Green Deal: Using earth Day as his platform, President Biden is planning today to commit the United States to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. It’s a goal that can be met only with an aggressive decline in the use of oil, gas, and coal across the economy.

  Biden is expected to make the announcement as he welcomes 40 world leaders to a virtual two-day summit on climate change. To meet his goal here in the US, greenhouse emissions would have to be cut by at least half of what they were in 2005.

  The President is clearly and dramatically trying to reverse the know-nothing policies of Donald Trump, who bailed out of  the Paris Climate Accord, trashed environmental policies, and denied the established science of climate change.

  Republican leaders are already  complaining that Biden is exercising central control and crippling the economy. But a White House statement says, “The United States is not waiting, the costs of delay are too great, and our nation is resolved to act now.” 

Policing the Police: A day after the murder conviction of a former Minneapolis police officer, Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland announced a review of the policies and operations of the entire department. 

  “The Justice Department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing,” Garland said at the Justice Department.

  The investigation would determine whether the Minneapolis police have a track record of racial discrimination and excessive force. Such investigations of other departments have led to what is called a “consent decree” in which the police department operates under supervision.

  A NY Times analysis says that while only about 20 percent of the Minneapolis population is black, about 60 percent of people subjected to force by the police are black. 

  The former officer Derek Chauvin, convicted in the murder of George Floyd, is being held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day in Minnesota’s only maximum security prison. Authorities fear for his safety.

  It may take a couple of months for the trial judge to determine Chauvin’s sentence. Although on paper he faces a maximum of 40 years in prison, he has no prior criminal record, which is a major mitigating factor  under sentencing guidelines.

  Three other former Minneapolis officers still face trial in Floyd’s death. They face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

The Police Beat Goes On: A North Carolina man was shot and killed yesterday by a sheriff’s deputy executing a search warrant at his home, authorities said. 

Andrew Brown Jr., a 40-year-old black man who was the father of 10 children,was shot around 8:30 am in Elizabeth City. Not many details have been disclosed.

  About the time the verdict was announced Tuesday in Minneapolis, a Columbus, Ohio officer shot and killed a black 16-year-old girl wielding a knife against another girl.

  Police video reveals a quick incident in which the officer had barely arrived when Ma’Khia Bryant had knocked down one woman and had her arm cocked back as if to stab another.  Officer Nicholas Reardon fired four shots, killing Bryant.

  On the 911 recording, a woman tells the dispatcher that someone is “trying to stab us” as people scream in the background. 

  Critics have already claimed Reardon was too quick to shoot. The police chief promises to have the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation look into it.

Viral News: Rocker and gun lover Ted Nugent, who has claimed Covid-19 and the pandemic are a hoax, has been diagnosed with Covid-19.

  Just over 50 percent of eligible people 16 and older has received at least one dose of vaccine, representing 40 percent of the population.

  New cases in the US are down 4 percent over the past two weeks and deaths are down 1 percent, but 569,404 Americans have died.

Homeward Bound: In response to a lawsuit brought by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, the entire homeless population living in the streets of downtown Los Angeles must be given housing by Oct. 18, a federal judge ordered this week, citing a need for “immediate, life-saving action.” 

  There doesn’t seem to be an exact number for the homeless in Los Angeles itself, but for Los Angeles County, the latest is 83,347. In downtown LA they sleep on the streets, in tarpaulin tents, and under freeway overpasses.

  US District Judge David Carter wrote  that, “This ever-worsening public health and safety emergency demands immediate, life-saving action. The City and County of Los Angeles have shown themselves to be unable or unwilling to devise effective solutions to L.A.’s homelessness crisis.”

Book Bound: The publisher WW Norton said it is ceasing to ship copies of Blake Bailey’s biography of novelist Philip Roth following accusations that the author was sexually inappropriate with young students and actually raped two women who never reported it to the police. 

  Bailey denies it. But the publisher said in a statement, “These allegations are serious” and that the company is pausing shipping and promotion of the book “pending any further information that may emerge.”

  Bailey was a Pulitzer finalist for his biography of John Cheever and Roth handpicked him to write his biography.

The Spin Rack:  — The reigning Mrs. World, Caroline Jurie, resigned her title after getting into a fracas at the Mrs. Sri Lanka pageant in which she ripped off the winner’s crown, claiming the other woman was a divorcee and not qualified to compete. — Reuters News announced Gina Chua, a transgender woman, has been appointed executive editor. — Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. announced that his office will no longer prosecute prostitution and unlicensed massage. — Organizers of the do-your-own-thing Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert are considering whether to require attendees this year to have been vaccinated for Covid-19. As always, clothing would be optional. 

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