PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
THE SPEECH: President Biden declared that the U.S. is “turning peril into possibility” and “rising anew” in his first speech to a joint session of Congress. Standing in front of Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Harris — the first time both those chairs have been occupied by women — Biden called for another $4 trillion in federal spending to expand the social safety net and rebuild the country’s infrastructure to make the U.S. more competitive with China. That’s on top of the $6 trillion already spent to combat the pandemic. CHEDDAR
GOP RESPONSE: Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina delivered the customary response from the opposing party, saying Biden “seems like a good man” but arguing that “the actions of the president and his party are pulling us further apart,” and will put Washington “even more in the middle of your life, from cradle to college.” NBC NEWS
COVID-19: THE TURNAROUND
The majority of U.S. states are now seeing sharp declines in cases, including the epicenter of Michigan, where the daily caseload is down 40 percent over the last two weeks. In NYC, the stubbornly high plateau of about 4,000 daily cases has been cut in half and the city will lift its dining curfew next month. Pfizer’s CEO says the company is at work on an antiviral pill to treat Covid at the first sign of infection, and that it could be available later this year, pending trials. FOX DETROIT
GIULIANI RAIDED
The FBI raided the Manhattan office and apartment of Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor, and lawyer to President Trump, seizing electronic equipment as part of the federal investigation into Giuliani’s business dealings and ties to Ukraine. It is extremely rare for prosecutors to execute search warrants against any lawyer, let alone the former president’s, and shows the Justice Dept. believes it has probable cause that Giuliani committed a federal crime. NY TIMES
IN MEMORIAM: MICHAEL COLLINS
Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut who stayed behind in the command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, has died. He was 90. On July 21, 1969, Collins kept watch 60 miles above the lunar surface as his colleagues made history; he was in charge of getting them safely back to the spacecraft, and then Earth. As Armstrong and Aldrin returned in the Eagle lander, Collins snapped one of the most awe-inspiring pictures ever taken, showing the Eagle in the foreground, with the moon and Earth behind it — making Collins the only living person not in the photograph: SEE IT
REAL ID DEADLINE
You have been granted more time to do that thing you’ve been putting off for the last year: going to the DMV and exchanging your driver's license for the new, security-enhanced REAL ID. That’s the license you’ll need to board a flight or enter a federal building going forward. The deadline to make the switch was supposed to be last October, then it was delayed until this October due to the pandemic. Now the feds kicked the deadline back to May 2023, given that fewer than half of Americans have made the switch. The old licenses will still be valid for driving and doing things like buying alcohol and entering a casino. ABC NEWS
GROCERY WARS
For $20 a month, Walmart will send an employee to your house to put away your groceries. The retailer is reviving a pilot program it tried to start just before the pandemic, in which its delivery team will not just bring you your groceries, but stock them in your fridge and pantry. The InHome service is the latest battleground in the $1.8 trillion U.S. grocery market that has seen demand for delivery spike in the last year. But the vast majority of people polled said they have no desire to let a stranger traipse through their kitchen, as convenient as it may be. Walmart is hoping it can convince them otherwise. BLOOMBERG
QB BONANZA
The NFL Draft kicks off tonight, and this year it’s all about quarterbacks. The draft class is stacked, with Clemson’s generational talent Trevor Lawrence expected to go to the Jacksonville Jaguars as the #1 overall pick. A handful of other quarterbacks, including Alabama’s Mac Jones, could go in the top 10. DRAFT GUIDE
STREAMING WARS
HBO Max will charge $10 a month for an ad-supported tier of the platform starting in June, according to reports. The ad-free version currently costs $15, making it one of the more expensive streaming services out there. Commercials would not be added to legacy HBO shows, like The Sopranos or Game of Thrones, just HBO Max originals, but the cheaper plan also won’t allow access to Warner Bros’ same-day theatrical films like Godzilla vs. Kong. CNBC
SPOTTED...
...Prince William and Kate Middleton, in new portraits taken for their 10th wedding anniversary: SEE PICS… NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity, taking a pic of the Perseverance rover while in flight. The copter has been flying ever further away from the rover on each test flight: SEE IT
LEFTOVERS: BEST EVER
What is the greatest movie of all time? For years, Citizen Kane held a rare 100 score on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Then last month, the site dug up and quietly added an 80-year-old lukewarm review of Kane — headlined Citizen Kane Fails to Impress Critic as Greatest Ever Filmed — knocking its score down to 99 on the Tomatometer, and out of the exclusive '100% Club'. That club now includes classics like Cool Hand Luke, The Maltese Falcon ... and Paddington 2. SEE THE REST
