Biden officials celebrate infrastructure deal in fuel-cell big rig
31 July 2021
White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthyand Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm celebrated progress on President Biden's infrastructure package by taking a spin in a Kenworth fuel-cell, zero-emissions Class A truck.
What they're saying: "We have a deal, a Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework deal," Granholm said. McCarthy responded: "it's big and it's beautiful."
- "[I]t's going to invest in electric vehicle infrastructure like charging stations. But also, hopefully we're going to see incentives for these big trucks which are emission free," Granholm added, referring to the truck she McCarthy were in.
- "This is the future we're driving in right now," McCarthy said.
The big picture: Granholm noted that the transportation section is "a big contributor to carbon pollution." U.S. transportation emits approximately 1.9 billion tons of carbon annually, Yale University said in 2017.
- The secretary also said that increasing production of zero-emission vehicles would increase jobs within the trucking industry.
- Granholm and McCarthy then use the CB radio to chat about semiconductors with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo: "Gina 2 to Gina 1!"
- Raimondo describes Biden's plan to create jobs by stimulating semiconductor production and increasing broadband coverage.
Go deeper: Bipartisan group reaches agreement on $1.2 trillion "hard" infrastructure bill
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.