A walkout over voting rights in Texas

Texas Democrats walk out over a restrictive voting rights law; Peru's revised official Covid-19 death toll reflects a nearly threefold increase. Tonight's Sentences was written by Gregory Svirnovskiy. TOP NEWS Texas Democrats thwart the GOP's voting restrictions — for now Gary Miller/Getty Images - Democrats in the Texas state House successfully delayed the passage of a severely restrictive voting rights law Monday by walking out on debate proceedings just before a vote. But their short-term victory is unlikely to stop the GOP from passing the bill — and Republicans may use the delay to make the bill even more restrictive. [[Houston Chronicle / Jeremy Wallace and Cayla Harris](] - President Joe Biden has called the GOP bill “an assault on democracy.” It would end drive-through and 24-hour voting, restrict absentee voting, and increase the power of partisan polling observers. [[NYT / David Montgomery and Nick Corasaniti](] - The walkout was arguably the strongest message Democrats have sent in a year that has seen Republicans pass restrictive voting laws in a growing number of states, bolstered by Trumpian notions of election security. Defending voting on a macro level is a responsibility that largely rests with the US Senate. [[CNN / Stephen Collinson](] - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) indicated he would call a special session of Congress to get the bill passed and to focus on redistricting. But he vented his frustration with state lawmakers on Twitter, detailing plans to defund the legislature: “No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities," he tweeted. [[Texas Tribune / Patrick Svitek](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Peru shatters records in Covid-19 deaths per capita - Officials in Peru on Monday announced a Covid-19 death toll of more than 180,000, a three-fold increase from the previously accepted total. At over 500 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people, Peru now has the highest Covid death toll per capita in the world, dwarfing second-place Hungary. [[Axios / Rebecca Falconer](] - Peru has seen almost 2 million cases since last March; its health care system is stretched to the brink, and health care facilities are often running low on oxygen. [[BBC](] - The news comes just six days before Peruvians head to the polls to elect their fourth president in under a year. The choices: a far-left candidate whom the country’s elite are comparing to leaders in Venezuela and Cuba, and a deeply unpopular right-wing opponent, the daughter of a jailed former president. [[Financial Times / Michael Stott](] - The news from Peru is in line with the situation in the region writ large: Latin America recorded 1.2 million new cases last week, along with 31,000 deaths. Just 37 million of the region’s 700 million people have been vaccinated. [[CNN / Laura Diaz and Claudia Rebaza](] - Peru’s domestic numbers are just as abysmal. Only 8 percent of Peruvians have gotten their first shot, and just 3.5 percent are fully vaccinated. [[Bloomberg / Ana Maria Cervantes](] MISCELLANEOUS The Biden administration has suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, undoing a significant environmental policy decision by then-President Trump. [[Washington Post / Juliet Eilperin and Joshua Partlow](] - American tennis player Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open, citing prolonged bouts of depression and anxiety. [[Good Morning America / Aryana Azari and Joshua Hoyos](] - China announced it will now allow families to have up to three children; though it changed its one-child policy in 2016 to allow families to have two children, birthrates have continued to fall, attributable in part to the high cost of raising kids in cities. [[BBC](] - Trump ally and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Monday appeared to suggest the country needed a Myanmar-style coup in leadership at a Dallas QAnon conference. Flynn has since claimed his remarks were misinterpreted. [[CNN / Donie O’Sullivan](] Support our journalism Reader contributions help keep Vox and newsletters like Sentences free for all. Support our work from as little as $3. [Contribute]( VERBATIM "100 years ago, the thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma was ruthlessly attacked by a white supremacist mob—as many as 300 Black Americans were killed and 10,000 were left homeless. Today, I’m visiting the Greenwood Cultural Center and meeting with survivors." [[President Joe Biden on Twitter in advance of his Tuesday visit to Tulsa marking the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa massacre](] WATCH THIS [The truth is out there]( UFOs are having a renaissance. 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