Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 4-2-21

Political
Biden To Nominate Groundbreaking First
Biden Urges Governors To Reinstate Mask Mandates: 'This Is Not Politics'
Slate Of Federal Judges
President Joe Biden
called on governors that have lifted mask mandates in their states to reimpose them in re- marks delivered Monday up- dating the public on the administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ear- lier in March, Biden called the decision by the governors of Mississippi and Texas to lift mask mandates "Neanderthal thinking."
"I'm reiterating my call for every governor, mayor, and local leader to maintain and re- instate the mask mandate," Biden said. " Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down. And business should require masks as well. The failure to take this virus se- riously — precisely what got us in this mess in the first place — risks more cases and more dests [sic] — deaths."
"Look, as I do my part to ac- celerate the vaccine distribu- tion and vaccinations, I need the American people to do their part as well," Biden said.
"Mask up. Mask up. It’s a pa- triotic duty," the president in- sisted. "It’s the only way we ever get back to normal — to cheer together in stadiums full of fans; to gather together on holidays again safely; go to graduations, weddings."
President Biden on Tuesday rolled out his first slate of judicial nominees, announcing candidates with diverse backgrounds and professional qualifications as he begins to make his own stamp on the nation's district and circuit courts.
Of the president's 11 ju- dicial picks, three set to be nominated to the federal dis- trict courts would make his- tory if confirmed by the evenly divided Senate. The White House said the candi- dates underscore Mr. Biden's commitment to di- versity on the federal bench.
"This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profes- sion," Mr. Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judi- ciary Committee, said in a statement. "Each is deeply qualified and prepared to de- liver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impar- tially to the American people — and together they repre- sent the broad diversity of background, experience, and perspective that makes our nation strong."
The president intends to nominate three Black women to fill vacancies on a trio of circuit courts: Judge Ke- tanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the District of Columbia Cir- cuit; Tiffany Cunningham to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the Federal Circuit; and Candace Jackson-Aki- wumi to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The move brings Mr. Biden one step closer to ful-
JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON
filling a campaign pledge of putting an African-American woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. As a presidential can- didate, Mr. Biden vowed to appoint the first Black woman to the high court in the event of a vacancy.
Jackson, a judge on the federal district court in the District of Columbia, was widely considered a leading pick to the D.C. Circuit, which is considered the na- tion's second most-powerful court and a springboard to the Supreme Court. Both Jackson and Jackson- Akiwumi worked as public defenders earlier in their legal careers.
Jackson has been touted as a potential Supreme Court nominee as Justice Stephen Breyer, 82, ap- pointed to the high court by Bill Clinton, is facing pres- sure from liberal and Demo- cratic groups to step down in order to ensure that a Demo- cratic president can name a successor.
Sarah Obama, Matriarch Of Obama Family Branch In Kenya, Has Died
NAIROBI, KENYA — Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former President Obama's Kenyan family has died, relatives and officials confirmed Monday. She was at least 99 years old.
Mama Sarah, as Mr. Obama's step-grandmother was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village. She passed away around 4 a.m. local time while being treated at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital in Kisumu, Kenya's third- largest city, according to her daughter, Marsat Onyango.
"She died this morning. We are devastated," Onyango told The Associated Press on a phone call.
MAMA SARAH AND BARACK OBAMA
"Mama was sick with normal diseases. She did not die of COVID-19," family spokesman Sheik Musa Ismail said, adding that she had tested neg- ative for the disease. He said she had been ill for a week be- fore being taken to the hospi-
tal.
Mr. Obama was informed
of the death and sent his con- dolences, Ismail said.
She will be buried Tuesday before midday and the funeral will be held under Islamic rites.
Biden Cancels Another $1.3 Billion In Student Loan Debt
The Joe Biden administra- tion announced Monday that it let tens of thousands of people with disabilities off the hook for their student loans at a cost to the taxpayers of $1.3 billion. Whittling away at the nation’s $1.7 trillion in student debt, the agency will forgive loans to more than 41,000 people with chronic disabilities that pre- vent them from working, ac- cording to the Education Department.
“Waiving these require- ments will ensure no borrower who is totally and permanently disabled risks having to repay their loans simply because they could not submit paperwork,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
The move comes just two weeks after the agency can-
celed another $1 billion in loans for those who had been defrauded by for-profit col- leges.
But even the latest move — canceling the loans of people who are disabled and unable to work — is unlikely to satisfy progressives who demand President Biden to cancel as much as $1 trillion in federal student loans. Democrats in- cluding Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and Sen. Eliza- beth Warren of Massachu- setts have pushed the Biden administration to knock off $50,000 of debt from every student loan.
Poll: 72% approve of Biden's handling of COVID-
dling of the coronavirus pan- demic has a 72% approval rat- ing among Americans, an ABC News/Ipsos poll indicates.
The big picture: That num- ber was 68% just before Con- gress approved Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The increase may be at least partly be due to the law's pas- sage.
Details: Only 28% of Amer- icans said they disapproved of Biden's coronavirus re- sponse.
• 60% approve of his han- dling of the economy, while 4 out of 10 Americans disap- prove.
• Three out of four Ameri- cans approve of how the ad- ministration is handling vaccine distribution, the poll indicates.
19.
President Biden's han-
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