(WASHINGTON) — The House plans to vote Wednesday on a resolution that both censures Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and removes him from his committee assignments, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News.
Gosar last week tweeted an edited Japanese anime cartoon showing him stabbing President Joe Biden and killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. He later deleted the tweet.
On Tuesday, sources confirmed to ABC News that Gosar apologized for the tweet behind closed doors during a GOP conference meeting. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said he had also spoken privately with Gosar about the tweet, but it appears he did not take further action against him.
Gosar said his video was an attempt by his staff to reach a younger audience and was not meant to condone violence. He has not publicly apologized.
“I have never in 40 years seen such a vile, hateful, outrageous, dangerous, and inciting to violence against a colleague, ever,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said to reporters during a press call Tuesday.
“The fact that they would not take some action themselves or make some comments themselves, which I have not seen, is a testament that perhaps they are rationalizing, as they rationalize other items of criminal behavior, this particular action,” Hoyer said of Republicans.
The resolution would boot Gosar from the Oversight and Reform Committee, which he serves on alongside Ocasio-Cortez. It would also remove him from the Committee on Natural Resources.
Late Monday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters it was up to McCarthy to rein in and reprimand his conference members — but Democrats, outraged over Gosar’s behavior, insisted on a floor vote.
On Tuesday, Pelosi deemed the resolution as an appropriate measure.
“Why go after [Gosar]? Because he made threats, suggestions about harming a member of Congress…We cannot have members joking about murdering each other as well as threatening the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.
A censure resolution requires a simple majority of lawmakers present and voting. If it is approved, Gosar could be forced to stand in the center of the House chamber as the resolution condemning his actions is read aloud.
On Tuesday evening, Gosar tweeted out a meme that says, “God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers.”
Twenty-three members of Congress have been censured for misconduct, according to a 2016 Congressional Research Service Report.
Former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., was the last member of Congress to be censured — in December 2010 — accused of nearly a dozen ethics violations.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 765,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-FDA may issue guidance on boosters for adults as soon as this week
-Pfizer asks FDA for COVID-19 pill authorization
-21 states see at least 10% jump in daily cases
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 16, 4:40 pm
DC to lift indoor mask mandate on Monday, masks still required in White House
Washington, D.C., will lift its indoor mask mandate on Monday.
“Instead of following a blanket mandate, residents, visitors, and workers will be advised to follow risk-based guidance from DC Health that accounts for current health metrics and a person’s vaccination status,” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office said in a statement
Private businesses can still require masks.
Masks will still be required in places including public transportation, schools, child care facilities and nursing homes.
The White House will still require masks indoors, a White House spokesman said, because D.C. has a “substantial” level of community transmission, according to the CDC.
“The White House follows CDC guidance which recommends masking in areas of high or substantial transmission,” the spokesman, Kevin Munoz, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson, Ben Gittleson
Nov 16, 4:33 pm
American Academy of Pediatrics updates guidance for testing in kids
The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its testing guidance for children, aligning its recommendations with the CDC’s for fully vaccinated individuals.
AAP now recommends that fully vaccinated people, who were in close contact with someone with COVID-19, should be tested five to seven days after the exposure. It is recommended that individuals who are not fully vaccinated be tested immediately after they learn of exposure. If they test negative, they should be tested again five to seven days after their last exposure, or immediately after symptoms develop.
The CDC already recommended that vaccinated people get tested five to seven days after exposure.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Sony Salzman
Nov 16, 4:20 pm
FDA may issue guidance on boosters for adults as soon as this week
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet on Friday to discuss expanding booster eligibility for the Pfizer vaccine.
A government official confirmed to ABC News that the FDA may issue guidance on Pfizer and Moderna boosters for adults as soon as this week.
According to federal guidelines, boosters are currently available for: adults who received the Johnson & Johnson shot at least two months ago; Moderna/Pfizer recipients who are 65 and older and six months out from their second dose; and adult Moderna/Pfizer recipients who are six months out from the second dose and at higher risk because of a comorbidity, living or work environment.
But booster eligibility has already been expanded in some states this week, including New York and Arkansas.
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss
Nov 16, 2:10 pm
Pfizer asks FDA for COVID-19 pill authorization
Pfizer has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its COVID-19 pill, the company announced in a press release Tuesday.
Both Merck and Pfizer are working on pills that appear very effective at keeping patients out of the hospital, according to the companies.
The Merck medication could be FDA authorized, recommended and available by the end of the year. The FDA’s advisory committee is slated to discuss the Merck application on Nov. 30.
Authorization for Pfizer is not expected until early next year.
(KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis.) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers made a plea for peace as protesters gathered outside the Kenosha County Courthouse while awaiting a verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial.
After hearing two weeks of testimony and closing arguments, the Kenosha County Circuit Court jury started deliberating Tuesday in the closely watched trial.
Amid the wait for a verdict, Evers called for people to assemble “safely and peacefully” in Kenosha.
“Kenoshans are strong, resilient, and have worked hard to heal and rebuild together over the past year,” he tweeted Tuesday. “Any efforts to sow division and hinder that healing are unwelcome in Kenosha and Wisconsin. Regardless of the outcome in this case, I urge peace in Kenosha and across our state.”
Ahead of the verdict, Evers had previously authorized about 500 National Guard troops to be on standby to support public safety efforts if needed.
Local authorities said they “recognize the anxiety” surrounding the trial, but are not issuing a curfew or road closures at this time.
“Our departments have worked together and made coordinated efforts over the last year to improve response capabilities to large scale events. We have also strengthened our existing relationships with State and Federal resources,” the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and Kenosha Police Department said in a joint statement Tuesday. “At this time, we have no reason to facilitate road closures, enact curfews or ask our communities to modify their daily routines.”
Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
The charges stem from the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and a shooting that left 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz wounded during riots that erupted in Kenosha last year over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Those gathering outside the courthouse have included members of Blake’s family and Black Lives Matter activists, calling for justice for the three men shot, as well as Rittenhouse supporters — among them Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home last year.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson and Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Daniel Goldman, the former federal prosecutor who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment investigation of former President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday he will run for New York attorney general.
His announcement came in a two-minute video in which he cast himself as a public servant with a deep commitment to civil rights and equal justice.
Goldman told ABC News he decided to run because “democracy is under attack” and hoped to use the “broad authority” of the New York Attorney General’s Office to fight back.
“It started with Trump and now continues with Trumpism,” Goldman said. “There is a swath of the country that no longer believes in free and fair elections.”
Goldman joins what is expected to be a crowded and diverse field now that the current occupant, Letitia James, has announced a run for governor. Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout and state Sen. Shelley Mayer have announced their candidacies. State Sen. Mike Gianaris, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz are also said to be considering runs.
If elected, Goldman pledged to use the power of the office to uphold voting rights, reproductive rights and to fight the effects of climate change. While there is not always a legal avenue for the state attorney general in those pursuits, Goldman told ABC News “there is a pulpit and perch of a national relevance” and “vast authority within the attorney general’s office in upholding one standard of law.”
Recent occupants of the office, including the incumbent James and her predecessors Andrew Cuomo and Elliot Spitzer, used it as a springboard. Goldman spoke of no such ambitions.
“I’m doing this because I want to be the people’s lawyer,” he said. His decision to run became firm after Cuomo resigned as governor and James was rumored to be exploring a run for the office.
Goldman said he would work to make voters understand his “lifelong calling” as a champion of civil rights and criminal justice reform
Goldman, 45, is married with five children and lives in Manhattan. He was a history major at Yale and earned a law degree at Stanford before two judicial clerkships and a 10-year stint at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted organized crime and securities fraud. Then there was the 2019 role that made him a familiar face on television: lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment.
“Impeachment is the highest profile and most well-known moment of my career in public service but it demonstrates I’m unafraid, aggressive and will fight for what I believe is right,” Goldman said.
(NEW YORK) — Amazon will pay a $500,000 settlement related to California’s “right-to-know” labor law after state regulators alleged the retail giant failed to adequately notify warehouse workers and local health agencies of COVID-19 case numbers.
“As our nation continues to battle the pandemic, it is absolutely critical that businesses do their part to protect workers now — and especially during this holiday season,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “That’s why California law requires employers to notify workers of potential workplace exposures and to report outbreaks to local health agencies.”
Bonta said the judgement, which remains subject to court approval, will help ensure Amazon meets the state’s requirement for workers.
“Bottom line: Californians have a right to know about potential exposures to the coronavirus to protect themselves, their families, and their communities,” Bonta added. “This judgment sends a clear message that businesses must comply with this important law. It helps protect us all.”
California’s so-called “right-to-know” law, AB 685, requires that employers notify workers of COVID-19 cases at their worksites, provide employees with information on coronavirus-related benefits and protections, share their disinfection and safety plans and report COVID-19 cases to local health agencies.
The settlement requires Amazon to update COVID-19 notification policies and take further specific actions to help workers, according to Bonta’s office. It also requires Amazon to notify its tens of thousands of warehouse workers in California of new COVID-19 cases in their workplace and pay $500,000 toward enforcement of California’s consumer protection laws.
Barbara Agrait, an Amazon spokesperson, told ABC News the settlement is solely related to a technicality specific to California state law involving employee coronavirus-related notifications. She said no problems were identified with Amazon’s protocols for notifying employees who might have been in close contact with an affected individual.
“We’re glad to have this resolved and to see that the AG found no substantive issues with the safety measures in our buildings,” Agrait said in a statement. “We’ve worked hard from the beginning of the pandemic to keep our employees safe and deliver for our customers — incurring more than $15 billion in costs to date — and we’ll keep doing that in months and years ahead.”
She added that Amazon remains focused on being transparent with local health authorities. Moreover, Agrait said Amazon supports worker vaccinations and the company has hosted more than 1,800 free on-site vaccination events at Amazon facilities across the U.S.
Last October, Amazon released an analysis of data on all 1,372,000 Amazon and Whole Foods Market frontline employees across the U.S. employed from March 1 to Sept. 19, 2020. The company said that 19,816 employees had tested positive or been presumed positive for COVID-19 during that time.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 764,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-Pfizer asks FDA for COVID-19 pill authorization
-21 states see at least 10% jump in daily cases
-US sees increase in pediatric cases for 2nd week in a row
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 16, 2:10 pm
Pfizer asks FDA for COVID-19 pill authorization
Pfizer has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its COVID-19 pill, the company announced in a press release Tuesday.
Both Merck and Pfizer are working on pills that appear very effective at keeping patients out of the hospital, according to the companies.
The Merck medication could be FDA authorized, recommended and available by the end of the year. The FDA’s advisory committee is slated to discuss the Merck application on Nov. 30.
Authorization for Pfizer is not expected until early next year.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Nov 16, 1:59 pm
21 states see at least 10% jump in daily cases
The U.S. daily case average has surged to more than 80,000 — a 27% jump in three weeks, according to federal data.
Over the last two weeks, 21 states have seen at least a 10% uptick in daily cases: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Last week marked the first national increase in total hospitalizations in nearly 10 weeks, according to federal data. There are now more than 48,000 patients with COVID-19 currently receiving care, up by about 3,000 patients from a week ago.
Twelve states (and Washington, D.C.) have seen an increase of 10% or more in hospital admissions over the last week: Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 16, 12:01 pm
DC to lift indoor mask mandate on Monday
Washington, D.C., will lift its indoor mask mandate on Monday.
“Instead of following a blanket mandate, residents, visitors, and workers will be advised to follow risk-based guidance from DC Health that accounts for current health metrics and a person’s vaccination status,” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office said in a statement
Private businesses can still require masks.
Masks will still be required in places including public transportation, schools, childcare facilities and nursing homes.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Nov 16, 11:36 am
Times Square reopening to vaccinated revelers for New Year’s Eve
Times Square is reopening this New Year’s Eve after being closed last year due to the pandemic.
Revelers must bring proof of full vaccination and a photo ID.
“This has been a heroic city fighting through COVID. We are turning the corner. We’ve got a lot to celebrate. It’s going to be a big moment in Times Square on New Years Eve,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said, ABC New York station WABC-TV reported.
(NEW YORK) — Over 1 foot of rain pummeled the Pacific Northwest in five days, bringing rivers into major flood stages and flooding roads and neighborhoods.
In Whatcom County, Washington, in the northwest part of the state along the Canadian border, about 500 people were displaced Monday due to flooding, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said.
In Bellingham, in Whatcom County, the flooding and mudslides closed Interstate 5 overnight.
Flooding also shuttered Highway 5 in British Columbia, with one official calling the conditions “a disaster waiting to happen.”
High winds — with gusts up to 77 mph — toppled trees and knocked out power. An 18-wheeler was nearly knocked off a bridge.
Tuesday morning, the rain and snow showers will begin to taper off, with conditions improving by the afternoon. But major river flooding will still be an ongoing threat, and a flood watch remains in effect through Tuesday afternoon in parts of western Washington.
Three rivers are in major flood stage: Bogachiel, Nooksack and Skagit. The Skagit River in Mount Vernon is expected to rise to a crest of 37.6 feet by Tuesday afternoon, topping the 1990 record crest of 37.4 feet.
A winter weather advisory is also in effect; over 1 foot of snow possible in the highest elevations — above 1,500 feet — in western Washington.
Although nearly the entire western U.S. is in a drought, western Washington is the only area that is drought-free. Seattle has seen rain every day this month and parts of western Washington have received 40 inches of rain in the last 30 days.
The Pacific Northwest will dry out over the next few days, before more rain arrives later this week.
(NEW YORK) — Julius Jones has spent the past 20 years fighting for his life on death row, but on Friday a federal appeals court rejected his final appeal.
As of now, Jones will be executed this week on his scheduled execution date of Nov. 18 unless the Oklahoma governor decides to grant him clemency.
In September, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended commuting Jones’ sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The decision still remains with Stitt, who said in September in a news release that he was waiting to make a decision based on the clemency hearing.
“I am not accepting the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation to commute the sentence of Julius Jones because a clemency hearing, not a commutation hearing, is the appropriate venue for our state to consider death row cases,” Stitt said in a Sept. 28 press release.
On Nov. 1, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to recommend clemency for Jones in a 3-1 favor. As of Tuesday, Stitt hasn’t publicly announced a decision.
“Nightline” spoke to Jones’ family in September. Jones’ mother, Madeline Davis-Jones, said the parole board’s decision instilled renewed hope for her son’s survival and called the news “magical.”
“I’m still in shock, because it’s not over, you know? We still have so much ground [to] cover,” Jones’ sister, Antoinette Jones, said. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but it was a good feeling.”
Antoinette Jones said her brother was calm when he heard the parole board’s recommendation, as he knows work still has to be done to secure his freedom.
“He said, ‘I’m good. I’ll be even better when I get out and I can hug y’all and we can start helping change the world,'” Antoinette Jones said. “It was a relief. I could breathe a little bit easier.”
Jones’ sister remains hopeful that he will be freed, and said she can picture justice for her brother.
“Julius being able to feel the sun on his skin, the natural sun on his skin. It looks like him having no chains [on] when he gets to go outside,” she said. “It looks like freedom.”
Julius Jones was 19 years old when he was arrested for the 1999 murder of Oklahoma businessman Paul Howell, and sentenced to death in 2002. What followed were decades of public scrutiny and relentless work from his legal team.
“We think Julius was wrongfully convicted and that Oklahoma is at risk of executing an innocent man,” Jones’ attorney, Amanda Bass, said.
Now 41 years old, Jones has spent most of his life behind bars. Even after so many years, his sister and mother have yet to give up hope.
Before he was in prison, friends and teachers knew Jones as a champion high school basketball player who attended the University of Oklahoma on an academic scholarship.
That all changed in 1999 when Howell, 45, was shot in his family’s driveway after a car-jacking in the wealthy suburb of Edmond, Oklahoma.
Howell’s GMC Suburban went missing and his sister, Megan Tobey, was the only eye-witness.
“Megan Tobey described the shooter as a young black man wearing a red bandana, a white shirt, and a stocking cap or skullcap. She was not able to identify the shooter’s face because it was covered,” Bass told ABC News in 2018.
Two days after Howell was killed, police found his Suburban parked in a grocery store parking lot. They learned later that a man named Ladell King had been offering to sell the car.
King named Chris Jordan and Julius Jones to investigators and said the two men had asked him to help them sell the stolen Suburban.
“Ladell was interviewed by the lead detectives in this case. He told the police that on the night of the crime, a guy named Chris Jordan comes to his apartment. A few minutes later, according to Ladell King, Julius Jones drives up,” attorney Dale Baich told ABC News in 2018.
King accused Jordan of being the driver and claimed that he and Jones were looking for Suburbans to steal, but it was Jones who shot Howell.
“Both Ladell King and Christopher Jordan were directing police’s attention to the home of Julius Jones’ parents as a place that would have incriminating items of evidence,” Bass said.
Investigators found a gun wrapped in a red bandana in the crawl space of Jones’ family home. The next day, Jones was arrested for capital murder.
Jones’ attorneys say the evidence police found could have been planned by Jordan. They say Jordan had stayed at Jones’ house the night after the murder, but Jordan denied those claims during the trial.
In the years since, Jones’ defense team has argued that racial bias and missteps from his then public-defense team played a role.
Jones’ team has submitted files to the parole board that they said proved his innocence, including affidavits and taped video interviews with inmates who had served time in prison with Jordan. They said they allegedly heard Jordan confess to Howell’s murder.
In a statement to ABC News, Jordan’s attorney, Billy Bock, said that “Chris Jordan maintains his position that his role in the death of Paul Howell was as an accomplice to Julius Jones. Mr. Jordan testified truthfully in the jury trial of Mr. Jones and denies ‘confessing’ to anyone.”
Jordan served 15 years in prison before he was released.
In 2020, Jones’ story was thrown back into the spotlight when unlikely legal ally Kim Kardashian drew public attention to his case. Kardashian, who is studying to take California’s bar exam, has been vocal on the issue of the death penalty and prison reform and has campaigned to free a number of men and women who were incarcerated.
“Kim Kardashian, I felt like maybe one of my sorority sisters … she was down to earth,” Davis-Jones said.
Antoinette Jones said Kardashian put in the effort to help her brother.
“She sat down and she broke down my brother’s case. That means that she actually did the work,” Jones said. “She did the work to go back and check certain things, to point out certain things.”
“The fact that she told me that she was able to go see my brother, it was almost like she took a piece of him and brought it to us and then we could feel like he was there with us,” Jones added.
But despite all the efforts, Julius Jones’ execution date is still in place.
His family said they have to just wait to see if Stitt will agree with the parole board’s recommendation and commute Jones’ November death sentence. Three members of the Pardon and Parole board were appointed by the governor, a fact that gives Davis-Jones some hope.
“I’d like for [Stitt] to do the right thing, because the truth will set you free,” Davis-Jones said. “But most of all, being in leadership, I know sometimes it’s hard … to make decisions, [but] you have to try to make the right decisions.”
(NEW YORK) — With COVID-19 infection rates steadily increasing across the country, a growing list of states are now moving ahead of federal authorization, to recommend booster shots for all residents 18 years or older, six months after receiving their second COVID vaccine dose.
Last week, Pfizer formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to allow all Americans over the age of 18 to be eligible for booster shots.
However, in recent weeks, leaders from seven states — Arkansas, California, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and West Virginia — have moved to formally and informally endorse the expansion of booster shots to all adult residents who are at least six months out of their second Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
At this time, booster shots are recommended by federal agencies for anyone over the age of 18 who has received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, two months after receiving their first dose. Moderna and Pfizer recipients are encouraged to get a booster shot six months after receiving their second dose, if they are over the age of 65, have an underlying medical condition or are at high risk for exposure.
Earlier this fall, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice was the first state legislator to call for all residents regardless of their age or status of underlying condition, to receive a booster.
“I think that is absolutely the message that I’ve been trying to get out to people,” Justice reiterated on Monday. “I absolutely believe that if you’re 18 years of age, you can get your booster shot.”
On Monday, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson adjusted state policy recommendations to green light boosters for adults, adding that the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations on boosters are “somewhat confusing and limiting.”
Two states — Colorado and New Mexico — which have seen significant increases in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations have gone as far as to sign executive orders, urging all fully vaccinated adults to get boosters once they meet the six- or two-month thresholds, given the high risk for exposure and transmission in those states.
“We want to ensure that Coloradans have every tool they need to protect themselves from this deadly virus and to help reduce the stress on our hospitals and health care workers,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote.
The concerns over high transmission have also pushed other officials to pull the trigger on booster shots for all adults.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday that she is “strongly encouraging all New Yorkers who live or work in a high-risk setting to get the booster,” and in New York City, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, announced during a press conference on Monday that he is issuing a Commissioner’s Advisory to all health care providers to allow boosters for all adults.
Last week, in California, Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly also announced that he was encouraging residents to “absolutely” sign up to get a booster shot.
With winter holidays just weeks away, and millions of Americans expected to travel and gather with family members, some officials say the expansion of boosters is now more critical than ever.
“We think this is a big step we can take with the holidays coming up. We need as many people boosted as possible. It’s that simple,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday during a press conference.
Murphy signaled that he would likely formally support boosters for all adults, adding that “if you’re in doubt, get the darn booster.”
To date, more than 30 million people nationwide have received an additional dose of a COVID-19 vaccine since early August, according to federal data.
(LARIMER COUNTY, Colo.) — A small fire has sparked mandatory evacuations in a popular Colorado ski resort town as wind gusts threaten to fan the flames.
The Kruger Fire broke out Tuesday morning near Kruger Rock in Larimer County, just outside Estes Park, a mountain town with about 6,000 residents, fire officials said. The fire had reached 20 acres before 9 a.m., according to the Estes Valley Fire Protection District.
Red flag warnings have been issued throughout Colorado over high wind gusts topping 40 mph. Videos posted to social media show the fire crowning, indicating the possibility that it could spread quickly.
Last year, Estes Park was wedged between the two largest fires in state history– the East Troublesome Fire and the Cameron Peak Fire — but a snowstorm in October 2020 halted the fires in their tracks.
The neighborhoods of Little Valley Drive, Hermit Park and Uplands of Fish Creek Road were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday morning.
Additional information was not immediately available.
ABC News’ Jeffrey Cook contributed to this report.
