Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Kamala Harris used her first late-night network TV appearance since becoming vice president to reflect on how her life has changed since she got the job — including a shortage of emojis — and to talk up the need to vote in the midterm elections. Harris, appearing early Tuesday on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in a taped appearance, promoted Biden administration efforts to fight climate change, restore abortion rights and pardon people with federal convictions for marijuana possession as she urged people to “speak with your vote” in the midterms. “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?” she said, adding that governors and states should follow the president’s lead in offering pardons for state convictions. Asked by Meyers how life had changed for her since she became vice president, Harris referenced “high-class problems” such as security restrictions that alter day-to-day dynamics. She said taking a walk with her husband, Doug Emhoff, is no longer a one-on-one affair and that family chats via group text are “no longer a thing.” As for her digital conversations, Harris said: “I have not received directly an emoji in a year and a half.”
■ Climate activist Greta Thunberg says it would be “a mistake” for Germany to switch off its nuclear power plants if that means it must burn more planet-heating coal. The German government is now debating whether to phase out nuclear power as planned this year, despite the specter of an energy crisis because of the war in Ukraine. Thunberg, who inspired a youth climate movement with her solo protests outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, told German public broadcaster ARD that it was “a very bad idea to focus on coal when this (nuclear power) is already in place.” But she acknowledged in the interview, which will be aired today, that there was a strong debate over the issue in Germany. Asked whether it would be better for the planet for Germany to keep its three remaining nuclear plants going, Thunberg responded: “It depends. If we have them already running, I feel that it’s a mistake to close them down in order to focus on coal.” The 19-year- old’s comments come as Germany’s three-party governing coalition is arguing over the possibility of suspending the country’s nuclear phaseout.