November 2021

Biden says pardoned turkeys will get ‘boosted,’ not ‘basted’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys, saying that the white male birds were selected based on their “temperament, appearance and, I suspect, vaccination status.”

“Instead of getting basted, these two turkeys are getting boosted today,” Biden joked.

La. lawmakers: Strain too slow on medical marijuana

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain came under fire Thursday from state lawmakers who complained his regulatory agency was moving too slowly in expanding the medical marijuana products available to patients.

The News-Star reports that Strain, a Republican, told a special legislative commission looking at the state’s medicinal pot program that he won’t compromise public safety to fast-track new products.

State Supreme Court to consider Ochsner vaccine mandates

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana officials Thursday blocked banking giant JP Morgan Chase from participating in a bond refinancing deal, in Republicans’ escalating effort to keep some large investment firms sidelined from state work because they limit business with firearm manufacturers. The state NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s Supreme Court will hear arguments next month on whether the state’s largest health care provider can require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dems’ sweeping social, climate bill passes divided House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats brushed aside months-long divisions and pushed their expansive social and environment bill through a sharply divided House on Friday, as President Joe Biden and his party moved closer to capitalizing on their control of government by funneling its resources toward their top domestic priorities.

US expands COVID boosters to all adults, final hurdle ahead

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Friday moved to open up COVID-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s effort to get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that experts fear could snowball into a winter surge as millions of Americans travel for the holidays.

Jury finds Rittenhouse not guilty in Kenosha shootings

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges Friday after testifying he acted in self-defense in the deadly Kenosha shootings that became a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice in the U.S.

Rittenhouse, 18, began to choke up, fell forward toward the defense table and then hugged one of his attorneys as he heard a court clerk recite “not guilty” five times. A sheriff’s deputy whisked him out a back door.

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Entergy Louisiana: Storm restoration will cost up to $4.1B

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Entergy Louisiana told utility regulators Wednesday that it owes up to $4.4 billion for getting the lights back on after a string of storms and needed a $1 billion loan to meet those costs in the short-term.

Two convicted men exonerated in Malcolm X’s 1965 death

NEW YORK (AP) — Two men who for decades steadfastly maintained their innocence in the 1965 assassination of civil rights icon Malcolm X are set to be exonerated Thursday, after a nearly twoyear-long re-investigation.