty (Creedance Clearwater Revival) is 76. Country musician Jerry Douglas is 65. Actor Louis Mustillo is 63. Former governor and U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., is 61. Actor Brandon Cruz (TV: “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) is 59. Country singer Phil Vassar is 57. Actor Christa Miller is 57. Singer-musician Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA) is 56. Rapper Chubb Rock is 53. Singer Kylie Minogue (KY’-lee mihn-OHG’) is 53 Actor Justin Kirk is 52. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is 50. Olympic gold medal figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva is 50. Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 44. R&B singer Jaheim is 44. Actor Jake Johnson is 43. Actor Jesse Bradford is 42. Actor Monica Keena is 42. Actor Alexa Davalos is 39. Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke (eh-cheek-uh-WALK’-ay) is 39. Pop singer Colbie Caillat (kal-LAY’) is 36. Actor Carey Mulligan is 36. Actor Joseph Cross is 35. Chicago Cubs pitcher Craig Kimbrel is 33.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — What started as a pragmatic effort to boost scientific research and development has morphed into sweeping Senate bill aimed at making the U.S. more competitive with China and other countries, including $50 billion in emergency funds to shore up domestic computer chip manufacturing.

The American Innovation and Competition Act is key to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plans and was heading toward final passage despite some glitches late Thursday. It’s also a test of whether the split 50-50 Senate can accomplish bipartisan achievements at a time when there’s pressure on Democrats to change the rules to push past obstruction and gridlock.

Senators slogged through days of debates and amendments, but proceedings came to a standstill late Thursday. One Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, protested the rush to finish and insisted on more changes to the sprawling package. A few other Republicans joined him.

By midnight senators huddled in the chamber to discuss next steps. Passage was still expected, but debate dragged into Friday morning.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the Commerce Committee chairwoman managing the action for Democrats, reminded colleagues that the bill has been through lengthy committee hearings with input and changes from all sides.

“I actually think we have gotten more mindshare with people about why this is important, right, because we had an open debate process,” she said earlier in the week.

The emerging final product has enjoyed broad, bipartisan support and would be one of the more comprehensive investments in U.S. research and development in recent years as the country tries to bolster and rebuild home-state industries that have shifted overseas during the era of globalization.

A top Republican author, Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, characterized his underlying proposal — the Endless Frontier Act he co-authored with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — as part of the country’s history of innovation, like the moon landing or launch of the internet, that Washington needs to foster if America is to remain competitive.

“It’s not about beating China,” Young said in a speech Thursday. He said it’s about rising to the challenge posed by China “to be a better version of ourselves.”

Biden had included elements of the legislation as part of his big infrastructure plan, the American Jobs Act, making a similar case that the U.S. needs to increase its investments to stay competitive with rivals, particularly China.

During a virtual meeting with CEOs last month over the global computer chip shortage that has been disrupting supplies and sales of everyday goods — from cellphones to new cars — Biden explained his plan to “build the infrastructure of today.”

But the bill became weighted down by the sheer scope of the effort. Actually a collection of bills, it swelled to more than 2,400 pages and a final package of some three dozen amendments from senators of both parties submitted late Thursday caused the opponents to hit the brakes.

Johnson stacked up the bill at his desk bemoaning the towering size, even as he said the legislative process to bring the bill to this point had been better than most over the past decade.

“We haven’t had time to read this — no one has,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., joining Johnson’s protest.

The last round of amendments was shelved by the objection. But Johnson seized the floor to push other priorities, including his concerns over another topic — illegal immigration and his interest in secure fencing along the southern border with Mexico.

The centerpiece of the bill is a $50 billion emergency allotment to the Commerce Department to stand up semiconductor development and manufacturing through research and development and incentive programs previously authorized by Congress. They focus on the military, automakers and other critical industries reliant on computer chips.

The U.S. once manufactured far more chips than today, which some senators said put the U.S. at risk of fluctuations in the global supply chain, as happened over the past year with shortages.

The Endless Frontier provision would authorize funding for the National Science Foundation, including the establishment of a Directorate for Technology and Innovation, as well as research and development funds and scholarships for students focused on science, technology, engineering and math programs.

Senators have tried to strike a balance in raising awareness about China’s growing influence without fanning divisive anti-Asian rhetoric, mindful that hate crimes against Asian Americans have spiked during the coronavirus pandemic.

Other measures spell out national security concerns and target money laundering schemes or cyberattacks by entities on behalf of the government of China. There are also “buy America” provisions for infrastructure projects in the U.S.

At the same time, senators agreed to tack on amendments showing shifting attitudes over China’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. One would prevent federal funds for the Wuhan Institute of Virology amid fresh investigation into the origins of the virus and possible connections to the lab’s research. The city registered some of the first virus cases.

Taken together, the innovation act has been a priority for Schumer, the Democratic leader who has long advocated a tougher approach to China. He and Young struck up a conversation about teaming up on a bill during workouts at the Senate gym, lawmakers said.

It’s unclear whether the measure would find support in the Democratic-led House.

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan is set to extend a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas with infections not yet slowing to levels it can safely host the Olympics opening in just over 50 days.

The extension is needed as people are increasingly roaming in public, especially in Tokyo and Osaka, when they should be doing the opposite, and it’s feared that lifting the emergency would cause an instant rebound in infections, Economy Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.

The current emergency in the capital and eight other metropolitan areas was to end next Monday, but hospitals in some areas are still overflowing with COVID-19 patients and serious cases hit new highs recently.

Nishimura told reporters the government proposal of a 20-day extension to June 20 in the nine areas received preliminary approval from experts ahead of an official announcement later Friday. The southern island prefecture of Okinawa is already under emergency status through June 20.

Olympic organizers have to decide around that date whether to allow any fans at all, after overseas spectators were banned months ago. A plan to prioritize vaccinations for Japanese athletes also is being delayed to around that time, according to media reports.

The Olympics are scheduled to start on July 23 after a one-year postponement due to the pandemic, and worries about the new variants and Japan’s slow vaccination rollouts have triggered calls from the public and medical experts to cancel the Games.

Experts have warned that more contagious variants are infecting more people, leaving them seriously ill and flooding hospitals.

Meanwhile, Japan has lagged on vaccinations due to bureaucratic and planning missteps and shortages. Only 2.3% of the population has been fully vaccinated, and the current phase targeting older adults is not scheduled to finish before the Games.

Still, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his government are determined to host the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has also said the Olympics would go ahead even if the host city Tokyo is under emergency measures.

Japan has reported about 730,000 cases of infection and more than 12,700 deaths.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. orders for big-ticket manufactured goods dropped unexpectedly in April for the first time in 11 months as a shortage of computer chips disrupted auto production.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that orders for factory goods meant to last at least three years fell 1.3% in April after rising 1.3% in March. Transportation orders skidded 6.7%. Excluding transportation, which can swing sharply from month to month, durable goods orders were up 1% in April.

Factories have been hamstrung by a shortage of supplies as the U.S. economy reopens from the COVID-19 pandemic and demand for goods and services rebounds rapidly. Orders for auto parts, disrupted by a shortage of computer chips, dropped 6.2% in April. Orders for military capital goods dropped 25.8% after falling 11.7% in March.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to rise about 0.7% last month. Despite the unexpected decline, the April report also contained hopeful signs: A category that tracks business investment — orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft — increased 2.3% last month on top of a 1.6% gain in March.

“The signal for the manufacturing sector is still positive, although supply chain constraints continue to be a headwind, preventing a complete recovery to pre-pandemic levels,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a research note.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Far more Americans are receiving unemployment benefits than the last time the jobless rate was at the current 6.1%, thanks to a major expansion of the federal safety net that has provided aid to millions of people out of work.

Yet many businesses and Republican officials say all that jobless aid has contributed to worker shortages in some industries, which is why most GOP-led states are moving to cut off the federal support.

About 15.8 million people received unemployment aid through one of several benefit programs during the week of May 8, the latest period for which data is available, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. That’s nearly eight times as many people as received jobless payments in August 2014, when the unemployment rate was where it is now and roughly the same proportion of adults had jobs.

The primary reason for the expansion is that the government created two emergency programs in last spring’s pandemic relief legislation. About three-quarters of all unemployment beneficiaries — nearly 12 million people — are receiving aid through one of those federal programs. One of them provides payments to the self-employed and gig workers, who had never been eligible for jobless aid before. The other program benefits people who have been unemployed for more than six months. Both are scheduled to end Sept. 6.

Yet 20 states have announced this month that they will cut off the emergency aid early, beginning as soon as June 12, according to an Associated Press analysis, including Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. As a result, about 2.5 million people will lose all their unemployment benefits by early July. Those states are also ending an extra $300 weekly federal payment to the unemployed.

Four other states, including Florida and Arizona, are ending the $300 payment only.

Collectively, those cutoffs of aid coincide with a steady decline in the number of people applying for jobless benefits. The government on Thursday reported the fourth straight weekly drop, to 404,000, the lowest level since the pandemic erupted in March of last year.

The decision by some states to end the aid early highlights the key role the benefits payments have played since the onset of COVID-19. Now, more people — and a higher proportion of the jobless — are receiving unemployment aid than in any past recovery, according to data that extends to the late 1960s. That expansion of aid, economists say, captured millions of people who in previous recessions had fallen through the cracks.

Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, suggested that the enhanced aid was a key reason — along with three rounds of stimulus checks for most individuals — why Americans’ incomes, as a whole, actually rose during the recession despite the loss of millions of jobs.

“That is a success story,” Dube said, “and I think that’s something we should look at and recognize as a good thing.”

Another reason incomes rose is that so many people who lost jobs had been paid comparatively little, while higher-paid professionals who mostly worked from home generally kept their jobs. In fact, total wages and salaries have already rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, even though the economy has 8.2 million fewer jobs.

In the fall of 2014, when the job market was in similar shape, just one-quarter of the unemployed were receiving aid. By then, emergency programs that provided benefits in the aftermath of the Great Recession for as long as 99 weeks had ended. And as the economy slowly improved, many states took steps to limit the availability of unemployment payments, such as reducing the duration of aid.

Now, more Americans are actually receiving jobless benefits that are officially counted as unemployed, though that reflects quirks in the data. The government says 9.8 million people are unemployed. But that doesn’t include several million who lost jobs in the pandemic and have stopped looking for work; they aren’t counted as unemployed.

As the economy improves, analysts say that the large proportion of people receiving benefits, along with the $300-a-week supplemental payment, may contribute to labor shortages. But jobless aid can also allow people the time to find work that is a good fit for their education and experience, which is helpful for the economy.

“You don’t want someone to take the very first job that comes along,” said Jason Furman, an economist at Harvard who was an adviser to President Barack Obama. “You want them to take a job that’s good for them. … But you don’t want them turning down multiple jobs, either.”

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which mostly covers self-employed and gig workers, also allowed parents who were forced to quit and care for children in online schools to receive jobless aid. It essentially acted as a paid leave program, Furman said, which the U.S. doesn’t otherwise require from employers, unlike in European countries.

That program has also benefited many other Americans who had previously fallen through the cracks, including people who haven’t worked enough hours to meet state requirements to qualify for unemployment benefits.

Dube said his research has found little evidence that the extra $300 has prevented people from taking jobs. In lower-income states where the extra money is a larger boost, hiring has rebounded at the same pace as in other states, he said.

But a separate study by economists at the San Francisco Federal Reserve concluded that the $300-a-week supplement had a modest effect, reducing the rate at which people out of work find jobs by about 3.5 percentage points.

Companies in the restaurant, hotel, manufacturing, and construction industries have said they are struggling to find workers. States began announcing cutoffs to the extra benefits after April’s jobs report showed a sharp slowdown in hiring, compared with March, despite a record level of job openings.

Many unemployed remain reluctant to take jobs in restaurants, hotels and other service industries for fear of contracting COVID-19. And some women can’t return to work without adequate child care, though that is now having a relatively small impact, according to recent research by Furman and economist Melissa Kearney.

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