Trump Signs Executive Order to Pay TSA Workers Amid Airport Security Crisis 
SMIC Allegedly Supplies Chipmaking Tools to Iran's Military, U.S. Officials Warn 
Russia Accused of Helping Iran Target U.S. Forces, European Powers Tell G7 
Trump's Overhaul of American History: Museums, Monuments, and Cultural Institutions 
Trump to Visit China in May for High-Stakes Xi Summit Amid Iran War 
California Renames Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day Following Sexual Abuse Allegations 
Trump Administration Settles Lawsuit Barring Federal Agencies from Pressuring Social Media Censorship 
Maduro Faces Rare Narcoterrorism Charges in U.S. Court 
Russia-Iran Military Alliance Deepens With Drone Shipments Amid Middle East Tensions 
Russia Strikes Kharkiv and Izmail as Cross-Border Drone War Escalates 
Taiwan Arms Deal on Track Despite U.S.-China Summit Uncertainty 
Ukraine-Russia War: Frontline Updates as Spring Offensive Looms 
Jay Bhattacharya to Continue Leading CDC as White House Searches for Permanent Director 
G7 Foreign Ministers Gather in France Amid Global Tensions and U.S. Policy Uncertainty 
CPAC 2026: Republicans Back Trump's Iran Strikes Amid Growing Public Skepticism 
Iran Demands Lebanon Be Part of Any Ceasefire Deal With Israel and the U.S. 
Trump's Signature to Appear on U.S. Currency Starting Summer 2025 
Following the ruling by the Supreme Court against vaccine mandates, US President Joe Biden and his administration are resorting to other options to help curb the spread of COVID-19. The Biden administration is set to make 400 million N95 face masks available to the public for free.
Reuters reports the Biden administration is set to make 400 million non-surgical N95 face masks from its strategic national stockpile available to the public for free, according to a White House official. The masks will be shipped to pharmacies and community health centers this week and will be made available for pickup next week.
The move to make masks free follows criticism that the Biden administration is not doing enough to further encourage wearing face masks or ramping up testing efforts as the country faces a surge of Omicron variant cases. Prior to the masks, the administration has launched a website for people to order at-home COVID-19 testing kits.
“This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in US history,” said the White House official.
“To ensure accessing these masks is easy and convenient, the administration is leveraging the federal retail pharmacy program and the federal community health center program so that free masks are available at many of the same convenient and trusted locations Americans go to get vaccinated and boosted,” said the official, who noted that the program would be fully operational by February.
Face masks such as the N95 type are considered especially effective at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. While the Biden administration has said that there is a lot of masks in the stockpile, some executives told the outlet that healthcare supply chains are still quite fragile and small, under-funded hospitals would be placed at risk if Americans make the N95 masks their everyday masks.
In other related news, Biden ripped into the Republicans during his news conference, suggesting that they lack a stance on anything. To note, Republicans did not draft a platform during the 2020 elections.
“Think about this: What are Republicans for?” said the US leader. “What are they for? Name me one thing they’re for.”
