Good afternoon. Here are the top stories so far today.
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What happened today:
- Police to put fencing around Capitol building ahead of far-right rally. US Capitol Police will reinstall fencing around the perimeter of the Capitol ahead of the upcoming "Justice for J6" rally planned for September 18. The rally is being held to support people who have been accused, arrested, and charged for their involvement in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, according to organizers of the event.
- Simone Biles and other gymnasts to testify about Larry Nassar abuse scandal. Olympians Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney will testify before Congress at a hearing on the FBI's "dereliction of duty" in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Monday. The gymnasts are among hundreds of women who say they were sexually abused by Nassar during what he claimed were routine medical exams.
- Biden moves to grant clemency to some released during pandemic. The Biden administration asked some inmates who were released from prison due to the risk of COVID-19 to submit applications to have their remaining sentences wiped away, Politico reported Monday. According to the report, people convicted of drug offenses who were released on home confinement under the CARES Act with four or fewer years remaining on their sentence are being targeted for this program.
- Tropical Storm Nicholas could reach hurricane status tonight. Tropical Storm Nicholas is expected to "approach the middle Texas coast as a tropical storm today, and could be near hurricane intensity level at landfall," the National Hurricane Center said. Portions of the coasts of Texas and Hurricane Ida-battered Louisiana will be impacted by heavy rainfall from the storm through the middle of the week, the agency said.
- Fauci sees more vaccine mandates in our future. "Many, many more mandates," in fact, will come on top of the Biden administration's new vaccine restrictions, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday. He predicted that colleges, universities, and businesses are likely to start imposing vaccine mandates, though he doesn't expect more "centrally derived mandates," he told CNN's Jen Christensen.
That's all for now. See you tomorrow.