The News Roundup — Domestic

WAMU 88.5

Published February 25, 2021 at 3:59 PM CST

People walk through a neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City. The U.S. surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 deaths this week.

Over 500,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States. The milestone comes as we approach a year of the pandemic directly impacting the way many of us work and live. Drug companies Pfizer and Moderna say they are both planning to boost shipments of the vaccine to the U.S. soon.

And this was another week where Washington failed to pass any economic relief related to the pandemic. Reports suggest that the current package will move through Congress with little to no Republican support. Some of the most high-profile sticking points include an increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 and $1,400 stimulus checks for qualified Americans.

Meanwhile, former Capitol security officers testified before Congress about the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6. FBI officials sent the leaders of Capitol security an email about potentially violent threats on Jan. 5, but former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said the information didn’t reach him in time. Sund resigned from his office on Jan. 8.

We cover all those stories and more on the domestic edition of the News Roundup.