Economy: Vice President Harris is speaking in Raleigh, North Carolina, today about her economic initiatives. She says the economy will be a priority in her first 100 days in office. She says the policies are designed to bring down supermarket prices, cut prescription drug costs and cut housing costs among other things. She said her administration would promote the construction of three million new housing units in its first four years.
Trump’s falsehoods: CNN counted at least 20 falsehoods mouthed by Donald Trump during his news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, yesterday. The most obvious lie was Trump’s claim that it was he and not President Biden who signed legislation resulting in cutting the prices of prescription drugs. The ceremony with Biden signing the legislation took place in the White House. Trump claimed that under Biden, home mortgage rates went up to 10%, which they did not. Trump also claimed that he won his appeal of his civil fraud conviction in New York, when in fact he has not won the appeal.
Matthew Perry: Five people have been charged in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry. Perry was found dead from an overdose of the drug ketamine. The five defendants, including two doctors, are accused of supplying drugs to Perry with Perry’s personal assistant charged with administering drugs to him. Perry was best known for his appearances on the series “Friends.”
Israel-Hamas: A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said today that the new round of peace talks that got underway in Qatar yesterday in the Hamas-Israel conflict was off to a promising start. Hamas, which had said it would not participate in further peace talks, said it is participating in the new round of talks from a distance despite not having negotiators on the scene of the talks. Hamas still is pushing for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a precondition for a cease-fire and hostage release.
Texas Instruments: The U.S. Department of Commerce and chipmaker Texas Instruments have signed a preliminary agreement under which the government will provide up to $1.6 billion in direct funding to Texas Instruments under the CHIPS and Science Act. The government also would make $3 billion in loans to Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments would invest more than $18 billion through the end of decade to construct three new state-of-the-art semiconductor plants, including two in Texas and one in Utah, and is estimated to create over 2,000 manufacturing jobs and thousands of construction jobs over time.
Peter Marshall: Peter Marshall, who hosted the television program “The Hollywood Squares” has died in Encino, California at age 98. “The Hollywood Squares” ran on NBC for more than 15 years. Early in his career, Marshall was a singer with bands and received a movie contract with 20th Century Fox. He also appeared on Broadway.