(MILWAUKEE) — Milwaukee Public Schools, the largest school district in Wisconsin, will give $100 to students who get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The district’s school board voted unanimously Thursday night to mandate vaccinations for staff by Nov. 1, with exceptions for religious or medical reasons.
The board considered a vaccine mandate for students but ended up unanimously approving a $100 incentive for MPS students 12 and older who provide proof of vaccination by Nov. 1., including those who already got their shots.
The district has about 31,205 students who are eligible for the vaccine, meaning the district could shell out as much as $3.12 million, administrators said during the meeting, the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reported. Money from the district’s $500 million federal stimulus installment will be used to fund the effort.
The school already has other COVID-19 safety measures in place, such as required face masks, HEPA filtration units and physical distancing.
“The COVID-19 vaccine is one of the most effective strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus,” Superintendent Dr. Keith P. Posley said in a statement. “We owe it to our students, teachers, staff, and community to take all possible steps to ensure safe schools.”
The district’s COVID-19 dashboard reports a total of 525 cases among students and staff since July 1, with 115 students testing positive the week of Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.
Over the last 14 days, there have been 448 cases among children under the age of 12 and 406 cases among 12 to 17-year-olds in Milwaukee, according to the city’s dashboard.
Nationwide, pediatric hospitalizations are a rising concern. Pediatric hospital admissions are at one of their highest points of the pandemic, with more than 2,355 children receiving care across the country for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections.
Debates over vaccine mandates continue to unfold in school districts across the nation.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Unified School District became the first large scale system to require eligible students to get the vaccine. All students ages 12 and up will be required to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 10, 2022, unless they have a “medical or other exemption,” the school district said.
President Joe Biden also announced that private businesses with 100 or more employees must require their employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.
(NEW YORK) — With the U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete after 20 years in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort in past weeks.
But even as the last American troops were flown out to meet President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline, other Americans who wanted to flee the country were left behind. The Biden administration is now focused on a “diplomatic mission” to help them leave but some hoping to evacuate are still stuck in the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban has announced its new “caretaker” government which includes men with U.S. bounties on their heads — and no women.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Sep 10, 11:33 am
2nd passenger plane takes off from Kabul
A second Qatar Airways flight has taken off from the airport in Kabul with an unknown number of Americans on board, a day after the more than 100 foreign nationals left Afghanistan on the first flight out since the U.S. military’s withdrawal.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed that 39 Americans had been invited on Thursday’s chartered Qatar Airways flight from Kabul and from that group, 10 U.S. citizens and 11 lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, flew out.
Another 43 Canadian citizens, 13 British citizens and others were also aboard.
The Biden administration offered some praise for the Taliban on Thursday for their cooperation as officials try to fly out some 100 Americans without U.S. troops or a State Department presence on the ground.
Sep 10, 8:00 am
US has ‘many means’ to get intelligence in Afghanistan, Mayorkas says
The United States has “many means” of gathering intelligence in Afghanistan despite not having boots on the ground, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.
“We no longer have troops in Afghanistan, but we have other resources to learn information on the ground and we certainly use those resources to the best of our abilities,” Mayorkas told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview on “Good Morning America.”
“We are quite creative and quite capable of learning information from coast-to-coast and all over the world,” he added.
Mayorkas noted that the U.S. government is watching the potentially re-emerging terrorist threat in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan “very closely.”
“We watch the threat landscape all over the world,” he added. “We have built an entire architect to protect, to safeguard the American people.”
But the greatest threat to the U.S. homeland is currently domestic terrorism, according to Mayorkas.
“Individuals who are prone to violence by reason of an ideology of hate or false narratives that we see on social media or other online platforms,” he said. “I think it’s a sad thing to see hate emerge, as we have observed it emerge over the last several years.”
With the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks approaching, Mayorkas said the government is not aware of any “specific credible threats targeting the United States” on the somber date.
“But we are vigilant,” he added. “We watch the information, we learn information; but at this point in time, we don’t know of any threat on the anniversary.”
Sep 09, 3:57 pm
More than 30 Americans invited as passengers on flight from Kabul, some declined
More than 30 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were invited by the U.S. to be passengers on the first chartered flight out of Kabul since the American evacuation mission ended, but not all said yes. Some said no because of medical reasons, extended family members or their desire for more time, among other reasons, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price said he could not give an exact number of those who did make Thursday’s flight to Qatar.
Echoing an earlier statement from the National Security Council, Price said he welcomed the Qatari Airways departure from Kabul. He said he hopes and expects more flights will be allowed to continue in the days to come.
Sep 09, 2:16 pm
White House confirms flight with Americans landed in Qatar, calls Taliban cooperation ‘professional’
National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne has confirmed that U.S. citizens and permanent residents were among the passengers on the first charter flight to leave the airport in Kabul since Qatar took over operations at the airport and that they have safely landed in Qatar.
The statement offered no passenger numbers, so it’s unclear how many U.S. citizens were on board, but it did provide some praise for the Taliban’s cooperation.
“The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights from HKIA. They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step,” the statement said.
(JACKSON, Miss.) — Mississippi health officials are urging expectant mothers to get vaccinated after a “significant” number of COVID-19 fatalities in pregnant women during the state’s delta surge.
The state health department is investigating eight reports of pregnant women who died from COVID-19 in the past four weeks, all of whom were unvaccinated, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said at the top of a COVID-19 briefing Wednesday.
“We do know that COVID is especially problematic and dangerous for pregnant women,” Dobbs said. “We also know it can be deadly for the baby in the womb.”
Compared to the rate pre-pandemic, the health department has seen a “doubling of the rate of fetal demise, or the death of the baby in the womb after 20 weeks,” Dobbs said. “It’s been a real tragedy.”
The warning comes as a majority of pregnant women nationwide have yet to be vaccinated. About three out of four pregnant women in the U.S. have not yet received a COVID-91 vaccine, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pregnant women are at higher risk for severe illness if they contract COVID-19, including “intensive care unit admission, invasive ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and death,” compared to nonpregnant women, according to the CDC.
As of Monday, at least 147 pregnant women had died from COVID-19 nationwide during the pandemic, according to CDC data.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the professional association for OB-GYNs, recommends that all eligible people, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Last month, the CDC also strengthened its recommendation for vaccination in pregnant women, with Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky saying, “it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people.”
After reporting four COVID-19 fatalities in pregnant women earlier in the pandemic, Mississippi did not have any others again for almost a year, until this past July, state data shows.
“Delta is different, and delta is deadly, and we need to do everything we can to prevent transmission,” Dobbs said.
The health department was still gathering details on the most recent maternal fatalities and the status of the infants, with more information to come next week. It was confirmed that several of the infants were born prematurely, “but are alive,” Dobbs said Wednesday. The health department reported a pediatric death due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, but that was not related to any of the maternal deaths, he said.
Health officials pleaded with pregnant women who had not yet been vaccinated to get the shot, along with the general public. Only 47.6% of Mississippi residents ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, fourth-lowest in the U.S., compared to 62.5% nationwide, according to CDC data.
“It’s getting easier and easier to find Mississippians that have a story about the tragedy from the delta variant,” Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection for the Mississippi’s health department, said during the briefing. “Don’t let that be a pregnant mom and expectant family.”
(NEW YORK) — Britain’s Prince Andrew and his lawyers have refused multiple attempts to serve the beleaguered royal with notice of a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him last month in New York, according to an attorney for his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and documents obtained by ABC News.
“Process servers have shown up at his residence, and they have refused to take the summons and refused to let the process servers in to serve,” said David Boies, chairman of New York City-based law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, which represents Giuffre. “He has stopped coming out in public. He has been moving around.”
The 61-year-old British prince was snapped by photographers on Tuesday in a black Range Rover as he was departing Royal Lodge in Windsor, England, the home he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. He was photographed again several hours later arriving at Balmoral Castle, the Scottish estate of his mother, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
“Runaway Prince,” blared a headline in one British tabloid newspaper, The Sun. “Prince Andrew bolts for Balmoral in bid to avoid being served sex assault papers.”
A spokesperson for the prince declined to comment to ABC News on those reports.
The lawsuit by Giuffre, an alleged victim of disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019, accuses Prince Andrew of engaging in sexual acts with her in 2001. Giuffre alleges the prince sexually assaulted her at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and elsewhere when she was under the age of 18. She contended she did not consent and that the prince knew “she was a sex-trafficking victim,” according to the complaint, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan on Aug. 9.
Prince Andrew, who also holds the title of Duke of York, has long denied Giuffre’s allegations, which first surfaced in court filings nearly seven years ago. The prince told BBC News in a rare interview in 2019 that he had no recollection of ever meeting Giuffre.
“I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact,” he said in the interview.
An initial hearing in Giuffre’s lawsuit is set for Monday. To date, no lawyer for the prince has appeared on the public record of the case.
Boies told ABC News that he plans to inform the court on Monday that, in addition to attempts to personally serve the prince at his residence, Giuffre’s lawyers have mailed the complaint, emailed several law firms believed to be associated with the prince,and sought the assistance of British court officials — under established protocols for serving foreign citizens with notice of a civil lawsuit in U.S. courts.
“We don’t have to actually physically serve him with a subpoena. All we have to do is follow certain recognized procedures, which we have done,” Boies said. “We will simply tell the court what we have done, and then it’s up to the court.”
A lawyer for Prince Andrew, however, has objected to the methods employed by Giuffre’s legal team, calling their actions “regrettable” and procedurally improper, and questioning whether Giuffre has a valid legal claim against the prince, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
“[Giuffre’s lawyers] have made several public, indeed well-publicised, attempts at irregular service of these proceedings in this jurisdiction, in at least one case accompanied by a media representative,” Gary Bloxsome, a lawyer with U.K. law firm Blackfords LLP, wrote in a Sept. 6 letter to senior master Barbara Fontaine, a British judicial official.
“These have included attempted personal service of our client at his home, the instruction of a private process server, and attempts to email the proceedings not only to this firm, but to barristers (who are not authorised to conduct litigation) who are known to have acted for the Duke,” he continued. “This is regrettable.”
Bloxsome contends British legal procedures require that a valid request for assistance from U.K. court officials must come from a judicial or diplomatic officer in the United States, not from Giuffre’s lawyers. If the judge overseeing the case makes such a request, Bloxsome wrote in the letter, “then it is likely that our client will be content to agree to a convenient method of alternative service.”
“However, absent being satisfied of some very good reason to do so, our client is highly unlikely to be prepared to agree to any form of alternative service while the approach to service of these proceedings remains irregular and the viability of the claim remains open to doubt,” Bloxsome added.
Although Bloxsome indicated in the letter that his firm is not presently involved in Giuffre’s case, he nonetheless raised questions about the viability of her claims, contending that a confidential 2009 settlement she reached with Epstein in Florida may contain a release of claims against others associated with her allegations against Epstein, potentially including Prince Andrew.
Bloxsome noted that “this settlement may have led last month to the dismissal by consent of similar causes of action Ms. Giuffre had included in her high-profile claim against Alan Dershowitz.”
Three days after Giuffre filed suit against Prince Andrew, she agreed to drop a battery claim from her long-running defamation lawsuit against Dershowitz, the famed criminal defense lawyer who formerly represented Epstein.
The agreement came after Dershowitz asserted that Giuffre’s confidential settlement with Epstein barred her from suing him for alleged battery.
Giuffre’s withdrawal of the battery claim was described in a joint court filing last month by lawyers for Giuffre and Dershowitz as “a compromise” that should not be viewed as an admission by either party of the validity or invalidity of the claims about the settlement agreement.
Giuffre has alleged in court filings that she was sexually abused on multiple occasions by Dershowitz, who was among a group of high-profile lawyers who — years later — represented Epstein during the negotiations that led to his so-called “sweetheart” deal with U.S. federal prosecutors in 2008.
Dershowitz has vigorously denied Giuffre’s allegations and counter-sued her for defamation, vowing to prove in court that she lied about him and other prominent men. On Wednesday, Dershowitz’s attorney sought permission from the judge overseeing his case to allow him to provide Prince Andrew’s lawyers with a copy of Giuffre’s confidential settlement agreement with Epstein. The court has not yet ruled on that request.
Giuffre is represented by a separate law firm, Cooper and Kirk, in her case involving Dershowitz.
Bloxsome argued in the letter that Prince Andrew’s legal team needs to review the confidential settlement before determining how to proceed.
“Once we are able to obtain a copy of the settlement agreement in Florida, which appears to be subject to confidentiality restrictions, we will be able to determine whether Ms. Giuffre has a viable claim,” he wrote. “Obviously until we have made that determination, it is difficult for us to give advice as to whether the Duke should voluntarily accept service.”
Boies said he was unable to comment on the details of Giuffre’s settlement with Epstein, citing its confidentiality. “But what I can say is that there is no evidence that Prince Andrew was intended to be covered by the release. And, indeed, Prince Andrew has never himself asserted that he was intended to be covered by the release,” he said.
Boies argued that whatever the prince’s legal team wrote in the letter to the U.K. official is insignificant unless his lawyers appear in Giuffre’s case in New York.
“I don’t know why they wrote what they wrote,” Boies said. “But unless and until they engage with respect to the complaint that we have filed here in the United States, anything they say is irrelevant.”
Giuffre’s lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and accuses Andrew of sexual assault as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me,” Giuffre told ABC News last month in a statement via her lawyers. “The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice.”
(NEW YORK) — Henry Ray Fischbach, a jazz singer from New York City, was playing a show at a neighborhood restaurant in July when he collapsed mid-performance.
“I was feeling fine until that last number and as I was performing that song, I started to feel very light-headed and weak,” Fischbach, who goes by the stage name Henry Ray, told Good Morning America. “I thought I was just very dehydrated.”
Fischbach, 66, had actually gone into cardiac arrest and his heart stopped beating.
As his wife and fellow concertgoers screamed for help, three doctors who happened to stop by the restaurant for an after-work drink rushed the stage to help.
“We could see he was on the floor and on his side,” said Dr. Matthew Simhon, an orthopedic surgery resident at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “His skin was very blue. We didn’t feel any pulse. He wasn’t breathing whatsoever.”
Simhon and his colleagues, Dr. Andrew Luzzi, also an orthopedic surgery resident at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Dr. Marc Dyrszka, a spine surgeon affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine, immediately began doing chest compressions on Fischbach to bring him back to life.
The trio of doctors worked on him for more than 10 minutes, until paramedics arrived with a more advanced defibrillator that successfully got Fischbach’s heart beating again.
Once he was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Fischbach was alert and able to realize how severe his condition had been.
“One of the EMTs in the ambulance told me, ‘You just died twice,'” recalled Fischbach. “He told me that there were doctors in the audience, but I had been unaware during the show that I was standing a few feet away from guys who would change my life, who would save my life.”
Fischbach was rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he had a stent put in his left coronary artery to relieve the blockage.
During his time in the hospital and after being discharged home, Fischbach never knew the names of the three doctors who had saved his life and never got to thank them.
That changed on Aug. 27, when, just one month after suffering cardiac arrest, Fischbach returned to the stage at the same restaurant where he collapsed.
“I got the chance to express the inexpressible, the gratitude for saving my life,” said Fischbach. “I dedicated that evening to the three of them and the gift of life and the gift of being able to celebrate music that evening.”
“They are the nicest, most humble doctors,” he added. “It’s amazing and they’re just like, ‘This is what we do.'”
Simhon and Luzzi said they were just grateful to be in the “right place at the right time.”
“Out of hospital cardiac arrest survival rate is very low, so it felt really good that we were able to contribute to his good outcome,” said Simhon. “It was really amazing that we were able to return him back to his life.”
Luzzi described seeing Fischbach back on stage after saving his life as a “mix of emotions.”
“Relief is one, gratitude is another for being in the right place at the right time and surprise is another one,” he said. “He was back in relatively short order up and dancing and singing again, which is pretty unusual.”
Both doctors also stressed the importance of people learning CPR and chest compressions so they too can step in and help in an emergency.
“To be able to do CPR, it really is the difference between life and death,” said Luzzi. “Unless someone else there also knew CPR and did what we did, [Fischbach] very likely would not have survived.”
(WASHINGTON) — Fencing outside U.S. Capitol is expected to return ahead of the “Justice for J6” rally, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.
The fencing, erected after the Jan. 6 riot, was removed in July.
“Justice for J6” is being billed by organizers as a protest for defendants who are being detained by the government in connection to the January insurrection at the Capitol.
The fencing is just the latest security measure for a rally that has some in law enforcement on high alert.
Federal law enforcement agencies have become concerned that far-right extremists, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys could come to Washington for the protest.
U.S. Capitol Police is the leading agency for the event.
“We are closely monitoring Sept. 18 and we are planning accordingly,” said Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger. “After Jan. 6, we made department-wide changes to the way we gather and share intelligence internally and externally. I am confident the work we are doing now will make sure our officers have what they need to keep everyone safe.”
Every available Capitol Police officer will be working and the Washington Metropolitan Police Department said they are also “fully prepared” for the protest.
“As with all First Amendment demonstrations, MPD will be monitoring and assessing the activities and planning accordingly with our federal law enforcement partners,” an MPD spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “MPD will have an increased presence around the city where demonstrations will be taking place and will be prepared to make street closures for public safety.”
Additionally, the FBI Washington Field Office said they are working closely with state local and federal partners.
Javed Ali, a former national counterterrorism director on the National Security Council said agencies have cause for concern.
“While the government has not yet issued threat bulletins about specific and credible plots on that day, like 6 January there may be people who attend in a highly agitated mindset and then switch quickly to violent action with little-to-no warning,” Ali said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Wednesday that information sharing is key to avoiding another incident like Jan. 6.
He said the Department of Homeland Security has increased information sharing efforts throughout the country.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 654,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 62.5% 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.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 10, 5:43 am
Milwaukee Public Schools to require COVID-19 vaccination for staff
All employees of Milwaukee Public Schools must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination by Nov. 1, unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption, school board members voted unanimously on Thursday night.
The board also decided that staff who qualify for an exemption must take COVID-19 tests twice weekly. Anyone who does not comply with the new vaccine mandate or is not exempt would be placed on unpaid leave and ultimately could lose their job.
Students are not required to get vaccinated, but the board approved monetary incentives of $100 for those who are 12 and older and can provide proof of vaccination by the Nov. 1 deadline.
Sep 09, 7:33 pm
LA school district to mandate vaccine for students
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education unanimously voted Thursday to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible students.
All students ages 12 and up will be required to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 10, 2022, unless they have a “medical or other exemption,” said the district, which is the second-largest in the nation with over 600,000 students.
All teachers and staff are already required to be vaccinated by Oct. 15.
“Today’s decision furthers our longstanding commitment to ensure the safety of our students, families, and staff,” Board President Kelly Gonez said in a statement. “The vaccine is the single best way to protect students and schools from COVID-19.”
(NEW YORK) — Jennifer Aniston is known for many things, and one happens to be her iconic hair.
Known to wear her classic “Rachel” haircut during her years on the hit ’90s Friends sitcom, the actress is now introducing her very own hair care brand, LolaVie.
The Morning Show actress shared a behind-the-scenes look at a campaign shoot for the brand on Instagram, which included several models wearing all black while Aniston grabs a shot of them with her smartphone.
“This project has been in the works for a long time and I’m so excited to finally be able to introduce it to you,” said Aniston. “So much hard work from our incredible team went into making this line — and we’re really proud to say it’s been made without all the bad stuff.”
Aniston said LovlaVie products are vegan as well as free of parabens, silicone, sulfate, phthalates, gluten and cruelty.
LolaVie’s detangling spray is infused with plant-based ingredients such as chia to protect strands from future damage, bamboo, which works as a thermal shield, lemon extract for shine and a superfruit complex that includes vegetable ceramides to aid with conditioning.
LolaVie is Aniston’s first venture as a founder as well as creator. She played a role in overseeing product development, marketing and creative direction.
The brand name was inspired by many of Aniston’s friends that affectionately refer to her as “Lola” in which she feels represents confidence, fearlessness and empowerment.
Aniston joins the list of celebrities such as Tracee Ellis Ross as well as Gabrielle Union-Wade who have also previously released hair care brands.
(NEW YORK) — With the U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete after 20 years in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort in past weeks.
But even as the last American troops were flown out to meet President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline, other Americans who wanted to flee the country were left behind. The Biden administration is now focused on a “diplomatic mission” to help them leave but some hoping to evacuate are still stuck in the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban has announced its new “caretaker” government which includes men with U.S. bounties on their heads — and no women.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Sep 10, 8:00 am
US has ‘many means’ to get intelligence in Afghanistan, Mayorkas says
The United States has “many means” of gathering intelligence in Afghanistan despite not having boots on the ground, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.
“We no longer have troops in Afghanistan, but we have other resources to learn information on the ground and we certainly use those resources to the best of our abilities,” Mayorkas told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview on “Good Morning America.”
“We are quite creative and quite capable of learning information from coast-to-coast and all over the world,” he added.
Mayorkas noted that the U.S. government is watching the potentially re-emerging terrorist threat in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan “very closely.”
“We watch the threat landscape all over the world,” he added. “We have built an entire architect to protect, to safeguard the American people.”
But the greatest threat to the U.S. homeland is currently domestic terrorism, according to Mayorkas.
“Individuals who are prone to violence by reason of an ideology of hate or false narratives that we see on social media or other online platforms,” he said. “I think it’s a sad thing to see hate emerge, as we have observed it emerge over the last several years.”
With the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks approaching, Mayorkas said the government is not aware of any “specific credible threats targeting the United States” on the somber date.
“But we are vigilant,” he added. “We watch the information, we learn information; but at this point in time, we don’t know of any threat on the anniversary.”
Sep 09, 3:57 pm
More than 30 Americans invited as passengers on flight from Kabul, some declined
More than 30 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were invited by the U.S. to be passengers on the first chartered flight out of Kabul since the American evacuation mission ended, but not all said yes. Some said no because of medical reasons, extended family members or their desire for more time, among other reasons, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price said he could not give an exact number of those who did make Thursday’s flight to Qatar.
Echoing an earlier statement from the National Security Council, Price said he welcomed the Qatari Airways departure from Kabul. He said he hopes and expects more flights will be allowed to continue in the days to come.
Sep 09, 2:16 pm
White House confirms flight with Americans landed in Qatar, calls Taliban cooperation ‘professional’
National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne has confirmed that U.S. citizens and permanent residents were among the passengers on the first charter flight to leave the airport in Kabul since Qatar took over operations at the airport and that they have safely landed in Qatar.
The statement offered no passenger numbers, so it’s unclear how many U.S. citizens were on board, but it did provide some praise for the Taliban’s cooperation.
“The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights from HKIA. They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step,” the statement said.
(RENO, Nev.) — Animal advocates are urging Nevada state officials to call off this year’s annual bear hunt as wildfires continue to rage across the West.
Wildlife advocates say hunting season should be canceled as the wildfire situation is so dire that bears are undergoing forced migration, potentially throwing the social dynamics of the territorial animals off balance. Several organizations penned a letter to the Nevada Department of Wildlife Wednesday following the emergence of several “heartbreaking photographs” showing bears either injured by the fires or searching for food and water in fire-ravaged areas.
“We need to give our bears a break,” Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Climate-fueled catastrophic fire isn’t just hard on us, it’s also hard on wildlife. Bears are struggling to survive and recover from the most difficult summer of their lives, and now they’re going to be chased by dogs and shot to death. It’s unacceptable.”
The annual bear hunt in the state typically involves packs of hounds with GPS collars that chase the bear up trees. The season is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, but eight of the 10 locations where bear hunting is permitted are in regions that have burned or are still burning, or are immediately adjacent to those areas, according to the organizations.
State law gives both the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners emergency powers to stop hunting in units where an emergency has been declared.
“Our black bears are iconic animals, and at a time of dire need the fate of individual bears is just as important as the fate of the population,” said Don Molde of the Nevada Wildlife Alliance. “Now is not the time to add additional harassment to what they’ve already suffered.”
Bears in the state are also suffering from the effects of climate change, as record heat and and drought are also placing significant stress on populations. Researchers are already seeing climate change have a direct effect on mortality and reproductive failure in bears in the West, the advocates said.
“Not only should the bear hunt be suspended in fire-affected areas — the agency and commission need to take disasters into account when setting their quotas going forward,” said Jeff Dixon of the Humane Society of the United States. “For wildlife policy to be science-based, wildlife management professionals need to factor in global warming’s impact on ecosystems when setting those policies.”
Critical fire threats were plaguing the West on Wednesday, posing the threat of new blazes to spark just as firefighters start to make significant progress in containing the existing wildfires.
Red flag warnings have been posted in several regions across the Northwest Thursday due to dry heat and gusty winds, especially over parts of the Northern Rockies and Northern California, where the Dixie and Caldor fires continue to rage.
Lightning from widely scattered thunderstorms expected in the Northwest could also combine with very dry fuels to ignite more fires in places like Oregon and Idaho.
In addition to the heavy fire conditions, 29 cities were expected to break or tie their daily record high temperatures Thursday. Excessive heat warnings are in effect for parts of the Southwest, from Las Vegas to Phoenix and the California deserts, where temperatures were forecast to hit dangerous temperatures up to 115 degrees, or even 120 degrees in Death Valley.
The heat will then shift over parts of the central Rockies on Friday. Air quality alerts are also in effect over parts of the Pacific Northwest and Rockies due to the wildfire smoke.
ABC News’ Brittany Borer and Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.
