EPA restores California's authority to set its own auto pollution rules
LOS ANGELES — California is back in the driver's seat as it steers the nation toward a future of cleaner cars and light trucks.
The Biden administration on Wednesday reinstated the state's authority to set motor vehicle pollution standards stricter than the federal government's. That includes tighter restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
The decision, announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, reverses an attempt by the Trump administration to block the state from using its vast market power to push the auto industry in a greener direction. The 2019 revocation of its waiver from the federal standard put California and the states that follow its lead on pollution limits into regulatory limbo, casting a mood of uncertainty across the automobile industry.
"This is truly important," EPA Administrator Michael Regan told the Los Angeles Times. "Not just for the people in California but for the nation as a whole. We are proudly reaffirming California's longstanding authority to lead in this area."
—Los Angeles Times
Stephanie Grisham sorry she served under ‘con man’ leading ‘cult-like thing’ Donald Trump
NEW YORK — Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham apologized this week for serving in former President Donald Trump’s White House and also said she’s sorry it took her so long to realize he’s a “con man.”
Appearing on the ABC talk show “The View” for the second day in a row on Tuesday, Grisham was grilled by panelists including Whoopi Goldberg regarding her insight into the Jan. 6 insurrection as well as the nearly four years she served in the White House under both the first lady and the president.
Grisham said she didn’t know what was going to happen the day Trump fanatics attacked the Capitol to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election win. But knowing Trump as well as she did, and noticing he hadn’t started packing even though he was scheduled to depart the White House in a couple weeks, Grisham said she suspected “something was brewing.”
“I have to ask,” panelist Sunny Hostin said. “Why did it take an insurrection to get you to quit?”
Grisham entered the White House as first lady Melania Trump’s press secretary in March 2017. She moved to the West Wing to serve as both the White House press secretary and communications director from July 2019 through April 2020, then went back to working for the first lady until leaving altogether on Jan. 6, 2021.
—New York Daily News
North Carolina mom says Black students ‘sold’ at school ‘slave auction’; district condemns racism
RALEIGH, N.C. — Some Black students reportedly were “sold” by classmates at a recent “slave auction” at a Chatham County school, prompting the superintendent to send a letter to families condemning “recent unacceptable incidents.”
In a letter sent Tuesday night, Chatham County Superintendent Anthony Jackson told families that the district had “become aware of recent incidents involving students using racially insensitive language and offensive imagery.”
Jackson’s letter doesn’t specifically describe the incidents. But a Chatham County parent who has been in contact with district officials detailed in Facebook posts about the “slave auction” and a video that used the N-word.
“Our son experienced a slave auction by his classmates and when he opened up we were made aware that this type of stuff seems to be the norm so much that he didn’t think it was worth sharing,” Ashley Palmer wrote in a Facebook post Friday. “His friend ‘went for $350’ and another student was the Slavemaster because he ‘knew how to handle them.’
“We even have a video of students harmonizing the N-word. Since when were children so blatantly racist?”
Palmer didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on Facebook from The News & Observer. She also made her Facebook posts private by late Wednesday afternoon.
—The News & Observer
South Korea elects Yoon as new president in hawkish turn
SEOUL, South Korea — Former top prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol won election as South Korea’s president, returning the conservative opposition to power after five years and signaling a hawkish turn in the country’s relations with China and North Korea.
Yoon, 61, who had never before sought elected office, defeated former Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party in one of the closest presidential races in the country’s history. Yoon will succeed Moon Jae-in, who had been Yoon’s boss until they had a falling out over investigations into close associates of the president.
“The race is over and now we need to be united as one for the sake of the people and the country,” Yoon told supporters and party officials Thursday morning. He planned to have a formal speech later in the day, his People Power Party said.
Lee earlier conceded defeat and congratulated Yoon on his win. “All responsibility rests solely with me” on the loss, Lee said.
—Bloomberg News
