Vox Sentences - Eviction moratorium part 2

President Biden has announced a new eviction moratorium; a Belarusian anti-government activist has been found dead.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum.

A fresh eviction moratorium

Erik McGregor/Getty Images

• After days of sleeping on the Capitol steps in protest of the expiration of the eviction moratorium, first-term Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) achieved her goal: a White House extension of the ban. [Politico / Nicholas Wu, Heather Caygle, and Sarah Ferris]
• The Biden administration directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement a new order, effective through October 3, barring evictions in counties demonstrating substantial spread of the coronavirus. It will affect about 80 percent of counties. [CBS News / Nancy Cordes]
• Without data, it’s unclear just how many people were evicted in the intervening time between the moratoriums. But the new policy will be helpful for struggling renters in much of the West Coast and the South, in particular. [Washington Post / Hamza Shaban, Abha Bhattarai, and Marissa J. Lang]
• The Biden administration had initially been hesitant to take executive action, asking Congress to extend the moratorium. But between Bush and other progressives’ pressure campaign and behind-the-scenes advocacy from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the administration changed its position. [AP / Josh Boak, Lisa Mascaro, and Jonathan Lemire]
• Previously, the administration had cited a Supreme Court decision blocking the CDC from extending the previous moratorium as the reason why it could not act. The hope is that by tying the new moratorium to spread rates it will be upheld, even as Biden himself acknowledged the doubt around the new ban’s legality. [NPR / Barbara Sprunt]
• Biden said he was unsure whether or not the ban would pass muster with the Supreme Court. But at the very least, the new moratorium will buy time for renters to access $45 billion in mostly undelivered federal aid as challenges make their way through the courts. [NYT / Glenn Thrush, Michael D. Shear, and Alan Rappeport]
• Streamlined rent assistance — such as a federal rent registry — could be a more permanent solution to the challenges created by the pandemic, particularly when it comes to distributing already-approved federal aid. [Vox / Jerusalem Demsas]

Exiled Belarusian activist found dead

• Ukraine police have opened a murder investigation into the death of Belarusian anti-government activist Vitaly Shishov, who was found hanged in a park in Kyiv Tuesday morning. [Reuters / Natalia Zinets and Margaryta Chornokondratenko]
• Police are investigating whether the death is murder disguised as suicide, a chilling reminder of the lengths Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko is willing to go to take down his opponents. [NYT / Anton Troianovski and Megan Specia]
• Lukashenko, who has been in power for 27 years, violently cracked down on protesters who questioned the legitimacy of his 2020 reelection, which has been disputed. Many of those protesters now live in exile. [BBC News]
• Belarus has come under increased scrutiny after officials forcibly removed a Belarusian sprinter from Tokyo against her will. She has since been granted asylum in Poland. [CNN]
• Shishov, 26, had been working to help others escape Belarus and find homes abroad. He had previously said he believed he was under surveillance. [Washington Post / David L. Stern and Isabelle Khurshudyan]

Cuyahoga County Democratic chair Shontel Brown, an establishment favorite, defeated Bernie Sanders’s 2020 national co-chair Nina Turner in a special congressional election in Ohio. [BuzzFeed News / Lissandra Villa]

• Former President Barack Obama has downsized his 60th birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard due to concerns over the delta variant. [AP / Darlene Superville]
• Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler has asked Congress to expand the agency’s authority in order to regulate cryptocurrency. [The Verge / Makena Kelly]
• Asian fried chicken chain Mom’s Touch has opened its first restaurant in the US. [People / Nicholas Rice]

Support our journalism

“You don’t have to have a big name and a big title. You don’t have to have big money. But big courage takes you a long way. Big purpose takes you a long way.”

[Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), on her successful protest to reinstate an eviction moratorium]

In a new episode of Glad You Asked, Christophe Haubursin explores what happens to our health when we lose sleep and why so many of us struggle to get enough of it. Watch now. [YouTube / Christophe Haubursin]

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