(WASHINGTON) — Former White House deputy chief of staff for operations and top Secret Service official Tony Ornato was expected to meet with the the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack on Tuesday, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
This will be the first time the committee has spoken to Ornato since White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson recounted in dramatic testimony during a committee hearing in June how Ornato told her former President Donald Trump had a physical confrontation with his Secret Service detail in the president’s vehicle on Jan. 6.
Hutchinson told the committee in live testimony Ornato told her Trump was “irate” after being told he couldn’t join his supporters at the Capitol, going so far as to try to grab the steering wheel of the SUV and lunging towards Bobby Engel, who was the head of Trump’s Secret Service detail.
Hutchinson maintains that while she was not in the SUV at the time, she heard the account from Ornato when everyone was back at the White House after his rally at the Ellipse. Hutchinson told the committee Engel was in the room as Ornato told the story, and that Ornato motioned toward his clavicles as he was talking about the purported lunge toward Engel.
“Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornato recounted this story to me, he motioned toward his clavicles,” Hutchinson testified she was told.
Hutchinson said that Engel didn’t deny the story as Ornato recounted it in her presence.
The committee has wanted to question Ornato since Hutchinson’s testimony this summer, sources said, and will do so on Tuesday behind closed doors. Ornato, who has since retired, could deny Trump lunged at the wheel, sources said.
The committee has been interviewing Secret Service officials over the past few weeks, according to sources. While officials may not be corroborating the lunge at the steering wheel, the agents the committee has interviewed have confirmed the main point — that Trump was irate and wanted to go to the Capitol.
Ornato’s interview is scheduled a day after the panel questioned Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to Trump.
The New York Times was first to report on Ornato’s expected testimony.
ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
(RIVERSIDE, Calif.) — A former Virginia police officer allegedly “catfished” a teenage girl online before traveling to Riverside, California, and killing her family, according to police.
The murders were discovered on Friday after authorities received a report of a girl “who appeared distressed” while getting into a car with a man, Riverside police said.
As officers responded to that report, they received calls of a fire at a nearby house.
Police said three family members were found dead in the house from apparent homicides: 69-year-old Mark Winek; his wife, 65-year-old Sharie Winek; and their daughter, 38-year-old Brooke Winek.
The Wineks “were loving people who didn’t deserve this,” the family said in a statement.
The fire appears to have been intentionally set, police said, adding that the causes of death were still pending.
Authorities said the teenage girl lived at that house and the victims killed were her mother and grandparents.
The man getting in the car with the teen was identified as 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards of Virginia, according to police.
The girl is 15, according to Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback.
Several hours after the three bodies were found, authorities said they spotted Edwards driving with the girl.
Edwards — who had worked for the Virginia State Police — allegedly led deputies on a chase and fired shots at them, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said. Edwards lost control of his car and drove off the road, pointing a gun at a sheriff’s helicopter, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies then fired at Edwards who was declared dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
The teen was rescued and wasn’t hurt, according to police.
Riverside police said they determined Edwards met the teen online through “‘catfishing,’ where someone pretends to be a different person than they actually are.”
Police believe the 28-year-old suspect was pretending to be a teenager, according to Railsback.
After Edwards developed a relationship with the girl online, police said they believe he drove from Virginia to California, parked in a neighbor’s driveway, went to the girl’s home and killed her family. Edwards then allegedly took the teen and drove away, according to police.
Edwards was hired by the Virginia State Police in July 2021 and quit on Oct. 28, 2022, the agency said.
Edwards passed the state’s background check, state police said.
“As a probationary employee, Edwards was also given monthly performance evaluations, in accordance with department policy. During Edwards’ short tenure with the department, he never exhibited any behaviors to trigger any internal administrative or criminal investigations,” the state police said in a statement.
Edwards was hired by the Washington County, Virginia, Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 16, 2022, and had started orientation with the department, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Past employers and the Virginia State Police were contacted during the hiring processing; however, no employers disclosed any troubles, reprimands, or internal investigations pertaining to Edwards,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis added in a statement: “It is shocking and sad to the entire law enforcement community that such an evil and wicked person could infiltrate law enforcement while concealing his true identity as a computer predator and murderer. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Winek family, their friends, officers, and all of those affected by this heinous crime.”
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson, Jenna Harrison and DeMarco Morgan contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The father of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four University of Idaho students mysteriously stabbed to death in an off-campus house, said he’s feeling “a little defeated” and frustrated by the lack of transparency from police.
But Steve Goncalves said he supports and trusts the law enforcement officers who are diligently working on the investigation.
“I have to assume and hope that this is all part of their plan and … they’ve got this all figured out,” he told ABC News. “I know that there’s some really good, hard-working guys and girls that are on this case that I’ve met. And they looked me in the eyes and they told me straight-out that they’re working and they’re doing everything in their power.”
Goncalves added, “My wife’s biggest fear, part of the reason we didn’t have a funeral, is because she couldn’t be guaranteed that that monster was going to not be there.”
Goncalves, 21, her lifelong best friend, Madison Mogen, 21, another roommate Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were killed in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13. No suspects have been identified.
Two other roommates were in the house at the time and survived, appearing to have slept through the crimes, according to police. The surviving roommates are not considered suspects, police said.
“You can’t imagine sending your girl to college and they come back … in an urn,” Goncalves said. “You’re numb … you can’t absorb that amount of pain and agony.”
Kaylee, the Goncalves’ middle child, was planning to move to Texas. She had mentioned going to Chicago, but her parents said it wasn’t safe enough.
“She was going places. She was highly motivated,” her dad said. “I hope people understand how all these kids … were doing everything right and they were going to be the type of people that you want to be your neighbor.”
The Goncalves considered Mogen their “bonus child.”
“When you’re sick and you’re down and you’re out, you want to have that one great friend that’s always there for you — and that’s what they had,” Goncalves said. “There is no Kaylee without Maddie.”
It’s believed the four students were killed between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, according to Moscow Mayor Art Bettge. On the morning of Nov. 13, the two surviving roommates called friends over because they thought one of the victims had passed out and wasn’t waking up, police said.
At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call from one of the roommate’s phones requested help for an unconscious person, police said. “Multiple people talked with the 911 dispatcher,” police said, adding that they do not believe anyone at the house at the time of the 911 call was involved in the murders. Responding officers found the four victims on the second and third floors, police said.
Goncalves said the students died quickly and did not bleed for hours, so an earlier 911 call would not have saved their lives.
“Nobody suffered and nobody felt like that kind of pain,” Goncalves said.
The murder weapon — which police believe to be a fix-blade knife — has not been found.
Goncalves said the victims suffered “large punctures” from a “brutal weapon.”
“The detective said this weapon is probably something [the killer] paid money for and something that they’re proud of,” he said.
Goncalves said the only thing worse than losing his child is knowing that her killer is “having a great life out there — and you’re just left in shambles.”
“I have to have my justice. These families deserve that,” Goncalves said. “We just have to come together as a community. Submit all those pieces of evidence … and get this guy off the streets.”
Anyone with information can upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
ABC News’ Timmy Truong contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A New York mother is sharing details of her daughter’s battle with RSV, a respiratory virus that health officials warn may continue to spread this holiday season, along with the flu and COVID-19.
Anita Binayi-Ghiam said her 3-year-old daughter Ella began having difficulty breathing during the last week of October.
Though Ella tested negative at first for both COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, Binayi-Ghiam said she knew something was not right with her daughter.
She and her husband brought Ella to Cohen Children’s Medical Center on Oct. 30, where she was admitted and tested positive for RSV.
“It was mother’s intuition that told me to bring her in that Sunday,” Binayi-Ghiam said in a statement shared by Northwell Health, which operates the medical center. “It was so unlike Ella not to eat or drink. My husband and I just knew that something was wrong.”
Ella spent nearly one week in the intensive care unit on oxygen due to RSV, according to Binayi-Ghiam, who said her daughter has now recovered.
“It was horrendous,” she said. “I hope no parent has to go through it. It was terrifying.”
Health officials are now warning that not just RSV but also the flu virus and COVID-19 may be more likely to spread over the holiday season in what some call a “tripledemic.”
“We just had massive gatherings, the busiest travel days in years, and a large amount of circulating viruses all over the country,” Dr. Alok Patel, an ABC News medical contributor, said of the Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays, which occurred amid an already high number of cases of respiratory viruses in the United States.
In early November, the number of cases of RSV in the U.S. hit a two-year high, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Nov. 4, the CDC issued an official health advisory in response to the rise in respiratory infections in children.
Pediatric bed occupancy also remains the highest it has been in the last two years, with 78% of pediatric hospital beds filled, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where Binayi-Ghiam’s daughter was treated, said it has seen a nearly 50% increase in patients in its emergency department.
“These last two weeks in our emergency department have been the busiest we’ve seen in the past 10 years,” Dr. Matthew Harris, a pediatric emergency room physician and medical director of crisis management at CCMC, said on Nov. 23, just before the Thanksgiving holiday. “Our emergency department was up nearly 50%, our admissions were up 49% and our treat-and-release numbers were up over 50%.”
Experts have told ABC News that a combination of waning immunity to COVID and lack of exposure to other viruses, combined with gatherings indoors, is fueling a “perfect storm” leading to the rise in cases of flu, RSV and COVID-19.
While RSV affects children and adults, it’s particularly dangerous for kids under 1 year old and seniors 65 years old and older.
RSV is a contagious virus that can spread from viral respiratory droplets transferred from an infected person’s cough or sneeze; from direct contact with the virus, like kissing the face of a child with RSV; or from touching surfaces, like tables, doorknobs and crib rails, that have the virus on them and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth before hand-washing, according to the CDC.
People infected with RSV are usually contagious for three to eight days, but some infants can continue to spread the virus even after they stop showing symptoms for as long as four weeks, according to the CDC.
Health officials are advising parents to make sure their child’s vaccinations and their own are up to date, including flu shots and COVID-19. They say parents can help protect their kids from respiratory viruses by continuing to follow as much as possible the three Ws of the pandemic: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.
Infants and toddlers can usually recover at home with RSV unless they start to have difficulty breathing, are not eating or drinking, or appear more tired than usual, in which case parents should contact their pediatrician and/or take their child to the emergency room.
(NEW YORK) — Parents can often feel a lot of pressure when it comes to feeding their babies.
Infant feeding tech Mallory Whitmore, a mother of two, is trying to ease some of that stress.
“My goal is that parents can feed their babies confidently, even if they’re using formula,” Whitmore told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
Whitmore is the creator behind the popular Instagram account “The Formula Mom,” where she first opened up about her own experience formula feeding and has since become a resource for other families who are looking for practical information and support.
Earlier this month, Whitmore also took on a new role as education lead for Bobbie, an organic infant formula brand.
“Like most parents, I had assumed that we would breastfeed and that’s just not how it turned out,” Whitmore said of her own experience as a mother of two. “I was desperate for information about how to formula feed safely and successfully. I couldn’t find any information that felt supportive, judgment free and research based.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively breastfeeding infants for the first six months of their life before introducing nutritious complementary foods because of the health benefits of breastmilk, which can include reduced cancer risks for moms and immunity and nutritional benefits for babies.
However, health care providers said not all parents can or want to breastfeed and that a fed baby is what’s most important.
“We know that breast milk is the gold standard for infants, we can know that breast milk offers ideal nutrition,” said Whitmore. “But we can also acknowledge that it might not be the ideal choice for us based on the lived circumstances of new parenthood.”
Whitmore said there are many reasons why a family would choose formula.
Some parents take certain medications that prevent them from breastfeeding safely. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that only a few medications are not recommended while breastfeeding and physicians can make a case-by-case assessment.
Neurodivergent parents may dislike the sensation of breastfeeding. Others who might choose formula over breastfeeding include mastectomy cancer treatment survivors, adoptive families, working parents or parents who want their own “bodily autonomy” back after nine months of pregnancy.
Ultimately, Whitmore explained, parents don’t need a reason at all.
“There are really a lot of reasons why a family may end up formula feeding. It could be something as simple as that’s the choice that the family makes, that’s what they want to do,” said Whitmore. “I like to encourage folks that any reason, or no reason at all, is a valid reason for formula feeding. You don’t need to meet some sort of benchmark of suffering.”
Earlier this year, a baby formula shortage escalated to a national crisis due to a voluntary product recall of one of the country’s top baby formula producers.
As a result, nearly 50% of all baby formula in the U.S. was out of stock by early May, according to previous ABC News reporting. The crisis prompted an emergency response from business leaders and the White House, who tried to help alleviate supply issues by importing nearly 300 million bottles of baby formula from other countries.
As the crisis unfolded, and desperate parents faced increasingly empty supermarket shelves, Whitmore was there to help her followers navigate the ongoing situation.
“For a lot of babies, formula is their sole source of nutrition and there’s not another option,” she said. “It’s really been incredibly difficult, both logistically and also mentally and emotionally taxing for new parents who are already exhausted.”
While the situation has improved somewhat in recent months, the shortage is not over, and some parents are still struggling to find formula.
For those still looking for advice, Whitmore has a few specific tips, including recruiting other family members to help search for formulas and preparing the formula to make it last.
“Batching formula in a dedicated formula mixing pitcher, which is good in the fridge for up to 24 hours after you’ve prepared it,” said Whitmore. “This allows parents to pour exactly what they need for each individual feeding instead of making a big bottle and then throwing away whatever they don’t need.”
Whitmore added that it’s just as important for parent’s to put together a feeding plan ahead of their baby’s arrival, just as they would a birth plan, and lay out what’s important to them when thinking about formula and what circumstances they would consider using it.
“It’s also important to have a contingency plan and to not wait until you’re sleep deprived and hormonal and recovering from a major medical event to think through these choices and decisions,” she said. “If you can make those decisions and craft a plan when you still have more mental capacity before the baby gets there, that’s always going to be a better option.”
(WASHINGTON) — Republican officials in two counties in Arizona and Pennsylvania declined on Monday to certify their midterm election results, with some citing concerns about the integrity of the voting system that have become commonplace among conservatives.
Republicans on the election boards of Cochise County in Arizona and Luzerne County in Pennsylvania voted against motions to certify the election results there.
Though Cochise County residents voted for GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters, both candidates ultimately lost their statewide races.
Luzerne County residents voted for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro and GOP Senate nominee Mehmet Oz, with Shapiro ultimately winning his bid and Oz falling short statewide.
Monday’s vote in Cochise could risk the certification of more than 47,000 votes and exposes the county to lawsuits.
At Monday’s meeting, Supervisor Tom Crosby proposed leaving the certification tabled until Friday, a motion that fellow Supervisor Peggy Judd seconded.
“This meeting agenda should have provided for interaction between subject matter experts on voter machines and representatives of the secretary of state’s office,” he said.
Ann English, the board’s chair and a Democrat, disagreed, insisting there was “no reason for us to delay” and that “we have heard from every person more than once how they feel about the certification of machines.”
“I feel that you both have the information necessary in order to make this decision that’s nondiscretionary on our part to certify the election for Cochise County, no matter how you feel about what happened in Maricopa or Pima or Mohave or Apache. We’re here to talk about Cochise County and our election,” she said.
In a follow-up statement to ABC News, English said that she believes “it was unlawful for the Board to not certify the election as stated in the statutes.”
“It is especially troubling to me when the other board members accept unsubstantiated ideas and unverified claims as facts instead of relying on the Arizona State Elections Office who told us the machines had been certified,” she said. “Cochise County had an election without problems and our machine count and hand count matched 100%. We had no problems and all these claims are just grandstanding.”
Arizona emerged as an epicenter of election misconduct claims in the midterm cycle, with Republican candidates seizing on printer issues in Maricopa County, which is home to Phoenix and about 60% of Arizona’s population. Local officials have insisted that the issues did not prevent any voters’ ballot from being counted, though Lake has continued to claim the issues cost her support.
Maricopa County officials unanimously voted on Monday to certify their county’s results.
Neither Crosby nor Judd immediately responded to requests for comment regarding their votes.
In Luzerne County, two Republican members of the elections board voted against certifying the midterm results, two Democrats voted to certify and one Democratic member abstained.
Luzerne County faced a paper ballot shortage on Election Day, but voting hours were extended to ensure that all ballots could be cast.
The Luzerne County manager announced plans to resign the day after the election.
“There have been enough irregularities and enough discrepancies and enough disenfranchisement of disenfranchised voters in this county that I don’t understand how we could possibly proceed without seriously considering a re-vote,” Board of Elections Vice Chair James Magna, a Republican, said, according to ABC affiliate WNEP-TV.
“We went over everything meticulously as far as the reconciliations, that’s any anomalies were pretty much explained. And it was due to the confusion at the polls because of the paper shortage,” added Democratic member Audrey Serniak.
Daniel Schramm, the Democrat who abstained, said, “My feeling is I needed a little more information.”
It is unclear how the county will proceed, though the state could get involved. The Pennsylvania Department of State told ABC News in a statement that it has contacted Luzerne County officials “to inquire about the board’s decision and their intended next steps.”
Schramm said later Monday that he will next vote to certify the results after he got answers to his specific questions, according to WNEP.
It is traditionally rare for a county to decline to certify elections, though speculation had bubbled prior to the midterms that local Republican officials could push to do so as the belief of widespread voter fraud and election malpractice grows within the GOP, spurred on by former President Donald Trump’s baseless attacks on the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.
The issues are not anticipated to stop any election victors from being seated, though the moves do open the counties up to litigation, with prominent attorney Marc Elias warning of upcoming lawsuits.
On Monday, his firm said in a statement that they had filed suit against the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.
Officials with the Arizona secretary of state’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
(UVALDE, Texas) — The mother of a girl killed during the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, last May, filed a lawsuit Monday against gun distributors, local governments and 16 law enforcement officers on the scene during the shooting — claiming their negligence led to her daughter’s death.
“Eliahna loved her family, and she knew how much we loved her,” Sandra Torres, the mother of 10-year-old Eliahna Torres, said in a news release. “I miss her every moment of every day. I’ve brought this lawsuit to seek accountability. No parent should ever go through what I have.”
Filed Monday in Del Rio, Texas, the lawsuit is the first submitted by the family of one of the children killed during the mass shooting.
Eliahna was among 19 students and two teachers killed on May 24 at Robb Elementary School in the small south Texas community.
Some of the defendants in the case, including then-school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo, former acting Uvalde Police Chief Mariano Pargas and gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, are already facing separate cases filed in federal court back in September by families of some who survived the shooting.
The Torres family is seeking unspecified punitive damages.
In an August interview with ABC News, Sandra Torres described how hard it has been processing her daughter’s death.
“It’s like sometimes it feels unreal like you know, it’s just a bad dream,” the mother said. “You know, she’s going to appear one day and then reality hits and my baby’s never coming back.”
Eliahna was known by her friends and family for her love of softball, according to the complaint, but she never made it to her final game of the season, which was scheduled for the night of the massacre.
“She hated sweating (despite the Uvalde heat), but she had fallen in love with playing softball and was a promising young infielder,” read the complaint.
The officers listed in the lawsuit work for the Uvalde Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Uvalde school district police force.
A special investigative committee of the Texas House of Representatives released a report in July concluding that the police response to the shooting was riddled with failures, allowing the shooter to remain in the classroom for 77 minutes even though 300 officers had arrived at the scene. The lawsuit argues that that delay is evidence of negligence.
Arredondo, the school district police chief who was later fired because of the response, has said he took all “reasonable actions” on the day of the shooting. He did not respond to questions about this lawsuit. Pargas, a Uvalde police lieutenant who was in charge of the city’s police force on the day of the shooting, also did not respond to requests for comment. Pargas quit two weeks ago, after the city’s leaders announced they planned to fire him.
The Torres family is also suing the city of Uvalde, the county of Uvalde, the Uvalde School District, the gun shop where the shooter purchased his firearms and gun manufacturer Daniel Defense.
The city, county, school district and Daniel Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
(NEW YORK) — Historic protests across China over its zero-COVID policy battered U.S. stocks on Monday, highlighting a close link between the contentious Chinese measures and domestic economic conditions that could help determine whether the U.S. enters a recession.
Residents in isolation in some regions say they’ve gone without sufficient food or medical care. Meanwhile, protests flared up after a fire on Thursday in an apartment building in the northwest city of Urumqi that killed at least 10 people, as some alleged that lockdowns obstructed the rescue of victims, while government officials denied any such impact.
Tension over COVID lockdowns in the world’s second-largest economy coincides with a precarious U.S. economic outlook.
An aggressive series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve aim to dial back sky-high inflation by slowing the economy and slashing demand. But the approach risks tipping the country in a downturn and putting millions out of work. Plus, ongoing disruption from the Russia-Ukraine war has exposed vulnerability in economies across the globe, including the U.S, experts said.
COVID lockdowns in China have clogged supply chains in the manufacturing stalwart, extending pandemic-era bottlenecks that have contributed to inflation, analysts told ABC News. Meanwhile, the zero-COVID policy has stagnated the Chinese economy, hurting spending among Chinese customers and in turn pummeling U.S companies that depend on it, they said.
“When consumers are locked down in these different cities, it’s a gut punch to the U.S. economy,” Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at Wedbush, an investment firm, told ABC News. “It has reached a fork in the road.”
Here’s what you need to know about how China’s zero-COVID policy heightens the risk of a U.S. recession:
Zero-COVID policy contributes to US inflation
A key threat to U.S. economic performance is inflation, which remains highly elevated and owes in part to Chinese lockdowns.
Sky-high price hikes stem from the pandemic, when millions across the globe facing lockdowns replaced restaurant expenditures with couches and exercise bikes. But the surge in demand for goods far outpaced supply, as COVID-related bottlenecks slowed delivery times. When demand exceeded supply, prices skyrocketed.
Some supply bottlenecks have eased but others remain, including China’s zero-COVID policy and its related lockdowns.
“The main effect of the zero-tolerance policy in China is interrupting some supply chains,” David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution focused on U.S.-China economic relations, told ABC News.
“We still import a lot from China and those problems in supply chains means the products are not here and that contributes a little bit to inflationary pressure,” he added.
For instance, China’s zero-COVID policy has led to major iPhone shortages heading into the holidays, according to a report released by Ives on Monday. Shortages have reached as low as 35% of typical holiday inventory in some stores, causing overall iPhone demand to outstrip supply by a ratio of 3 to 1, he found.
The iPhone shortage is the “poster child” of a larger trend, Ives told ABC News. The zero-COVID policy continues to reduce the supply of goods from China by an estimated 10% to 20%, he said.
To be sure, analysts disagree about the extent to which supply shortages have contributed to inflation, as opposed to a flood of stimulus payments that juiced demand.
“There’s definitely some linkage but I would not exaggerate it,” Dollar said.
Zero-COVID policy hurts Chinese consumers and U.S. companies
In addition to clogging up supply, the Chinese lockdowns have suppressed consumer demand in the country, causing slowdowns at U.S. companies that operate a significant portion of their business in China.
Holiday spending during a weeklong National Day break last month fell 56% compared to pre-pandemic levels, Bloomberg reported. Overall, China’s gross domestic product grew 3.9% over three months ending in September, well below 4.9% growth seen over the same period last year.
“People are locked down at home a lot of the time, so they’re not out spending money,” said Dollar, of the Brookings Institution.
“If China were growing well, it’d be importing more from the U.S. and contributing to the profits of U.S. companies that operate there,” he added. “That’s all not happening this year.”
Sluggish consumer demand in China contributed to the market sell off on Monday in response to civil unrest over the zero-COVID policy, Dollar said.
As of Monday afternoon, shares in Apple fell nearly 3%.
“A lot of big American companies listed in New York have serious business in China,” he said. “If there’s civil and political unrest, if the Chinese economy is slowing down, that creates uncertainty for a lot of American businesses.”
(NEW YORK) — A mom of three is sharing a warning for other parents after she says her 10-month-old daughter was hospitalized with critical injuries after swallowing a water bead.
Folichia Mitchell of Berwick, Maine, said she bought a water beads activity kit at a local Target store in late October for her 8-year-old son, who she says is on the autism spectrum.
“From reading the package, I saw they’re good for sensory so I thought he’d really love them,” Mitchell told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “And he did. He thought they were really fun.”
Mitchell said she set her son up at the kitchen table with the water beads so they would be out of reach of his younger siblings.
Several days later, Mitchell said she noticed her daughter Kennedy began vomiting and became very lethargic.
Mitchell said she took her daughter to the hospital on Nov. 1, thinking she may have been having an allergic reaction to a newly-introduced food.
Instead, Mitchell said Kennedy was transported by ambulance to a larger children’s hospital, where tests showed she had a large, round object in her stomach, which was determined to be a water bead.
Mitchell said she and her husband were in complete shock that Kennedy had swallowed a water bead from their older child’s activity kit.
“We never saw her near them. Never saw her have one in her hand. Never saw her pick one up from the floor,” said Mitchell. “I was not worried about that at all. That never had crossed my mind the whole time that she was not feeling well and deteriorating.”
According to the National Poison Control Center, water beads are typically made of synthetic superabsorbent polymers and when exposed to water, can grow in size from the size of a marble to the size of a tennis ball.
While first designed as a product to help maintain soil moisture in plants, water beads are now used in baby diapers, incontinence products and menstrual pads to help absorb fluid, and are “marketed as children’s toys or therapies for children with sensory processing or autism spectrum disorders,” according the center.
If water beads are swallowed, they can expand in the body and cause life-threatening intestinal blockage, the center says.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission has issued warnings in the past on various water bead, or water ball, products, warning that they can expand inside a child’s body and cause intestinal blockage and damage.
In Kennedy’s case, Mitchell said doctors performed a first surgery in early November to remove the water bead from her body, but damage to her intestines was already done.
The next four surgeries Kennedy underwent were due to infections in her body that were caused by intestinal blockage, according to Mitchell.
Mitchell said doctors told her three different times over the past month that they weren’t sure if Kennedy was going to survive.
As Mitchell learned more about what happened to Kennedy, she said she began posting videos on TikTok about what happened to help inform other parents.
Mitchell said she only saw a warning about choking on the Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Kit she purchased at Target.
According to an image of the product displayed on Chuckle & Roar’s YouTube page, the front of the kit says it is for ages 4 and older, and a warning label located on the upper right corner of the kit says it is a choking hazard, warning, “Small parts, not for children under 3 yrs.”
“I do think if they had been labeled properly, and said, ‘If ingested, could cause death could cause blockage, seek medical attention,’ any of those warnings, then I may not have even bought them for my 8-year-old,” she said. “Bringing something into your home and purchasing it from the store, you have the right to know what to expect or what the dangers or cautions are of anything, and I didn’t get that opportunity.”
Target told GMA in a statement that it has removed Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Kit from store shelves and its website while it reviews the situation.
“We’re aware of this tragic situation and send our heartfelt sympathy to this child and her family,” Joe Unger, a Target spokesperson, said in a statement. “Target requires our vendors to comply with all product safety standards, and all state, federal and local laws. We have removed the product from stores and Target.com while we review the situation with the vendor.”
Chuckle & Roar products are sold exclusively at Target, according to the company’s website.
Buffalo Games, the owner of Chuckle & Roar, told GMA the company is working to determine “if any action is needed” after learning about Kennedy’s situation.
Buffalo Games said in a statement, “It was recently reported to Buffalo Games that an infant required surgery after ingesting a water bead from the Ultimate Water Beads kit. Buffalo Games investigated and confirmed with Bureau Veritas, a leading third-party testing laboratory, that the Ultimate Water Beads product does meet all current ASTM and CPSIA standards for toy safety in the United States, and has all required warnings and information on package, including a Choking Hazard and that the product is specified for Ages 4+. However, as consumer safety is paramount to Buffalo Games, we are in the process of evaluating the situation and determining if any action is needed.”
The statement continued, “We wish Ms. Mitchell’s daughter a speedy and full recovery.”
Thomas Bosworth, a lawyer representing Mitchell, told GMA he believes the risk of harm from water beads for children is so great there is “no good reason” products containing them should be on store shelves.
“If you’re a company and you’re going to be selling products like this, you have an obligation to know everything that you need to know about those products and whether they’re dangerous, especially to children,” said Bosworth. “It’s not enough to say something is a choking hazard. There is a difference between choking on something and swallowing a bead that’s this big and it almost killing your child.”
According to Mitchell, Kennedy is no longer in the intensive care unit and is now breathing on her own after initially being placed on a ventilator.
She said she is not sure when Kennedy will be discharged from the hospital, or how long-lasting her injuries may be.
The National Poison Control Center advises anyone who has swallowed a water bead or has a loved one who has done so should reach out to Poison Control immediately by going to Poison.org online or calling 1-800-222-1222.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says warning signs for parents to look for include abdominal pain, constipation, drooling, vomiting, refusal to eat, wheezing and complaints of something stuck in the throat or chest. The AAP also warns that children may place water beads in their ears, for which they say to also seek immediate treatment.
Mitchell said she hopes that by sharing her family’s story, other parents learn the lesson she has — to do their own research before bringing a toy into their home.
“Regardless of what a product is going to visually tell me as a warning, I’m never, ever going to trust that,” said Mitchell. “I’m always now going to do more research just to bring things into my home because of how terrifying it feels that these were just right on the shelf. I grabbed them effortlessly and took them home.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday asked Congress to intervene and avert a potential strike of the nation’s railway workers — which could upend huge parts of the economy that depend on freight to move goods — by forcing the workers’ unions to accept a deal negotiated earlier this year.
In a statement, Biden described himself as a “proud pro-labor” president and said his decision was a difficult one.
But he said the larger economic considerations outweighed those concerns.
“I am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement. But in this case — where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families — I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal,” he said.
He asked Congress to quickly pass legislation to adopt the tentative deal between the rail companies and employees that was reached in September and brokered by the White House.
If a deal is not reached — or forced by Congress — then a strike could begin after the Dec. 9 deadline. Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Monday night that the House will soon take up such legislation and won’t modify the agreed-upon terms from September.
Like Biden, she said, “We are reluctant to bypass the standard ratification process for the Tentative Agreement — but we must act to prevent a catastrophic nationwide rail strike, which would grind our economy to a halt.”
The tentative contract included a 24% compounded wage increase and $5,000 total in lump-sum payments.
Pelosi praised certain elements of that deal but said, “Democrats are continuing to fight for more of railroad workers’ priorities, including paid sick leave.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a member of the Democratic caucus, has said his colleagues should do more for workers.
The two largest unions had initially highlighted how the tentative agreement included “wage increases, bonuses, with no increases to insurance copays and deductibles” and improved time-off policies, which had become a sticking point.
While eight of the 12 rail unions then went on to formally ratify the agreement, four rejected it — including the largest in the nation, with 50.8% of its workers voting against the deal.
Some of the workers’ groups who rejected the agreement cited frustration with compensation and working conditions, particularly a lack of paid sick days.
Because all of the rail workers have vowed not to cross the picket line in the event of a stoppage, the objections of four of the 12 unions ensures a strike unless there is a last-minute change in negotiations or congressional intervention.
Biden said Monday he was calling for Congress to act on advice of his secretaries of labor, agriculture transportation, who “believe that there is no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table and have recommended that we seek Congressional action,” according to his statement.
In urging Congress to ratify the deal between the rail companies and workers, however, Biden also warned lawmakers not to try and change the terms on their own.
“Some in Congress want to modify the deal to either improve it for labor or for management. However well-intentioned, any changes would risk delay and a debilitating shutdown. The agreement was reached in good faith by both sides,” he said.
A strike would “devastate our economy,” he said, noting that “the holiday season” was no time for that outcome.
What a railroad strike could mean for the economy
A potential strike could lead to $2 billion a day in lost economic output, according to the Association of American Railroads, which lobbies on behalf of railway companies.
“No one benefits from a rail work stoppage — not our customers, not rail employees and not the American economy,” AAR President and CEO Ian Jefferies said in a statement Monday night. “Now is the appropriate time for Congress to pass legislation to implement the agreements already ratified by eight of the twelve unions. A clear pattern of ratified agreements has been established and Congressional action to prevent a work stoppage in this manner is appropriate.”
“A national rail strike would severely impact the economy and the public,” the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, or NCCC, the group representing the freight railroad companies, said last week.
Rail is critical to the entire goods side of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, retail and warehousing. Freight railroads are responsible for transporting 40% of the nation’s long-haul freight and a work stoppage could endanger those shipments.
Moody’s Analytics chief economist, Mark Zandi, said that a railroad strike would be “economically costly,” and that a freight shutdown would roil supply chains and put upward pressure on U.S. goods inflation, making price problems temporarily worse.
The main channel for a strike to boost inflation is through the higher cost of transportation, particularly for agriculture, Zandi said. Corn, wheat and soybeans are the primary agriculture commodities that use rail.
A strike would also affect shipments of ethanol, potentially leading to higher gas prices, according to Zandi.
Trucking freight rates, which are still elevated above pre-pandemic levels, could also be pushed higher. Zandi said that the American Trucking Association estimates that a rail work stoppage would require 500,000 more trucks and 80,000 more drivers to fill the gap — an untenable number.
More immediately, however, Zandi said a strike would not have a material impact on holiday sales. Inventories of Christmas goods are ample and the major shipping of goods from ports to warehouses for the season is long over.
“Getting goods from warehouses to homes is done by truck,” Zandi said. “Perhaps some trucks would be diverted to help move goods typically done by rail, but this should not be a significant factor for Christmas.”
Local rails, though, could see disruptions should a rail strike occur — leaving commuters in a lurch. Freight companies own and operate many of the tracks across the country and in the event of a strike, local trains that run on those tracks would be forced to cancel trips.
But some Amtrak trains and commuter rails that run along the Northeast Corridor wouldn’t be affected by this. Amtrak owns some of its tracks, and they are not involved in the ongoing negotiations. In addition, local rail that own and operate their own tracks would not be affected — such as Trinity Railway Express in Dallas and Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco.
Why Congress is involved in potential rail strike
All labor disputes in the railway and airline industries — which are seen as critical to the U.S. economy, stretching across major industries from energy to agriculture — are governed by a 1920s-era federal law known as the Railway Labor Act, or RLA.
Congress enacted that law after decades of sometimes violent worker strikes and when Americans had grown dependent on many industries, particularly farming and manufacturing.
Under the RLA, if the parties in the rail labor dispute do not reach agreement on a new contract, the railroads can either impose their own work rules or employees can strike — or both.
At that point, the RLA would no longer set the terms of behavior.
Congress, acting with authority from the Constitution’s commerce clause, has not voted to end a railroad strike since April 1991 — less than 24 hours after a walkout. At the time, lawmakers approved a joint resolution — with President George H. W. Bush being roused from his bed in the middle of the night to sign the bill — that forced the parties in the dispute into a 65-day binding arbitration process.
Had those workers not approved of the terms in arbitration, Congress mandated that less generous solutions from the Presidential Emergency Board, acting as a third party, be accepted.
