(ATLANTA) — Brianna Grier, the Georgia woman who died after falling out of a police car last month, died from a severe blunt force injury to the head, according to the preliminary findings of an independent autopsy ordered by her family.
“In this case, the cause of death is consistent with the severe blunt force injury that occurred inside of the head,” Dr. Allecia Wilson, a pathologist and the director of autopsy and forensic services at the University of Michigan, said at a press conference Monday to announce the findings.
Grier’s medical records from Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta showed she had two fractures, hemorrhaging and a subdural hematoma after falling out of a moving police car while handcuffed on July 15, according to Wilson.
The 28-year-old mother of two was arrested by Hancock County Sheriff’s Office deputies Lt. Marlin Primus and Timothy Legette on July 15 after Grier’s mother called 911 to report that her daughter was experiencing a mental health crisis. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Grier fell out of the car’s rear passenger door after it was not closed prior to transporting her to the sheriff’s office. She had been handcuffed in front of her body and was not wearing a seatbelt.
The results of an official autopsy being conducted as part of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s review of Grier’s death are still pending.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation told ABC News it did not have any investigation updates or comments to share at this time.
Body camera footage released in late July showed that the deputy thought he had closed the door, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The 10-minute clip shows officers struggling to get Grier into the backseat of the police car, but does not show how she ended up falling out of the vehicle.
“To put a handcuffed person in the back of a police car unrestrained … you can use your own common sense as to what likely happened, especially when we look at the pathology from the MRI reports about the violent trauma — the severe trauma and severe blunt force trauma — that caused her to be knocked into a coma and to succumb six days later,” attorney Ben Crump said Monday.
“So we continue to demand answers for this young Black mother who was experiencing a mental health crisis. She hadn’t committed a crime. She deserved to be protected like somebody worthy to protect and serve,” Crump added.
The body camera footage showed one deputy approach Grier as she lies in the road after falling out of the vehicle while saying, “How is your back door open?” to the other deputy.
Grier’s mourning parents spoke at the press conference asking for transparency and answers for their grandchildren, 3-year-old twins Maria and Mariah. They said they still haven’t been able to explain the tragedy to them.
“That’s why we’re here. We’re trying to get answers so we can finally tell them what’s going on and what’s happened to their mama,” Brianna’s father, Marvin Grier, said.
“I just want justice for what happened to my daughter Brianna Grier,” Mary Grier added, saying that she doesn’t want this to happen to any other mother.
Grier’s funeral is set to take place Thursday at West Hunter Baptist Church in Atlanta.
(ATLANTA) — The father and son convicted of federal hate crimes in the death of Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced Monday to life in prison.
Gregory McMichael, 66, chased 25-year-old Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, with his son, Travis McMichael, 36, who fired the fatal shot.
The McMichaels’ neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, who joined the chase and recorded video and was also convicted of federal hate crimes, was sentenced Monday to 35 years.
“I would like to say to Mr. Ahmaud Arbery’s family and friends how sorry I am for what happened to him on that day,” Bryan said in court, according to WSB radio. “I never intended any harm to him, and never would’ve played any role if I knew then what I know now.”
Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, told reporters after the sentencing, “When you get caught up and it’s looking bad for you, that’s when you’re trying to apologize? That’s a long time.”
“He should’ve did it day one,” he said. “‘Cause Ahmaud was lying on the ground dying and he didn’t do nothing to help him.”
Gregory McMichael said in court to the Arbery family, “I’m sure my words mean very little to you but I want to assure you I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“There was no malice in my heart or my son’s heart that day,” he said.
Travis McMichael did not make a statement.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told reporters outside the Brunswick, Georgia, courthouse, “I feel every shot every day that I wake up.”
All three men are already serving life in prison for Arbery’s killing after being found guilty of murder in a Georgia state court last fall. The McMichaels were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole while Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
The three white men were convicted in the federal case in February by a jury who decided that they followed and killed Arbery because he was Black.
After deliberating for less than four hours, the federal jury convicted all three men of being motivated by racial hate in interference of Arbery’s civil rights and attempted kidnapping. Travis McMichael and his father were also convicted of carrying and brandishing a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence. Travis McMichael was also found guilty of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
The McMichaels chased Arbery in their pickup truck after they saw him jogging in their neighborhood, falsely believing he had been responsible for several break-ins in coastal Georgia’s Satilla Shores neighborhood. Bryan joined the chase in his own truck, blocking Arbery from escaping, and recorded cellphone footage of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun after a brief struggle.
During the trial, prosecutors released text messages and social media posts in which Travis McMichael and Bryan repeatedly used racist slurs. Witnesses also testified to hearing both McMichaels make racist comments.
(WASHINGTON) — As President Joe Biden was leaving for Kentucky to survey flood damage, he was asked about China’s live fire military drills near the island of Taiwan.
“I’m not worried but I’m concerned that they’re moving as much as they are,” the president responded.
He added that he doesn’t believe the situation will escalate much further.
The war games are in response to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, which China views as its own territory and not a sovereign state.
Despite President Biden’s doubts, China said it’s extending its military exercises, and Taiwan expressed concern that the exercises appear to simulate an attack.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 08, 1:30 PM EDT
Pentagon announces new $1 billion military aid package
The Pentagon has announced a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine.
The package includes more missiles for the HIMARS advanced rocket systems; 1,000 more Javelin anti-tank weapons; 55,000 rounds of artillery for 155mm howitzers; and armored vehicles.
“This package provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons, and equipment that Ukrainians are using so effectively to defend themselves and will bring total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to approximately $9.8 billion since the beginning of this Administration,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The Treasury Department also announced Monday another $4.5 billion in direct economic assistance to help support Ukraine’s government, including paying salaries and keeping hospitals and schools open.
Aug 08, 9:49 AM EDT
More ships leave Ukraine, raising hopes for peace
Two dry cargo ships loaded with export grain were scheduled to leave the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdenne on Monday after a busy weekend that saw four additional cargo vessels sail through Ukrainian waters.
The vessel Sakura, carrying 11,000 tonnes of soy, was the first to leave the Ukrainian port of Pivdenne on Monday as part of an initiative to export grain from Ukraine, local media reported.
The ship set course for Italy in the company of another dry cargo carrier — Arizona — which left Chornomorsk, another Ukrainian Black Sea port, with 50,000 tonnes of corn on Monday. The Arizona vessel is bound for Turkey.
Another four-ship convoy left Ukraine on Sunday morning, carrying 170,000 tons of agricultural produce, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said over the weekend.
Pope Francis welcomed the safe departure of the ships on Sunday while speaking at the noon-day Angelus prayer. “This event can be seen as a sign of hope,” the Pope said, adding that the export deal charts the path forward toward peace. “I sincerely hope that, following this path, we can put an end to the fighting and arrive at a just and lasting peace.”
So far, around 250,000 tonnes of corn, as well as 11,000 tonnes of soybeans, 6,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and 45,000 tonnes of sunflower meal have been exported from Ukraine on 10 ships since the first departure on Aug. 1, when the deal to establish safe corridors for ships to pass through was struck, according to a Reuters data tally.
Ukraine is planning to send up to five cargo ships a day from three Black Sea Ports in the following weeks, the local Sea Ports Authority said on Monday. Local authorities are also working to ensure that Ukrainian ports can receive at least three to five ships per day within two weeks, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Saturday.
The resumption of grain exports is being overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, comprised of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel.
Meanwhile, the very first ship with Ukrainian grain that left the port of Odesa on Aug. 1 has been delayed in Tripoli, Lebanon, according to Ihor Ostash, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Lebanon.
“We are waiting for the conclusion of the negotiation process. Following this vessel, 20 others are already ready to leave Odesa,” the ambassador said on Sunday.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Fidel Pavlenko and Max Uzol
Aug 07, 1:35 PM EDT
Jessica Chastain meets with Zelenskyy
Actress Jessica Chastain was photographed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday in Kyiv following a meeting in which the Oscar winner expressed support for the country under siege by Russia.
“For us, such visits of famous people are extremely valuable,” Zelenskyy wrote on his verified Telegram account. “Thanks to this, the world will hear, know and understand the truth about what is happening in our country even more.”
In the post, Zelenskyy thanked Chastain for her support and published several photos of Chastain sitting at a table with Zelenskyy and two of his advisers.
Chastain has been vocal on social media regarding the plight Ukrainians are experiencing. In March, she tweeted photos published by Vogue Ukraine that highlighted the women being forced to give birth in bomb shelters are the start of the invasion.
-ABC News Christine Theodorou
Aug 05, 4:05 PM EDT
Russia shelled nuclear plant, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Friday.
Zelenskyy said forces twice struck the plant, which is in Russian-controlled territory in the southeast, and called the action “an act of terror,” in a statement released on Telegram.
“Russia should be responsible for the very fact of creating a threat to the nuclear power plant,” he said in the statement.
The facility is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
The Russian military, however, claimed it was a Ukrainian artillery strike that led to the reduction of activities of one power unit, and power falling at another.
They claimed 20 shells were fired at the city of Enerhodar and the power plant.
“Fortunately, the Ukrainian shells did not hit the oil and fuel facility and the oxygen plant nearby, thus avoiding a larger fire and a possible radiation accident,” Russia’s defense ministry said, according to Reuters.
Earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency officials said the situation at Zaporizhzhia was “out of control” as routine safety checks had not been observed. IAEA officials have appealed for access to the Russian-controlled plant.
Aug 05, 6:33 AM EDT
3 more ships carrying Ukrainian grain leave Odesa-area ports
Another three commercial ships carrying Ukrainian grain have departed from Odesa-area ports under a wartime deal, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said Friday.
The vessels are bound for Turkey, the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a combined total of 58,000 tons of Ukrainian corn onboard. All three ships will undergo inspection in Istanbul, as is required under the grain exports deal, according to the ministry.
The United Nations confirmed Thursday that three more grain ships — two from the port of Chornomorsk and one from Odesa — were cleared to depart through the designated “maritime humanitarian corridor.”
On Monday, the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain set sail from Odesa’s port under the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative, bound for the Lebanese port of Tripoli. Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Aug 04, 10:24 AM EDT
Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians, Amnesty International says
Ukrainian forces attempting to repel the Russian invasion have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, Amnesty International said Thursday.
The London-based international human rights group published a new report detailing such tactics, saying they turn civilian objects into military targets.
“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said in a statement. “Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”
Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers spent several weeks investigating Russian airstrikes in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine. The organization inspected strike sites, interviewed survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims of attacks, as well as carried out remote-sensing and weapons analysis. Throughout the probe, researchers found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in the regions, according to Amnesty International.
The organization said most residential areas where Ukrainian soldiers located themselves were miles away from front lines, with viable alternatives that would not endanger civilians, such as nearby military bases or densely wooded areas, and other structures further away. In the cases documented, Amnesty International said it is not aware of the Ukrainian troops asking or assisting civilians to evacuate nearby buildings in the residential areas, which the organization called “a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.”
Amnesty International, however, noted that not every Russian attack it documented followed this pattern. In certain other locations in which the organization concluded that Russia had committed war crimes, including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv, the organization did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in the civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military.
Aug 03, 11:21 AM EDT
Inspectors in Turkey clear 1st grain ship from Ukraine, but no sign of more
The first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain under a wartime deal has safely departed the Black Sea, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Monday, with more than 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn on board. The vessel docked off the coast of Istanbul late Tuesday, where it was required to be inspected before being allowed to proceed to its final destination, Lebanon.
A joint civilian inspection comprising officials from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the U.N. inspected the Razoni on Wednesday morning, checking on the cargo and crew. After three hours, the team cleared the ship to set sail for Lebanon, according to the U.N. said.
“This marks the conclusion of an initial ‘proof of concept’ operation to execute the agreement,” the U.N. said in a statement Wednesday.
It’s the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to safely depart the Black Sea since the start of Russia’s ongoing offensive, and the first to do so under the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative. Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Razoni’s journey a “significant step” but noted that “this is only a first step.”
No other grain shipments have departed Ukraine in the last two days and officials on all sides have offered no explanation for that delay.
The U.N. said Wednesday that three Ukrainian ports “are due to resume the export of millions of tons of wheat, corn and other crops,” but didn’t provide further details.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Aug 03, 9:58 AM EDT
Thousands flee ‘hell’ in Ukraine’s east
Two-thirds of residents have fled eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast since the start of Russia’s invasion in late February, according to the regional governor.
Speaking to Ukrainian media on Tuesday, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said some 350,000 residents remain in the war-torn region.
During his Tuesday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the hostilities in Ukraine’s east “hell.”
“It cannot be described with words,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian forces cannot yet “completely break the Russian army’s advantage in artillery and manpower, and this is very noticeable in the fighting,” he added.
Last month, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 200,000 civilians must be evacuated from the Donetsk Oblast before the weather gets colder, as there is no proper electricity or gas supply in the area for residents to heat their homes. Russian forces are also destroying heating equipment, according to Vereshchuk.
Zelenskyy has ordered the mandatory evacuation of Donetsk Oblast residents, urging them to leave as soon as possible. Those who comply will be compensated.
“The more people leave [the] Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill,” he said.
Although many refuse to go, Zelenskyy stressed that “it still needs to be done.”
Mandatory evacuation from Donetsk Oblast began on Aug. 1. The first two trains evacuated 224 people to the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi, according to local officials.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Photo courtesy of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors have moved to seize the $90 million Airbus A319 used as a private jet by a Russian businessman and parliamentarian known as the “richest man in the Duma.”
Andrei Skoch has been a member of Russia’s national parliament since 1999 and under U.S. sanctions since 2018 because of his “longstanding ties to Russian organized criminal groups, including time spent leading one such enterprise,” according to the Treasury Department.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. issued further sanctions against Skoch and his assets for “support[ing] the Kremlin’s efforts to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“Once again US law enforcement has demonstrated that international shell games will not suffice to hide the fruits of corruption and money laundering,” said Andrew Adams, director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force that has been moving to seize assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
Skoch came to own the Airbus through a series of shell companies and trusts tied to his romantic partner, according to a seizure warrant issued by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
U.S. dollar transactions were made to pay for the registration of the Airbus in Aruba and for aviation insurance premiums, each of which was a necessary expense to maintain and operate the Airbus, the document said.
Skoch is part owner of the steel company Lebedinsky Mining, which is now part of the conglomerate Metalloinvest.
The Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force is targeting sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their assets over their support for Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.
“The sanctions levied by the U.S. government and the work of this task force demonstrate to these offensively wealthy oligarchs who support Russia’s military aggression that they are not untouchable, and we are dramatically impacting their way of life,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael Driscoll.
Skoch, 56, is currently worth $6.2 billion, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List.
(NEW YORK) — The family of Gabby Petito announced Monday that they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the police department in Moab, Utah, where Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie were questioned last year about a possible domestic dispute.
Shortly after Petito and Laundrie were questioned by police on Aug. 12, 2021, Petito, 22, went missing.
Petito’s body was discovered last September in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. Laundrie, who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida, wrote in a notebook that he killed her, according to the FBI.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, an attorney for the Petito family, Brian Stewart, said officers from the Moab City Police Department “failed to properly investigate the reported domestic assault, and thus failed to fully appreciate or respond to Gabby’s life-threatening situation.”
“While the full evidence has not yet been made public, when it is released, it will clearly show that if the officers had been properly trained and followed the law, Gabby would still be alive today,” James McConkie, another of the family’s attorneys, said in the press release. “Failure to follow the law can have deadly consequences, as it did in this case.”
In a notice of claim sent on Aug. 5, attorneys representing Joseph and Tara Petito and Nichole and Jim Schmidt said they are seeking $50 million in damages.
Body camera images from the Aug. 12 incident show Petito and Laundrie talking to an officer after her 2012 Ford Transit was pulled over by Moab police. In one image, she appears to be crying while sitting in the back of a police vehicle.
The couple told police they were arguing and that Petito had slapped Laundrie, according to the police report. The couple also stated to police that Laundrie did not hit Petito.
In a statement at the time, Moab police said that “insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges” in that incident.
Petito had told police she suffered from severe anxiety and other medical conditions, which were redacted from the police report, and that the couple’s argument had been building for days. Police labeled the incident as a “mental/emotional break” rather than a domestic assault, according to the police report.
The incident took place about two weeks before Petito, who was on a cross-country trip with Laundrie, last spoke with her family, who reported her missing on Sept. 11.
Officials confirmed on Sept. 21 that a body found in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming was Petito. A coroner later ruled that she had died of “blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation.”
Laundrie returned to his parent’s home in North Port without Petito and was reported missing on Sept. 17.
Police found Laundrie’s remains in Carlton Reserve several weeks later, in October.
Shortly after Petito’s body was found, the city of Moab announced it would launch an independent investigation into its police department’s handling of the incident involving Petito and Laundrie.
In response to the independent report’s findings, the city of Moab said it planned to implement recommendations including providing additional training in domestic violence investigation and strengthening the review process for incident reports.
“As the Moab City Police Department continues its daily mission to serve our community, efforts are underway to provide additional resources and tools to assist them in addressing domestic violence incidents,” the city said in a statement. “Plans are in place to add a trained domestic violence specialist to oversee incidents investigated by Moab officers. We also will implement added and ongoing training and testing to ensure that the officers understand policies and procedures.”
The city also applauded the responding officers, writing, “Based on the report’s findings, the City of Moab believes our officers showed kindness, respect and empathy in their handling of this incident.”
The city has not yet responded to the announcement of the wrongful death lawsuit.
Stewart, an attorney for Petito’s family, said they hope their planned lawsuit helps to “prevent such tragedies” as Petito’s death.
“The Petito family believes that it is important as a society to hold our governmental institutions to account for such failures and to work toward changes to protect victims of domestic abuse and violence and prevent such tragedies in the future,” Stewart said in a statement.
Last week, the Petitos announced a $100,000 donation to the National Domestic Violence Hotline through The Gabby Petito Foundation, which the family formed after her death to support victims of domestic violence.
(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deployed a federal team to New York to investigate the case of polio detected in Rockland County.
The team will also help administer vaccinations in the county, according to ABC station WABC-TV.
It’s unclear how long the CDC will remain in the county or if the findings will be released to the public.
On July 21, the New York State Health Department announced an unvaccinated patient in Rockland County had contracted a case of vaccine-derived polio, the first case in the United States in nearly a decade.
This means the patient was infected by someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which is no longer used in the U.S.
Unlike the polio vaccine given by injection, which uses an inactive virus, the oral vaccine uses a live weakened virus.
In rare cases, the virus spreading through sewage can affect those who are unvaccinated. This is different from wild polio, which infects people by circulating naturally in the environment.
Since then, it’s been revealed the patient was a previously healthy 20-year-old man who had traveled to Europe. He was diagnosed after he went to the hospital when he developed paralysis in his legs.
Last week, the state health commissioner said “hundreds” of people in New York could be infected after the virus was found in wastewater samples in multiple counties.
As of Aug. 5, 11 samples were genetically linked to the Rockland County patient including six samples collected in June and July from Rockland County and five samples collected in July from nearby Orange County, health department data shows.
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett called on anybody who hasn’t received the polio vaccine to do so.
The statewide rate of polio vaccination is 78.96% while the Rockland County rate sits at 60.34%, state data shows. In Orange County, the rate is even lower at 58.66%.
“Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” Bassett said in a statement Thursday. “Coupled with the latest wastewater findings, the Department is treating the single case of polio as just the tip of the iceberg of much greater potential spread.”
The statement continued, “We must meet this moment by ensuring that adults, including pregnant people, and young children by 2 months of age are up to date with their immunization — the safe protection against this debilitating virus that every New Yorker needs.”
Neither the CDC nor the NYSDOH immediately returned ABC News’ request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — Joe Biden on Monday traveled to Kentucky to survey damage from severe flooding in the state — a visit that also marks his first presidential trip since he tested positive for COVID-19 last month.
He landed in Lexington on Monday morning to talk with local officials about the flooding, which killed at least 37 people after rain soaked the eastern part of the state. On Sunday, the president amended an existing emergency declaration for Kentucky to free up additional disaster assistance.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden are scheduled to meet with Gov. Andy Beshear and Kentucky first lady Britainy Beshear, according to the White House. The Bidens will also visit families affected by the flooding.
The president previously visited Kentucky in December to survey tornado damage in the state.
Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base before flying on Monday that he felt “great” and again tested negative for COVID that morning.
He was first cleared to leave isolation Sunday after testing negative for a second time following a so-called rebound case of the virus.
The president tested positive last month and, according to his doctor, experienced mild symptoms including a slight fever, cough and sore throat. He tested negative less than a week after that first positive test but received another positive test just days after that.
During his initial bout with COVID, Biden took Paxlovid, which is a key therapeutic for high-risk patients in preventing hospitalization and other severe outcomes. But it at times produces a rebound case after a patient finishes their course of treatment.
After he got the green light to leave isolation, Biden traveled to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, before traveling Monday to Kentucky.
(NEW YORK) — Scientists have made a distressing discovery on how global warming will affect known infectious diseases.
Climate hazards are expected to aggravate 58% of all known human pathogens, according to a study published Monday in Nature Climate Change. That’s over half of infectious diseases discovered since the end of the Roman Empire, Camilo Mora, a data analyst and associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawaii Manoa, told ABC News.
While the impact that climate change can have on human vulnerability to a range of diseases has been well accepted, the full threat climate change poses to humanity in the context of disease was unknown, according to the researchers. Past studies have primarily focused on specific groups of pathogens, such as bacteria or viruses, the response to certain hazards, such as heatwaves or increased flooding, or transmission types, such as food or water-borne.
Mora’s team systematically screened literature that revealed 3,213 empirical cases linking 286 unique, human pathogenic diseases to 10 climate hazards, such as warming, floods or drought. Of these, 277 pathogens were found to be aggravated by at least one climate hazard, with only nine pathogens “exclusively diminished” by climatic hazards, according to the study.
A whopping 58% of an authoritative list of infectious diseases documented to have impacted humanity have already been shown to be aggravated by climatic hazards — a finding the researchers found “shocking,” Mora said.
Examples of hazards include those that bring humans closer to pathogens, such as storms and floods, which then cause displacements associated with cases of Lassa fever or Legionnaires’ disease.
Other examples are events that bring pathogens closer to humans, in which warming increases in areas over which organisms that transmit diseases, such as Lyme disease, dengue and malaria, are active.
There is a broad taxonomic diversity of human pathogenic diseases, such as bacteria, viruses, animals, plants, fungi and protozoa, as well as transmission types — for example, vector-borne, airborne, direct contact — that can be affected by warming, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, extreme precipitation, floods and sea level rise, according to the study.
Shifts in the geographical range of species are one of the most common ecological indications of climate change, according to the study. Warming and precipitation changes, for instance, were associated with range expansion of vectors such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, birds and several mammals, which then were implicated in outbreaks by viruses, bacteria, animals and protozoans, including dengue, chikungunya, plague, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, Zika, trypanosomiasis, echinococcosis and malaria.
The researchers found 1,006 unique pathways in which climatic hazards, via different transmission types, resulted in cases of pathogenic diseases.
Warming at higher latitudes have allowed vectors and pathogens to survive winter, aggravating outbreaks by several viruses, such as an anthrax outbreak in the Arctic circle that may have stemmed from an ancient bacterial strain that emerged from an unearthed animal corpse as the frozen ground thawed, according to the study.
COVID-19 is an example of how one single disease can create a thematic change in society, Mora said, adding that he does not believe the most recent pandemic — and the animal-to-human transmission that likely caused it — could have happened without global warming.
This research reveals more evidence that humans will have difficulty adapting to climate change, especially those in developing countries, Mora said.
“The magnitude of the vulnerability when you think about one or two diseases — okay, sure, we can deal with that,” he said. “But when you’re talking about 58% of the diseases, and 58% of those diseases can be affected or triggered in 1,000 different ways. So that, to me, was also revealing of the fact that we’re not going to be able to adapt to climate change.”
Extreme weather events such as drought and wildfire in the West, flooding in both inland and coastal areas and extreme heat in places that previously did not experience such high temperatures are becoming more common, Mora said.
The findings reveal unique pathways in which climatic hazards can lead to disease, underlining the limited capacity for societal adaptation, and emphasizing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the authors said.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Sentencing is underway for the three men convicted of federal hate crimes in the death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shot on Feb. 23, 2020, was sentenced Monday to life in prison.
His father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan could also face life sentences. They’ll be sentenced Monday afternoon at the Brunswick, Georgia, courthouse.
The three white men were convicted in February by a federal jury who decided that they followed and killed Arbery because he was Black.
After deliberating for less than four hours, the jury convicted all three men of being motivated by racial hate in interference of Arbery’s civil rights and attempted kidnapping. Travis McMichael, 36, and his 64-year-old father were also convicted of carrying and brandishing a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence. Travis McMichael was also found guilty of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
The McMichaels chased Arbery in their pickup truck after they saw him jogging in their neighborhood, falsely believing he had been responsible for several break-ins in the Satilla Shores neighborhood. Bryan joined the chase in his own truck, blocking Arbery from escaping and recorded cellphone footage of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun after a brief struggle.
During the trial, prosecutors released text messages and social media posts in which Travis McMichael and Bryan repeatedly used racist slurs. Witnesses also testified to hearing both McMichaels make racist comments.
All three defendants are already serving life in prison for the killing after being found guilty of murder in a Georgia state court last fall.
