National and International News

Roughly three-quarters of New Yorkers say they have either already been vaccinated against COVID-19 or plan to do so; the remainder don't plan on getting the vaccine. 

Those are the findings of a new poll from Siena College. 

Pollster Steve Greenberg said the largest numbers of survey respondents who say they won't get vaccinated are represented among five different demographic groups:  Republicans, independents, African Americans, Latinos, and voters under the age of 35.

President Biden will issue an executive order asking the Education Department to extend pandemic relief for about 41 million federal student loan borrowers through Sept. 30.

In March 2020, borrowers were granted a reprieve on their loan payments — interest was set to 0% and collections of defaulted federal student loans were paused. Congress initiated this relief in the CARES Act. Both President Donald Trump and, later, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, extended it.

Before Biden's executive order, expected later today, the relief was set to expire on Jan. 31.

As part of his ambitious plan to address climate change, President Biden is revoking a key cross-border presidential permit needed to finish the controversial Keystone XL pipeline

This likely means the end of the $8 billion pipeline, a years-long project that would have carried oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to the American Gulf Coast. The pipeline has come to signify the debate over whether fossil fuels should be left in the ground in order to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst damage from climate change.

Updated at 1:20 p.m. ET

President Biden gave his first presidential address to Americans on Wednesday in a star-studded Inauguration Day event that went unattended by his predecessor.

In his remarks, Biden promised to help the nation heal, both from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as well as from political rifts that had deepened considerably during the term of former President Donald Trump.