August 12, 2021: California teachers, Kathy Hochul, Dems on spending plan, Taliban, Wildfires
1. California became the first U.S. state to require that its teachers and other school staff be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19.
2. New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul distanced herself from Governor Andrew Cuomo who resigned after sexual harassment accusations, saying when she takes over no official who had behaved unethically would keep their job.
3. Hours after the U.S. Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint chock-full of investments in new domestic programs, fissures emerged between the moderate and liberal wings of the Democratic Party.
4. The Taliban captured the strategic city of Ghazni on their road to Kabul. The speed of the Taliban advance has sparked recriminations among many Afghans over Joe Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops.
5. Exhausted Greek firefighters battled blazes for a ninth day amid sweltering temperatures that also helped stoke wildfires in Algeria, where at least 65 people died, and in southern Italy.
