 Ketanji Brown Jackson spoke at the White House a day after her historic confirmation to the Supreme Court. "It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States," she said on Friday, "But, we made it." Jackson spoke about the "hope and promise of America" in suggesting that her confirmation could serve as inspiration to other Americans with lofty aspirations. Jackson is set to begin her time on the Supreme Court after Justice Stephen Breyer steps down this summer. More: - President Biden spoke before Jackson, calling her confirmation process "painful and difficult," and castigating Republicans for what he called "verbal abuse" and "vile, baseless assertions and accusations."
- Jackson again declared that she would retain judicial independence and remain consistent "with my understanding of the law."
- White House officials invited the three Republican senators who voted to confirm Jackson – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah – but they were not in attendance.
- The guest list for the outdoor event was trimmed down following a recent cluster of positive COVID-19 cases in Washington, D.C.
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COVID-19 cases are rising in much of the northeastern U.S., including New York City and Washington, D.C. Cases have risen 58% in the last two weeks in New York State, 56% in Rhode Island, and 18% in Pennsylvania, according to The New York Times. The caseloads are rising from very low numbers, with the trend line not nearly as steep as during the BA.1 omicron surge in December and January. The rise in cases is being attributed to the BA.2 omicron subvariant, and public health experts hope that protection from vaccinations and prior infections will help prevent a full surge. More: - Official numbers may not reflect the full spread of the virus, as many individuals now rely on at-home tests and don't follow up with a PCR test confirmation.
- Several high-profile politicians in Washington have tested positive this week, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Reps. Adam Schiff and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
- Celebrities in New York have also fallen ill this week. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick both tested positive for COVID-19, and their Broadway show "Plaza Suite" was canceled Thursday night.
- A "Macbeth" revival had a week of shows canceled after star Daniel Craig and much of the cast also tested positive.
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 A message from ADOBE COMMERCE Strong in digital commerce and a Leader in the Magic Quadrant. In the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce, Adobe was named a Leader among 17 vendors. Gartner® evaluates digital commerce vendors on their “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.” Find out why Adobe was named a Leader for Digital Commerce among 17 vendors in the Q3 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant report. Strengths - Global reach: Adobe has the most diverse geographic presence of all the vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant. It also has the largest number of service partners spread across all major markets, making it easier for organizations to find partners in their local markets.
- Out-of-the-box functionality: Adobe has comprehensive OOTB functionality that can fulfill requirements from basic to medium levels of complexity. It supports multiple user roles, multistores, catalog management, marketplace integration, promotions and discounts, language, and currencies, all with good granular control. It has a native CMS (Page Builder) and a Progressive Web Apps (PWA) studio with reference storefront.
- Admin UI: Adobe has a modern and intuitive UI that can be configured based on user role. It supports multiple import mechanisms for product data, and can integrate with multiple sources and analytics tools, making it easy for admins to focus on outcomes.
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 SpaceX launched its first private charter flight to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, carrying three wealthy businessmen who paid $55M each. American Larry Connor, Canadian Mark Pathy, and Israeli Eytan Stibbe were accompanied by former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría. The group will stay on the NASA side of the ISS for a week, though it's possible they'll receive permission to enter the Russian side of the space station from its three Russian cosmonaut inhabitants. More: - These are the first private individuals NASA has chaperoned to space but Russia has hosted tourists at the ISS for years, and did so often at the Mir station decades ago.
- The Axiom Space company, which arranged the trip, said the three men are "not up there to paste their nose on the window," and will be taking part in several experiments.
- Axiom plans to develop and maintain a "self-sustaining station" for space tourists by the end of this decade.
- An automated SpaceX capsule will bring the group back to Earth on April 19.
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 GOOD NEWS: Oliwia Dąbrowska, the former actress who played the girl in the red coat in "Schindler's List," has been working at the Polish-Ukrainian border, helping refugees fleeing their country. Though she says it's been frightening to learn of bombings within 15 miles of the Polish border, Dąbrowska and her mother have not been dissuaded, and continue to send first aid kits to Ukrainian soldiers and transport refugees arriving in Poland. Dąbrowska was three when she appeared in "Schindler's List," with her red coat being one of the only images to appear in color in the mostly black-and-white film. More:
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 A message from EQUITYBEE Finally, you can participate in the success of the startup you helped build. Equitybee connects startup employees to investors who are willing to fund the costs of exercising their stock options, so they can share the potential stock value when an IPO or M&A happens. And if the startup fails? You don’t need to pay back anything. Why is this so important? - Many startup employees calculate options as part of their remuneration packages - but most of them never exercise them and never get to enjoy them.
- The average employee needs $140K in cash to exercise fully. That’s not an amount most of us have just lying around.
Interested in learning more? Visit EquityBee
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 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars or any Academy events for the next 10 years. The group's 54-person board of governors met Friday to discuss punishment for Smith, who slapped comedian Chris Rock and yelled profanities at him at the Oscars, after Rock told a joke referencing his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia. Following the incident, Smith won Best Actor for his performance in the film "King Richard." In a statement, Smith said "I accept and respect the Academy's decision." More: - Smith previously apologized on Instagram for slapping Rock, but many in the Academy have reportedly remained outraged at the actor over what is seen as a blemish on the 94th Academy Awards.
- However, the board of governors appeared to reject calls to remove Smith's Oscar statuette. Individuals who have been expelled from the Academy for violent offscreen conduct, including Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski, still have their Oscars.
- Last week, Smith resigned from the Academy, giving up his ability to vote for future Oscars.
- He could still be nominated and win Oscars over the next 10 years, though he will not be allowed at the ceremony.
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 Two men were acquitted Friday of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, while the jury could not reach unanimity on charges against two others. Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris were found not guilty hours after U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker told the jury to keep deliberating in an attempt to reach a verdict on all charges. The jurors were hung on charges against Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., resulting in a mistrial. There were 10 charges in total against Caserta, Croft, Fox, and Harris. More: - Prosecutors said Fox was the ringleader of the Wolverine Watchmen, an anti-government militia. They said the group conspired to kidnap Whitmer over Michigan's pandemic-related restrictions in late 2020.
- On Friday morning, jurors began deliberation again after requesting to see a large plastic bag of pennies, which prosecutors allege were meant to act like shrapnel after being attached to a commercial-grade firework.
- One of the primary FBI agents who managed an informant in the case, Jayson Chambers, ultimately testified for the defense, albeit very briefly. Defense attorneys argued that Chambers masterminded the plot and sought to entrap the defendants in a conspiracy.
- Other FBI agents in the case have since been charged with domestic violence and perjury, details that defense attorneys used to try and weaken the state's case.
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 Former Goldman Sachs investment banker Roger Ng was convicted on Friday of conspiracy to violate anti-corruption laws and launder money in relation to the 1MDB development fund scandal. Prosecutors alleged that Ng helped divert $4.5B intended for the Malaysian development fund to government officials and bankers. Ng's defense attorneys said that his former boss Tim Leissner falsely implicated their client to reduce his own sentence. Leissner pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges in 2018. More: - Prosecutors said Ng and Leissner diverted the money in a series of bribes and kickbacks between 2009 and 2015 to generate more business for Goldman Sachs.
- The investing and financial services giant paid a $3B fine in 2020 and its Malaysian arm pleaded guilty to other charges.
- Leissner testified against Ng over a period of nine days during the trial, saying he personally sent Ng $35M in kickbacks.
- A Malaysian financier believed to have been the mastermind of the corruption scheme, Jho Low, remains at large, despite being indicted by the Department of Justice in 2018. He is believed to be living secretly in China.
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QUICK HITS - Pink Floyd has released its first original song since 1994, featuring vocals from Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian Band Boombox. Proceeds from the song will go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.
- A North Carolina Proud Boys leader pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, and to assaulting police officers. He's expected to be sentenced to at least several years in prison.
- The New York Times is introducing a WordleBot, using advanced statistics to analyze your Wordle playing style and compare your results to those of other players.
- Starbucks has hired a new senior executive to focus on worker relations in the same week that employees at three New York State Starbucks locations voted to unionize.
- A copy of 1941's Captain America No. 1, the first comic book appearance of the character, sold at auction for $3.1M on Thursday.
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 |  | Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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