Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday. 1. President Biden used the full force of his presidency to require tens of millions more American workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Biden instructed the Department of Labor to draft a rule mandating that all businesses with 100 or more workers require their employees to either get vaccinated or face weekly testing. A vast majority of federal employees and federal contractors, as well as 17 million health care workers in hospitals and other institutions that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding, must also be vaccinated or face possible disciplinary measures if they refuse. The sweeping actions, which will affect two-thirds of all American workers, are the most expansive he has taken to control the pandemic since he assumed the presidency in January, and will affect almost every aspect of American society. Roughly 80 million Americans who are eligible for shots have not been vaccinated. “We can and we will turn the tide on Covid-19,” Biden said at the White House. Los Angeles is poised to become the first major school district in the U.S. to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students 12 and older who are attending class in person. The move comes as more children are being hospitalized with Covid than ever before, led by states with the fewest vaccinations. Some hospitals are stretched. 2. The Justice Department sued Texas over its new restrictive abortion law, calling the state’s near-total ban of the procedure an “open defiance of the Constitution.” “It is settled constitutional law that ‘a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,’” the lawsuit said. “But Texas has done just that.” The law bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, when few women even know they are pregnant. It was the first significant step by the Biden administration to confront the law, which the Supreme Court refused to block last week. We took an up-close look at the text of the law. The court will soon take up a separate case that will determine whether Roe v. Wade should be overruled. And a new biography reveals the complex life of the woman behind the landmark ruling. 3. The first passenger flight to leave Afghanistan since the frenzied U.S. military evacuation ended has arrived in Qatar. More than 100 foreigners, including Americans, Canadians and British citizens, landed in the capital, Doha. The Taliban’s spokesman thanked Qatar for its assistance in getting the airport running, and flying in 50 tons of aid. He said it was an “opportunity to call on all Muslim and international countries to lend a helping hand to the Afghan people and start delivering humanitarian aid.
