Griner back in U.S.: Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner arrived at the U.S. Army’s San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston base in San Antonio last night and was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center for examination. Griner was released after having spent more than 290 days in Russian jails for having brought a small amount of hashish oil into the country. The Biden Administration tried to also negotiate the release of American Paul Whelan, who is being held by the Russians on spy charges, but the Russians refused to negotiate. Whelan’s family supports the deal that got Griner out of Russia.
Marriage protection passes: President Biden hailed the bipartisan vote that gave final congressional approval to legislation that protects the rights of people to marry whomever they want. The bill passed in the House with 39 Republican voted and in the Senate with 12 Republican votes. The legislation was offered in a move to preempt the conservative majority on the Supreme Court from banning same-sex and interracial marriages.
Contempt requested: The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department has asked a judge to hold Donald Trump’s legal team involved in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case in contempt of court for not complying with a subpoena to turn over all classified records Trump had taken. Despite assurances that all classified documents had been handed over to the government, more were recently found in a storage unit used by Trump.
British tabloids blasted: In the TV series “Harry and Meghan” that premiered on Netflix yesterday, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan blast the British tabloids for biased coverage that denigrates British Royalty. Harry accuses the British tabloid media of exploitation and bribery.
FTC moves to block Microsoft deal: The Federal Trade Commission has issued an administrative complaint to start the process of having a judge hear its arguments that would block Microsoft from acquiring ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, a well-known game developer. Microsoft wants to buy the company for $69 billion, which would give it ownership of several popular game titles. The FTC expressed concerns that  Microsoft would want to make some of the games run only on Microsoft game consoles.
Keystone Pipeline oil spill: TC Energy shut down its Keystone Oil Pipeline from Canada after a leak spilled about 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas. TC says it sent crews to the scene who isolated the segment of the pipeline with the leak and started cleanup work.
Cover photo courtesy Dackelprincess / Flickr Creative Commons
