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    Jill Biden has honored her fellow educators by hosting the 2024 national and state teachers of the year at a swanky White House dinner to recognize their commitment to their students and to excellence in the classroom. The first lady said Thursday night that teaching isn't just a job, it's a calling. She herself has taught for more than 30 years. She currently teaches English and writing at a community college in Northern Virginia. The teachers of the year are chosen by an independent organization and typically are recognized at an annual White House ceremony. But Jill Biden put a new spin on the annual appearance by hosting them for dinner instead.

      President Joe Biden has met privately with the families of law enforcement officers shot to death on the job in Charlotte, North Carolina. Biden said he was praying for loved ones and others left behind after the shooting. He said the U.S. has to get officers “the resources they need to do their jobs, and  "weapons of war” must be kept out of the wrong hands. The visit came just a week after he sat down with the grieving relatives of two cops killed in upstate New York.

        Everyone knows Warren Buffett’s successor won’t be able to match the legendary investor. But Berkshire Hathaway’s board remains confident Greg Abel is the right guy to one day lead the conglomerate into the future. Longtime Berkshire board member Ron Olson told investors gathered Thursday at a conference two days ahead of Berkshire’s annual shareholders meeting that Abel understands all the fundamental principles that Buffett used to build Berkshire. Olson says he’s confident business owners will still be willing to sell their companies to Berkshire once the Canadian utility executive takes over after the 93-year-old Buffett is gone. And Olson doesn’t think last year’s public legal fight over the price of the Pilot truck stop chain will be a deterrent to future deals either.

          Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says her state won't comply with a federal regulation that seeks to protect the rights of transgender students in the nation's schools. Sanders on Thursday signed an executive order stating that Arkansas will continue to enforce restrictions on which bathrooms and pronouns transgender students can use. The state is the latest to challenge and defy the new Title IX regulation that could invalidate such restrictions. The regulations finalized last month spell out that Title IX bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The order follows moves in recent years by Arkansas to restrict the rights of transgender youth.

            For the past 52 years, the United Methodist Church had officially declared “the practice of homosexuality ... incompatible with Christian teaching.” But that has ended now that church delegates removed that phrase from their official social teachings at their legislative General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The action comes a day after delegates removed a ban on LGBTQ clergy. The delegates have replaced the denomination's non-binding Social Principles with a new document. It defines marriage as a covenant between “two people of faith,” without limiting it to a man and a woman. The progressive shift follows the departure of a quarter of U.S. congregations in the United Methodist Church amid disputes over LGBTQ issues.

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            About a week after legislators brushed off his amendments to bills ensuring the right to contraception and requiring insurance coverage, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he’s still thinking about what do.

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