Photo by rawpixel.com from PxHere NPR (“U.S. bans noncompete agreements for nearly all jobs“): The Federal Trade Commission narrowly voted Tuesday to ban nearly all noncompetes, employment agreements that typically prevent workers from joining competing businesses or launching ones of their own. The FTC received more than 26,000 public comments in the months leading up to the vote. Chair Lina Khan referenced on Tuesday some of the stories she had heard from workers. “We heard from employees who, because of noncompetes, were stuck in abusive workplaces,” she said. “One person noted when an em ..read more

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I didn’t think all that much of it when Columbia University’s president called in police to break up a small sit-in a few days back. But the situation has since turned into a full-blown crisis, with even the White House forced to issue statements. CNN (“Columbia University faces full-blown crisis as rabbi calls for Jewish students to ‘return home’“): Columbia University is facing a full-blown crisis heading into Passover as a rabbi linked to the Ivy League school urged Jewish students to stay home and tense confrontations on campus sparked condemnation from the White House and New York offic ..read more

In “Hakeem Jeffries emerges as Congress’ shadow speaker,” Axios’ Andre Solender sheds light on a situation that many of us have noticed. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) found himself in an unusual position for a minority leader last week: It was he, not the House speaker, who had the ultimate power to decide whether legislation came to the floor. Why it matters: Democrats got everything they wanted – a $95 billion foreign aid bill, the credit for passing it, and adversaries more divided than ever. In their telling, that total victory wasn’t a sure thing. Former House ..read more

Terry Anderson, center, accompanied by his sister Peggy Say, left, and Madeleine Bassil, right, in Germany, Dec. 5, 1991. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File) Associated Press, “Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died at 76“ Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76. Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants in his best-sellin ..read more

WSJ‘s Daniel Michaels and James Marson (“U.S. Aid Is a Lifeline for Ukraine’s Struggle to Hold Off Defeat“): The House vote to approve $60 billion in funding for Ukraine comes at a desperate moment for the country’s beleaguered defenders and holds the prospect of helping them stave off a Russian onslaught at the last possible moment. If approved by the Senate, as is widely expected, and then signed into law by President Biden as soon as Tuesday, the bill will unleash a flood of American military equipment that U.S. forces have positioned for quick deployment. But given Ukraine’s dire battlef ..read more

“Flags Flying” by DM is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — Note: this photo features Mississippi’s former State Flag, which flew over the state from 1894 to 2020. In the last two days, news began to circulate that on Friday, April 12 Mississippi Governor Tate Reed declared April 2024 as Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi. My immediate reaction was that doing so, in the year of our lord 2024, was a pretty bold decision. Then I began to research and discovered that Reed is actually following a three-decade-old tradition: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared April 2024 as Confederate Heritage ..read more

WSJ‘s Daniel Michaels and James Marson (“U.S. Aid Is a Lifeline for Ukraine’s Struggle to Hold Off Defeat“): The House vote to approve $60 billion in funding for Ukraine comes at a desperate moment for the country’s beleaguered defenders and holds the prospect of helping them stave off a Russian onslaught at the last possible moment. If approved by the Senate, as is widely expected, and then signed into law by President Biden as soon as Tuesday, the bill will unleash a flood of American military equipment that U.S. forces have positioned for quick deployment. But given Ukraine’s dire battlefi ..read more

Scanning the WSJ front page, I came across the headline “Meet the 12 New Yorkers Who Will Decide Donald Trump’s Fate in Hush-Money Trial.” Thankfully, this wasn’t a doxxing but a fairly vague listing of descriptions. Alas, it did very little to assuage my concern that these are indeed people who wanted to be on this particular jury. This is a direct quote with redactions of seemingly irrelevant information and some minor editing for formatting: Juror 12 on Trump: “I have no opinions until I am presented with the information in the courtroom.” Gender: Woman Job: Physical therapist News s ..read more