Today's edition of quick hits:
* Vaccines: "With the United States unlikely to reach President Biden's self-imposed deadline of having 70 percent of American adults partly vaccinated against the coronavirus by July 4, he trumpeted a different milestone: 300 million shots in his first 150 days in office."
* Targeting the safety net: "States around the country are attempting to make it harder for needy families to access federal food-assistance programs. Republican lawmakers in Ohio, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana and others have proposed more restrictive policies to qualify for food assistance, cutting off benefits to those who have saved a little money or who drive a halfway decent car, or adding paperwork requirements to document tiny changes in income and efforts to find work."
* Arizona's drive-by shootings: "Arizona police had a suspect in custody after one person was killed and 12 other people were injured in a series of what appeared to be drive-by shootings Thursday."
* This controversy is far from over: "A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday requested documents from the Justice Department related to the Trump administration's seizure of phone records from lawmakers, journalists and the then-White House counsel as part of its investigations into leaks of classified information."
* There are only 40 detainees left: "Two men who have been held for years without charge at Guantánamo Bay following detention by the C.I.A. have been approved for transfer to other countries, bringing to 11 the number of detainees cleared to be sent elsewhere even as the State Department has yet to name someone to negotiate with other governments to take them."
* An important part of the pandemic story: "Of the more than 600,000 Americans who have died of COVID-19, a disproportionate number are Black. Growing research suggests that a key to understanding why lies in examining where many of them spent their final days: in the hospital."
* Her critics have a point: "New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election and voted against certification of Joe Biden's win, currently serves as a board member for a revered U.S. organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy. The congresswoman's position on the National Endowment for Democracy's board has rankled fellow Republicans, foreign policy scholars and some former NED board members, who say her statements, along with her support for GOP-authored election laws, are at odds with the organization's mission."
* Oh my: "He promised 6 million N95 masks and couldn't deliver. Now he's going to prison."
Have a safe weekend.