NEWS TO KNOW NOW

Supreme Court readies major ruling on abortion pill

The Supreme Court faces a self-imposed deadline tonight at 11:59 p.m. to decide whether the abortion pill mifepristone can stay on the market amid legal challenges to FDA approval of the drug, which has been available in the U.S. for 23 years. The Biden administration has asked the nation's highest court to keep mifepristone available after a federal judge in Texas limited its use while district-court litigation plays out.

SCOTUS has three main options: allow full access to mifepristone for the short-term, re-impose restrictions on how the pill can be dispensed that have been relaxed since 2016, or halt access entirely, effectively siding with the original ruling that questioned the FDA’s approval.

The court’s decision could have major implications not just for the availability of a drug that is used in over half of abortions in the U.S. but for the FDA’s ability to regulate medications more broadly.  

What we’re watching: Whether the court’s conservative supermajority orders mifepristone off the market while legal wrangling continues.

– Jonathan Lambert

POLITICS

When will Biden announce his 2024 plans?

President Joe Biden has said for months that he intends to run for reelection. And this week, a string of reports indicate that campaign could officially begin next week. The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that Biden and his team were looking at a possible video announced on Tuesday, April 25 — four years to the day since he announced his successful 2020 run with a video. 

So why announce now if he isn't going to campaign right away? 

Some Democrats suggested Biden should wait: Republicans look destined for a messy presidential primary, no other serious Democratic contender has threatened to challenge the sitting president, and he faces a host of issues with Congress in the coming months. But Biden’s campaign, by launching soon, could get a leg up on his future Republican opponent: The president can begin to pad his campaign bank account without facing a costly primary and put together a campaign infrastructure focused squarely on the general election.

– Dan Merica

• More on 2024: A new Wall Street Journal poll found that former president Donald Trump — who has already announced his 2024 campaign — leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 13 percentage points among likely Republican primary voters, 51 percent to 38 percent. Trump is also far ahead of other GOP contenders, like former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, according to the poll.  

• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership team is working to secure 218 votes for a package next week to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts and work requirements for some government aid programs. With only four votes to spare, GOP leaders need support from every corner of the conference, from the House Freedom Caucus to vulnerable Republicans in districts President Joe Biden won in 2020. Passage of the legislation would go nowhere in the Democratic-led Senate, but could bring Biden to the negotiating table as Republicans seek concessions to avoid a default on U.S. debt.

• Economic perception vs. reality: Voters do not think the economy is doing particularly well, even as inflation continues to fall and unemployment remains nearly as low as it’s ever been, according to a Harris-Harvard University poll released yesterday. Sixty-three percent said the economy was on the “wrong track,” up from 61 percent last month but well below the 70-percent-plus figure last summer. Fifty-two percent said their financial situation was worsening, while 48 percent said they were just as well off or improving.

• It’s happening a lot faster than planned: The U.S. will start training Ukrainian troops on how to use and maintain American Abrams tanks within weeks, officials said Friday, raising the possibility that the prized battlefield vehicles could be at the frontlines by the fall. The tanks were initially not meant to arrive in Ukraine until next year. Delivery of the tanks would be a major boost to efforts to arm Ukraine as it seeks to seize back territory from Russia.

• A Russian Su-34 jet fighter mistakenly dropped a bomb over the city of Belgorod, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, late Thursday night. Three people were injured and cars and buildings were damaged by an explosion in the center of the city, according to Russian state media. As the Wall Street Journal reports, it’s not the first time that the Belgorod region has been rocked by an explosion or shelling since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. 

ENTERTAINMENT

• Alec Baldwin will no longer face charges for the shooting on set of “Rust” that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead. As filming resumes more than one year after Baldwin held a gun that discharged, his attorneys said the involuntary manslaughter charge against him has been dropped. Production on the film has shifted from New Mexico to Montana and picked up Thursday at the Yellowstone Film Ranch. Director Joel Souza, who was injured during the fatal incident, is also returning.

• Jamie Foxx is on the mend following a medical complication, says friend and fellow actor Martin Lawrence. “I hear he’s doing better,” Lawrence told Extra. “My prayers go out for him every night and just wishing the best for him, one of the best that we got in Hollywood. Not only one of the best entertainers, but a good person.” Foxx’s daughter, Corinne Foxx, revealed last week that her father was “on his way to recovery” and receiving “great care.”

• Coachella had some last-minute changes heading into its second weekend. Blink-182 will now headline Sunday, the music festival announced, after Frank Ocean dropped out due to a sprain in his left leg and two fractures. The rock trio — Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus — already hit the stage last Friday (April 14) for their first performance in nearly a decade. Four Tet, Fred Again and Skrillex were also added to Sunday’s lineup.

MORE NEWS

• End of an (internet) era: BuzzFeed News shut down yesterday as part of a broader downsizing at BuzzFeed. “While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, we’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” CEO Jonah Peretti told staff yesterday. The news “is the tragic story of the digital-media industry writ large,” the Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel, a BuzzFeed alumnus, writes. 

• Twitter’s de-verification: Major figures, celebrities, news organizations and journalists (myself and many of my colleagues included) lost their blue checks yesterday as part of broader changes to Twitter’s verification policies. But the sudden shift has also created confusion for users and advertisers on the platform.

• U.S. on track for record year of mass shootings: A mass killing is happening in the U.S. about once a week, and the main weapon of choice involved is a gun. Eighty-eight people have been killed in 17 such incidents since the start of the year, according to the Associated Press. In total, nearly 15,000 people have been killed or injured by guns since Jan. 1. These latest  figures come at the end of another week of multiple gun-related deaths and serious injuries. The homicide rate from guns in the U.S. is up to 26 times that of other high-income countries.

WHAT I’M READING ELSEWHERE

• Taco Bell’s Innovation Kitchen, the Front Line in the Stunt-Food Wars (Antonia Hitchens, The New Yorker)

• SpaceX’s Starship Kicked Up a Dust Cloud, Leaving Texans With a Mess (Livia Albeck-Ripka, The New York Times)

• Joe Manchin Is 2024’s Most Vulnerable Democratic Senator (Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine)

OUT OF THE INBOX

👋 That’s all for today. Have a great start to the weekend. –Cameron

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