BLOGONITY

WASHINGTON — Democratic U.S. Representative Sylvester Turner, a former mayor of Houston, who was sworn into office in November, died on Tuesday, fellow lawmakers said, hours after he posted about attending President Donald Trump’s address to Congress. The death of Turner, 70, temporarily widens Republicans’ slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to 218-214. A special election for Turner’s replacement will have to be held to fill the vacancy. Turner served as mayor of Houston from 2016 through 2024 and was elected last year to take the House seat formerly held by Sheila Jackson Lee, who died in July 2024 at age 74. A spokesperson said Turner’s office would issue a statement shortly. In a video message filmed outside his Washington office and posted on Tuesday, Turner said he was bringing to Trump’s address a constituent whose daughter had a rare genetic disorder and relied on Medicaid insurance for treatment. “My message to the current administration for tonight’s State of the Union: ‘Don’t mess with Medicaid,’” Turner wrote in the post. “President Trump and Elon Musk’s push to gut Medicaid is nothing short of a betrayal of the most vulnerable among us.” Republicans are trying to pass a spending bill that could significantly slash spending on popular social programs, including the Medicaid health insurance plan for low-income people, to pay for Trump’s desired tax cut plan. Tributes to Turner poured in from Democratic politicians on social media. Representative Greg Casar of Texas told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that Turner was “a dedicated public servant,” and Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama posted on X that Turner “leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of service.” The House has two other vacant seats, previously held by Republican Representatives Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz, both of Florida. April 1 special elections have been scheduled to fill both, and Republicans are expected to win those contests, restoring Trump’s party’s full majority to 220. …

WASHINGTON — The United States imposed sanctions on Wednesday on seven senior members of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, the Treasury Department said. The men smuggled military-grade items and weapon systems into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and negotiated buying weapons from Russia, the Treasury Department said in a statement. It also designated Abdulwali Abdoh Hasan Al-Jabri and his company Al-Jabri General Trading and Investment Company for recruiting Yemenis to fight in Ukraine on behalf of Russia and raising money to support Houthi military operations. “The U.S. government is committed to holding the Houthis accountable for acquiring weapons and weapons components from suppliers in Russia, China and Iran to threaten Red Sea security,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. On Tuesday, the State Department said it was implementing the designation of the Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization” after President Donald Trump called for the move earlier this year. The move, however, triggered concerns it could affect regional security and worsen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis because importers fear being hit with U.S. sanctions if supplies fall into Houthi hands. …

ISLAMABAD  — The U.S. Justice Department plans Wednesday to present in a federal court in Virginia the alleged mastermind of the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The justice department said Islamic State Khorasan operative Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar,” was charged on March 2 with “providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.” Sharifullah is expected to appear in the justice system’s Eastern District of Virginia, the department said in a statement on its website. President Donald Trump broke the news of Sharifullah’s capture Tuesday night in a speech to Congress on Capitol Hill. “Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” Trump said. “And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.” The Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021 also killed roughly 170 Afghans. Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization linked with the Islamic State terror group, claimed responsibility. The suicide attack came amid the chaotic troop withdrawal at the end of the 20-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. In this speech, Trump hailed Pakistan for helping with the mission to arrest Sharifullah. “And I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” the U.S. president said. Sharifullah’s capture Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif identified Sharifullah as a “top tier commander” and an Afghan national in a post on X. “The wanted terrorist was apprehended in a successful operation conducted in Pakistan-Afghan border region,” Sharif said, without sharing details. The justice department said the mission was a multi-agency effort that also involved the CIA and the FBI. “Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker,” the department said. Sharifullah admitted to recognizing Abdul Rahman al-Logari who detonated the suicide bomb and admitted to playing a role in other attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, the statement added. Islamabad-based security affairs analyst Iftekhar Firdaus told VOA that Sharifullah, a resident of Kabul, joined ISIS-K in 2016. “He was arrested in 2019 and then released during the jailbreak of the Afghan Taliban during their takeover of August 15, 2021,” said Firdaus, founder of The Khorasan Diary, an online platform … “US-Pakistan operation to capture ‘top terrorist’ signals deep counterterrorism cooperation despite cold ties, experts say   “ →

NEW ORLEANS — Powerful storms killed two people in Mississippi, tore the roofs off an apartment building and a nursing home in a small town in Oklahoma and threatened more communities across the nation Tuesday with wide-ranging weather. The large storm system also brought blinding dust storms to the Southwest, blizzards with whiteout conditions to the Midwest and fears of wildfires elsewhere. In Irving, Texas, a tornado with winds up to 177 kph struck, while another touched down in the 16,000-resident city of Ada, Oklahoma, according to preliminary information from the National Weather Service. There were also two tornadoes in Louisiana’s northern Caddo Parish and at least five in eastern Oklahoma. High winds forced some changes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened the two biggest parades, to wrap them up before the bad weather moved in. The weather didn’t stop Shalaska Jones and her 2-year-old daughter from waving at passing Mardi Gras floats and hoping to catch one of the coveted coconuts thrown to the crowd. “We was coming out, rain, sleet or snow,” Jones said. The alarming weather could be one of the first big tests for the National Weather Service after hundreds of forecasters were fired last week as part of President Donald Trump’s moves to slash the size of the federal government. Former employees said the firing of meteorologists who make crucial local forecasts nationwide could put lives at risk, though it was too soon to know the impact on forecasts and warnings for this storm. Deaths from storms in Mississippi Two people died due to the severe weather, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves posted on the social platform X, without going into detail. WAPT-TV reported that one person died from a falling power line in Madison County, while a driver in the same county was killed by a tree falling on his car. Hundreds of thousands left without power Storms that swept through Texas and Oklahoma brought high winds and rain, overturning tractor-trailers and damaging roofs. More than 178,000 customers were without power in Texas, about 23,000 in Louisiana, another 18,000 in Mississippi, about 88,000 in Alabama, more than 16,000 in Oklahoma and more than 23,000 in Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us. More outages were expected as a line of storms raced across Mississippi and Louisiana and headed for Alabama, producing gusts of 113 kph, the weather service said. Central Plains and Midwest brace … “Powerful US storms kill 2 and bring threats from critical fire weather to blizzard conditions” →

President Donald Trump delivered remarks before a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening, lauding early steps taken by his administration to slash the bureaucracy, order steep tariffs on America’s closest trading partners, and pressure Ukraine to stop fighting against a Russian invasion. As Trump spoke, Democrats watched and made their protests clear. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …

U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin said Tuesday the country needs responsible changes and should be an engaged leader in an interconnected world, as she gave the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress. Slotkin said prices for things such as groceries, housing and health care need to come down and that Trump does not have a credible plan to address them. She said Trump’s economic policies are going to make Americans “pay in every part” of their lives, including tariffs and trade wars, a rising national debt and a potential recession. “President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends,” Slotkin said. She also cited multibillionaire businessman Elon Musk, who under Trump is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency, highlighting concerns about widespread layoffs of federal workers and access his team has to Americans’ data. “We need a more efficient government. You want to cut waste, I’ll help you do it. But change does not need to be chaotic or make us less safe,” Slotkin said. She also spoke about the heated White House meeting last week during which Trump berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being “disrespectful.” Slotkin said the meeting summed up Trump’s approach to the world. “He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth,” she said. “He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions.” Slotkin said American democracy has been the aspiration of the world, and that right now it is at risk. Trump is seeking to carry out an “America First” foreign policy, which has included orders to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, and to slash the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Slotkin said she would rather have the United States as a world leader than Russia or China. “Donald Trump’s actions suggest that in his heart he doesn’t believe that we’re an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn’t think we should lead the world,” she said. …

Washington — U.S. President Donald Trump in a Tuesday night speech to a joint session of Congress defended his new tariffs on U.S. trading partners and pledged that more are coming. “Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn,” Trump said in what was his first address to U.S. lawmakers of his second term. The remarks came after the United States imposed 25% tariffs earlier Tuesday on exports from its two biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, and doubled an earlier 10% tariff on Chinese imports to 20%. China is the No. 3 U.S. trading partner. U.S. stock markets have taken a significant tumble, and the three countries have threatened retaliation, prompting concerns of a broader trade war. Trump also said the United States will begin imposing “reciprocal tariffs” on all U.S. trading partners on April 2. “Whatever they tariff us, we will tariff them,” he said. “Whatever they tax us, we will tax them.” “I wanted to make it April 1, but I didn’t want to be accused of April Fool’s Day,” Trump added. Trump also said he will impose a 25% tariff on imports of foreign aluminum, copper, lumber and steel. Trump’s address comes six weeks into his second term, which has been marked by tensions with U.S. allies, shifts in foreign policy and an overhaul of the federal government. The White House on Monday said the theme of the address was the “renewal of the American dream.” With Vice President JD Vance and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson seated behind him, Trump began his speech by proclaiming that “America is back,” triggering chants of “USA” from Republican lawmakers. “Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country,” he said. Trump also said his administration has “accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years.” To date, Trump has signed nearly 80 executive orders — several of which are being challenged in court. Early in his speech, Trump touted his declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and deployment of the U.S. military and border patrol to “repel the invasion of … “Trump declares ‘America is back,’ defends tariffs, other policies in address to Congress” →

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason Tuesday night. James surpassed the mark with a 3-pointer early in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans. James got to 49,999 points Sunday night when he scored 17 while the Lakers beat the Clippers 108-102 for their sixth consecutive win. The 40-year-old James already is the top scorer in NBA history in both the regular season and the playoffs during a career in which he has rewritten all previous definitions of basketball longevity. James reached 50,000 points deep into his 22nd season, which ties him with Vince Carter for the most played in NBA history. Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons, is second in NBA history with 44,149 combined points. And while nearly every other NBA player who lasted to his late 30s finished at a fraction of his peak powers, James’ game shows no significant signs of decline in his 40s. He was named the NBA’s Western Conference player of the month earlier Tuesday after he averaged 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.2 steals in February while playing more than 35 minutes per game for the Lakers, who went 9-2 to surge into second place in the West. James began Tuesday at third in NBA history with 1,547 regular-season games played, trailing only Robert Parish (1,611) and Abdul-Jabbar (1,560). If he stays healthy and elects to return for a record 23rd season, he will likely surpass Parish next winter. James has also played in 287 postseason games, the most in NBA history. He became the league’s career playoff scoring leader on May 25, 2017, when he surpassed Michael Jordan’s total of 5,987 during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference finals game at Boston. James then became the top scorer in regular-season history on Feb. 7, 2023, when he topped Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points during the Lakers’ game against Oklahoma City. James’ prolific scoring is due in large part to his metronomic consistency. With his performance against the Clippers, he has scored at least 10 points in 1,277 consecutive games since Jan. 6, 2007 — by far the longest such streak in NBA history. James’ player of the month award for February was his 41st, extending his own league record. He also became the oldest player … “Lakers’ James first NBA player to score 50,000 combined points in regular season, playoffs” →

WASHINGTON — A government watchdog wants more than 5,000 probationary employees to be reinstated at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the latest example of resistance to President Donald Trump ‘s efforts to downsize the federal workforce. The Office of Special Counsel made the request Friday and disclosed it Tuesday. If the request is granted by the Merit Systems Protection Board, the employees would be back on the job for 45 days as an investigation continues. At that point, the board could be asked to make a final decision to reinstate them. Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said the firings “appear to have been carried out in a manner inconsistent with federal personnel laws.” It’s possible that he could reach similar conclusions about employees at other departments as well. Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they’re usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection. They were often summarily informed that they were being fired for poor performance. The case is proceeding at a moment of turbulence for the federal workforce and the offices responsible for protecting workers’ rights. Not only are administration officials laying off thousands of employees, Trump wants to remove obstacles by firing Dellinger and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board nominated by President Joe Biden. Both attempts have been blocked through litigation, most recently on Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that Trump did not have the power to remove Harris from office “at will.” The attempt to fire her was illegal because he didn’t seek to remove her for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” the judge said. The one-sentence email that informed Harris of her firing didn’t cite any of those reasons, Harris’ attorneys said. “There are hard constitutional cases where the law remains unsettled and the Supreme Court has not spoken. This case is not among them,” they wrote in a court filing. Administration officials have already appealed Contreras’ order. Harris was appointed in 2022 and has chaired the board since last March. Her term was due to expire in March 2028, but the White House notified her of her firing on Feb. 12. A second board member, Raymond Limon, retired Friday. Government attorneys argued that the judiciary doesn’t have the authority to reinstate Harris or bar Trump from replacing her on the board. “The American people elected President Trump … “Government watchdog wants thousands of federal workers to be reinstated” →

NEW YORK — The Pritzker Prize, dubbed the “Nobel” for architecture, was awarded Tuesday to China’s Liu Jiakun, who was recognized for designs that celebrate “everyday lives.” “In a global context where architecture is struggling to find adequate responses to fast evolving social and environmental challenges, Liu Jiakun has provided convincing answers that also celebrate the everyday lives of people as well as their communal and spiritual identities,” the award’s jury wrote in a statement. Born in 1956, Liu has worked on more than 30 projects in China ranging from academic and cultural institutions to civic spaces and commercial buildings. “Architecture should reveal something  it should abstract, distill and make visible the inherent qualities of local people,” Liu said in the statement, evoking his craft’s capacity to create “a sense of shared community.” Liu lives and works in his birth city of Chengdu, where he prioritizes the use of local materials and traditional building techniques. His projects include the Museum of Clocks in Chengdu, a large circular structure with a skylight that illuminates an interior strip of photographs. Alejandro Aravena, who won the award in 2016 and is chair of the jury, said Liu’s works offer “clues on how to confront the challenges of urbanization” especially because they are sometimes “a building, infrastructure, landscape and public space at the same time.” “Cities tend to segregate functions, but Liu Jiakun takes the opposite approach and sustains a delicate balance to integrate all dimensions of the urban life,” Aravena said. Liu, who is the 54th recipient of the Pritzker Prize, will be honored at a celebration in Abu Dhabi in spring, award organizers said. Last year’s prize went to Japan’s Riken Yamamoto, whose projects are credited with promoting human contact and who said at the time his objective was to “design architecture that can bring joy to people around it.” …

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — NASA’s two stuck astronauts are just a few weeks away from finally returning to Earth after nine months in space.  Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have to wait until their replacements arrive at the International Space Station next week before they can check out later this month.  They’ll be joined on their SpaceX ride home by two astronauts who launched by themselves in September alongside two empty seats.  Speaking from the space station on Tuesday, Williams said the hardest part about the unexpected extended stay was the wait by their families back home.  “It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little more so than for us,” she said.  Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week or so when they launched last June aboard Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, making its crew debut after years of delay.  The Starliner had so many problems getting to the space station that NASA ruled it too dangerous to carry anyone and it flew back empty.  Their homecoming was further delayed by the extra completion time needed for the brand new SpaceX capsule that was supposed to deliver their replacements.  Last month, NASA announced the next crew would launch in a used capsule instead, pushing up liftoff to March 12. The two crews will spend about a week together aboard the space station before Wilmore and Williams depart with NASA’s Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency’s Alexander Gorbunov.  Wilmore and Williams — retired Navy captains and repeat space fliers — have insisted over the months that they are healthy and committed to the mission as long as it takes. They took a spacewalk together in January. …

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday made it harder for environmental regulators to limit water pollution, ruling for San Francisco in a case about the discharge of raw sewage that sometimes occurs during heavy rains.  By a 5-4 vote, the court’s conservative majority ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority under the Clean Water Act with water pollution permits that contain vague requirements for maintaining water quality.  The decision is the latest in which conservative justices have reined in pollution control efforts.  Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court that EPA can set specific limits that tell cities and counties what can be discharged. But the agency lacks the authority “to include ‘end-result’ provisions,” Alito wrote, that make cities and counties responsible for maintaining the quality of the water, the Pacific Ocean in this case, into which wastewater is discharged.  “When a permit contains such requirements, a permittee that punctiliously follows every specific requirement in its permit may nevertheless face crushing penalties if the quality of the water in its receiving waters falls below the applicable standards,” he wrote.  One conservative justice, Amy Coney Barrett, joined the court’s three liberals in dissent. Limits on discharges sometimes still don’t ensure water quality standards are met, Barrett wrote.   “The concern that the technology-based effluent limitations may fall short is on display in this case,” Barrett wrote, adding that “discharges from components of San Francisco’s sewer system have allegedly led to serious breaches of the water quality standards, such as ‘discoloration, scum, and floating material, including toilet paper, in Mission Creek.’”  The case produced an unusual alliance of the liberal northern California city, energy companies and business groups.  The EPA has issued thousands of the permits, known as narrative permits, over several decades, former acting general counsel Kevin Minoli said.  The narrative permits have operated almost as a backstop in case permits that quantify what can be discharged still result in unacceptable water quality, Minoli said.  With the new restrictions imposed by the court, “the question is what comes in place of those limits,” Minoli said.  Alito downplayed the impact of the decision, writing that the agency has “the tools needed” to ensure water quality standards are met. …

The Hong Kong-based conglomerate that operates ports near the Panama Canal has agreed to sell shares of its units that operate the ports to a consortium including BlackRock Inc., after President Donald Trump alleged Chinese interference with the operations of the critical shipping lane. In a filing, CK Hutchison Holding said Tuesday that it would sell all shares in Hutchison Port Holdings and all shares in Hutchison Port Group Holdings. The two units hold 80% of the Hutchison Ports group that operates 43 ports in 23 countries. The consortium, comprised of BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited will acquire 90% interests in Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama, according to the filing. In January, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, raised concerns that China could exploit or block passage through the canal and that the ports “give China ready observation posts” to take action. “This situation, I believe, posts acute risks for U.S. national security,” Cruz said. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama in early February and told President Jose Raul Mulino that Panama had to reduce Chinese influence over the canal or face potential retaliation from the United States. Mulino rejected the idea that China had any control over canal operations. Panama quit China’s Belt and Road Initiative following Rubio’s visit, drawing condemnation from Beijing. But while much attention was focused on Trump’s threat to retake control of the canal, his administration trained its sights on Hutchison Ports, the Hong Kong-based consortium that manages the ports key ports at either end of the canal. Hutchison Ports had recently been awarded a 25-year no-bid extension to run the ports, but an audit looking at that extension was already underway. Observers believed the audit was a preliminary step toward eventually rebidding the contract, but rumors had swirled in recent weeks that a U.S. firm close to the White House was being lined up to take over. …