WATCH: What You Need To Know — May 19, 2021: Court To Take on Abortion — Biden Set to Begin Granting Pardons — New COVID Variant in U.S.

1. Most Conservative High Supreme Court to Take on Abortion

What You Need To Know:

After almost fifty years following the groundbreaking decision regarding the volatile and controversial issue of abortion, the Supreme Court announced it will hear a challenge to the state of Mississippi’s ban on most abortions. 

2. Biden Set to Begin Granting Pardons with Focus on Racial Injustice

What You Need To Know:

Officials with the Biden administration have begun reviewing clemency requests, a sign that the President could begin granting pardons or commutations by the 2022 midterm elections.

3. Coronavirus Update: Covid-19 Variant from India is Now in the U.S.

What We Need To Know: 

The B.1.617 coronavirus variant that is currently devastating India has arrived in the United States. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of May 8, the B.1.617 variant made up 3% of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

4. South Carolina Adds Firing Squad to Federal Executions

What You Need To Know:

Death row inmates in South Carolina are allowed to choose their method of execution and the options are fairly gruesome.

5. Why Artists Are Parting Ways With Their Song Catalogs

What You Need To Know:

It was once believed that rap and hip-hop would be a passing fad, yet those genres along with R&B have dominated the last decade of music and people are betting big on the future worth of nostalgia listening.