News Wrap: Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch deny rift over masks

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• Judy Woodruff:

  In the day's other news: The Biden administration is making 400 million N95 masks available to the public for free starting next week. Today's announcement said they will be available at pharmacies and at community health centers.

  And New Mexico became the first state to ask National Guard troops to serve as substitute teachers in order to keep schools open.

  U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch are denying a report — a reported rift over wearing a mask. Today, in a rare statement, they said — quote — "It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends."

  The justices specifically denied that Sotomayor, who is a diabetic, asked Gorsuch to mask up. NPR had reported that she joined oral arguments remotely because Gorsuch was not masked. It did not say she asked him to wear one. NPR said today that it stands by its story.

  Democrats in the U.S. Senate pushed again this evening for voting rights legislation, but Republicans moved again to block it. Democrats claimed new state voting laws smack of Jim Crow segregation. Two Black senators, South Carolina Republican Tim Scott and New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, clashed on that point.

• Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC):

  To have a conversation and a narrative that is blatantly false is offensive, not just to me or Southern Americans, but offensive to millions of Americans who fought, bled, and died for the right to vote.

  So, if we're going to have an honest conversation about the right to vote, let's engage in that based on the facts of the laws that are being passed.

• Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ):

  Don't lecture me about Jim Crow. I know this is not 1965. That's what makes me so outraged.

  It's 2022, and they are blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are over-represented. I'm not making that up. That is a fact.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Democrats also called for rules changes to let a simple majority prevail, but that too appeared to have no chance. We will return to this after the summary.

  In Afghanistan, the Taliban urged foreign governments to recognize their regime and to loosen restrictions on economic aid. The appeal came today at an economic conference in Kabul. Meanwhile, a U.N. labor organization reported that more than 500,000 Afghans have lost their jobs since the Taliban took control.

  An Islamic militant in Indonesia was convicted today of hiding information about the 2002 Bali bombings. Arif Sunarso had eluded capture for 18 years, before he was caught in late 2020. Prosecutors said that he belonged to a group blamed for bombing two Bali nightspots. The attacks killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.

  New information from Tonga confirms severe damage on several islands from Saturday's volcano eruption. A ship reached parts of the Pacific nation, and reports 50-foot tsunami waves wiped out nearly every home on three islands. In response, New Zealand has sent two ships with supplies and a desalination plant to provide clean water to thousands.

• Capt. Simon Griffiths, Aotearoa Navy Ship:

  For the people of Tonga, we're heading their way now with a whole lot of water. Now, the ship can hold — currently holds over 250,000 liters of water, and we will be able to provide that once we arrive. And then, every day thereafter, we're going to be producing another 70,000 liters of water.

• Judy Woodruff:

  The ships will reach Tonga by Friday.

  Back in this country, New York state's attorney general has laid out evidence that the Trump Organization exaggerated assets to win loans and tax breaks. That is in a court filing aimed at forcing compliance with subpoenas. It says, in one case, the company claimed that the Trump penthouse in New York was nearly three times its actual size. The Trump Organization rejected the allegations.

  Also today, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected President Trump's request to block release of White House documents sought by the House January 6 Committee.

  On Wall Street today, interest jitters sent major stock indexes down again by 1 percent or more. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 339 points to close at 35028. The Nasdaq fell 167 points. The S&P 500 dropped 44.

  And women's basketball pioneer Lusia Harris has died in her native Mississippi. In 1977, she became the only woman ever officially drafted by the NBA. She declined because she was pregnant. In college, Harris led Delta State to three national championships. In 1976, she scored the first points in women's Olympic basketball. Lusia Harris was 66 years old.