Former inmate at Elizabeth Holmes’ prison describes what she’ll see behind bars

Former inmate at Elizabeth Holmes’ prison describes what she’ll see behind bars
Former inmate at Elizabeth Holmes’ prison describes what she’ll see behind bars
Image Source/Getty Images

(TEXAS) — Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted fraudster and founder of failed blood-testing company Theranos, on Tuesday began serving an 11-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas.

Holmes, according to a source, self-surrendered with “little fanfare.” She was accompanied by her parents and husband Billy Evans.

She isn’t the only famous face at Bryan: Former “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” cast member Jen Shah entered the minimum-security facility in February after being sentenced to six and a half years for what prosecutors said was a telemarketing scheme targeting the old and vulnerable.

Holmes might have a humbling first job at the prison, according to a former inmate at the facility.

“That is Bryan’s rule,” said Lynn Espejo, who was convicted of defrauding her employer. “The policy is that every new person arriving gets cleared by medical and they have to go work in the kitchen for 90 days.”

That’s not a guarantee, though. Holmes could get a job elsewhere, such as the prison’s education department, and be excused from kitchen work, said Espejo, who now works as a prison reform advocate and was granted compassionate release in 2021 because of COVID-19.

There is also a program in which inmates train service dogs at the facility, or Holmes could teach classes to other inmates, Espejo said.

“Who’s to say Elizabeth Holmes will be in the kitchen tonight,” Espejo said. “By policy, she’s supposed to. But who knows if that’s going to happen?”

Holmes, Espejo told ABC News, will be dressed in a khaki jumpsuit, which is recycled from inmate to inmate, and will be sleeping on what she likened to a “kindergarten mat.”

“That’s basically what it looks like, those kind they fold out at school and take naps on,” Espejo said. “It’s not a good bedding. And you really feel like you’re laying directly on steel.”

There are four units at the prison camp facility, which is among the lowest level security facilities in the federal system.

But Espejo said it isn’t “camp cupcake,” as some describe it. She recalled “dilapidated” conditions when she served time there, including moldy showers and little hot water in the winter.

A source said that every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, movies are shown in common areas.

Holmes won’t be locked behind bars in her cell. Rather she’ll live in a room with two bunks and folding chairs in the middle.

Espejo said the hardest adjustment is being alone.

“I think it’ll be a cultural shock to her. I know it was for me when I first got there,” she said. “Missing your family is gut wrenching.”

ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ron DeSantis making presidential campaign debut in Iowa with church speech after pastor meeting

Ron DeSantis making presidential campaign debut in Iowa with church speech after pastor meeting
Ron DeSantis making presidential campaign debut in Iowa with church speech after pastor meeting
Erica Shires/Getty Images

(FLORIDA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday will hold a “campaign kickoff” outside Des Moines, Iowa, returning to a crucial early nominating state for the first time since announcing he is running for president.

DeSantis’ swing through Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday begins Tuesday night with a speech in Clive at the Eternity Church. Before that, he and wife Casey will meet with “15 local pastors who will be praying over the family and the Governor’s candidacy,” a spokesperson said.

Campaigning in the state, which is set to hold the first Republican presidential nominating contest early next year, has long meant up-close-and-personal interactions with voters, who relish their ability to size up White House hopefuls.

But DeSantis has already faced some scrutiny — and “awkward” headlines — about how he handles retail politics, something he is not well known for.

Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, who has a history of doling out influential primary endorsements, told ABC News in an interview that he believes some of the discussion around DeSantis’ ability to campaign is exaggerated.

“I’ve been around him and I think he connects very well with people one-on-one,” Vander Plaats insisted. “But I think his message is [that] he’s got a lot of results to communicate.”

Tuesday’s kickoff event begins a four-day trip for DeSantis through 12 cities and towns in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which his campaign has billed as “Our Great American Comeback Tour.”

The governor first announced his presidential run on Twitter along with Elon Musk, though the start of their event last week was overshadowed by tech issues.

“We know our country’s going in the wrong direction. We see it with our eyes and we feel it in our bones,” DeSantis said then, echoing a line from his campaign announcement video: “Decline is a choice. Success is attainable. And freedom is worth fighting for.”

Although Tuesday marks the first day DeSantis will visit Iowa as a presidential candidate, this will be the third time he has been to the state since the beginning of the year.

Former President Donald Trump is set to return to the state this week, too, following the cancellation of a rally in Des Moines earlier this month due to what his campaign said were tornado threats.

DeSantis enters the 2024 race as Trump’s biggest threat so far for the Republican presidential nomination, early polls show. (Notably, on the day that Trump canceled his Des Moines rally, DeSantis made a surprise appearance in the city instead.)

An erstwhile ally who backed DeSantis’ first gubernatorial campaign, Trump has been criticizing DeSantis for months, as it became more and more clear DeSantis would run against him in the primary. Among other issues, Trump has targeted DeSantis’ record given high COVID-19 deaths in Florida – while DeSantis has touted how he “cut against the grain” on government restrictions — and said last week that he “desperately needs a personality transplant.”

In recent days, DeSantis has ramped up his own criticism of the former president, invoking his 20-point reelection win in November — an enormous margin of victory in a famous swing state.

“He started attacking me leading into the midterm election. I don’t know why he did it,” DeSantis said in one radio interview. “Then, after I won a big victory, he wasn’t happy with that.”

“I view myself as a vehicle to bring about the aspirations of the people I represent, not about me personally,” he said. He also accused Trump of “running to the left.”

Vander Plaats predicted that DeSantis’ travels throughout Iowa will give many locals a chance at a first impression and allow DeSantis to draw a persuasive link between what he’s done in Florida and Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ similarly conservative record.

“I think [it’s] part of drawing that connection, because you’re always looking for a familiar ground with the people attending your events, and I think that’d be familiar ground,” Vander Plaats said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ron DeSantis makes presidential campaign debut in Iowa, calling for ‘American comeback’ from Biden

Ron DeSantis making presidential campaign debut in Iowa with church speech after pastor meeting
Ron DeSantis making presidential campaign debut in Iowa with church speech after pastor meeting
Erica Shires/Getty Images

(FLORIDA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday held a “campaign kickoff” outside Des Moines, Iowa, returning to a crucial early nominating state for the first time since announcing he is running for president.

DeSantis’ swing through Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday began Tuesday night with a speech in Clive at the Eternity Church. Before that, he and wife Casey met with “15 local pastors who will be praying over the family and the Governor’s candidacy,” a spokesperson said.

“Our great American comeback starts by sending [President] Joe Biden back to his basement in Delaware,” DeSantis declared at the start of his remarks, after walking onstage with his wife. His campaign said more than 1,000 people were in attendance, including in an overflow space.

DeSantis went on to criticize the “failed policies” flowing out of Washington — on crime, on the southern border, on energy production and on the state of the economy, including the cost of living.

More broadly, pointing to some of his familiar targets, he attacked “elites” — who had “continued to plunge this nation into the abyss” — and “woke ideology,” which he said unfairly singled out conservatives for unequal treatment.

“if Hunter were a Republican, he would have been in jail years ago,” DeSantis said to loud applause from the crowd, referring to the president’s younger son, who is currently under federal investigation. (Hunter Biden denies wrongdoing.)

Campaigning in the state, which is set to hold the first Republican presidential nominating contest early next year, has long meant up-close-and-personal interactions with voters, who relish their ability to size up White House hopefuls.

But DeSantis has already faced some scrutiny — and “awkward” headlines — about how he handles retail politics, something he is not well known for.

Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, who has a history of doling out influential primary endorsements, told ABC News in an interview before DeSantis’ speech that he believes some of the discussion around DeSantis’ ability to campaign is exaggerated.

“I’ve been around him and I think he connects very well with people one-on-one,” Vander Plaats insisted. “But I think his message is [that] he’s got a lot of results to communicate.”

Tuesday’s kickoff event begins a four-day trip for DeSantis through 12 cities and towns in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which his campaign has billed as “Our Great American Comeback Tour.”

The governor first announced his presidential run on Twitter along with Elon Musk, though the start of their event last week was overshadowed by tech issues.

“We know our country’s going in the wrong direction. We see it with our eyes and we feel it in our bones,” DeSantis said then, echoing a line from his campaign announcement video: “Decline is a choice. Success is attainable. And freedom is worth fighting for.”

Although Tuesday marked the first day DeSantis visited Iowa as a presidential candidate, it was the third time he has been to the state since the beginning of the year.

Former President Donald Trump is set to return to the state this week, too, following the cancellation of a rally in Des Moines earlier this month due to what his campaign said were tornado threats.

DeSantis enters the 2024 race as Trump’s biggest threat so far for the Republican presidential nomination, early polls show.

Notably, on the day that Trump canceled his Des Moines rally, DeSantis made a surprise appearance in the city instead — and seemed to jab at Trump during his speech Tuesday night when he said of that impromptu event, “The weather was so nice that we felt we just had to come back and pay everyone a bit of a visit.”

An erstwhile ally who backed DeSantis’ first gubernatorial campaign, Trump has been criticizing DeSantis for months, as it became more and more clear DeSantis would run against him in the primary.

Among other issues, Trump targeted DeSantis’ record given high COVID-19 deaths in Florida – while DeSantis has touted how he “cut against the grain” on government restrictions — and said last week that DeSantis “desperately needs a personality transplant.”

In recent days, DeSantis has ramped up his own criticism of the former president, invoking his 20-point reelection win in November — an enormous margin of victory in a famous swing state.

“He started attacking me leading into the midterm election. I don’t know why he did it,” DeSantis said in one radio interview. “Then, after I won a big victory, he wasn’t happy with that.”

“I view myself as a vehicle to bring about the aspirations of the people I represent, not about me personally,” he said. He also accused Trump of “running to the left.”

Vander Plaats predicted that DeSantis’ travels throughout Iowa will give many locals a chance at a first impression and allow DeSantis to draw a persuasive link between what he’s done in Florida and Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ similarly conservative record.

“I think [it’s] part of drawing that connection, because you’re always looking for a familiar ground with the people attending your events, and I think that’d be familiar ground,” Vander Plaats said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Man arrested in slaying of New Jersey councilwoman apparently knew victim from church

Man arrested in slaying of New Jersey councilwoman apparently knew victim from church
Man arrested in slaying of New Jersey councilwoman apparently knew victim from church
Borough of Sayreville

(VIRGINIA) — A Virginia man has been arrested for the murder of New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, who was gunned down outside her home in February.

Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, who apparently knew Dwumfour from church, was taken into custody Tuesday morning on charges including first-degree murder, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced at a news conference Tuesday.

According to Ciccone, Bynum was a contact in Dwomfour’s phone under the acronym “FCF,” which authorities believe stands for “Fire Congress Fellowship,” a church that the congresswoman was previously affiliated with, “which was also associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim’s church at the time of her death.”

On the day of the shooting, Bynum allegedly searched online for information on the Champion Royal Assembly church and the Sayreville area, according to Ciccone.

In the days before the murder, Bynum allegedly searched online for what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun, she said.

Bynum’s phone traveled from Virginia to New Jersey at the time of the murder, and Bynum’s physical description matched a witness description of the suspect at the scene, Ciccone said.

Officials did not discuss a possible motive and did not take questions from reporters.

Ciccone called it a “complex, extensive case.”

Dwumfour, a business analyst and a part-time emergency medical technician, was elected as a Republican to the Sayreville Borough Council in 2021, defeating an incumbent Democrat.

“There are no words that can be said to you to make you whole,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said to Dwumfour’s family, who attended the press conference. “I did not know Eunice. I wish I had. But I know that she was a public servant.”

“I hope that today is the beginning of a healing process, and also the beginning of a sense of justice,” he added.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Assailant pours gas on man and lights him on fire after verbal altercation escalated: Police

Assailant pours gas on man and lights him on fire after verbal altercation escalated: Police
Assailant pours gas on man and lights him on fire after verbal altercation escalated: Police
Facebook / Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office

(TAMPA, Fla.) — A verbal confrontation at a gas station has left one man in critical condition with life-threatening injuries after an assailant poured gasoline over him and lit him on fire, police say.

The incident occurred on Sunday at approximately 4:32 p.m. at a Mobile gas station on North 22nd Street in Tampa, Florida, when two men entered into a verbal confrontation, according to a statement published by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

“Earl Hargrove, Jr., 34, bought a small amount of gasoline from the gas station,” authorities said in their statement. “Hargrove then proceeded to pour the gasoline on the victim and lit … him on fire.”

The victim — who currently remains unnamed — was taken to Tampa General Hospital where he was listed in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Hargrove, Jr. is now facing facing charges of aggravated battery great bodily harm and attempted murder in the first degree.

“A verbal argument should never escalate to this level of violence,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “This suspect’s behavior is not only deplorable but will never be tolerated in our community. The suspect, in this case, is currently behind bars while we wait in anticipation for justice to be served.”

Anybody who has additional information on this case is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 813-247-8200.

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Murder trial of “Family Feud” contestant enters second week

Murder trial of “Family Feud” contestant enters second week
Murder trial of “Family Feud” contestant enters second week
Quincy Police Department

(QUINCY, Ill.) — The murder trial of a former Family Feud contestant accused of killing his wife enters its second week Tuesday in Quincy, a historic city in downstate Illinois that overlooks the Mississippi River.

Adams County prosecutors say Tim Bliefnick, 39, killed his estranged wife Rebecca Bliefnick, 41, in February at her house, located just minutes away from his own. Her body was found shot 14 times, officials said.

In 2020, Tim Bliefnick gained notoriety when he appeared on an episode of Family Feud, telling host Steve Harvey his “biggest mistake” at his wedding was saying “I do” to his wife. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion. Tim Bliefnick faces life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Dozens of witnesses, including friends and family of the couple and local police officers, testified in Adams County Circuit Court last week over four days. They revealed intimacies of the couple’s troubled relationship, which had fractured during divorce proceedings and involved court orders of protection.

On Friday, Quincy police detective Eric Cowick testified that he reviewed records of phone and laptops owned by the couple. The greatest evidence originated from Tim Bliefnick’s laptop, which included Google searches and website visits for instructions on how to pick locks, open windows from the outside, clean gunshot residue from a smoking gun, open doors with a crowbar and trace shotgun rounds fired from a specific gun.

Tim Bliefnick used an alias on Facebook to purchase a bicycle police found a half-mile from Bliefnick’s home after the murder, Cowick testified. Prosecutors said videos from neighbors show someone riding a bicycle in the area between both homes in the days leading to the killing.

Tim Bliefnick’s attorney, Casey Schnack, said the records of websites Bliefnick visited on his phone had no time or date stamp, which made them irrelevant and “only opens the door for speculation.” In her opening argument, she said the case “is dripping with reasonable doubt.”

The defense introduced several friends and co-workers of the couple who collectively painted a picture of Rebecca Bliefnick as a victim of verbal and emotional abuse from her husband. A text from Rebecca shared by Christine Moore, a family friend, revealed she was worried her husband would kill her.

“The thought has gone through my mind that I may need a restraining order … I’m definitely changing the locks as soon as I can. The only way to ensure all three [sons] choose him over me is to eliminate me as the choice,” she wrote.

Despite filing for divorce in 2021, the proceedings dragged on for years because several conditions were contested, according to attorneys who testified last week. The conditions included the location of a handgun owned Tim Bliefnick, custody arrangements involving the children and whether or not Ray Bliefnick, Tim’s father, could be alone with the three sons.

Denny Woodworth, one of Rebecca’s divorce lawyers, said Rebecca filed a temporary restraining order against Ray Bliefnick in August 2021 because she did not want him to have any contact with the couple’s children. Ray Bliefnick, a retired sales consultant in Decatur, Illinois, had purchased a house on the same block as Rebecca. She also filed a petition to have Tim Bliefnick return a handgun to her but his defense attorney revealed he could not find it.

Jerry Timmerwilke, Rebecca’s second divorce attorney, testified that Tim Bliefnick would consider evenly split custody of the children only if Rebecca would undergo a psychological evaluation. He said Tim wanted his father to have unsupervised time with the children.

Testimony from friends showed Rebecca worried Tim would turn violent and Ray Bliefnick would take their children away from her.

“I am scared of his behavior and constant lies … on top of that he has our guns and ammunition,” she texted childhood friend Nicole Bateman.

To Rebecca Spots, a co-worker, she wrote that she feared her father-in-law.

“It has gotten to the point that I hate even going to work for fear he will secretly take off with the kids and I won’t see them for a long time or ever,” she wrote.

Sarah Reilly, Rebecca’s sister, read a text to jurors from Rebecca in which she said “if something ever happens to me, please make sure the number one person of interest is Tim.”

Their final divorce hearing was not yet scheduled “because Becky Bliefnick was murdered,” said Josh Jones, an assistant state’s attorney.

Schnack, however, repeatedly emphasized to jurors that a messy divorce is not grounds for a murder conviction. She also said none of the witnesses reported the texts to law enforcement.

Closing arguments for the trial are expected early next week. Rebecca Bliefnick’s family has launched an online fundraising drive to support the couple’s three sons.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Aderrien Murry, 11, speaks out after being shot by police following 911 call

Aderrien Murry, 11, speaks out after being shot by police following 911 call
Aderrien Murry, 11, speaks out after being shot by police following 911 call
Courtesy Nakala Murry

(NEW YORK) — Aderrien Murry, the 11-year-old boy who was shot by police on May 20 after calling 911, spoke out about the harrowing experience in an exclusive interview with ABC News that is set to air on Good Morning America and GMA3 on Tuesday.

“I came out of the room like this,” Murry said with his hands above his head as he reflected on the incident in an interview with GMA3 co-anchor DeMarco Morgan.

“It felt like a Taser, like a big punch to the chest,” he added.

The boy’s mother, Nakala Murry, previously told GMA3 in an interview that aired on Thursday that her son was shot in the chest by a police officer who responded to their home in Indianola, Mississippi in the early morning hours of May 20 after her son called 911. Nakala Murry is now calling for the officer to be fired.

Nakala Murry told ABC News that she gave her son, Aderrien, the phone and asked him to call his grandmother, after Murry says she woke up around 4 a.m. on the morning of the incident, heard a knock on the window and saw her ex-boyfriend standing outside.

“I noticed he was kind of irate. And from dealing with him in the past, I know the irate version of him, what it could lead to,” she told GMA3.

ABC News has reached out to the ex-boyfriend but a request for comment was not immediately returned.

According to Nakala Murry, Aderrien first called the police and then he called his grandmother, who also called 911.

She explained that two officers responded to their home in Indianola, and her daughter’s father asked her not to open the door as police tried to break in.

“I heard a shot and I saw my son run out toward where we were,” she said recalling the shooting.

“[Aderrien] fell, bleeding,” Nakala Murry added.

Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone told ABC News on Wednesday that Indianola police officer Greg Capers fired the shot that hit Aderrien. Capers was suspended Monday, Featherstone said. ABC News’ attempts to reach out to Capers directly were unsuccessful.

ABC News has reached out to the Indianola Police Department but they declined to comment.

According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), which is investigating the incident, officers responded to a domestic disturbance at the home, and a minor was significantly hurt from an “officer-involved shooting.”

The results of the investigation will be shared with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the agency said.

Asked about the status of the investigation, the Mississippi District Attorney’s Office referred all inquiries to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

“The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office is tasked with reviewing and prosecuting all office- involved shootings. That being the case, we do not have any comment nor involvement in this investigation nor prosecution,” the DA’s office told ABC News.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reports to prison for defrauding investors

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reports to prison for defrauding investors
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reports to prison for defrauding investors
WIN-Initiative/Neleman/Getty Images

(BRYAN, Texas) — Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reported to a Texas prison on Tuesday to begin a more than 11-year sentence for defrauding investors with false claims about her company’s blood-testing technology.

Holmes arrived at the prison in Bryan, Texas, at about 12:30 p.m. central time wearing a tan cardigan and jeans. She was accompanied by her parents and husband, Billy Evans.

Since she was sentenced last fall, Holmes has failed in multiple requests to delay her incarceration as she awaits a ruling on an appeal.

The watershed moment on Tuesday follows a legal saga that turned the former billionaire entrepreneur, who swore her startup could run hundreds of tests on a single drop of blood, into a symbol of excess and deception in Silicon Valley.

A federal judge earlier this month ordered Holmes to report to prison after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied her request to remain free pending an appeal.

Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw the trial of Holmes, allowed her a short postponement of the start of her sentence to May 30 as she made final arrangements, including child care for her two young children.

Holmes will report to Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas. The minimum security facility houses other white collar criminals, including reality TV star Jen Shah, from the cast of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”

Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former romantic partner of Holmes and president of the now defunct blood testing company, began his nearly 13-year sentence at a prison in San Pedro, California, last month. Balwani, who was second in command to Holmes at Theranos, was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in December.

In denying a previous attempt to delay Holmes’ prison sentence, Davila said she had failed to raise a “‘substantial question of law or fact’ that is ‘likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial on all counts.'”

Earlier this month, Holmes and Balwani were ordered to pay $452 million in restitution to those who suffered damage from the company’s fraud.

Davila called on them to pay $125 million of that sum to media titan Rupert Murdoch, an investor in Theranos. Other victims in the case included the family of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and the Walton family, the founders of Walmart. Walgreens and Safeway, which had also struck multimillion dollar deals with Holmes to employ Theranos’ technology, were also included in a set of entities designated as victims deserving of restitution.

In November, Holmes was sentenced to 135 months, or 11 1/4 years, in prison.

Holmes was convicted in January on four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy while at the helm of Theranos.

The verdict followed a four-month trial that detailed Holmes’ trajectory from a Stanford University dropout in 2003 to a star business leader on the cover of Fortune magazine little more than a decade later.

But in October 2015, a bombshell Wall Street Journal report came out, detailing the turmoil within Theranos. As Holmes and her company were hit with official scrutiny, her fortune quickly dwindled. Less than a year later, Forbes downgraded its assessment of Holmes’ net worth from $4.5 billion to $0.

Facing charges of massive fraud from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Holmes agreed to forfeit control of Theranos in 2018.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Gina Sunseri and Miles Cohen contributed to this report.
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More than 40% of restaurant foodborne illness outbreaks caused by sick workers: CDC

More than 40% of restaurant foodborne illness outbreaks caused by sick workers: CDC
More than 40% of restaurant foodborne illness outbreaks caused by sick workers: CDC
KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

(ATLANTA) — Sick workers were behind a plurality of foodborne illness outbreaks and caterers in the U.S., new federal data shows.

In a report published Tuesday afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at outbreaks across 25 state and local health departments from 2017 to 2019.

They found that among outbreaks where a contributing factor was identified, four in 10 — or 41% — were caused by food contamination from ill or infectious employees.

This included handlers, workers or preparers making either gloved or barehanded contact with food.

“If a food worker stays on the job while sick and does not wash his or her hands carefully after using the toilet, the food worker can spread germs by touching food,’ the CDC writes on its website.

Of managers who were interviewed, 91.7% said their restaurant or establishment had policies requiring food workers to notify their manager when they were ill.

However, “often these policies were missing components intended to reduce foodborne illness risk,” the CDC said.

For example, 66% of managers said they had a written policy about workers notifying superiors regarding illness.

Only 69.5% specifies symptoms that would lead to restricting or excluding ill workers from working. But just 23% said their policy specified the five symptoms of foodborne illness workers needed to report to their manager including vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever and lesions with pus.

The report also found that under half — 43.6% — of managers interview said their establishments provided paid sick leave to any workers.

“Contamination of food by ill food workers is a top contributing factor to foodborne outbreaks in retail food establishments; therefore, identifying gaps in these establishments’ ill worker policies is important to outbreak prevention,” the authors wrote in the report.

“Health departments responsible for ensuring food safety in retail food establishments can use the findings in this report to assess their food safety priorities and guide their outbreak investigations and routine (i.e., preventive) inspections,” they continued.

The report also found that 17.6% was caused by contaminated food that was meant to be consumed raw, undercooked or underprocessed.

Another 10.6% of outbreaks were caused by improper or slow cooling of food and 6.6% were caused by either insufficient time, temperature or both during the cooking or heating process.

What’s more, when it came to what bacteria or viruses led to the outbreaks, norovirus was the most commonly identified cause at 47%.

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis, which is an inflammation of the inside lining of the gastrointestinal tract. In fact, it is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States, causing 58% of foodborne illnesses each year, according to the CDC.

This was followed by salmonella — a bacteria that lives in the intestinal tract of animals — accounting for 18.6% of outbreaks.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Debt ceiling deal to prevent default faces first big test in key House committee

Debt ceiling deal to prevent default faces first big test in key House committee
Debt ceiling deal to prevent default faces first big test in key House committee
Tetra Images – Henryk Sadura/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — The debt ceiling deal brokered by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces its first major test Tuesday, just days before a potential default.

With little time for delay, the powerful House Rules Committee, which controls how, when and whether a measure will be handled on the House floor, meets at 3 p.m. to consider the Fiscal Responsibility Act..

It will decide whether to advance the legislation so the full House can hold a planned vote on Wednesday and send it to the Senate ahead of Monday’s default deadline.

But at least two GOP members of the 13-person panel — made up of nine Republicans and four Democrats — have vowed to block the bill: Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of North Carolina.

The two hard-liners are members of the House Freedom Caucus, and the group will hold its own press conference hours ahead of the committee meeting where Roy and other members are expected to voice their criticism.

The deciding vote in Tuesday’s Rules Committee meeting could come down to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., another GOP hardliner and fiscal hawk who hasn’t made his position entirely clear.

If Massie backs the measure, it will be pushed through. But if he joins Roy and Norman in opposing the bill in committee, Republicans will need one Democrat to vote in favor to move the bill forward, though the minority panel members usually vote against the majority in such procedural actions.

Potentially complicating the matter further is Roy’s suggestion that McCarthy, during his speakership battle in January, agreed that “nothing would pass the Rules Committee” without seven Republican votes and the panel “would not allow reporting out rules without unanimous Republican votes.” Though the rules package passed in January doesn’t include such language.

Speaker McCarthy told reporters Monday he wasn’t worried about the committee meeting.

Getting the bill through Congress will hinge on support from moderates in both parties. The White House and Republican leaders have been holding calls and briefings to sell the deal, with more meetings planned, ABC News has reported.

Lawmakers face a time crunch to pass the debt ceiling deal because Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the “X-date” — when the government could run out cash to pay all its bills in full and on time — could happen as early as June 5.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said his chamber will take up the bill as soon as it passes the House. He advised his colleagues to prepare for possible Friday and weekend votes if there’s not unanimous cooperation.

If there’s a filibuster, it could push the chamber past the June 5 default deadline. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has previously threatened to “use every procedural tool at my disposal to impede a debt-ceiling deal” he didn’t agree with.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act includes a two-year government budget in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling through Jan. 1, 2025.

The bill would keep non-defense spending flat in fiscal 2024 and increase levels by 1% in fiscal 2025.

Despite pushback from both wings of the parties, McCarthy and Biden have expressed optimism the deal will be approved by Congress.

President Biden’s chief economic adviser, Lael Brainard, told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the agreement “has something from everyone.”

“As I am hearing from members, they generally believe this is a good deal,” Brainard said Tuesday on Good Morning America.

ABC’s Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

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