WELCOMING JAPANESE PM
State dinner for Kishida includes cherry blossoms, Paul Simon
WASHINGTON – With glass and silk butterflies adding to the decor and blistered shishito pepper butter slathered on the rib-eye steak, President Joe Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife to a gala state dinner at the White House on Wednesday.
Guests included former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; actor Robert Deniro; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez; Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi; Apple CEO Tim Cook; Jpmorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon; and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Grammy award-winning singer Paul Simon performed during a threecourse, Japanese-american fusion dinner.
The Bidens presented a table crafted from American black walnut wood – one of the most precious woods native to North America – to the Japanese prime minister, as well as a customframed lithograph and a two-volume LP set, both autographed by singer-songwriter Billy Joel.
Japan gifted 250 cherry trees in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which the United States will celebrate in 2026, Kishida said Wednesday.
Curfew for youths to go into effect Friday in Newark, NJ
A curfew is going into effect in Newark, New Jersey, for children. The Juvenile Safety Initiative commences Friday, according to an announcement from Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé.
The goal of the initiative is to “reduce the opportunity for children to become crime victims or to become unwittingly engaged in criminal activities,” according to the statement.
Unaccompanied minors who are more than 100 yards from their home between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. the following day will be given a verbal warning and escorted home.
If the individual has a second infraction
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida, to the White House on Wednesday evening for a state dinner. Guests sat among a field of flowers, with glass and silk butterflies from both countries “dancing over their tables,” said the first lady. After dinner, when guests entered the Cross Hall, a broad hallway on the first floor in the White House, they found themselves surrounded by purple, pink and blue hydrangeas, native to Japan and the U.S.
within six months, they will be taken to the Newark Police Youth Strategies Section, where their parent or guardian can pick them up.
Appeals court: Ind. will not offer ‘X’ gender option on licenses
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles no longer has to provide “X” as a gender option on driver’s licenses following a Court of Appeals decision Tuesday.
The latest step is part of a yearslong issue dating back to 2019 when the BMV recognized X as a gender option other than male or female on driver’s licenses. The BMV reversed the decision in 2020
after former state Attorney General Curtis Hill, who is now running for governor, said in advisory opinion the BMV did not have the authority to allow another gender option.
In its opinion Tuesday, the Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s 2022 order that the BMV reinstate the X option for nonbinary drivers. The trial court determined that removing the X option violated state administrative laws and the plaintiffs’ rights to informational privacy.
Texas State gets $1M to research volunteering, heart disease
AUSTIN, Texas –The National Institutes
of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has given Texas State University and colleagues at Boston University and Boston College a $1 million grant for a four-year study on whether volunteering helps heart health.
The study will use existing data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, which sends out a questionnaire to about 20,000 people over age 50 every two years. The data the Michigan study collects are from participants nationwide.
Texas State’s Seoyoun Kim and her team will look at how many hours participants said they volunteered, checking that against biomarkers such as blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and inflammation. They want to know if there is a correlation between volunteering regularly and more favorable numbers on biomarkers thought to influence cardiovascular health.
Volunteering was chosen as the factor to study, Kim said, “because people are biologically trained to help other people. And helping other people confers a lot of biological benefits.”
Desantis signs 5 bills, including one inspired by Petito
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –Florida Gov. Ron Desantis signed five bills Wednesday that strengthen penalties for crimes against children, increase oversight of sex offenders and create a “domestic violence lethality” assessment for first responders – a bill pushed by the southwest Florida family of the late Gabby Petito.
Petito’s family pushed for the law, which will create a statewide domestic violence lethality assessment. Law enforcement officers who respond to domestic violence incidents will determine whether a domestic violence victim is at a higher risk of death or serious injury.
Petito, who lived in North Port, Florida, with fiancé Brian Laundrie, was a 22-year-old travel vlogger. Laundrie reportedly killed her while on a crosscountry road trip in 2021. Her disappearance fueled intense interest across the nation and spurred a search for Laundrie, who later died by suicide.