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| Happy Wednesday, Daily Briefing readers! On a day where President Joe Biden is expected to unveil a massive infrastructure bill and the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin probably will continue to generate serious emotions, many eyes may end up shifting toward Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who confirmed that he is under investigation for his sexual conduct after a report that a probe is underway into whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. |
| Steve and Jane are here with Wednesday's news. |
| Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of the discrimination they face. See how these workers transitioned during the pandemic, and are bracing for a return to the office. |
| These are some other items that people are starting their day talking about: |
| 🍃 Lawmakers voted Tuesday to make New York the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana, marking a key step to ending years of failed attempts to allow adults to purchase, grow and use cannabis-based drugs. The state anticipates legal marijuana sales for those age 21 and older will begin a year from now. |
| 🎤 G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host who also worked as a writer, actor and security consultant after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at the age of 90. |
| 🚗 Volkswagen of America's plan to change its name to "Voltswagen" as part of its investment in electric vehicles was just a joke. "The renaming was designed to be an announcement in the spirit of April Fools' Day," a statement sent to USA TODAY read. |
| 🏀 The stakes were high again last night in the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments. With a trip to the Final Four on the line, UCLA, a No. 11 seed, stunned onlookers by dispatching No. 1 Michigan and unbeaten Gonzaga handily defeated USC on the men's side. In the women's event, South Carolina accomplished something never done before in a thumping over Texas and Stanford beat Louisville. |
| 🏀 College basketball referee Bert Smith collapsed to the floor early in the Gonzaga-USC matchup and was removed from the arena via stretcher. Smith was not transported to a hospital and he did speak with his family, according to the NCAA. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, White House correspondent Courtney Subramanian breaks down President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
Shockwaves being felt after Gaetz confirms he is under investigation |
| In what is likely to be a much-discussed topic in the media and beyond Wednesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., confirmed Tuesday he is under investigation for his sexual conduct after a New York Times report that the Department of Justice is looking into whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The alleged encounter under investigation occurred about two years ago, the Times reported, and a DOJ investigation began near the end of the Trump administration late in 2020. It should be noted that charges have not been filed against the Florida congressman and he said in a statement that he believes the investigation is related to an effort to extort him. According to Times sources, the investigation into Gaetz is part of a broader probe into Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector and an acquaintance of Gaetz. Greenberg is facing charges that include child sex trafficking and pleaded not guilty. |
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Biden to roll out infrastructure plan |
| President Joe Biden reveals his infrastructure package Wednesday , potentially facing the same obstacle as his predecessor: How to pay for it. Biden will roll out the proposal at a Pittsburgh event. "He's going to have a plan to pay for it," press secretary Jen Psaki said. "He also believes that we have an opportunity to rebalance, to address our tax code that is out of date, and some could pay more in our country that are not currently." Putting aside whether increases in income or corporate taxes could get through the narrowly divided Senate, it would be a further shift away from a "user pays" model for highways that started in the 1950s. |
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Derek Chauvin's murder trial continues after emotional testimonies |
| Derek Chauvin's murder trial continues Wednesday and Genevieve Hansen, a Minneapolis firefighter who voiced frustration at being prevented from using her EMT training to help George Floyd, will be back on the stand after an emotional day in court Tuesday. A series of witnesses took the stand and several broke down in tears, including Hansen, as they recounted their memory of the day Floyd died. Through tears, Darnella Frazier, who recorded the infamous video showing Floyd's death, was one of five who testified in the murder trial of the former police officer. "It seemed like he knew. It seemed like he knew it was over for him," she said. Other witnesses Tuesday included: |
| • | Frazier's cousin, a 9-year-old girl who wore a shirt with the word "love" on it the day George Floyd died, said she felt "sad and kind of mad" about what she saw that day. | | • | High school student Alyssa Nicole Funari, 18, recorded three videos of the incident with her friend's phone. "I was upset because there was nothing we could do except watch them take a life in front of our eyes," Funari said. | | • | Donald Williams, a mixed martial arts fighter, told the court he asked officers to stop the "blood choke," which is a form of chokehold that renders someone unconscious. | |
| Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 2020 death of Floyd, a Black man. We are live texting from the trial. Sign up here to receive important updates. |
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| New this morning: |
| The National Guard welcomes and promotes women. That is, until they report a sexual assault. |
| The Atlanta shooting put a spotlight on the vulnerability of spa workers. Many are still routinely arrested across Georgia. |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 Singer Demi Lovato has revealed she pursued contact with her perpetrators after her sexual assaults. Survivors "almost always" go back to their assailants, sexual assault expert Barbara Ziv says. "It's extremely common, in fact it's the norm," for victims to have subsequent contact with their perpetrators. |
| 🔵 Lil Nas X enamored the world with his hit "Old Town Road" but has generated intense backlash with "Montero," which included sexually explicit biblical and Satanic imagery. Fans celebrated the queerness in the video but others felt he went too far. Advocates say his critics are missing the bigger picture. |
| 🔵 It's a debut that's been 17 years in the making. Billions of periodical cicadas will emerge across 15 states and Washington, D.C., with some possibly coming out as early as late-April or the first week of May, cicada expert Gene Kritsky said. |
NCAA has its day in court regarding athlete compensation |
| On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that is tied to the NCAA's ability to limit benefits . The hearing comes after nearly 12 years of nonstop antitrust challenges to the NCAA's athlete-compensation rules. The NCAA says that compensation rules are necessary for the preservation of a version of sports that is different from the pros and, thus, those rules are allowed under antitrust law. However, the lawyer for the group opposing the NCAA says, "there is absolutely no reason why they (NCAA) should be immune from the same antitrust rules that apply to everyone because of the premise that competition is always in the public interest." As this case has progressed, six states have passed laws to enhance college athletes' ability to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Two bills pending in the House and/or Senate also would help athletes capitalize on their NIL. |
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Newsmakers in their own words: World nations challenge the WHO |
| "With such an important mandate, it is equally essential that we voice our shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples. Scientific missions like these should be able to do their work under conditions that produce independent and objective recommendations and findings." |
| A number of countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, the U.K. and Japan, issued a joint statement Tuesday raising doubts about whether China cooperated adequately with the research process of a World Health Organization report released earlier that day examining the origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The report offered four possible virus origin stories – ranging from a lab leak to a jump from animals to humans. Rather than offering firm conclusions, the report called for further investigation. |
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More rain and possible flooding in the South |
| After historic rains drenched the South over the weekend, forecasters from Arkansas to Tennessee expect more to come Wednesday. At least six people have died and many others had to be rescued in floods that first surged in parts of Tennessee, including Nashville. Once the storms leave the state, they will head toward the Southeast and mid-Atlantic late Wednesday. Farther north, temperatures will drop and lead to a few inches of wet snow Thursday morning in New York, forecasters say. |
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Giant monsters fight for supremacy: 'Godzilla vs. Kong' debuts Wednesday |
| Sci-fi creature feature "Godzilla vs. Kong" (in theaters and streaming on HBO Max today) is the culmination so far of the rebooted MonsterVerse, which introduced an updated take on the classic Japanese kaiju in 2014's "Godzilla" and brought back simian royalty three years later with the '70s-set "Kong: Skull Island." Digging into the greater monster mythology, the new film pits them in a rematch eons in the making. |
| Director Adam Wingard spoke with USA TODAY about the steps he took to make this monster mash memorable. |
ICYMI: Some of our other top stories published Tuesday |
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| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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