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Friday's Mini-Report, 8.6.21

Today's edition of quick hits.

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Today's edition of quick hits:

* An important policy victory: "The Biden administration announced Friday an extension of the federal student loan payment moratorium until Jan. 31, just weeks before the pause was set to expire at the end of September. In a statement, the Department of Education said this would be the 'final extension.'"

* Speaking of progressive Biden administration efforts: "The Justice Department said Friday that the effort by landlords to block the latest eviction moratorium by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be rejected because the Supreme Court ruling they point to is not in their favor."

* Afghanistan: "Taliban fighters took control of the capital of Nimroz province in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday, the first provincial capital to fall to the militants since U.S. forces began withdrawing from the country."

* The latest from Albany: "A former executive assistant to Andrew Cuomo who previously alleged he reached under her blouse and groped her has filed a criminal complaint against the embattled New York governor."

* The vaccination push: "The Biden administration is considering using federal regulatory powers and the threat of withholding federal funds from institutions to push more Americans to get vaccinated — a huge potential shift in the fight against the virus and a far more muscular approach to getting shots into arms, according to four people familiar with the deliberations."

* In related news: "United Airlines will require employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, the company announced Friday, becoming the first domestic airline to require the vaccine as a condition of employment."

* What to watch over the weekend: "The Senate could vote this weekend on its nearly $1 trillion infrastructure legislation after Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer filed a motion to bring the debate to a close as soon as Saturday. The weekend vote would clear the way for the Senate to take up a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan that includes President Joe Biden’s more partisan domestic priorities."

* Investigating Jan. 6: "A key House committee has postponed multiple scheduled witness interviews about Donald Trump's final days in office, handing them off to the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack."

* The Russian-aligned disinformation campaign "taps into skepticism and fears of coronavirus vaccination to not just undermine the effort to immunize people but also try to falsely link the Biden-Harris administration to the idea of forced inoculations."

* She's not getting better: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., suggested at a recent Republican fundraiser in Alabama that Southerners could threaten President Joe Biden's 'police state friends' with guns if they show up at their homes asking about their coronavirus vaccination status."

Have a safe weekend.