Biden’s Ireland trip; Louisville shooting; Nashville lawmaker returns

Plus, where did all the construction workers go? [View this email online]( [NPR Up First Newsletter]( by Rachel Treisman April 11, 2023 Happy [National Pet Day](. Have you seen the new White House Easter Bunny? President Biden and first lady Jill Biden unveiled the new costumes in front of some 30,000 visitors during yesterday’s [White House Easter Egg Roll]( an annual tradition. President Biden is traveling to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland today to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, which helped end three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. The trip is [diplomatic and deeply personal]( for America’s second Irish Catholic president. ➡️ NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith, who will be traveling with Biden, [tells the Up First podcast]( that he’s expected to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other political leaders, deliver economic remarks and spend time connecting with his family roots. ➡️ Biden has a [famous penchant for Irish poets]( so don’t be surprised if you hear him quote William Butler Yeats or Seamus Heaney along the way. ➡️ A generation on, how is the Good Friday agreement holding up? Katy Hayward, a professor of political sociology at Queen's University Belfast, [told NPR’s Weekend Edition]( it’s still seen as having transformed society in Northern Ireland, though things like segregation and paramilitary groups haven’t gone away. [U.S. flags flutter in the breeze above colorful shop buildings in Ballina town center in Ireland.]( Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images One of the Democratic lawmakers expelled from the Tennessee House got his seat back on Monday, and the other could soon follow suit. Rep. Justin Jones [didn’t even miss a day of lawmaking]( returning to the House floor after the Nashville Metro Council voted unanimously to reinstate him on an interim basis. The Shelby County Commission plans to vote on Rep. Justin Pearson’s seat on Wednesday. 🎧 WPLN’s Cynthia Abrams was in the room for the council vote, and tells Up First [that it happened fast]( “The crowd immediately erupted into cheers and followed Justin Jones … out, and only moments later he was sworn back in on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol.” A bank employee opened fire on his colleagues in Louisville, Ky., killing five people and injuring nine others — including three police officers — before being fatally shot by police. The shooting has prompted an [outpouring of grief in and beyond the city]( with President Biden once again calling on Congress to pass stricter gun safety laws. 🎧 Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he [lost a close friend]( in the shooting — and he’s not alone. Justin Hicks of Louisville Public Media [tells Up First]( that Louisville is the kind of city where people know each other from high school or church, so “many of the victims are not just names here, they are people that people know.” --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- [A construction worker climbs up a metal beam.]( Matt Rourke/AP Where have all the construction workers gone? A year and a half after President Biden signed a $1 trillion deal to boost infrastructure, [contractors say they can't find workers]( and the industry is facing a dire shortage. 🚧 The pandemic worsened the shortage because it allowed workers to switch from on-site jobs to remote work. 🚧 The infrastructure bill set aside money for large-scale public works projects, but not for training workers. 🚧 The bill requires a quota of minority and women workers, which is hard to do in the white male-dominated field. 🚧 There's also a teacher shortage, which means construction trade schools have long waitlists. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Liubov Lada stands behind the window of her new apartment in Sloviansk, Ukraine.]( Claire Harbage/NPR Ukrainian couple Liubov and Viktor Lada lost nearly everything — except for some lace curtains, porcelain dolls and a floral lamp — when their apartment of 63 years was destroyed by Russian shelling. They are among the millions of elderly people who stayed behind after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which now has the highest proportion of elderly affected by war. 🎧 NPR’s Elissa Nadworny and Claire Harbage [visited some of them at home]( to hear their stories of survival and resilience. --------------------------------------------------------------- [A vacant building and several storage tanks have fallen into the crater since it began expanding last week.]( Bluebonnet News A huge sinkhole is expanding in a small Texas town after being stable for some 15 years. Daisetta residents had learned to live with the giant hole in the ground, but are watching with worry after it [suddenly started growing by several acres](. During the pandemic, a Seattle nonprofit took a different approach to solving homelessness: helping whole encampments of people make a plan to get housing. A recent evaluation found that 70% of JustCARE [participants remained housed]( six months after leaving the program. The Dalai Lama apologized for kissing a young boy on the lips and asking him to "suck my tongue.” The incident, which [sparked outrage on social media]( isn’t the spiritual leader’s first controversy in recent years. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Find a Station]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Politics, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Up First emails. 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