The Daily Populous

North Carolina Court Immediately Gives Former Felons Right to Vote in ‘Historic’ Ruling Against Law with Racist Origins

A state court in North Carolina on Monday ruled that people who were previously incarcerated now have the right to vote.

The text of the opinion itself was still pending as of this writing.

North Carolina’s “felon disenfranchisement” law has racist origins.

“This case is not about felony disenfranchisement writ large,” N.C. attorney Orlando Rodriguez said during court last week.

“This case is not about the criminal justice system and the various inequities that exist throughout the criminal justice system writ large.”.

Despite the potentially time-limited nature of the achievement, its immediate impact was cause for celebration among voting rights advocates nonetheless.

If the result is allowed to stand, North Carolina will be the only southern state where formerly incarcerated individuals are automatically allowed to vote. »

CIA Director Secretly Met With Taliban Leader in Kabul, Report Says

Authored by haaretz.com

The Post, citing unnamed U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said CIA Director William Burns met Taliban Leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday as the Biden administration continues efforts to evacuate U.S. citizens and other allies amid chaos at the airport in Kabul.

A Taliban official said on Monday an extension would not be granted, though he said foreign forces had not sought one.

"The Taliban will be judged by their deeds and not their words," he said on Twitter. »

Memorial Hermann closes 3 stand-alone ERs in Greater Houston

Authored by katytimes.com

Memorial Hermann announced Monday that due to the continued COVID-19 surge and the strain on the hospital system’s operations, it was closing three of its 24-hour emergency rooms at 5 p.m. Monday evening until further notice.

The three ERs affected at the Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Centers in Kingwood, Spring and Sienna.

“Patients who are currently receiving care inside any of these Emergency Rooms will be safely discharged or transferred to another Memorial Hermann facility. »

Solar power in Australia outstrips coal-fired electricity for first time

Authored by theguardian.com

The national electricity market reached a new milestone on Sunday, with solar power outstripping energy generation from coal for the first time since the market was set up two decades ago.

Dylan McConnell, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s climate and energy college, said that for a brief moment renewable energy represented 57% of national electricity generation.

While McConnell said it was only “fleeting” and that “Australia was a long way from peak renewable energy”, energy prices also went negative on Sunday from 8.30am through to 5pm. »

Texas Instruments Requiring All U.S. Employees to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Authored by dmagazine.com

“In light of the accelerating spread of new variants, we are requiring our U.S. employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19,” a company spokesperson confirmed Monday.

Texas Instruments joins a growing number of employers instituting or considering vaccine mandates as the delta variant of the virus continues to upend anything like a full return to the pre-pandemic “normal.”.

But Texas Instruments is perhaps the most notable case so far of a major North Texas employer instituting a vaccine mandate for all of its U.S. employees. »