IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Thursday's Mini-Report, 9.30.21

Today's edition of quick hits.

By

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Shutdown averted: "The House and Senate on Thursday passed a stopgap government funding measure to prevent a shutdown, approving the measure hours before the midnight deadline."

* DHS: "Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued broad new directives to immigration officers Thursday saying that the fact that someone is an undocumented immigrant 'should not alone be the basis' of a decision to detain and deport them from the United States."

* CFPB: "The Senate voted 50 to 48 to confirm Rohit Chopra to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after months of uncertainty for the Biden administration. The vote on Chopra to be the CFPB director was along party lines."

* Quite a hearing: "House lawmakers tearfully recounted traumatic stories of being raped, getting back-alley abortions and confronting pregnancy as teenagers at an emotional hearing Thursday examining how abortion rights have come under threat in many states."

* Scary stuff: "The Austin Fire Department is investigating possible arson after a witness saw a fire at the offices of the Travis County Democratic Party on Wednesday morning."

* Immigration policy: "The Biden administration is taking another shot at ending the contentious Trump-era 'Remain in Mexico' policy after a federal judge ruled in August that the president's move to end the program violated the law."

* Finally: "YouTube said on Wednesday that it was banning the accounts of several prominent anti-vaccine activists from its platform, including those of Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as part of an effort to remove all content that falsely claims that approved vaccines are dangerous."

* Embarrassing: "Five months later, the U.S. is no longer in the top five in national vaccine rates. We're not in the top 10, or the top 20, or top 30. By one count, we're 36th — countries as varied as Malta, Canada, Mongolia, and Ecuador have all surpassed us. If the European Union or the G7 were countries, they would be ahead of us too."

* Extinctions: "Death's come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government on Wednesday declared them extinct."

See you tomorrow.