In the news today: A new deal among Democrats may pave the way for a bold, huge American investment package of the sort that President Joe Biden had originally proposed. Tennessee Republicans have managed to sabotage not just COVID-19 vaccination efforts aimed at teenagers, but all vaccination efforts aimed at the state’s teens.

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a string of attacks against the Asian American Pacific Islander community, especially the elderly. According to Stop AAPI Hate, the total number of anti-Asian incidents reported during the pandemic last year has doubled by March alone. In California, the increase is even higher. A new report from the state’s Department of Justice found that hate crimes against Asian Americans in California increased by over 100% in 2020.

Though June tends to get much of the attention because of Pride Month, holidays and days of recognition for LGBTQ+ people don’t begin and end in just one month. For example, on Wednesday, July 14, we celebrate International Nonbinary People’s Day, which honors and centers folks who are nonbinary. Nonbinary, as a basic definition, refers to people whose gender does not fit into the binary of male and female. Nonbinary refers to gender identity, not sexual orientation.

Uh-oh, a slip of the tongue is never a good thing but it’s even worse when it’s in an international public announcement. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach made his already not so fond reputation in Japan worse by referring to Japanese people as “Chinese” Tuesday during his first public appearance in Tokyo.

Around 600 workers at a Topeka, Kansas, Frito-Lay plant have been on strike for more than a week, citing low pay and brutal working hours that the company is fighting to preserve in contract negotiations. 

“A lot of people here, they barely see their wives, they barely see their husbands, kids. Sometimes a few of us will get stuck here on holidays.