Las Notis is a daily news column that gets you up to speed on the political, media + other going ons in Latin America and the diaspora—all in one quick digest.
- Here’s your glimpse at what’s going on today:
- Trump’s lawyers are accusing House Democrats of “political theater” and maintaining that it is unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial of a former president. In a 75-page brief, Trump’s team held that his incendiary language was protected under Freedom of Speech rights and that he did not incite rioters, despite the fact that in his speech on January 6, Trump told his supporters “fight like hell.” [CNN]
- The 67-year-old Texas Republican Ron Wright died of Covid-19 weeks after contracting the virus. He announced he had tested positive on Jan. 21, and he and his wife were hospitalized in Dallas. Wright had been undergoing treatment for lung cancer after a diagnosis in 2018. [CNBC]
- Despite hoping to quickly pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Democrats are split over how they want to allocate planned $1,400 checks to Americans. Many of them disagree about who should be eligible to receive the payments. Some want to stop the checks from going to high-earning families and have eyed capping eligibility from individuals who make $75,000 to individuals who make $50,000. [WaPo]
- Brown and Black communities in the U.S. are at risk of being left out of vaccine rollout plans, particularly in the South. Data, including maps and lists, from several states in the region show that many vaccine sites are missing from neighborhoods where communities of color live, while more sites have been placed in whiter areas. [NPR]
- Mexican workers launched protests after the country ran out of coronavirus vaccines and a government registration website crashed for a third straight day. Many of them urged the government to open up because of economic strains on the country; however, hospitals are still at 80% capacity. [AP]
- Cardi B hit back at social media accusations that her new single “Up” rips off another song by Mir Fontane and Mir Pesos. “If i get inspired by a song I wouldn’t mind giving a percentage or couple of thousand but I never [heard of ] this man,” she wrote on Twitter. [Complex]
- AOC fans started flooding the right-wing hashtag, #AOClied, with pet pictures. The hashtag started after conservatives claimed that AOC lied about her experience during the Capitol riot, though fact-checking sources have shown she didn’t actually say several of the things they’ve accused her of lying about. [HuffPo]