Tuesday morning news - June 22, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington.

Senate gearing up for test vote on sweeping elections overhaul The Senate is gearing up for a showdown today on U.S. election law.

Lawmakers are planning a test vote of the For the People Act. The sweeping elections bill that would be the largest overhaul of U.S. voting law in a generation.

The legislation could shift a great deal of power over voting rules from states to Washington. During debate on the Senate Floor Monday, GOP Texas Senator John Cornyn said he’ll oppose it.

             CORNYN: The Constitution doesn’t give the Democratic party,                 or the Republican party, to govern how states run their                                elections. That’s reserved to the states by the Constitution of the             United States of America.

But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Washington has to step in to walk back new voting laws in Republican-led states, which Democrats have called unjust.

          SCHUMER: They’re not about election integrity. They’re not                      about voter fraud. These policies have one purpose and one                       purpose only: making it harder for younger, poorer, non-white,              and typically Democratic voters to access the ballot.

Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin has been the sole holdout among Democrats in the chamber, declining to back his party's bill. But late last week he aired a list of proposed changes, including a national voter ID requirement.

But even if every Senate Democrat chooses to adopt the changes, Republicans can and likely will filibuster the bill.

High court sides with ex-athletes in NCAA compensation case » The Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that the NCAA can’t enforce rules limiting education-related benefits.

It’s a ruling that could help push changes in how the student-athletes are compensated. But NCAA President Mark Emmert said the ruling did not erase the lines between college and professional athletes.

EMMERT: You know, I’ve already seen some headlines that want to portray this as now turning student athletes into paid professionals who are going to get very large scale payments and compensation. That’s not what they ruled at all.

The case does not decide whether students can be paid salaries. Instead, the ruling will help determine whether schools decide to offer athletes tens of thousands of dollars in education benefits for things including tutoring, study abroad programs and graduate scholarships.

Under current rules, students cannot be paid, and the scholarship money colleges can offer is capped at the cost of attending the school. The NCAA had defended its rules as necessary to preserve the amateur nature of college sports.

But the former athletes who brought the case argued that the rules were unfair and violated federal antitrust law designed to promote competition. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling barring the NCAA from enforcing those rules.

Japanese organizers to allow limited fan attendance at Olympics » Fans will be allowed to attend the Summer Olympic Games next month in Tokyo, but stands will not be packed. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Olympic organizers have set a limit of 50 percent capacity—up to a maximum of 10,000 fans. And all spectators must be Japanese residents. The rules apply to both indoor and outdoor events.

The announcement comes as many in Japan continue to call on the government to postpone the games once again. The vast majority of Japanese residents are not yet vaccinated. And the country’s top medical adviser, Dr. Shigeru Omi, last week recommended playing the games without fans.

New infections are now declining in Tokyo, but officials said that if cases surge again, they could still bar fans altogether.

The games are set to begin on Friday, July 23rd.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Claudette spins over Atlantic after claiming 14 lives » Tropical Storm Claudette is now spinning over the Atlantic after soaking the southeast and triggering multiple accidents blamed for more` than a dozen deaths.

Nine children died in a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 65 south of Montgomery on Saturday. A van carrying children from a youth home was involved in the wreck.

East Brewton Police Chief Kenneth Brazile told WEAR that parts of his community are unrecognizable after the storm.

BRAZILE: It’s unreal. You never think it’ll happen to you. You see other communities and other states and other areas of the world, but you never thought it would hit home.

A 24-year-old man and a 3-year-old boy were also killed Saturday when a tree fell on their house just outside Tuscaloosa. And a 23-year-old woman died in Fort Payne after her car ran off the road into a swollen creek. In total, the storm claimed at least 14 lives.

The system is expected to pass near or south of Nova Scotia before dissipating later today.

Tornado devastates Chicago suburb » Meantime, just outside of Chicago, residents are still surveying the damage in the wake of a Sunday night twister that damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes.

Woodridge, Ill. Mayor Gina Cunningham told reporters…

CUNNINGHAM: Our community has been tremendously impacted. It’s actually devastating. At this time, we are currently continuing our assessment of the damage.

At least eight people were hospitalized in the suburban area west of Chicago, but no deaths were reported.

Naperville, Fire Chief Mark Puknaitus said Monday…

PUKNAITUS: We found one house that was completely leveled and a couple of other houses that were severely damaged. And there were people that were trapped in a house that was really leveled by the wind damage.

The storm left more than 20 homes uninhabitable.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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