Culture

Republicans Offer Arguments Aimed at Dismantling Affordable Care Act & More in Today’s News

Lead Photo: A supporter of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stands in front of the Supreme Court of the United States as the Court begins hearing arguments from California v. Texas about the legality of the ACA on November 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images
A supporter of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stands in front of the Supreme Court of the United States as the Court begins hearing arguments from California v. Texas about the legality of the ACA on November 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Las Notis is a daily news column that gets you up to speed on the political, media + other goings-on in the United States, Latin America, and the diaspora—all in one quick digest.

Here’s your glimpse at what’s going on today:

    • Attorney General William Barr sent a memo to federal prosecutors, telling them that they are allowed to investigate allegations of voter fraud, but made clear “specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries.” The memo goes against the Justice Department’s policies of keeping law enforcement out of elections and Richard Pilger, the Justice Department’s top election crimes prosecutor, has resigned in protest. [CNN]
    • The Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the Affordable Care Act this morning after the Trump administration and 18 Republican attorneys general brought the case to the court to challenge the “individual mandate.” The mandate imposed a tax penalty on people who do not have health insurance at one point, but Congress lowered the mandate to $0. The Trump administration has argued to dismantle the law, which would take healthcare from millions of people as the pandemic peaks yet again. [Washington Post]
    • The Trump administration has made moves to continue with a federal rule that would freeze pay for agricultural guest workers for the next two years. The new regulation has to do with the government’s changes to determine wages for workers with H-2A visas and would affect agricultural guest workers who have been seen as essential during the pandemic. [HuffPo]
    • Brazil has stopped a late-state trial of the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac, produced by the Chinese company Sinovacthat,which has been seen as a front-runner for protecting against the coronavirus. Although the Brazilian health regulator provided little information about why it stopped its trials, a “serious adverse” reaction was cited in one participant. [NYT]
    • Peru’s legislature voted overwhelmingly to impeach President Martín Vizcarra from office after anger mounted over his management of the pandemic and allegations that he took bribes years ago as a regional governor. Vizcarra denied the allegations, but said he would leave the presidential palace for his private home by the end of the day. [NPR]
    • Israel Vázquez Rangel, a 31-year-old journalist in Mexico working for the news web site El Salmantino, was shot and killed on Monday in Guanajuato while reporting on the discovery of human remains dumped on a road in the city of Salamanca .He is one of more than 100 journalists who have been killed in Mexico since 2000. [BBC]
    • Bad Bunny will make his acting debut on season three of Narcos, where he’ll play Arturo “Kitty” Paez, a member of the Narco Juniors gang. The show had begun production earlier this year but shut down because of the pandemic. [Complex]