U.S. and world news for April 6

Sex abuse: More than 150 priests, teachers and others associated with the Baltimore Archdiocese sexually abused an estimated 600 children according to a report released by Maryland’s Attorney General. The report says the abuse took place over an approximately 60-year period. The report alleges that the leaders of the Archdiocese looked the other way when told about what was going on.

Tennessee legislature: Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives were expected to try today to remove from office three Democrats who spoke on the floor of the House without being called upon to speak. They were supporting demonstrators who were calling for action on gun control. The demonstrations followed the mass shooting at a private Christian school in  which three children and three adults were killed.

Taiwan meetings: A bipartisan group of members of congress arrived in Taiwan today, a day after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwan’s president. China criticized McCarthy’s meeting with President Tsai as being a provocation. The House members are expected to be in Taiwan until Saturday.

Macron in China: French President Macron is in China where he met with China’s President Xi. He called on Xi to help end the war in Ukraine. Xi responded that he hopes peace talks to end the war will begin as soon as possible.

NPR vs. Twitter: National Public Radio (NPR) is protesting being branded as state-affiliated media by Twitter, seeming to try to lump it with Radio Moscow and China Radio. NPR, which is not owned by the U.S. government, receives less than 1% of its operating budget through government grants. Elon Musk, Twitter’s owner, said that he stands by the state-owned-media label.

Unemployment insurance claims: Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor this morning, showed that in the week ending April 1, there were 18,000 fewer unemployment insurance claims than the week before. New claims totaled 228,000 for the week. New York was fifth when it came to increased new claims being filed while Connecticut was second among the states that saw a drop in new claims.