(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday met virtually with Democratic governors to talk reproductive health care amid some party disappointment over the administration’s response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
New York’s Kathy Hochul provided a list to Biden of potential actions, including additional funding for family planning services more broadly so that providers can focus private dollars for abortion services.
Hochul also asked Biden to give more consideration to his ability to “use federal facilities” for abortion care — a move the White House has said would have “dangerous ramifications.”
“What am I talking about? Veterans hospitals, military bases and other places where the federal government controls the jurisdiction in some of the states that are hostile to women’s rights, and make sure that those services can be available to other women,” Hochul suggested.
New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham said she agreed “wholeheartedly” with Hochul’s assessment that there are more federal opportunities to protect women’s access to care, and suggested Indian Health Service clinic and sovereign tribal nations could be another avenue for Biden to pursue.
The president on Friday again decried the Supreme Court’s decision ending 50 years of abortion rights as “terrible.”
“I share the public outrage at this extremist court that’s committed to moving America backwards with fewer rights, less autonomy,” he said as he spoke with state leaders from the White House’s South Court Auditorium.
Biden also touted some steps he’s taken in the aftermath of the Roe decision, such as instructing the Justice Department to protect women traveling out-of-state for care and Health and Human Services to ensure access to federally-approved medication such as contraception and the abortion pill mifepristone.
But some Democrats say the administration should have been better prepared for Roe’s fall, given the decision released by the high court on June 24 was leaked in early May.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray expressed frustration that the Biden team wasn’t ready, telling ABC News on Monday that Biden should do “absolutely everything in his power to protect access to abortion in America.”
Other governors in attendance for the virtual roundtable were New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham, Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, Colorado’s Jared Polis, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Washington’s Jay Insee, Oregon’s Kate Brown and Rhode Island’s Daniel McKee.
Their states have moved to protect women’s access to reproductive health care before and after the high court’s decision.
In Connecticut, Gov. Lamont signed a new law strengthening abortion rights. The law, which also includes protections for medical providers and patients traveling from out of state seeking abortion, went into effect today.
Hochul has instructed the state legislature to add equal rights to the agenda of their special, stating that after today lawmakers will be a step closer to enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
“The rights of millions of women across this country are now falling on the shoulders of just a handful of states,” Hochul said.
In addition to urging more action from Biden, some of the governors in attendance also called on Congress to make Roe federal law by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act.
The president yesterday called for a carveout in the Senate filibuster to codify Roe, but acknowledged on Friday that he didn’t have the votes.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., view of the filibuster remains “unchanged,” her spokesperson told ABC News. Fellow moderate Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is also unlikely to support changes to the rule, telling reporters he wants to see a bipartisan solution.
Biden said Friday the American people need to elect more Democrats to the House and Senate to “get this bill to my desk.”
Biden predicted that a Republican-controlled Congress would try to pass a total ban on abortion.
“So the choice is clear: We either elect federal senators and representatives who will codify Roe, or Republicans who will elect the House and Senate will try to ban abortions nationwide,” Biden said.
(NEW YORK) — A week after the U.S. Supreme Court voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, ending a nearly 50-year precedent, several governors are moving to protect abortion rights in their states.
On Friday, New York is expected to pass a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion during a special session initially called to rewrite state gun permit laws in the wake of another Supreme Court decision that rolled back the state’s concealed carry restrictions.
The measure, which has been supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul, would codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception in the state’s constitution. It would also update the existing Equal Rights Amendment to extend protections to several new classes, including on the basis of sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy), disability, national origin, ethnicity and age.
The state Senate passed the measure Friday afternoon, sending it to the Assembly, which is also expected to pass it. An amendment to the state’s constitution would ultimately be decided by voters in a referendum after passing two separately elected state legislatures.
We refuse to stand idly by while the Supreme Court attacks the rights of New Yorkers.
I am issuing a proclamation to add equal rights to the legislature’s extraordinary session agenda — to enshrine the right to abortion access in the State Constitution. pic.twitter.com/M3LIMkYAOT
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) July 1, 2022
“We refuse to stand idly by while the Supreme Court attacks the rights of New Yorkers,” Hochul said on Twitter while sharing a proclamation to add the equal rights resolution to the state legislature’s session agenda on Friday.
In neighboring New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Friday afternoon abortion bills that protect health care providers and out-of-state patients. One bill bans the extradition of people who get or perform abortions in New Jersey to states that criminalize the procedure, and the second prohibits state agencies from assisting in investigations that release their information to other states.
The bills swiftly passed the state legislature in the wake of the Supreme Court decision impacting Roe.
“While others throughout the country are revoking a woman’s right to reproductive freedom, New Jersey will continue to defend this fundamental right in our state,” Murphy said in a statement Friday.
The laws follow other actions by the state to protect abortion rights in anticipation of Roe falling. In January, Murphy signed a bill that codified the right to an abortion into state law.
In Connecticut, a new law strengthening abortion rights goes into effect on Friday. The law, which was signed by the governor in May, protects medical providers and patients seeking abortion care who may be traveling to Connecticut from states that have outlawed abortion. It also expands abortion access in Connecticut by expanding the type of practitioners eligible to perform certain abortion-related care.
As the state becomes a “safe harbor” state for abortion care, Lamont also issued an open letter Friday urging out-of-state businesses to relocate to Connecticut, “a state that supports the rights of women and whose actions and laws are unwavering in support of tolerance and inclusivity.”
This morning, @LGSusanB and I sent open letters to businesses in states restricting abortion, urging them to consider relocating their business to Connecticut where we protect reproductive rights and support people once they’re ready to have a family. pic.twitter.com/UNcm2YaBx8
— Governor Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont) July 1, 2022
“With the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, there are many states across the country outlawing a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices. Not here in Connecticut. Not as long as I’m governor,” Lamont said in a video message, asking businesses to consider the state as a place where their employees and customers may better identify with its values.
Lamont also touted the state’s policies around paid family leave, child care and education for those seeking to start a family.
Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortion with the fall of Roe, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy research organization.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet virtually on Friday with nearly a dozen governors, including Lamont and Hochul, to discuss the administration’s efforts to protect access to reproductive care, according to a White House official.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump’s political action committee has paid nearly half a million dollars to multiple law firms that employ attorneys representing close allies of Trump who have been targeted by the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to a review of financial records by ABC News — an arrangement that committee members say raises concerns about the possible coercion of witnesses.
Trump’s Save America PAC began paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple law firms and lawyers connected to his allies in the committee’s crosshairs after the panel was first formed last summer, and continued the payments as the committee’s investigation began issuing subpoenas throughout the year, according to multiple sources and a review of Federal Election Commission filings.
ABC News has identified payments to at least five law firms that are connected to lawyers representing Trump allies subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee, totaling $471,000. None of the firms were paid by the PAC prior to the committee’s formation last summer, according to FEC reports. The payments continued until as recently as May of this year.
While the disclosure reports show Save America’s payments to these firms, the documents don’t show which specific lawyers the payments are intended for, or who the firms are representing.
Key allies of the former president whose attorney’s firms have received payments by Trump’s PAC include former White House aides Stephen Bannon and Peter Navarro, as well as his former special assistant Dan Scavino — all of whom have engaged in fierce legal battles with the committee in an effort to block their cooperation.
This week, a member of the Jan. 6 committee suggested that allies of Trump could be attempting to coerce committee witnesses by paying for their lawyers using money raised off of false election claims.
“We talked about the hundreds of millions of dollars that the former president raised, some of that money is being used to pay for lawyers for witnesses,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren said on CNN. “And it’s not clear that that arrangement is one that is without coercion, potentially, for some of those witnesses.”
In a statement to ABC News, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington pushed back on the committee’s suggestion, calling the panel “illegal and illegitimate” and saying the committee “does not have the facts, so instead they traffic in dishonest suggestions knowing the truth is not relevant to the Fake News Media.”
Bannon and Navarro, two of the former president’s fiercest supporters who have both been indicted by a federal grand jury on contempt of Congress charges, have both been represented by firms that have received money from Save America PAC.
The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Bannon in September 2021, citing “reason to believe” that the former Trump adviser had information regarding the Capitol attack. Bannon defied the subpoena and was ultimately indicted on contempt of Congress charges in November..
That same month, an attorney named Matthew Evan Corcoran from the firm Silverman Thompson filed a notice of appearance on behalf of Bannon to defend against contempt of Congress charges alongside David Schoen, who represented Trump during his second impeachment trial, according to court records reviewed by ABC News. Months later, campaign disclosure records show Trump’s PAC made a $50,000 payment to Corcoran’s law firm, Silverman Thompson, in May 2022. It was Save America’s first time paying the firm.
Then in June, former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was arrested after being indicted for his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 panel. Navarro, who’s been identified as a key player in the former president’s efforts to overturn the election, represented himself when he was first subpoenaed in February — but at least since mid-June, he’s has been represented by attorney John Rowley, whose firm JPRowley Law has received thousands of dollars in payments from Trump’s PAC since the committee was created.
Cleta Mitchell, a conservative lawyer who also played a key role in Trump’s efforts to hold onto power, was also represented by Rowley as she worked to defy the committee’s requests for cooperation.
In December 2021, Rowley, on Mitchell’s behalf, filed to block the committee from obtaining her phone and text records, according to court documents reviewed by ABC News. Mitchell later withdrew the motion and testified before the committee.
Rowley’s firm has received a total of $125,000 dollars from Trump’s PAC since November of last year. The firm was first paid $50,000 on November 29, 2021, which came two weeks before Mitchell filed to block the committee, then in May received two more payments totaling $75,000.
Other law firms representing close Trump allies facing Jan. 6 subpoenas, including his former deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino, current spokesperson Taylor Budowich, and former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik, have also been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars from Trump’s PAC, financial disclosure records show. Both Budowich and Scavino still work for Trump.
Scavino, one of Trump’s closest aides, was held in contempt by the committee after he offered limited cooperation with its subpoena. The Department of Justice earlier this month declined to pursue charges against him.
“This illegitimate committee is trying to drown innocent Americans in legal fees and assassinate their character with doctored evidence and dishonest innuendos — that’s the only coercion happening and the media is ignoring it,” Budowich said in a statement to ABC News. “I will not be intimidated by corrupt politicians who are trying to destroy our country.”
Budowich’s attorney, Michael Abel, cofounder of Abel Bean Law, said in a statement, “Our Firm’s representation of Mr. Budowich is a matter of public record. … We categorically reject any contention regarding the alleged coercion of witnesses. Never happened. Never would happen. Ever. Nor has something so outrageous or unethical ever been mentioned or suggested to us.”
Kerik’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore — whose firm, Parlatore Law Group LLP, received $25,000 from Save America PAC for “legal consulting” on April 22, 2022 — told ABC News that the Save America payment was unrelated to Kerik. A representative for Scavino did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Separately, former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson was initially represented by former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino, with her legal bills covered by Trump’s Save America PAC, according to a source familiar with the arrangement. But Hutchinson switched attorneys just before delivering her bombshell testimony to the committee earlier this week, and is now represented by a firm not paid by the former president’s political arm.
Since July 2021 when the Jan. 6 committee was formed, Passantino’s firm, Elections LLC — which has long received payments from Trump’s PAC — has been paid a total of $280,548 by Save America. It’s unclear how much of that amount was for Hutchinson’s legal bills.
Cofounded by Passantino and Trump’s former deputy campaign manager, Justin Clark, Elections LLC has been one of the law firms paid not only by Save America but also by Trump’s former presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The former Trump campaign, in particular, paid the firm tens of thousands of dollars every month from April 2019 through March of this year, totaling $1.3 million, as both Passantino and Clark aided Trump’s team in various legal matters, including contesting votes in states following the 2020 election.
Trump’s team has also been directing others to a legal defense fund set up by American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, sources tell ABC News.
Schlapp, who set up the “America First Fund” and has worked with Trump’s team to determine who would receive assistance from the fund, has said that the fund is “not going to assist anyone who agrees with the mission of the committee and is aiding and abetting the committee.”
At the close of Tuesday’s hearing, Jan. 6 committee leaders said they believe that some Trump allies who they did not name have attempted to intimidate witnesses who are cooperating with the special House panel. Sources have told ABC News that Hutchinson was one of the witnesses who told the Jan. 6 committee she was pressured by Trump allies to protect the former president.
“Most people know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns,” Rep. Liz Cheney said. “We will be discussing these issues as a committee and carefully considering our next steps.”
A lightly regulated political action committee, Save America PAC can spend its funds freely as long as its expenditures are property reported to the FEC, said Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance expert and the deputy executive director of the watchdog journalism project Documented.
But the PAC selectively covering witnesses’ legal fees raises ethical concerns, he said, especially when the PAC’s funds are controlled by a person who “arguably has the most at stake in the Jan. investigation.”
“The biggest ethical concern is that Trump’s PAC will cover legal fees strategically, in order to deter witnesses from cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee or to encourage favorable testimony,” Fischer said. “In other words, the worry is that there’ll be an implicit understanding that Trump’s PAC will only cover the legal fees of those who decline to fully cooperate with the committee, or that the PAC will withhold support to witnesses who provide testimony that Trump deems harmful.”
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — New York City became the first to launch a “Test to Treat” program that provides COVID-19 antiviral treatments, including Paxlovid, for people who test positive for the novel coronavirus, according to city health officials and White House response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha.
The treatments, which are provided free of cost, are available at three sites. The program will expand to a total of 30 sites by the end of July. The select testing sites are managed by the New York City Test & Trace Corps.
Clinicians will provide the treatment at the sites, which are currently located outside of local pharmacies to allow for the distribution of the medication.
The program launch comes as the city’s COVID test positivity rate is above 10% for the first time since January. The number of positive cases has also risen 10% from just two weeks ago, according to data from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Experts previously suggested the true test positivity rate could even be higher due to the number of people testing positive with at-home rapid tests.
This is a trend seen on the national level as well. According to data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, as of June 26, the seven-day average for the COVID test positivity rate in the United States was 15.65%, the highest figure recorded since Feb. 3.
The average number of daily COVID-19 related deaths has risen to over 300. The U.S. was reporting just over 2,700 deaths every day at one point in February.
“COVID is a formidable opponent,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference Thursday. “It pivots and shifts and we are clear that we are going to pivot and shift with it and we are leading the way in the country on how we utilize all of our assets to address this serious crisis that we have faced and that we cycle out of.”
The city has already been offering home delivery for city residents who receive a prescription for antiviral medication.
“We were the epicenter of the COVID pandemic at the start, but we’re leading the way [with] prevention and mitigation,” Adams said. “We are now leading the way again by having this mobile unit. This new public health service will help all New York to get access to life saving treatments.”
Equitable access to Paxlovid remains a significant issue across the country, noted Jha.
“This is about equity, this is about making sure that everybody who … can benefit from treatments gets it,” Jha told reporters. “This is about meeting people where they are. Literally going into neighborhoods, going into communities and making sure that we’re not asking people to come to us. That we are going to them and that is the ultimate public health.”
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters Friday that the upcoming launch of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s new three-digit number, 988, on July 16, “will work, if the states are committed to it.”
The new number, which advocates envision as the mental health equivalent to 911, Becerra said, “Won’t work well, if they’re not [committed].”
The Lifeline has been in operation using a 10-digit number since 2005. In the years since, the service has received more than 20 million calls from people experiencing mental distress.
With the launch of the new number, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (a division of HHS) expects a dramatic increase in the call volume for the Lifeline over the first year of 988’s implementation.
The Lifeline has been underfunded and understaffed since its establishment. Despite an influx of federal funding from the Biden administration, states across the nation are still struggling to develop the infrastructure required to ensure all calls are answered.
As the launch of the new number approaches, Becerra says, “Failure is not an option.”
The hope for the new number, Becerra says, is, “If you are willing to turn to someone in your moment of crisis, 988 will be there. 988 won’t be a busy signal and 988 won’t put you on hold.”
“You will get help,” he said. “That is the goal. That is the aspiration. And it doesn’t happen overnight.”
The Lifeline network consists of more than 200 call centers nationwide, which are funded largely at the state level. When Congress first designated 988 as the new Lifeline number in 2020, it gave states the authority to levy cell phone fees, similar to those in place for 911, to fund the service.
Only four states have implemented such taxes as of June 29, according to an analysis of state legislation around 988 from the National Academy for State Health Policy. Several other states have allocated general appropriations funding to assist with the launch of the new number.
Due to inconsistencies in funding at the state level, response rates also vary across state lines — a problem SAMHSA and HHS say they have been working to address ahead of the new number’s launch.
“There’s no reason, no excuse that a person in one state can get a good response and a person in another state gets a busy signal,” Becerra said.
The federal government previously allocated $105 million in funding to assist states and territories in preparing for the launch of the new number. An additional $177 million went toward funding the national backup centers that field calls unable to be answered at the local level.
Congress also recently authorized an additional $150 million for the Lifeline during Fiscal Year 2022 as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — a legislative package focused on combating gun violence.
“President Biden has made it very clear” that mental health services are a “top priority,” Becerra said, but added it is incumbent on states to stand this system up long-term.
Asked by ABC News about efforts to increase workforce capacity to meet the expected jump in call volume and a timeline for a consistent answer rate across state lines, Becerra said, “We went in big early to make it work.”
“We need the states,” he continued. “We are essentially helping the states learn to crawl, walk and run.”
Dr. John Palmieri, acting director of 988 and Behavioral Health Crisis at SAMHSA, added, “States are in different places on this.”
SAMHSA has set “aspirational targets,” Palmieri said, of a 90% in-state response rate by 2023, “understanding that it’s going to take time to get there.”
While the national backup centers can take calls that local centers can’t answer, advocates say a local response is ideal as it allows callers to be given follow-up resources near them after a mental health crisis.
“It’s really important for us that when you call, you get someone who is near you,” Becerra said.
In an effort to encourage states to bolster their own funding and workforce commitments for the Lifeline, HHS and SAMHSA have been sending letters to governors for the last few months with their call answer rates.
“We wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing,” Becerra said, adding, “No governor is unaware of where their state stands.”
Long term, he said, “I hope [988] does become the place that people can go to be rescued.”
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library/Getty Images/Stock
(NEW YORK) — One person in Illinois died after being infected with listeria, in a new outbreak that has infected a total of 23 people across 10 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC said all but one of those infected were hospitalized.
Listeria is an illness that typically affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC. It is rare for people in other groups to get the illness. Listeria is treated with antibiotics.
Symptoms vary based on the person and the part of the body affected. A rare version can cause fever and diarrhea.
Listeria outbreaks are typically traced back to one source, such as contaminated food products. The CDC said it is too soon to know the source of the outbreak, but said that most of the people who got sick lived in or traveled to Florida about a month before their illness. It is not clear if that is a coincidence, the CDC said.
For people who suffer a severe illness called invasive listeriosis, where the bacteria has spread beyond the gut, symptoms vary based on whether they are pregnant or not. Pregnant women usually experience fever and flu-like symptoms including fatigue and muscle aches. For others, symptoms include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions, fever and muscle aches.
Symptoms of severe illness usually start within two weeks after eating food contaminated with listeria, but could also start as early as the same day or as late as 70 days after.
It is usually a mild illness for pregnant women, but it can cause severe illness in fetuses and newborn babies. Infections during pregnancy can lead to a miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery or life-threatening infection in the newborn.
Five pregnant women became sick during the recent outbreak, one of which resulted in the loss of the fetus.
People ages 65 and older and people with weakened immune systems could develop severe infections in the bloodstream, possibly causing sepsis, or in the brain. Other parts of the body could also be affected, including bones, joints and sites in the chest and abdomen.
The CDC said anyone suffering listeria symptoms should call their local health department and report the case.
(ALLEN, Ky.) — A 49-year-old man is in custody after he allegedly gunned down two police officers and wounded several others in a mass shooting at his Kentucky home.
The shooting unfolded in Floyd County at about 6:44 p.m. local time Thursday, Kentucky State Police said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called it a “barricade situation.”
According to an arrest report, Lance Storz, who was armed with a rifle, fired multiple rounds at police officers around his home, killing two officers and a police K9.
Five other officers and an emergency management director were injured, the arrest report said.
The slain officers were identified by the sheriff’s office as Deputy William Petry and City Police Captain Ralph Frasure.
“Floyd County and our brave first responders suffered a tragic loss last night,” the governor tweeted Friday. “I want to ask all of Kentucky to join me in praying for this community. This is a tough morning for our commonwealth.”
Storz is in custody on multiple charges including murder of a police officer and attempted murder of a police officer. He entered a plea of not guilty and is being held on $10 million bond. Storz returns to court on July 11.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — New York lawmakers introduced legislation Friday that would ban the concealed carry of guns in a “sensitive location,” including Times Square and all mass public transportation, according to a draft of the bill.
The bill comes after a Supreme Court ruling overturned a state law that limited who could get concealed carry permits to people who had “proper cause.”
Sensitive places where guns cannot be carried include the subway, trains, buses and ferries, as well as government buildings, houses of worship, schools, libraries, public playgrounds, public parks, zoos, homeless shelters and polling places, according to the legislation.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced lawmakers’ intent to establish “sensitive places” legislation on Wednesday. The legislation was introduced in the state Senate during a special session called by Hochul that began Thursday.
The bill also seeks to ban the carry of guns on all private property by default, unless the owner of the property has signage permitting guns or has otherwise expressed consent to guns being permitted.
The law makes exceptions for law enforcement, peace officers, active duty military personnel and security, who would be allowed to carry guns in sensitive places. Those engaging in lawful hunting are also allowed to carry guns in sensitive locations.
The law would make carrying guns in the banned areas a felony offense.
A state-wide license and record database created and maintained by police will be checked on a monthly basis to determine continued accuracy and whether a person is no longer a valid license holder. The records are to be checked against records for criminal convictions, criminal indictments, mental health, extreme risk protection orders and orders of protections.
Another database would be created and maintained by police for ammunition sales.
Gun and ammunition sellers and dealers will also have to keep a record of all their transactions involving guns and ammunition.
The bill will also add a vehicle requirement to existing safe storage laws, requiring gun owners to lock up their guns in an appropriate safe storage depository out of sight from outside the vehicle and remove ammunition from the gun. Otherwise, gun owners would not be allowed to leave their firearm out of their immediate possession or in a car.
Hochul, in introducing the legislation on Wednesday, said this measure is meant to cut down on gun thefts from cars.
Currently, New York law requires gun owners to get safe storage for their guns, keeping them locked up, if they have children at home aged 16 or younger. The new legislation lifts that age requirement to 18 years old.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Friday announced the next list of recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords and actor Denzel Washington are among the 17 individuals chosen to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor. The ceremony will take place at the White House on Thursday, July 7.
Late Sen. John McCain, a Purple Heart recipient who represented the state of Arizona in Congress for decades before succumbing to glioblastoma in 2018, will be awarded the honor posthumously.
Biden and McCain’s friendship dated back to the 1970s, and the two worked together on a number of issues during their time in the Senate. In 2018, Biden delivered a moving eulogy at McCain’s memorial service, stating “we will not see his like again.”
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and former AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka also will receive posthumous awards.
President Joe Biden will be the first president to award the medals after already receiving one himself. Former President Barack Obama presented the medal to Biden in 2017, who was then serving as vice president.
“This honor is not only well beyond what I deserve, but it’s a reflection of the generosity of your spirit,” an emotional Biden told Obama during the ceremony. “I don’t deserve this. But I know it came from the president’s heart.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to people who have “made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
“These seventeen Americans demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation – hard work, perseverance, and faith,” the White House said. “They have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities – and across the world – while blazing trails for generations to come.”
Here’s a list of the other 11 Medal of Freedom recipients:
Sister Simone Campbell – Campbell is a member of Sisters of Social Service, and a prominent advocate for economic justice, immigration reform, and healthcare policy.
Dr. Julieta García – García was the first Hispanic woman to serve as a college president, having served in the top position at The University of Texas at Brownsville.
Fred Gray – Gray was one of the first Black members of the Alabama State legislature since Reconstruction, and a distinguished civil rights attorney whose clients included Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Father Alexander Karloutsos – Karloutsos is a former Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and as a priest provided counsel to several U.S. presidents
Khizr Khan – a Pakistani immigrant whose son was killed while serving in the U.S. Army, Khan served on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom under Biden.
Sandra Lindsay – Lindsay, a New York critical care nurse, was the first American to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Diane Nash – a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Nash worked closely with King and other civil rights leaders.
Megan Rapinoe – a World Champion and Olympic soccer star, Rapinoe is also an advocate for gender pay equality, racial justice, and LGBTQI+ rights.
Alan Simpson – Simpson has served in the U.S. Senate for nearly two decades, leading on issues such as campaign finance reform and marriage equality.
Wilma Vaught – Vaught is one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history.
Raúl Yzaguirre – Yzaguirre is a civil rights advocate who served as CEO and president of National Council of La Raza for 30 years, and was once the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
(NEW YORK) — In the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, scientists were hopeful it might herald the long-awaited turning point of the pandemic, not only bringing the threat of severe disease, hospitalization and death to an end, but also completely halting the spread of the disease.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said in December 2020 that if the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign went well, the U.S. could approach herd immunity by summer’s end and “normality that is close to where we were before” by the end of 2021.
A series of events last summer, including a widespread COVID-19 outbreak that hit highly vaccinated Provincetown, Massachusetts, soon swayed those hopes, as evidence emerged that vaccinated people were contracting the virus more frequently than initially expected and transmitting it to others.
In the months that followed the Provincetown outbreak, breakthrough infections would shift from a statistical anomaly to a regular occurrence.
Experts say current vaccines are still doing their most important job – dramatically reducing people’s risk of severe illness and death. But they are no longer hopeful vaccines will stop the virus in its tracks, now that it’s clear vaccinated people can develop mild disease and transmit illness to others.
The astoundingly high levels of protection against infection that was initially observed, especially for the mRNA vaccines, created by Pfizer and Moderna, have largely dissipated, especially for those with one or two doses combined with extremely transmissible variants.
“When it comes to vaccines and COVID-19 infection, there’s good news and bad news,” said Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center. “The good news is the vaccines are still doing an amazing job at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. The bad news is that effectiveness at preventing infection is a lot lower in the omicron era, and wanes quickly after vaccination.”
Despite the increase in the number of breakthrough infections, per capita data shows that unvaccinated Americans continue to have a greater risk of developing severe disease or death from COVID-19, than their vaccinated counterparts.
“Variant evolution and even subvariant evolution within omicron have shown that accumulation of mutations result in limited cross-protection when it comes to infection risk,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “The main question continues to be does infection matter in a world where serious outcomes are averted.”
But health experts say that despite mild outcomes for many vaccinated and boosted people, waning immunity and easily transmissible variants, high caseloads have the potential to strain public health systems and put the vulnerable at risk. In addition, long COVID-19 remains a risk, although vaccinated people are less likely than unvaccinated to suffer from it.
How protected are we really?
Although the vaccine’s protection against hospitalization remains strong, data collected in the U.K. found that being vaccinated was no longer enough to protect against mild or asymptomatic infection by June 2022.
Although effectiveness against severe disease remains relatively strong across all vaccines, emerging evidence suggests that that protection also wanes over time, and in the face of newly evolved variants. A CDC analysis found three shots was roughly 90% effective against emergency room or hospital visits in the months after the third shot, but that declined to 66-78% by four to five months out.
Given mounting evidence of the benefits of three doses, the CDC recommends an additional booster dose for adults and children 5 and older.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine also found that as the virus continues to evolve, each new omicron subvariant is increasingly likely to lead to reinfection or breakthrough infection.
Researchers found lower antibody responses against new omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.5 – now dominant – compared to prior omicron subvariants.
Thus, as evolving variants continue to escape protection, Doron stressed that widespread protection against infection is likely unrealistic.
“I believe it is not reasonable to expect the current vaccines to prevent infection,” Doron said. “The effectiveness isn’t high, and it is short-lived. It is not feasible to revaccinate people as often as would be needed to maintain any kind of level of protection from infection.”
Amid concerns of a renewed COVID-19 resurgence, federal officials are now in the process of deciding what type of vaccines should be made available in the fall, in order to better address variants that are increasingly getting better at eluding the immune response triggered by the vaccines.
The Food and Drug Administration said this week that it is asking the vaccine companies to produce shots for this fall that will give Americans the broadest and strongest protection against COVID-19 for its upcoming booster campaign.
The manufacturers have been advised to create vaccines that include two strains of COVID-19, the original strain and the most recent omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains that are currently dominant in the U.S.
Although the FDA’s group of advisers voted earlier in the week in support of moving forward with the new vaccine design, some reminded Americans that these new-and-improved shots will also not be able to offer total protection from mild infections.
Although scientists say they are not giving up on finding a vaccine that can prevent all infections, they creating such a vaccine is more difficult – a feat that very few other vaccines have accomplished.
Herd immunity no longer the goal
In the first months of the pandemic, reaching herd immunity was frequently discussed by public health experts as an important long-term goal in achieving national protection against COVID-19 and returning to normalcy in the face of a deadly and mysterious disease.
However, when the occurrence of breakthrough infections became more common, despite mass vaccination, the likelihood of herd immunity began to slip away.
“The more our understanding of COVID-19 has improved, the more we’ve realized that the theoretical end state of herd immunity is unachievable,” Brownstein said. “There will likely be a continuous race between the evolution of the virus and the background immunity achieved either through infection or vaccination. Unfortunately, evolution continues to outpace our ability to gain protection.”
Doron said that she believes that “eventually” the nation will have enough immunity to treat COVID-19 like other viruses that circulate regularly, when hospitalizations and deaths are not as widespread.
“I think we will have enough immunity as a population to treat COVID-19 like we do other respiratory viruses, where we stay home until we feel better and don’t structure our lives around the virus. Immunocompromised people will still need to be careful as they always are about catching infections,” Doron explained.
Providing clear goals and outlining the benefits of vaccination remains critical to encouraging uptake among the hesitant.
“Public health has to be more clear about the goals of vaccination programs,” Brownstein said.
Many health experts agree that the goal of the nation’s current vaccine drive cannot be to prevent every infection, as providing robust protection from hospitalization and deaths remains the most critical goal in the nation’s fight against COVID-19.
“If COVID-19 had always caused only the kind of infection that we currently see in boosted people, we wouldn’t have let it upend our lives the way we did. Ultimately, what’s most important is prevention of hospitalization and death,” Doron said.
However, Brownstein noted that it is important to consider the continued risks of long-COVID, which even with less severe forms of infection.
“While prevention of hospitalization and deaths remain the priority, post-acute conditions like long COVID-19 challenge this paradigm,” Brownstein added. “Muddied messaging has led to extreme divides between those who feel protected and those who still worry about long term impacts of infection especially with unknown variants around the corner.”
