East Texas hospitals struggling without safety net during latest COVID surge

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — As of Sunday, there were only six ICU beds open in Austin, 51 in San Antonio and 42 in Houston, critically low numbers for three of the nation’s largest cities, according to the latest state health department data.

In Austin, that number may be even lower due to a lag in ICU availability data reporting. “Yesterday we were down to two ICU beds,” Dr. Desmar Walkes, medical director and health authority of Austin-Travis County, said during a Tuesday press conference.

“What I am seeing during my shifts is just as bad, if not worse, than what I saw last year,” said Dr. Owais Durrani, an emergency medicine physician who works at several freestanding emergency departments and hospitals in East Texas. “Before COVID, sending patients home on oxygen was unheard of. We are now sending patients home on oxygen again due to hospital capacity issues.”

Critical access hospitals and freestanding emergency departments, like the ones Durrani works in, usually aren’t designed or staffed to keep patients for extended time periods. Instead, they rely on transferring patients to other facilities for critical care. But given the lack of available beds across the state, transferring is now nearly impossible, Durrani explained.

“We are having extreme difficulty transferring patients out,” he said. “I have personally transferred patients to other states due to not having any Texas beds.”

Even as cases and hospitalizations soar, Texas’ vaccination rate trails the national average. As of Monday, 53% of residents had received at least one dose, and 45% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with 59% of and 50%, respectively, of all Americans.

Durrani said everyone he’s personally admitted for COVID-19 treatment hasn’t been vaccinated, which can lead to worse outcomes even for those who have been.

He shared the story of a patient he treated with an acute medical issue that required surgery. ER physicians are trained to stabilize patients, not perform surgery. During non-pandemic times, that patient’s wait would have been a few hours. Instead, the patient sat in the emergency department for 16 hours because partner hospitals with surgeons were full.

“This patient of mine was vaccinated, not a COVID patient, but due to the pandemic brought on by the unvaccinated they received suboptimal care,” Durrani said.

Despite doctors and health officials across the state sounding the alarm, Gov. Greg Abbott has stood firm against public health mandates that helped drive down cases earlier in the pandemic.

“Going forward, in Texas, there will not be any government-imposed shutdowns or mask mandates,” Gov. Greg Abbott said last week during a speech. “Everyone already knows what to do.”

On Monday, Abbott addressed the hospital capacity shortage in a letter to the Texas Hospital Association.

“Among other strategies, hospitals could voluntarily postpone medical procedures for which delay will not result in loss of life or a deterioration in the patient’s condition,” the governor wrote. “Hospitals could also refer some COVID-19 patients to infusion sites, hereby freeing up hospital beds for more serious cases.”

Seeing hospitals fill up again is taxing on the health care workers, who are tired and fed up after battling COVID for a year and a half.

“This time it’s more anger than frustration,” Durrani said. “We went through this all of last year, and when we got the vaccine we saw a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Schools are opening and the governor has banned school mask mandates,” he said. “Health care workers are tired, infuriated and simply sick of the politicization of science.”

“What has the medical community done wrong?” he asked. “We’re trying to promote health and prevent this from happening, and yet, it seems like there are people who want to take those tools away from us.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

How to protect teens’ mental health as school year begins amid pandemic

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(NEW YORK) — When the pandemic began more than a year ago, the country changed overnight. For teens everywhere, there were a lot of unexpected adjustments — schools closed, extracurricular activities were non-existent and friendships were reduced to Zoom hangouts and virtual TikTok challenges.

The uncertainty of when or if school would resume in person, and then the reality that for many teens, an entire school year would be lost to the pandemic triggered feelings of anxiety, isolation and depression, experts said.

“For the extrovert kids who were used to being out and about, the pandemic brought a lot of anxiety and depression because of decreased social interaction,” Dr. Chioma Iheagwara, division chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Belmont Behavioral Health System, told “Good Morning America.”

On the other hand, “some kids who were struggling or being bullied in school started to thrive when removed from the school environment,” Iheagwara said. “Now they might be fearful about going back to school because the bullying could resume. The pandemic has been challenging for all kids, so how to support each teen really depends on where they started.”

5 tips to help support teens’ transition back to in-school environment

1. Re-establish routines and create a sense of normalcy

Creating routines can help minimize anxiety as teens start the school year.

“Normalize life as much as possible within the confines of dealing with the pandemic,” Iheagwara said. “Normalcy right now might be wearing a mask. Doing activities — enjoying life whenever possible, but that’s normalcy.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, re-establishing routines with sleep, family meals and other social activities, while helping teens to take personal responsibility to protect themselves and others can also help.

2. Look out for changes from baseline

Parents should keep an eye out for new eating habits — eating too much or too little — as well as new social habits or increased sensitivity. All of these could be signs of what mental health experts call “maladaptive” coping strategies, which are short-term attempts to reduce negative symptoms, without addressing or resolving those symptoms.

“If you know your child has anxiety, you know they are still going to have some level of anxiety and you prepare for that. But your teen who now looks more anxious, who’s now more isolated or irritable – if there’s a significant shift from the child that you know, something’s going on there and needs to be explored,” Iheagwara said.

3. Make a plan as a family.

With different rules around mask wearing from school to school, it’s important to know what’s happening in your teen’s school or school system.

Have “real honest and earnest conversations about what’s beneficial for you as a family — you might decide that means wearing masks no matter what the local guidelines.” said Iheagwara. “Discuss with your teen what the school expectations are around infection control and then what the household policies will be, including how you want to handle any illnesses that pop up in the family.”

4. Check in.

The pandemic has been a constantly changing and confusing landscape for over a year. It’s important to create safe spaces for teens to feel all the emotions associated with this experience. The first day of school might look very different a week or a month later, so checking in regularly on how a teen is handling the transition back to in-person learning will be important.

Pediatricians say parents can play an important role in setting the tone in the household. Expressing extreme doom or fear can affect your teen, but together, identifying self-care activities and productive ways to process any stress or anxiety can go a long way. “Keeping a normal routine and keeping lines of communication open between parents and teens is the most important thing,” Iheagwara said.

5. Get extra support.

Families should reach out to their pediatrician, or a mental health provider if available.

“School counselors and school behavioral health counselors can also offer support or additional resources – for emergencies, many states have crisis response centers, as an alternative to a traditional hospital emergency departments,” Iheagwara said.

There are also apps and online resources for teens at the ready that can be beneficial.

Companies like Limbix, Akili and Pear Therapeutics have digital products offering support for several adolescent mental health concerns.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry offers several resources, the CDC and AAP also have online resources for teens and families.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A record number of women of color are in Congress. The eviction fight shows why it matters

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(WASHINGTON) — One year after Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., won her historic primary race, the congresswoman and Black Lives Matter activist won a battle waged on the steps of the U.S. Capitol based on her own life experiences.

Bush, a longtime community organizer in Ferguson, Missouri, galvanized a group of Democratic lawmakers in an overnight protest and camped outside the Capitol for five nights to draw attention to federal eviction moratorium and to compel her peers in Congress to understand an experience that for her, hit home.

“I’ve been evicted three times in my life — once following a violent domestic assault in which a former partner left me for dead. I’ve lived out of my car for months with my two babies. I’ve seen my belongings in trash bags along my backseat,” Bush wrote in a CNN op-ed published Aug. 6. “I know what that notice on the door means. Cold from the elements or wondering where I could find a bathroom, I’ve wondered who was speaking up in DC for people in my situation.”

According to a December 2020 study by Princeton University’s The Eviction Lab, eviction filings and eviction rates were significantly higher for Black renters than for white renters, while women — particularly Black and Latino female renters — and faced higher eviction rates than their male counterparts.

The freshman lawmaker was sworn into the 117th Congress in January, along with a record number of women and women of color. Bush was welcomed into the “the squad” — a group of progressive congresswomen of color that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley — all of whom rallied with Bush in her eviction fight.

Omar, who is one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, told ABC News Live last week that her experience as a Somali refugee drove her to speak out.

“I spent the first night with Cori and Ayanna … because we, the three of us, know what it means to be unhoused,” the Minnesota Democrat said. “You know, I obviously fled conflict and was forcefully removed from my home and spent years in a refugee camp, but I know how deeply unsettling it is when you don’t have the comfort of your home.”

According to Nadia Brown, a professor of government and African American studies at Georgetown University, the eviction fight shows why “representation matters” because it highlights diverse experiences and stories that are historically rare on Capitol Hill.

“The optimistic part is, yes, that Congress has more people of color, has more queer people, the number of younger Congress people has increased; people that are first-generation has also increased. But it’s still overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly wealthy … but the reason why we’re paying attention to Ilhan Omar, to Cori Bush, it’s because they’re outliers,” she said.

Brown added that historically the identities of “activist” and “politician” were seen as separate but those identities converge in lawmakers like Bush and Omar who embrace their roots in activism in how they serve their constituents in Congress.

“This is something new,” Brown said. “I had the opportunity to interview Cori Bush back when she was an activist in Ferguson right? And she was very poignant when she shared that she’s filled a vacuum because the current leadership just wasn’t there.”

“People on the street trusted her [to] become this voice for them when elected officials weren’t. So I think it’s not just the tactic, it’s the ethos that’s different,” she added.

Progressive lawmakers like freshmen New York Reps. Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman also participated in the protest on the Hill and as support grew, the group was soon joined by some moderate Democrats.

Ahead of the expiration of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium, members of Congress traveled back to their districts for August recess, but Bush — the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress — stayed in the nation’s capital to resume the fight as millions of evictions loomed.

The Biden administration repeatedly argued that it does not have federal authority to extend the CDC eviction moratorium without Congress but as the protest on the Hill continued, pressure from progressive and some moderate Democrats mounted, culminating in an apparent reversal.

President Joe Biden announced on Aug. 3 that the CDC is extending the federal eviction moratorium for an additional 60 days in areas where there is substantial and high transmission of COVID-19, giving tenants an additional lifeline.

Top Democrats directly credited Bush and the colleagues who joined her on the steps of the Capitol for moving the needle by applying pressure on the federal government.

“You did this,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he walked out to the steps of the Capitol and embraced Bush and Ocasio-Cortez amid the news.

“I applaud the CDC for imposing an eviction moratorium … I particularly applaud Rep. Cori Bush who understands what it’s like to be evicted and who took her passion and turned it into amazingly effective action,” Schumer said.

Asked about Bush’s role, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the Missouri congresswoman has been “absolutely pivotal in getting real change.”

“She’s one woman who stood up and said, ‘I’m not moving.’ She testified from personal experience and said this is what it’s like to lose your home … and that was enough to capture the attention of a lot of people across this nation and a lot of people in this building and at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Warren said.

Bush gave a nod to her roots as an activist during emotional remarks outside the U.S. Capitol celebrating the development.

“Let’s be clear, activists are in Congress. So expect for things to be different,” Bush said, adding that progressives are “already gearing up” for the next fight in the eviction crisis.

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FEMA, FCC to conduct nationwide emergency alert test Wednesday

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(WASHINGTON) — A nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) test will be conducted Wednesday and radios, televisions and certain cellphones will be alerted.

The test, which is being run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET.

The EAS portion of the test, which will occur on radios and televisions, is scheduled to last about one minute, and the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) to cellphones, whose users have opted into receiving messages, should only be received once.

“The purpose of the Aug. 11 test is to ensure that the EAS and WEA systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” a FEMA press release said. “Periodic testing of public alert and warning systems helps to assess the operational readiness of alerting infrastructure and to identify any needed technological and administrative improvements.”

The message, according to FEMA, should read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The message will display in either English or Spanish, depending on the language settings of the device, according to the FEMA press release.

Wednesday’s test is the sixth nationwide EAS test, the second WEA test and the first WEA test on a consumer opt-in basis.

“Emergency alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies,” according to FEMA.

According to FEMA, the two government agencies are coordinating with “wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders” to “minimize confusion” and “maximize the public safety value of the test.”

If Wednesday’s test is canceled, a backup testing date is scheduled for Aug. 25.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Serenade Foods recalls frozen chicken products due to possible salmonella contamination

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(NEW YORK) — Serenade Foods is recalling approximately 59,251 pounds of frozen, raw, breaded and pre-browned stuffed chicken products that may be contaminated with salmonella enteritidis.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the recall on Monday. The recall includes three brand name chicken products, including Dutch Farms, Milford Valley and Kirkwood, an Aldi brand.

Serenade Foods is recalling chicken products that may be contaminated, Aug. 10, 2021.

Specific information on the impacted products can be found below:

Dutch Farms chicken with broccoli and cheese: 5-ounce individually plastic-wrapped packages with LOT CODE BR 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023

Milford Valley chicken with broccoli and cheese: 5-ounce individually plastic-wrapped packages with LOT CODE BR 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023

Milford Valley chicken cordon bleu: 10-ounce box of two individually plastic-wrapped packages with LOT CODE CB 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023.

Kirkwood raw stuffed chicken, broccoli and cheese: 5-ounce individually plastic-wrapped packages with LOT CODE BR 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023.

Kirkwood raw stuffed chicken cordon bleu: 5-ounce individually plastic-wrapped packages with LOT CODE CB 1056 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 25 2023.

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Biden praises Senate passage of bipartisan infrastructure bill

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday marked the Senate’s passage of a bipartisan infrastructure plan earlier in the day with a White House speech touting the political win and thanking Republican senators who voted with Democrats for what he said was their “courage” to come together to strike a deal for the American people.

“After years and years of infrastructure week, we’re on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that I truly believe will transform America,” Biden said in triumphant remarks delivered from the White House East Room.

Biden praised the bipartisan negotiators, touching on themes from his candidacy — the idea that this 36-year veteran of the Senate could reinvigorate the bipartisan cooperation of an era gone by.

“I want to thank the group of senators, Democrats and Republicans, for doing what they told me they would do. The death of this legislation was mildly premature as reported. They said they were willing to work in a bipartisan manner. And I want to thank them for keeping their word. That’s just what they did,” Biden said.

The package, with $550 billion in new spending, will address core infrastructure needs. It includes $110 billion in new funds for roads and bridges, $66 billion for rail, $7.5 billion to build out electric vehicle charging stations, $17 billion for ports, $25 billion for airports, $55 billion for clean drinking water, a $65 billion investment in high-speed internet and more.

“This bill shows that we can work together,” he continued. “From the time I announced my candidacy, and bringing the country together, doing things in a bipartisan way, it was characterized as a relic of an earlier age. I never believed that, and still don’t.”

Biden also gave an unusual, specific shout-out to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted with 18 other Republicans to pass the bill.

“I want to thank the Republican — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell for supporting this bill,” Biden said. “And special thanks to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Your leadership, Chuck, in the Senate was masterful.”

But the bill is not close to becoming law yet.

Biden’s victory lap is somewhat premature given a weeks or months-long delay in final passage could lie ahead. Biden did note that there was still a lot of work to be done to get the bill on to his desk.

“Look, let’s be clear. The bill is far from down,” Biden continued. “The bill goes to the House of Representatives where I look forward to winning its approval. We have to get to work on the next critical piece of my agenda, my Build Back Better plan,” he said, referring to the need to have the House pass the bipartisan bill, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to insist she receive the $3.5 trillion Democratic budget bill before she will hold a vote on the bipartisan package.

Earlier, at the daily White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about pressure from some moderate House Democrats to hold an immediate vote.

“His message is that he remains committed to passing each of these pieces of legislation, on dual tracks. That he is going to work in lockstep with Speaker Pelosi, just as we have worked in lockstep with [Senate Majority] Leader Schumer, successfully over the last several weeks and months to get this done, and he is confident in the leadership, the strategic approach of Speaker Pelosi and looks forward to being her partner in the weeks ahead,” Psaki told reporters.

Still, Biden took every opportunity to tout this achievement, noting that the infrastructure bill passed the Senate with more bipartisan support than Federal Highway Act of 1956.

“America has often had the greatest prosperity and made the most progress when we invest in America itself. And that’s what this infrastructure bill does,” he added, praising the “overwhelming support” with which it passed. “A vote margin bigger than when the Interstate System passed in the United States Senate in 1956,” he said.

Biden also proudly pointed out that he had kept his promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 — and would benefit working class families the most.

“We’re going to do all of this by keeping my commitment. We will not raise taxes by one cent on people making less than $400,000 a year. Everyone from union to business leaders, to economists, left, right and center, believe the public investment contained in this bill will generate more jobs, higher productivity, higher growth for our economy over the long-term,” he insisted.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke before the president, also extolling praise for the deal that moves the country “one step closer to making a once in a generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure,” and Biden, for his commitment to bipartisanship.

“Even when you sign the bill into law, our work will not stop,” she said.

After the Senate passed the $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill by a vote of 69-30, with 19 Republicans joining Democrats, Schumer immediately turned the chamber’s business to the $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” package which Democrats are hoping to pass via budget reconciliation, a process would not require the Republican support they do not have.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘Ticking time bomb’: PFAS chemicals in drinking water alarm scientists over health risks

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(TUCSON, Ariz.) — A family of colorless and tasteless man-made chemicals — largely unregulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — has become a growing concern for drinking water safety in thousands of American communities, as scientists increasingly see links to liver damage, high cholesterol, weakened immune systems and cancer.

“They basically fulfill the characteristics of a ticking time bomb,” said Dr. Bo Guo, a University of Arizona hydrologist and expert on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are commonly used in hundreds of consumer products and in firefighting foams, a top source of PFAS contamination.

“They’re very dangerous and they’re migrating very slowly,” Guo said of the heat-resistant chemicals.

While the health concerns around PFAS are not new, greater detection of the chemicals in water systems nationwide in recent years has begun to alarm state and local leaders and prompted Congress to consider urgent action.

Last month, the city of Tucson, Arizona, abruptly shut down a major water treatment facility that delivered drinking water to 60,000 residents because of a sudden surge in PFAS contamination that threatened to overwhelm groundwater filtration systems.

“We don’t have enough confidence to go to drinking water supply at this time,” said John Kmiec, interim director of Tucson Water. “We know that there’s this contamination out there. We don’t know exactly what it does, but we know it’s not going away.”

Some level of PFAS, widely known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment, have been found in water samples of 2,790 communities across 49 states, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an independent research and consumer watchdog organization pushing to limit exposure to chemicals through water, food and household products.

The contamination is likely much more widespread, experts said, because the EPA does not require testing for the chemicals and has not set a mandatory limit for how much PFAS are safe to drink in tap water.

“It’s likely an issue in every community, and that’s why we need testing to find out,” said Sydney Evans, an EWG water quality analyst who has conducted PFAS testing across the country.

In 2016, concerned by emerging health study data, the EPA issued an advisory to local water systems warning that prolonged exposure to the chemicals over 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt) may result in “adverse health effects.” The agency encouraged utilities to voluntarily monitor and filter to below that level, but does not enforce a standard.

President Joe Biden pledged during the 2020 campaign to accelerate the study and regulation of PFAS, but his EPA has yet to designate the class of substances as hazardous under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

There is growing momentum in Congress to pressure the agency over the issue. In a bipartisan vote last month, the House approved a bill that would force the EPA to establish mandatory national limits for PFAS in drinking water within two years, requiring more water systems to start filtering the chemicals out. The Senate’s pending bipartisan infrastructure bill would include billions to help communities get the job done.

“The thing that gives me the greatest concern is not every community or every water company in the U.S. is actively testing for PFAS,” said Kmiec. “So, there’s a lot of small to medium sized utilities that may have no idea if they even have a problem in their watershed.”

The chemicals have been detected on the shores of Michigan lakes, in the neighborhoods around old Naval Air Stations in Pennsylvania and even in the groundwater of a New Mexico dairy farm whose owner alleges in federal court documents that PFAS has poisoned the cows.

Water samples Evans collected and tested in March found elevated PFAS levels in the taps of some Virginia suburbs around the nation’s capital. A firefighting foam spill at a small regional airport is a suspected source of the contamination.

“It’s in the backyard of the people who are working on these issues,” Evans said.

Groundwater contamination, like that in Tucson, has often been linked to industrial sites, landfills, airports and military bases where the chemicals may have seeped into the ground years ago. Analysts with EWG estimated that more than 200 million Americans could be drinking some amount of PFAS in their tap water every day.

“We don’t want them in our bodies because we know that they can make some people sick,” said Dr. Jamie DeWitt, an East Carolina University toxicologist and pharmacologist leading cutting-edge research into how PFAS affect human bodies.

“Some of the effects that have been uncovered through studies of people who are exposed are different types of cancer. The ones that are most strongly linked are kidney and testicular cancer,” DeWitt said. “We know they can produce negative effects on the liver; affect levels of cholesterol in the body; affect your body’s immune system. They can also have effects on developing babies and on women while they are pregnant.”

The EPA declined ABC News’ request for an interview but said in a statement that addressing PFAS in drinking water is “a top priority” and that the agency is “developing a multi-year strategy to deliver critical public health protections.”

The agency said it is moving “as expeditiously as possible” while balancing the law, industry interests and the science. The EPA recently announced steps to collect more data on PFAS in drinking water systems and said they plan to move forward with regulations on two specific, older types of the chemicals linked to known health problems.

The American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group representing PFAS manufacturers, said in a statement responding to this ABC News report that it’s “committed to the responsible production, use and management” of the substances and supports the EPA consideration of national drinking water standards for two of the more than 4,000 types of PFAS chemicals.

“Most health effects that have been attributed to PFAS related to legacy substances that have been voluntarily removed from the market,” the group said in a statement.

Many environmental and consumer advocates said the EPA’s delay in regulating the chemical class more broadly is highly troubling.

“I think that the EPA — we need to hold their feet to the fire because nothing is going to change, nothing will go forward until they set those limits,” said Yolanda Herrera, a longtime Tucson community advocate for safe drinking water. “It’s going to take all of us together to go to Congress, to go to the EPA to make major changes that need to be done.”

Remediation of PFAS in water systems can be time-consuming and costly. The lack of an EPA-mandated drinking water standard complicates the process, state and local officials told ABC News, because there is not a clear benchmark for how much needs to be cleaned up and what resources governments need to meet it.

“We have no way of removing PFAS from the body,” said Dr. Philippe Grandjean, a top environmental health expert and leading researcher on PFAS at the Harvard University School of Public Health. “We need to do everything we can to protect women … against these compounds so that they are not burdening the next generation.”

Estimates for eliminating the toxins in soil and water at sites nationwide exceed tens of billions of dollars.

“We have been cleaning and remediating PFAS with our own dime,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, “but the residents of our community should not be left holding the bag of something that they did not create.”

Arizona state and local officials believe PFAS-laden firefighting foam deployed in training exercises and emergencies decades ago at Tucson’s International Airport and Air National Guard complex is only now reaching groundwater wells miles away.

“The firefighting foam — (the Air Force) has told us that they either, if it was used on the runway, they’d hose this stuff into the soil. If it was used in the hangars, they’d dilute it and dump it down the sewer system,” said Tucson Councilman Steve Kozachik about the facility, which is home to one of the largest F-16 training installations in the world.

The base is one of an estimated 687 military installations with known or suspected PFAS contamination, according to Pentagon data published by the Government Accountability Office in June.

A June 2021 report by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality found PFAS concentrations in groundwater samples around the Tucson airport at 10,000 ppt — far above the EPA’s 70 ppt advisory. Scientists believe a plume of PFAS in the soil has been slowly migrating underground north and west toward wells that feed into the city’s now-shuttered water treatment plant.

“The PFAS people see in groundwater is just a little fraction of the total PFAS at those contamination sites,” Guo said.

The Defense Department said it is investigating the scope of known or suspected contamination at or near hundreds of facilities but needs more time before it can launch a large-scale clean-up plan. Five years ago, the military began deploying what it calls a “new, environmentally responsible” firefighting foam, however it is not yet PFAS-free.

“Tucson is a bellwether. We’re the canary in the coal mine right now,” said Kozachik. “We’re saying to every other city in the country, this is an issue if you’ve got a military base in your community.”

The indefinite shutdown of the water treatment facility on Tucson’s south side because of PFAS has resurfaced old fears.

In 1983, the EPA listed Tucson as a Superfund site after the city’s tap water was poisoned by an industrial spill of the chemical solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE. The pollution, which went undetected for years, is linked to cancer cases and deaths across the city’s south side.

Hundreds of residents received financial settlements in major lawsuits, and state and local governments later funded construction of the water treatment facility. It has been cleaning up the water ever since — until PFAS arrived.

“How is this being allowed to happen?” said Tucson native Pattie Daggett, 47, who was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in 2014 that her doctor linked to TCE exposure in the water.

“They haven’t even finished cleaning up the chemicals that were in the water before,” said Daggett. “We’ve got PFAS now. Like, what? I wish I could tell you how worried I am.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Twitter temporarily suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account

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(WASHINGTON) — Twitter has suspended Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account for the violation of the social media platform’s policy in posting COVID-19 misinformation, again.

The tweet prompting the action falsely claimed that vaccines are “failing” and don’t reduce spread.

Nearly all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks have been among the unvaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health experts continue to warn that vaccines are the most effective way to curb the spread of the coronavirus and the highly contagious delta variant.

The Georgia congresswoman’s tweet is still on the platform, but now stamped with a warning that it “may be misleading.”

A Twitter spokesperson told ABC News that the tweet “was labeled in line with our COVID-19 misleading information policy.”

“The account will be in read-only mode for a week due to repeated violations of the Twitter Rules,” the spokesperson said.

According to Twitter, “read only” mode enables the following:

“If it seems like an otherwise healthy account is in the middle of an abusive episode, we might temporarily make their account read-only, limiting their ability to Tweet, Retweet, or Like content until calmer heads prevail. The person can read their timelines and will only be able to send Direct Messages to their followers,” the website says.

It’s not the first time the platform has taken action against Greene.

Back in June, Greene’s accounted was suspended for 12 hours for COVID-19 misinformation. Monday’s tweet appears to be her fourth strike.

Another violation could get her kicked off the platform for good.

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This mom and daughter served on the same Navy ship together

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(WASHINGTON) — Racquel McCray grew up with two Navy parents, so when she turned 18 she decided she wanted to follow in their footsteps. This year, she got the rare chance to be able to see her mother in action after being assigned to her ship, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

When she joined the Navy in May, Racquel chose to pursue the same logistics specialty as her mother. When she realized that she could have the opportunity to watch her mother, Tonya McCray, in the field, she reached out to her chain of command to be assigned to her mother’s ship.

Even though she was in the Navy, Tonya never pushed Racquel to follow in her footsteps, Tonya told “Good Morning America.” However, watching her father and mother inspired her to follow the same path.

“I chose to join because I watched my parents for my entire life,” Racquel told “GMA.” “They both served, so watching them every day go to work made me actually want to follow in their footsteps, with how successful they were and what they were able to provide for my sister and I.”

When Racquel first discussed the idea with her parents, they “didn’t believe her or take her seriously,” Tonya said. Once she realized how serious Racquel was about enlisting in the Navy and pursuing the logistics speciality, though, she warmed up to the idea.

“I was a proud mother,” Tonya said. “It took a while for her to get everything situated to come in, but that was my baby and I was so proud.”

Soon after enlisting, Racquel realized that she wanted to work alongside her mother, Tonya said.

“I shared some pictures with her and I talked about the experience, and she told me that was why she wanted to join the military — to be able to participate in things like that,” Tonya explained. “I talked to my chain of command, she talked to her chain of command and we thought it could be used as a training opportunity.”

For the four weeks that Racquel and Tonya worked on the same ship, Tonya enjoyed getting to share her profession with her daughter, describing the experience as “great.”

“I was able to share what I did with my daughter every day. She saw what respect that someone of my pay grade gets on a day to day, how they look up to me, and it just felt great to be able to share that experience with her, and also, just to see her hard work,” Tonya said.

While Racquel said she was disappointed about not having more time with her mother, she found her time on the ship valuable. Now, she knows that she made the right decision in choosing her specialty.

“It was a great experience for me, even though it only lasted four weeks,” Racquel said. “I would have liked for it to be a little bit longer, but it was really nice to be able to see the benefits of all of [my mom’s] hard work, how people looked up to her and respected her.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s full resignation remarks: ‘The best way I can help now is if I step aside’

Office of the Governor of New York

(NEW YORK) — Andrew Cuomo has said he will step down as governor of New York after many called for his resignation and before a potential impeachment trial.

Cuomo began his press conference Tuesday morning by continuing to defend himself against 11 women who’ve accused him of sexual harassment, stating that the report by New York Attorney General Letitia James was “false” and biased.

The disgraced governor admitted that he “truly offended” the women but contended that there have been “generational and cultural shifts” that precluded him from understanding the necessity for “personal boundaries.”

“In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone,” Cuomo said. “But I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn.”

About halfway through his 20-minute speech he said he couldn’t govern effectively given the current situation, which would “generate months of political and legal controversy,” adding that it was no longer in the “best interest” of New Yorkers for him to continue.

Cuomo ended his address by telling New Yorkers that it was the “honor” of his life to serve as governor.

He will step down in 14 days and will be succeeded by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, the first woman to hold that post in state history.

Here are Cuomo’s full remarks:

Good morning. Let me begin by thanking Rita Glavin for that powerful presentation. I’d like to address several issues today. First, I’ve always told New Yorkers the facts, before my opinion. So let’s start New York tough with the truth. The Attorney General did a report on complaints made against me by certain women for my conduct. The report said I sexually harassed 11 women. That was the headline people heard and saw, and reacted to. The reaction was outrage. It should have been.

However, it was also false. My lawyers, as you just heard from Rita Glavin, have reviewed the report over the past several days and have already raised serious issues and flaws that should concern all New Yorkers. Because when there is a bias or a lack of fairness in the justice system, it is a concern for everyone — not just those immediately affected. The most serious allegations made against me have no credible factual basis in the report.

And there is a difference between alleged improper conduct and concluding sexual harassment. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that there are not 11 women who I truly offended. There are. And for that I deeply, deeply apologize. I thought a hug and putting my arm around a staff person while taking a picture was friendly. But she found it to be too forward. I kissed a woman on the cheek at a wedding, and I thought I was being nice, but she felt it was too aggressive.

I have slipped and called people honey, sweetheart and darling. I meant it to be endearing. But women found it dated and offensive. I said on national TV, to a doctor wearing PEE and giving me a COVID nasal swab, you make that gown look good. I was joking, obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it on national TV.

But she found it disrespectful. I take full responsibility for my actions. I have been too familiar with people. My sense of humor can be insensitive and off-putting. I do hug and kiss people casually, women and men. I have done it all my life. It is who I’ve been since I can remember. In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone. But, I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn.

There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate. And I should have. No excuses. The report did bring to light a matter that I was not aware of and that I would like to address. A female trooper relayed a concern that she found disturbing, and so do I. Please let me provide some context. The governor’s trooper detail had about 65 troopers on it. But of the 65, only six women and nine black troopers.

I’m very proud of the diversity of my administration. It is more diverse than any administration in history. And I’m very proud of the fact that I have more women in senior positions than any governor before me. The lack of diversity on the state police detail was an ongoing disappointment for me. In many ways, the governor’s detail is the face of state government that people see. When I attend an event, people see the detail that’s with me. I was continuously trying to recruit more to diversify. On one occasion, I met two female troopers who were on duty at an event.

Both seemed competent and impressive and I asked the state police to see if they were interested in joining. I often meet people, men and women, and if they show promise, I refer them to be interviewed. The state police handled the interviewing and the hiring, and one of the two troopers eventually joined the detail. I got to know her over time and she’s a great professional. And I would sometimes banter with her when we were in the car. We spent a lot of time driving around the state.

This female trooper was getting married, and I made some jokes about the negative consequences of married life. I meant it to be humorous. She was offended, and she was right. The trooper also said that in an elevator I touched her back, and when I was walking past her in a doorway, I touched her stomach. Now, I don’t recall doing it, but if she said I did it, I believe her.

At public events, troopers will often hold doors open or guard the doorways. When I walk past them, I often will give them a grip of the arm, a pat on the face, a touch on the stomach, a slap on the back. It’s my way of saying “I see you. I appreciate you, and I thank you.” I’m not comfortable just walking past and ignoring them. Of course, usually they are male troopers. In this case I don’t remember doing it at all.

I didn’t do it consciously with the female trooper. I did not mean any sexual connotation. I did not mean any intimacy by it. I just wasn’t thinking. It was totally thoughtless, in the literal sense of the word. But it was also insensitive. It was embarrassing to her, and it was disrespectful. It was a mistake, plain and simple. I have no other words to explain it. I want to personally apologize to her and her family.

I have the greatest respect for her and for the New York State Police. Now, obviously in a highly political matter like this, there are many agendas, and there are many motivations at play. If anyone thought otherwise, they would be naive, and New Yorkers are not naive. But I want to thank the women who came forward with sincere complaints.

It’s not easy to step forward, but you did an important service, and you taught me, and you taught others an important lesson. Personal boundaries must be expanded and must be protected. I accept full responsibility. Part of being New York tough is being New York smart. New York smart tells us that this situation and moment are not about the facts. It’s not about the truth. It’s not about thoughtful analysis. It’s not about how do we make the system better. This is about politics, and our political system today is too often driven by the extremes, rashness has replaced reasonableness. Loudness has replaced soundness. Twitter has become the public square for policy debate. There is an intelligent discussion to be had on gender-based actions, on generational and cultural behavioral differences, on setting higher standards and finding reasonable resolutions.

But the political environment is too hot, and it is too reactionary for that now, and it is unfortunate. Now, you know me. I’m a New Yorker, born and bred. I am a fighter, and my instinct is to fight through this controversy, because I truly believe it is politically motivated. I believe it is unfair and it is untruthful. And I believe it demonizes behavior that is unsustainable for society. If I could communicate the facts through the frenzy, New Yorkers would understand, I believe that. But when I took oath as governor, then it changed. I became a fighter, but I became a fighter for you, and it is your best interests that I must serve.

This situation, by its current trajectory, will generate months of political and legal controversy. That is what is going to happen. That is how the political wind is blowing. It will consume government. it will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. It will brutalize people. The state assembly yesterday outlined weeks of process that will then lead to months of litigation — time and money that government should spend managing COVID, guarding against the delta variant, reopening up states, fighting gun violence and saving New York City. All that time would be wasted. This is one of the most challenging times for government in a generation. Government really needs to function today. Government needs to perform. It is a matter of life and death, government operations, and wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing.

And I cannot be the cause of that. New York tough means New York loving. And I love New York. And I love you. And everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love, and I would never want to be unhelpful in any way. I think that given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing. Therefore that’s what I’ll do, because I work for you. And doing the right thing is doing the right thing for you. Because as we say, it’s not about me. It’s about we.

Kathy Hochul, my lieutenant governor, is smart and competent. This transition must be seamless. We have a lot going on. I’m very worried about the delta variant, and so should you be. But she can come up to speed quickly, and my resignation will be effective in 14 days.

To my team and the hundreds of dedicated administration officials, I want to say this: Thank you. Thank you. And be proud. We made New York state the progressive capital of the nation. No other state government accomplished more to help people, and that is what it’s all about. Just think about what we did. We passed marriage equality, creating a new civil right. Legalized love for the LGBTQ community, and we generated a force for change that swept the nation. We passed the SAFE Act years ago, the smartest gun safety law in the United States of America, and it banned the madness of assault weapons. We’ve saved countless lives with that law.

Fifteen-dollar minimum wage, the highest minimum wage in the nation, lifting millions of families’ standard of living, putting more food on the table and clothes on their backs, and we led the nation with in economic justice with that reform. We have managed every emergency mother nature could throw at us — fires, floods, hurricanes, super storms and pandemics. We balanced the state budget, and we got it done on time — more than any other administration — because government should work and perform. Free college tuition for struggling families. Nobody in this state will be denied their college because of their income. We have built new airports, rail, transit, roads all across this state, faster and better than ever before.

And more than any state in the nation, the most effective green economy program in the nation. We did more for Black and Latino families and any other administration. We did more for working families. We did more for our union brothers and sisters. We did more to battle racism and anti-Semitism. Today so much of the politics is just noise — just static. That’s why people begin to doubt. That’s why people tune out. What matters is improving people’s lives, and that’s what you did. You made this state a better state for the generations that follow, and that is undeniable, inarguable, and true.

In in these ugly, crazy times. I’d like to thank the speaker and the leader for their leadership. Let me say this on a personal note. In many ways I see the world through the eyes of my daughters. They are 26 and 26, twins, and 23. I have lived this experience with and through them. I have sat on the couch with them, hearing the ugly accusations for weeks. I have seen the look in their eyes and the expression on their faces, and it hurt. I want my three jewels to know this. My greatest goal is for them to have better future than the generations of women before them. It is still in many ways a man’s world. It always has been.

We have sexism that is institutionalized. My daughters have more talents and natural gifts than I ever had. I want to make sure that society allows them to fly as high as their wings will take them. There should be no assumptions, no stereotypes, no limitations. I want them to know from the bottom of my heart that I never did and I never would intentionally disrespect a woman or treat any woman differently than I would want them treated. And that is the God’s honest truth. Your dad made mistakes, and he apologized, and he learned from it. And that’s what life is all about. And I know the political process is flawed and I understand your cynicism and distrust and disappointment now. But don’t give up, because government is still the best vehicle for making positive social change.

Lastly, I want to remind all New Yorkers of an important lesson and one that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and that’s what you New Yorkers did in battling COVID. The enemy landed in New York state. COVID launched the attack here. It came on us from Europe, and we had no idea. It was an ambush. And it was up to New Yorkers to fight back. We were on our own, and it was war. Nurses, doctors, essential workers became our frontline heroes.

Hospitals became the battlegrounds. Streets were still and sirens filled the city’s silence. You refused to give up, and you fought back, and you won, going from the highest infection rate in the nation to one of the lowest. No one thought we could do it, but you did it. You lead the nation, and you show the way forward. And how you did it is what’s most important. You did it together. Not as Black New Yorkers or white New Yorkers. Not as LGBTQ New Yorkers or straight New Yorkers or Democrats or Republicans or Upstate or downstate or Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic New Yorkers, but as one community. One community, one family, the family of New York. You overcame the naysayers and the haters and unified, and you rose and you overcame. You saved lives, and that was powerful in its effect. It was beautiful to see. And it was an honor to lead. Please remember that lesson. Hold it dear and hold it up high for this nation to sees, cause it is New York state at her finest, creating her legacy, fulfilling her destiny, giving life and animation to the lady in the harbor saying, “We can be better! We can reach higher!”

That is our founding premise and our enduring promise. That is the salvation of this nation that it so desperately needs to hear. Thank you for the honor of serving you. It has been the honor of my life. God bless you.

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