Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Interest rates: “The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it was keeping its key interest rate at about 5% — the first time it has kept the rate steady in more than a year. The reason for the hold: Inflation appears to be finally easing, and the Fed wants to assess whether it has already raised rates high enough to tame price increases.”
* In related news: “US producer prices declined in May, restrained by a drop in the cost of gasoline and underscoring a continued easing in supply-side inflation.”
* Merrick Garland, by the book: “Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to answer questions about the indictment of former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying only that his own limited role in the process was spelled out in Justice Department regulations and that special counsel Jack Smith had assembled a team of veteran career prosecutors and agents to examine the facts of the case.”
* The latest Jan. 6 sentence: “A Washington, D.C., chiropractor who admitted that he ‘scuffled’ with officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was sentenced to 60 days of incarceration on Tuesday, with U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb saying she did not believe his claims about why he was at the Capitol.”
* Biden’s latest veto: “President Biden on Wednesday vetoed a Republican-led resolution that would have repealed new limits from his administration on emissions from heavy-duty vehicles, saying the measure ‘would take us backwards in our fight against air pollution.’”
* On a related note: “House Republicans passed a joint resolution Tuesday that would overturn the Biden administration’s rule to tighten federal regulations on pistol braces, an effort that faces a veto threat from President Joe Biden.”
* The culture war can go in exasperating directions: “The House passed a bill Tuesday that would prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission from finalizing any rule banning gas stoves, returning to the measure a week after conservative Republicans scuttled their leaders’ efforts to get the legislation to the floor.”
* A case we’ve been following: “A federal judge on Tuesday granted a motion by E. Jean Carroll to file an amended defamation suit against former President Donald Trump seeking at least $10 million, based in part on recent comments Trump made on CNN.”
* Banning book bans: “Taking a new tack in the ideological battle over what books children should be able to read, Illinois will prohibit book bans in its public schools and libraries, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker calling the bill that he signed on Monday the first of its kind.”
* Noted without comment: “Fox News drew scrutiny Tuesday night for an on-air graphic that appeared to call President Joe Biden a ‘wannabe dictator.’ In a statement to NBC News on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the network said: ‘The chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed.’ The spokesperson did not respond to an email that asked whether there would be any consequences for the staff members behind the text in the graphic, known as a chyron.”
See you tomorrow.
