President Biden’s administration is seeking to ‘move beyond’ the controversy caused by Chinese spy balloons shot down over the continental United States, The Associated Press reports.

The drastic shift in tone came from White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi. 

The two officials spoke at a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday and Thursday, during which they reportedly agreed the February incident was ‘unfortunate.’

The White House called the unpublicized meeting between Washington and Beijing leaders as ‘candid’ and ‘constructive.’

An administrative official familiar with the meeting, speaking with members of the press on condition of anonymity, said both the White House and CCP leadership are looking to ‘reestablish standard, normal channels of communications’ after months of tensions caused by the foreign aircraft.

Many had speculated the Chinese balloon gathered intelligence from U.S. military sites as it roamed freely across the country from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 before being shot down over South Carolina.

According to several current and former U.S. officials in an April report, the Biden administration struggled to block the intelligence gathering of the Chinese spy balloon that ultimately fed information to Beijing in real time.

Last month, Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines told Fox News Digital that even briefings with intelligence officials left him with more questions than answers. 

On Feb. 9, Daines posed 10 questions for the Biden administration, including why the balloon was allowed to enter U.S. airspace, how close it got to Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base and missile silos, and what other sensitive national security and military sites it flew over – all of which remain unanswered.

Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.

Discriminating against someone because of weight when it comes to work, housing or in public accommodation would be barred in New York City under a bill passed Thursday by the City Council.

The measure would amend city law to add weight and height to the list of identifiers that are considered protected, like race, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin.

‘People with different body types are not only denied jobs and promotions that they deserve, their whole existence has also been denied by a society that has offered no legal remedy for this prejudice,’ said Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who sponsored the legislation.

He said New York would join a handful of cities in the country with similar protections. Michigan is the only state with a law that expressly bans weight discrimination, while in Washington state, a court ruled that obesity is covered under an anti-discrimination law for employees with disabilities.

A few other states have had legislation introduced on the issue for consideration.

The New York City bill carves out exemptions such as jobs where height or weight considerations are integral to the role being performed.

It now goes to Mayor Eric Adams, who has said in the past that weight shouldn’t be a basis for treating people differently. There was no immediate response to an email sent to his office seeking comment.

Kansas’ Democratic governor on Thursday scuttled a small legal settlement favored by top Republican officials between the state and the owner of a Wichita fitness studio forced to shut down during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and then operate under restrictions.

The settlement would have cost the state $4,305.46 and ended a lawsuit filed in December 2020 by Ryan Floyd and his business, Omega Bootcamps Inc. The case has yet to go to trial in Sedgwick County District Court in Wichita, and Attorney General Kris Kobach asked Gov. Laura Kelly and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature to sign off, as required by state law.

Six of those eight legislative leaders are Republicans, and all six voted to approve the settlement during a live online WebEx meeting that Kelly convened. But Kelly opposed it, along with the House and Senate’s top Democrats, and under Kansas law, the governor’s action decided the issue.

Kelly did not explain why she opposed the settlement, though a spokesperson later said in a text that the settlement ‘is not in the best interest of the state.’ The governor and the lawmakers had no public discussion of the settlement but met in private for 35 minutes with two members of Kobach’s staff.

The governor cut off public discussion before the private session with Kobach’s staff, even though House Democratic Leader Vic Miller asked to have the case verbally summarized in public. The Associated Press requested by email before the meeting that the discussion be held in public.

‘We had this meeting here today, and you voted ‘no,’ ‘ Republican state Sen. Rick Billinger, who chairs the Senate budget committee, told Kelly, as she moved to adjourn the meeting immediately after the decision. ‘I mean, I don’t understand that.’

Kelly said, ‘I mean it’s very clear; I voted ‘no,’ ‘ and then said they could have a discussion after the group adjourned — out of public view.

Ryan Kriegshauser, an attorney representing Floyd and Omega Bootcamps, called Kelly’s action ‘an insult to common sense,’ and Floyd said the settlement amount represented the rent he still had to pay during 53 days he remained closed because of COVID-19 restrictions.

‘All the dude ever wanted was his rent back,’ said Josh Ney, another attorney representing Floyd. ‘Now the state will likely spend untold thousands to continue litigating this case.’

The state asked the judge handling the lawsuit to dismiss it without a trial in October 2021. But the judge has not ruled on that request. Miller, a veteran attorney, said he expects the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

‘Just in general, when we become an easy target for cases that have no merit, it encourages other cases with no merit to be filed,’ Miller said. ‘You have to look at the bigger picture.’

The lawsuit argued that the state used Floyd’s and his business’ private property ‘for the benefit of the general public’ when it and local officials imposed restrictions to check the spread of COVID-19. Statewide restrictions started with Kelly’s order shutting down most businesses for five weeks, starting in late March 2020.

The lawsuit cited part of the state’s emergency management law that says people can seek compensation in court if their property is ‘commandeered or otherwise used’ by state or local officials. Miller said that language doesn’t cover COVID-19 restrictions, while the lawsuit contends it does.

Kriegshauser said it’s notable that the judge has been ‘struggling’ for more than 18 months with a decision on whether the case should go forward. Also, the Legislature whittled away over time at the power of the governor and local officials to shutter businesses or issue mask mandates in response to criticism of their actions.

‘Of course there is merit to this action,’ Kriegshauser said of the lawsuit.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Omega Bootcamps received two pandemic relief loans totaling about $24,000 in 2020 and 2021. In his lawsuit, Floyd said he wants an appraiser to be appointed to set the amount of damages owed by the state.

Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson noted those loans in defending the governor’s action.

Kobach was elected attorney general last year but served as secretary of state, Kansas’ top elections official, from 2011 to 2019, and Kriegshauser worked for him as an attorney and policy deputy in 2011-12. Lawyers outside the attorney general’s office have handled the state’s defense in the lawsuit.

Kelly’s action came the same day as the formal end of the U.S. national public health emergency for COVID-19. In Kansas, Republican legislative leaders forced an end to a state of emergency in June 2021, about three months earlier than Kelly wanted.

The lawsuit was put on hold by the judge in 2021 so that Kriegshauser could urge Kansas lawmakers to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to compensate small businesses for their financial losses during the pandemic. Republican lawmakers approved a plan that could have set aside tens of millions of dollars, but Kelly vetoed it, arguing that the ‘well-intentioned’ measure violated a national coronavirus relief law.

In 2022, Kelly and lawmakers agreed on providing up to $50 million worth of refunds on the local property taxes paid by retail ‘storefront’ businesses shut down or restricted during the pandemic, up to $5,000 for each business.

But critics have said the process of getting the aid is difficult, and the $5,000 cap discourages businesses from applying. The state Department of Revenue reported Thursday that it had approved 23 applications worth more than $22,000 in aid.

Gov. Gavin Newsom will likely announce that California, one of the few states to have a shortfall this year, may see an extra $5 billion in losses after reporting a budget deficit of $22.5 billion.California’s economic shortfall reflects a sagging stock market and delayed tax payments following a series of powerful and damaging winter storms. To cut spending, Newsom proposed delaying funding for a subsidized child care program which has angered California’s Democratic lawmakers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday is expected to announce an even bigger budget deficit than the $22.5 billion hole that he confronted in January, reflecting an economy burdened by a sagging stock market and disrupted by a series of powerful winter storms that delayed billions of dollars in tax payments.

California is one of the only states to have a shortfall this year, mostly because its progressive tax code relies on wealthy taxpayers whose income is closely tied to the performance of the stock market.

The deficit is small compared to the cash crunch that the state faced during the last recession. But the challenge for Newsom will be persuading lawmakers to spending cuts who are not accustomed to enacting them.

Since taking office in 2019, Newsom’s biggest budget fights with the Democratic-controlled state Legislature is how to spend California’s record-breaking surpluses. Agreeing on what to cut could be much more difficult.

Newsom’s plan in January was to cut money for flood protection projects, delaying an expansion of a subsidized child care program and canceling a $500 million plan to help small businesses pay higher tax rates associated with some state debt.

On Thursday, Newsom announced that he was restoring money previously cut from flood protection projects, plus introducing another $250 million in new spending, which includes raising a levee to protect the Central Valley community of Corcoran.

It’s not yet clear if he can or will relent on his other proposed cuts. Newsom signed off on an expansion of a subsidized child care program last year that would pay to help an extra 20,000 families. But because of the deficit, Newsom proposed delaying that funding for one year. He argued that the state was having trouble filling the child care slots it already had.

That angered some Democratic lawmakers, who said the reason the state was having trouble filling its child care slots is because there aren’t enough child care workers. On Monday, Democrats in the Assembly proposed $1 billion in new spending to increase the pay of child care workers.

‘Now, we just need to put a little pressure on the governor to make sure he’s on board,’ Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gomez-Reyes said on Wednesday while speaking to a rally of parents and child care workers at the state Capitol.

It’s not just child care though. Democrats in the state Senate want to raise taxes on 2,500 of the largest companies so they can cut taxes by about 25% for most other businesses — a plan that Newsom has already said he opposes. And environmental groups want Newsom to reverse his planned $6 billion cut to some of his climate proposals.

But restoring those cuts could be difficult. The situation has only gotten worse since Newsom first announced the deficit in January. California’s tax collections have continued to decline, falling $4.6 billion below what the governor’s office had been expecting. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says they expect the deficit to be about $5 billion bigger.

Then there’s the weather. Since January, California has been hit by roughly a dozen atmospheric rivers — intense storms that bring heavy rain and snow. The storms caused so much damage throughout the state that officials decided to give people more time to pay their taxes — extending the deadline from April to October.

That’s a problem now for Newsom and the state Legislature, which must pass a budget before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Delayed tax collection means they’ll have to make a plan without knowing how much money they have to spend.

The last time this happened was at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when taxpayers had extra time to file their taxes. Newsom and state lawmakers assumed the worst, approving a budget that slashed spending in order to cover what they thought would be a $54 billion deficit. But that deficit never happened because the pandemic’s impact on state revenues turned out to be less damaging than anticipated.

This time, California’s deficit looks to be for real. California’s Legislature taxes the wealthy more than other states. About half of the state’s money comes from just 1% of earners. That means that the state is vulnerable to big swings in the stock market, which is the source of wealth for most rich people.

The stock market has been down as the federal government has raised interest rates to combat inflation.

The downward turn has had the biggest impact on California’s massive technology industry as companies like Google, Facebook and PayPal have laid off thousands of workers. Earlier this year, Silicon Valley Bank — one of the nation’s largest financial institutions, whose clients were mostly in the tech industry — failed and was bought by North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank.