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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam plans to survive by changing his agenda to focus on race
Northam has been besieged by calls to resign after the revelation that his medical school yearbook page included a racist photo. But the governor says he’s not going anywhere.
Instead, his office is exploring how it might recalibrate Northam’s legislative agenda to focus closely on race and equality. Northam’s policy team will craft a set of proposals based on the premise that the governor’s mistakes made him more acutely aware of the inequity and injustice black Virginians face.
Additionally, his advisers have assigned the governor homework: He’s begun to read Alex Haley’s Roots, and “The Case for Reparations,” the seminal essay in the Atlantic by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
In Northam’s first television interview since news of the photo broke, the governor told CBS’s Gayle King that he intends to stay in office to help Virginia “heal.” The interview airs this morning.
Venezuela is refusing to allow in aid from the US, calling it a “rotten gift”
Embattled President Nicolás Maduro was defiant in rejecting humanitarian supplies coming into the country, saying the aid package will fill Venezuela with “the poison of humiliation.”
The decision to turn down supplies is the latest development in Venezuela’s political crisis, which stepped up shortly after opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó declared himself president last month, citing a “vacuum of power.”
The US, most Latin American countries, and many European ones have since recognized Guaidó as interim president. Since then, tensions between Maduro and the Trump administration have been growing.
SNAPSHOTS
Amy Klobuchar announced she’s running for president in a snowstorm. The Democratic senator has been elected by huge margins in Minnesota, where she's built a reputation for bipartisanship. Now she’s running for president. Over the last week, her reputation as a very demanding boss has also emerged.
Prince Philip is giving up his driving license after a car crash. Philip, 97, was not injured in the accident last month but his car was reportedly overturned and two passengers in the other car suffered minor injuries.
Sword-wielding Michonne is reportedly leaving The Walking Dead. Danai Gurira has played her on the hit series since Season 3, and according to reports will be making her exit after Season 10, which is scheduled to air in October.
Here are all the winners at the Grammy Awards. It was a huge night for Kacey Musgraves and Childish Gambino (and deservedly so). Here is the full list of winners. Ariana Grande, who did not attend due to a fight with the producers, won her first Grammy ever. She simply tweeted, “fuck.” Cardi B made history as the first woman solo artist to win Best Rap Album.
And since it’s awards season, here are all the winners at the BAFTA Film Awards. The Favourite won seven awards, including Outstanding British Film, Leading Actress, and Supporting Actress. The rest of the winners are right here. Rachel Weisz won best comment of the night, which I believe makes her the new prime minister.
Here’s why so many Americans feel cheated by their student loans
There are more than 44 million Americans with student loans, and the collective debt load is a staggering $1.5 trillion.
Those who carry the weight of student debt know that it’s unlike other loans — you can’t declare bankruptcy to get out of it.
The number of those who default on their loans is projected to hit 38% by 2023. That’s not because those people are lazy or refusing to look for work — they’re defaulting because the loan payment amounts are too much.
Following up on her excellent dive into burnout, Anne Helen Petersen wrote a fantastic piece exploring the social and financial divide that is forming — between those who have student debt and those who do not — and the ramifications it will have for decades to come.
A teen mistakenly read his girlfriend’s thermometer as a pregnancy test and freaked out, and now the internet is clowning him
Last week, Izaak Torres from California woke up to a 4 a.m. text from his girlfriend, Vanessa Marie, that read “holy fuck,” accompanied by an image of a thermometer showing a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
His mind racing, he responded with successive texts: “How,” “WTF,” “Baby,” “Your [sic] on birth control.”
Marie said when her fever went down she couldn’t help but share her boyfriend’s very honest but nonetheless embarrassing mistake online.