AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Biden leaves door open for Senate changes to advance agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden at his first news conference Thursday left the door open to backing fundamental changes in Senate procedure to muscle key parts of his agenda like immigration and voting rights past Republican opposition “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos.”

Even as his administration navigates the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic damage, Biden is grappling with how to deliver on a host of big promises despite a razor-thin Senate majority. He teased that changes to Senate rules that would allow bills to pass with fewer votes may be necessary for him to achieve some of those goals.

“If there’s complete lockdown and chaos, as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’re going to have to go beyond what I’m talking about,” he said.

Despite strong poll numbers, Biden faces headwinds in delivering on his ambitious legislative agenda. His party’s congressional majorities are narrow, Republican opposition appears entrenched and not all Democrats are aligned in reforming Senate rules on the filibuster.

Biden at first backed a modification — but not elimination — of the arcane procedural tactic. But he then suggested, at least on certain issues, he would go further, saying the filibuster — which requires 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate — was being “abused in a gigantic way” by Republicans.

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Georgia Gov. Kemp signs GOP election bill amid an outcry

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp drew protests Thursday as he signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run.

Democrats and voting rights groups say the law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of colour. It is one of a wave of GOP-backed election bills introduced in states around the country after former President Donald Trump stoked false claims that fraud led to his 2020 election defeat.

President Joe Biden called such GOP efforts “un-American” and “sick” during a news conference Thursday.

The Republican changes to voting law in Georgia follows record-breaking turnout that led to Democratic victories in the presidential contest and two U.S. Senate runoffs in the once reliably red state.

“After the November election last year, I knew, like so many of you, that significant reforms to our state elections were needed,” said Kemp, who drew Trump’s ire after certifying Biden’s victory in Georgia.

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AP PHOTOS: Honduran boy, mom fly after border detention

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — Wearing a Superman zip-up hoodie, the 5-year-old Honduran boy looked out the airplane window, pointing at the sky in seeming disbelief that such a large craft was reaching the clouds.

A few days ago Yancarlos Amaya was walking along the muddy river bank after crossing the Rio Grande and landing on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico. His mother, Celestina Ramirez, 28, said they turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol officers and later spent hours in custody, a night under a bridge and three more days in a detention facility.

Now they were on a flight from Harlingen, Texas, to Houston, then on to a connecting flight to Baltimore, where her brother’s family lives.

Even though flying seemed luxurious compared to her journey through Central America and Mexico and border detention, Ramirez was still anxious because it was her first time on a plane. She also hadn’t seen her brother for more than a decade.

“It’s been 14 years,” she said. She was just 14 when her brother left Honduras.

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Weather service: 7 tornadoes hit Alabama, killing at least 5

A string of deadly tornadoes roared through Alabama on Thursday, toppling trees, demolishing homes and knocking out power to thousands, part of a broad swath of violent weather sweeping across the Deep South. At least five fatalities and an unknown number of injuries were reported.

The confirmed deaths were in Calhoun County, in the eastern part of the state, where one of multiple twisters sprang from a “super cell” of storms that later moved into Georgia, said John De Block, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

Pat Lindsey, a resident of the county’s hard-hit town of Ohatchee, told The Associated Press that a neighbour of his was killed when a twister destroyed his mobile home. “He was good as gold,” Lindsey said.

Farther west, vast areas of Shelby County near Birmingham were badly damaged. In the city of Pelham, James Dunaway said he initially ignored the tornado warning when it came over his phone. But it wasn’t long before he could hear the twister approaching, so he left the upstairs bedroom where he had been watching television and entered a hallway — just before the storm blew off the roof and sides of his house, completely exposing the bedroom. All three of his vehicles were undriveable.

“I’m very lucky to be alive,” the 75-year-old Vietnam War veteran told Al.com.

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EXPLAINER: Suez Canal block could hit product supply chains

The cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal is holding up traffic that carries nearly $10 billion worth of goods every day, so a quick clearing of the logjam is key to limiting the economic fallout.

Efforts continued Thursday to dislodge the Ever Given container ship and restore traffic on the critical man-made waterway that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides a shipping shortcut between Europe and Asia.

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HOW VITAL IS THE CANAL TO SHIPPING?

About 10% of all global trade flows through the 120-mile-long (193-kilometre-long) canal, which allows tankers and container ships to avoid a long trip around the southern tip of Africa.

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Vaccination race enlists grassroots aides to fight mistrust

CHICAGO (AP) — His last job was selling cars, but in his new gig, working to turn the tide against a pandemic, Herman Simmons knows not to be too pushy or overbearing.

He’s one of more than 50 outreach workers a Chicago hospital has enlisted to promote vaccination against COVID-19 in hard-hit Black and brown neighbourhoods.

Their job is approaching strangers at laundromats, grocery stores and churches, handing out educational material and making vaccination appointments for those who are willing.

“I see myself as my brother’s keeper. I don’t try to force them. I’m persistent,’’ he said.

Top U.S. health officials say they’re in a race to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible as COVID-19 variants spread, mask and distancing rules are relaxed, and Americans crave a return to normalcy.

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Texas death toll from February storm, outages surpasses 100

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas officials on Thursday raised the death toll from February’s winter storm and blackouts to at least 111 people — nearly doubling the state’s initial tally following one of the worst power outages in U.S. history.

The frigid weather also was blamed for dozens of more deaths across other Southern states including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.

The majority of the Texas deaths are associated with hypothermia, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. And the dramatic number of new victims is still a potential undercount, as officials continue investigating deaths that happened around the time the storm knocked out power to more than 4 million customers in Texas.

Many homes went without power or drinkable water for days after subfreezing temperatures, failing power plants and record demand for heat pushed Texas’ electric grid to the breaking point.

Texas officials earlier this month put the initial tally of deaths at 57 but warned it would increase. The toll now officially exceeds that of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which was blamed for 68 deaths in Texas.

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Mexico tops 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, but real toll is higher

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As Mexico surpassed 200,000 test-confirmed deaths from COVID-19 Thursday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador framed ramped up vaccination efforts as a race against time.

The president prepared to call out more military, state and local personnel to spur the vaccination effort as more doses arrive, including a shipment of 1.7 million AstraZeneca shots the United States has “loaned” Mexico.

Mexico’s total 200,211 confirmed COVID-19 deaths announced Thursday trail only the United States and Brazil, countries with larger populations. The real death toll is believed to be drawing closer to 300,000, due to the country’s extremely low rate of testing.

“I think it is more. I think, for example, that the numbers on the news are not correct, I think it is higher,” funeral home worker Benigno Clemente Zarate said of the death toll.

Zarate said he has tended to multiple deaths in a single household.

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EXPLAINER: Varying views on how to keep accurate voter rolls

ATLANTA (AP) — A key element of voting restrictions pushed by Republican state lawmakers this year focuses on cleaning voter rolls to ensure only those eligible are registered. Maintaining accurate voter rolls is a bipartisan concern, but there is little agreement on the best way to do it. Democrats say some of the actions proposed by Republicans are too aggressive and will end up purging eligible voters. Republicans say Democrats are too lax, resulting in bloated voter rolls that undermine confidence and invite fraud.

In Congress, a Democratic voting rights bill would prohibit states from using a person’s failure to vote to initiate their removal from the rolls. Here is an explanation of how voter rolls are maintained, how states do it differently and the conflicts over this year’s legislative proposals.

WHAT ARE VOTER ROLLS AND HOW ARE THEY MAINTAINED?

Every state except North Dakota requires voters to register in advance of an election. A growing number allow for same-day registration during early voting periods and, in some cases, on Election Day. Under federal law, voters can be removed upon their request or through a process based on an indication that they are no longer eligible.

When an election official receives information that a voter has moved, that typically triggers a notice to the voter that must be returned. Otherwise, the voter will be deemed inactive and eventually removed from the rolls unless there is some subsequent contact with the elections office, such as updating their address. Federal law also directs states to remove those who have died from voter lists and prohibits the removal of any voter within 90 days of an election.

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‘Arrested Development’ actor Jessica Walter dies at 80

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jessica Walter, whose roles as a scheming matriarch in TV’s “Arrested Development” and a stalker in “Play Misty for Me” were in line with a career that drew on her astringent screen presence more than her good looks, has died. She was 80.

Walter’s death was confirmed Thursday by her daughter, Brooke Bowman, an entertainment industry executive. A cause of death and other details were not immediately provided.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off,” Bowman said in a statement.

Walter will also be well-remembered for “her wit, class and overall joie de vivre,” or life of love, her daughter added.

“She was a force, and her talent and timing were unmatched,” Tony Hale, her “Arrested Development” co-star said on Twitter.