Eugene Robinson: Obama’s Jobs Speech Challenges Gop

Moon Alert: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The Moon is in Gemini. Happy Birthday for Thursday, June 6, 2024: Others look to you to make things happen because you’re energetic, imaginative and a great communicator. You have far-reaching dreams and ideals. You’re never boring. This year it’s time to rejuvenate yourself.

Five Points gets jazzed Saturday. The free, wonderfully sprawling Five Points Jazz Festival returns this weekend with diverse live music on Saturday, June 8 — all taking place along Welton Street between 25th and 29th streets. The beloved event in the Five Points neighborhood is expecting more than 10,000 attendees for its 20 local and national acts, along with food, drinks, shopping and ceremonies honoring local jazz legends.

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The grandson of a founding member of the Black Panther Party said his grandfather does not support former President Donald Trump, asserting that a viral video interview of the activist supposedly endorsing Trump was misleading. On Tuesday, Eric Jones responded to the viral video that was posted on Sunday, sharing on X that he was working to get it removed because it misrepresented his grandfather, David Hilliard, the former chief of staff of the Black Panther Party.

Washington — Senate Republicans have blocked legislation designed to protect women’s access to contraception, arguing that the bill was just a political stunt as Democrats mount an election-year effort to put GOP senators on the record on reproductive rights issues, The test vote won a 51-39 majority, but that was well short of the 60 votes to move ahead on the legislation. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] It came as the Senate has abandoned hopes of doing serious bipartisan legislation before the election.

Vigo Park, Texas — Storm trackers in the Texas Panhandle recovered a massive hail stone that researchers say is likely to be a new state record. Val and Amy Castor, veteran storm chasers with Oklahoma City television station KWTV, discovered a piece of hail more than 7 inches (17.78 centimeters) long Sunday along the side of the road near Vigo Park while they were chasing a major thunderstorm system. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Val Castor said the stone was about the size of a pineapple. “That’s the biggest hail I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been chasing storms for more than 30 years,” Castor said. Castor said several baseball-sized hail stones fell while he was driving, including one that cracked his windshield, before he spotted the big piece in a ditch on the side of the road. “I could see it from probably 100 yards away,” he said. The massive hail stone is believed to be a new state record, topping a 6.4-inch (16.25-centimeter) hail stone found in Hondo in 2021.