First Line News Articles for Wednesday, March 29 2023
Top Stories
Covenant school shooting: Nashville shooter didn’t target specific people, police say
Police in Nashville are still searching for answers after six people were killed in a shooting at the Covenant School on Monday.
Freedom Caucus to propose major budget cut demands as debt ceiling fight continues
Lawmakers in the conservative House Freedom Caucus are set to release more than 500 pages of proposed spending cuts they hope to use as leverage to negotiate slashing President Joe Biden’s budget in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling.
German Leopard 2 tanks and first British tanks arrive in Ukraine
Ukraine received its first tanks from Germany and the United Kingdom, among other tactical vehicles, officials of all three countries announced on Monday.
Judge Rules Mike Pence Must Testify on Conversations with Trump ahead of January 6
Former vice president Mike Pence must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, a judge ruled.
LDS News
Latter-day Saint teammates tell about UVU’s run from devastating loss to NIT final four
Tim Fuller and Blaze Nield, both returned missionaries, have been part of Utah Valley University’s deepest NIT run in school history
BYU freshman, family win survival race TV show
BYU freshman Kyla White and her family received $10,000 for winning “Survivalists,” a four-day adventure competition show run by BYUtv.
How the Feather River California Temple is helping foster relationships with its Sikh and Hindu neighbors
Group of institute directors and their spouses visit the Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple and Sri Narayan Hindu Temple in Yuba City
Henderson acknowledges LDS community’s service in proclamation
Henderson acknowledged the contributions of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Henderson with a proclamation read by Councilwoman Carrie Cox in a church meeting Sunday night.
How did Joseph Smith influence Herman Melville, author of ‘Moby-Dick’?
While Melville and Smith never met in person, a clear influence of Latter-day Saints is evident in Melville’s writing
Youth encouraged to use JustServe as part of Global Youth Service Day
Youth who have JustServe in their area can register to use the platform in April and beyond. Others are encouraged to serve around their communities for Global Youth Service Day
National
House Unanimously Passes Bill To Revoke China’s Special Treatment As A ‘Developing Country’
Members of the House unanimously passed legislation on Monday meant to revoke the United States treating China as a “developing country” in treaties and international organizations.
Liberals unite with Trump Supreme Court nominees in decision against federal land grab
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s three liberal members, was joined in her majority opinion by three appointees of former President Donald Trump in siding with Montana property owners who sought to cut away attempts at federal land grabs.
U.S. Arrests Man for Firebombing Wisconsin Anti-Abortion Group’s Office
U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Wisconsin man with firebombing a conservative anti-abortion group’s office last May, just days after a leaked draft of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the nationwide right to abortion became public.
House Committee Chair Signs Subpoena for State Dept Afghanistan Documents
The Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday said he signed a subpoena to be delivered to Secretary of State Antony Blinken for documents related to the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
U.S. Banking Regulator Has Begun Misconduct Probes in Signature, SVB Failures
A U.S. banking regulator is investigating potential misconduct on the part of executives and others involved in the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Foreign Influence And Hack-And-Leak Operations Apparently Only Matter If They Hurt Democrats
The double-standard animating the press and prosecutors is bad enough, but Broidy’s allegations raise serious national security concerns.
GOP Senator Blocking Pentagon Promotions Over Abortion Policy
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is single-handedly holding up confirmations of top Department of Defense (DOD) positions over what he calls executive overstep into Congress’ jurisdiction over abortion policies, according to the senator and media reports.
Support Grows for Bills to Help Hungry Troops
A bipartisan effort is underway in Congress to expand federal aid to hungry troops and their families, according to Roll Call.
FTX founder charged with paying $40M bribe to China
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with directing $40 million in bribes to one or more Chinese officials to unfreeze assets relating to his cryptocurrency business in a newly rewritten indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Gorsuch, Kavanaugh Stand Up for Rights of Environmental Activist in Special-Prosecutor Case
On Monday, Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision not to review a lower court case involving the environmental activist Stephen Donzinger, who was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court.
World
France deploys 13,000 police as anti-pension reform protests gather momentum
A fresh wave of demonstrations and disruption aimed at forcing the French government to reverse plans to raise the pension age materialized as promised Tuesday.
US, UK sanction 6 Syria-linked amphetamine traffickers
The U.S. and U.K. on Tuesday slapped sanctions on four Syrians and two Lebanese involved in manufacturing and trafficking the amphetamine drug Captagon, the two governments said. The six include cousins of Syrian President Bashar Assad and notorious Lebanese drug lynchpins.
Tensions Ease as Netanyahu Pauses Judicial Overhaul
Israel’s rival political factions agreed to begin negotiations Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paused a controversial judicial overhaul plan that had triggered unprecedented street protests and a spiraling domestic crisis.
New START treaty’s US-Russia data exchange won’t happen after Moscow’s suspension
The United States and Russia will not participate in the semiannual data exchange as laid out under the New START treaty.
Zelenskyy: Russia Holding Zaporizhzhia ‘Hostage’
Ukraine’s president said Russian troops were holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant “hostage” and its safety could not be guaranteed until they left it, while his forces shut off the frontline town of Avdiivka as they planned their next move.
Dozens Killed in Fire at Migrant Detention Center in Northern Mexico
A fire that broke out inside the men’s section of a migrant detention facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, has claimed the lives of at least 39 individuals.
New Heritage Report Reveals ‘Systemic Persecution of Christians,’ Uyghurs
The Chinese Communist Party “has engaged in systemic persecution of Christians and other religious minorities,” according to an Asian studies expert and contributor of a newly released report on China.
Business
Google asks judge to toss out DOJ advertising antitrust case
Google requested a judge dismiss the Department of Justice’s advertising-related antitrust lawsuit, one of its first efforts to free itself from federal scrutiny of its advertising practices.
FedEx airport maintenance operations are leaving California to save costs
FedEx plans to close its airport maintenance operations based in Los Angeles, California, and move them to Indianapolis in an effort to reduce costs.
Health
WHO Revises COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations for Omicron-Era
The World Health Organization has tailored its COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for a new phase of the pandemic, suggesting that healthy children and adolescents may not necessarily need a shot but older, high-risk groups should get a booster between 6 to 12 months after their last vaccine.
Economy
Case-Schiller index points to continued headwinds for housing prices
Higher lending rates and prospects for continued U.S. economic weakness could keep a lid on housing prices for several months, analysis from S&P Dow Jones Indices found Tuesday.
US Consumer Confidence Ticks up in March
Consumer confidence inched up in March after two straight monthly declines, even as persistent inflation, bank collapses and anxiety over a possible recession weighed on American households.