By ELAINE GANLEY and THOMAS ADAMSON undefined
PARIS (AP) — It’s a grand day for the French. Cafe and restaurant terraces are reopening Wednesday after a pandemic shutdown of more than six months deprived people of what feels like the essence of life in France. The French government is lifting restrictions incrementally to stave off a resurgence of COVID-19 and to give citizens back some of their signature “joie de vivre.” As part of the first stage, France’s 7 p.m. nightly curfew is being moved back to 9 p.m. Museums, theaters and cinemas are reopening along with outside areas of restaurants, meaning the French once again can enjoy their country’s celebrated cafe society.

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press
The arrest of a Connecticut high school student accused of posting racist comments about a Black classmate on social media has sparked a debate on free speech rights. Authorities say the Fairfield Warde High School student was arrested May 7 after posting a photo of a Black classmate on Snapchat with a caption that included racist comments. The student was charged with the misdemeanor hate crime of ridiculing on account of race. The arrest is being supported by civil rights advocates including the NAACP, but free speech groups are calling it an unusual move by police that raises First Amendment issues.

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today the House passed bipartisan legislation introduced by Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17) and Representative Tracey Mann (KS-1) to lift an outdated employee cap on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselors.  Currently, there are fewer than 40 full-time equivalent EEO counselors for a workforce of almost 400,000 employees.  The VA Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor Modernization Act (H.R. 2788) would enable the VA’s Office of Resolution Management, Diversity, and Inclusion (ORMDI) to remove the cap and place additional counselors in the regional offices around the country.

“The number of EEO counselors has been capped since 1997, but it did not stop unequal treatment in the workplace.  The VA is one of the largest federal agencies and consistently has among the most complaints,” said Lamb.  “These counselors are our front line of defense against racism, sex discrimination and other unlawful conduct, and they need reinforcements.”

“The Equal Employment Counseling Modernization Act is another commonsense reform to the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Mann.  “I appreciated working with Representative Lamb on this bipartisan legislation, which would remove the cap of the number of full-time employees providing equal employment opportunity counseling at the Department of VA.  The broad support for this bill shows a willingness by the House of Representatives to implement small, but impactful changes for our veterans across the country and help the VA to employ, educate, care for, guide, and better assist our nation’s heroes.”

VA’s Office of Resolution Management, Diversity, and Inclusion (ORMDI) is responsible for multiple important functions at VA, including resolving workplace discrimination and EEO disputes and leading VA Diversity and Inclusion strategic planning.  VA EEO counselors serve in a range of roles including listener, educator, information gatherer, facilitator, trainer, suggestion maker and de-escalation expert.

H.R. 2788 is supported by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

Polling places run out of ballots in Pennsylvania primary
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
Pennsylvania election officials ran out of ballots in several counties amid higher-than-expected turnout for the statewide primary. York, Delaware and a few other counties ran short of ballots Tuesday, but election officials say voters were able to use alternative means to make their selections. Election officials reported several other scattered problems, including a “coding error” in one northeastern county that caused Republican primary ballots to be mislabeled as Democratic ballots on some voting machines. The state’s top elections official says there were other “isolated incidents in a handful of counties” but that the election otherwise ran smoothly.

Voters back bid to ban race discrimination in constitution
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters are backing a proposal to amend the state constitution to outlaw discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The question was added to Tuesday’s primary ballot amid worries over whether federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump will roll back civil rights protections. Meanwhile, two separate questions seek to limit a governor’s emergency disaster declarations and put more power in the hands of lawmakers. Republican lawmakers across the country are reeling in emergency powers that governors wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Pennsylvania is in the unique position of being the first to take the question to voters.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has lost his bid for re-election to five-term state representative Ed Gainey, as the city took a big step toward electing its first Black chief executive. Peduto had been seeking a third term against three primary challengers but instead called to congratulate Gainey. Peduto tweeted late Tuesday that he was “wishing him well.” Meanwhile, Pennsylvania voters were given the opportunity to limit a governor’s emergency authority, more than a year after Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions drew fierce backlash among legislative Republicans. It was the headline question in an otherwise quiet off-year primary election.