Obama's approval sinks to all-time low
Schools in Kansas City closing
1. Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools. Administrators say the closures are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case. The Kansas City school board narrowly approved the plan to close 29 out of 61 schools Wednesday night at a meeting packed with angry parents.
Ruling axes option to move health-care bill forward
2. Republicans said guidance they received from the parliamentarian means that President Barack Obama has to sign a Senate health bill into law before the House and Senate can approve changes to it. Some House Democrats, who object to provisions in the Senate measure, wanted Obama to hold off signing the legislation until reconciliation passed.
Democrats stop investigation of Massa
3. House Democrats have stopped a Republican bid to force an investigation into whether Democratic leaders covered up allegations that former Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed male employees.
New Jersey looks to privatize jobs
4. Gov. Chris Christie today created a task force to identify savings from privatizing parts of the state workforce amid a budget crisis.
Christie declined to say which jobs or agencies could be run by the private sector, but ruled out privatizing New Jersey’s toll roads or its state police. He left other recommendations to the five-member task force led by Republican former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, who is now a Washington lobbyist. The commission will make recommendations by the end of May, and privatization would begin in January, Christie said.
Betty White to host Saturday Night Live
5. Call it a victory for democracy or peer pressure, but either way it’s happening: Betty White, above, the 88-years-young “Mary Tyler Moore” and “Golden Girls” star, will be hosting “Saturday Night Live”on May 8, a pre-Mother’s Day episode also featuring appearances from six “SNL” alumnae. Though a popular Facebook campaign helped build Ms. White’s cause, Lorne Michaels, the “SNL” creator and executive producer, said Thursday that the grass-roots movement wasn’t the sole reason for the booking.
