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Anxious about the return to ‘normal’? Here are five tips to help post-pandemic anxiety

July 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Jamie Manning says she was excited earlier this month for a day of solo shopping in small towns outside her hometown of Washington, D.C.

It was something she would do frequently before the coronavirus pandemic, but this particular Saturday marked the first time she had done something like this in over one year.

As she sat down for lunch alone at a local restaurant and waited for her food, Manning said “my mind started to wander and I began to spiral.”

Describing the thoughts that raced through her mind, Manning, 32, explained: “There are a lot of people here. It’s really loud. I feel a little woozy. I hope my food gets here soon. I probably just need to eat something. I feel like I need to get out of here. I can’t leave because I need to eat. What if I pass out? I don’t know anyone here. DC feels so far away. Why did I come here alone? I can’t catch my breath.”

The panic attack Manning experienced was not one she expected. But as she recovered and thought about it later, she realized it was due simply to trying to reenter the world after more than a year spent socially distanced and isolated from people during the pandemic.

“I kind of felt sensory overload,” Manning told Good Morning America. “It wasn’t that I was as nervous about getting sick, it was more like, ‘Wow, I haven’t been in an environment for a very long time and it’s a lot to take in.'”

Manning shared her experience in a post on Instagram and received dozens of replies from people describing similar experiences.

“It used to be really normal for me, so I was surprised I had the reaction that I did, and I was surprised by the amount of messages I got,” said Manning. “Anything we can do to normalize these feelings and help people feel like they’re not alone is important.”

The struggle some people have faced as the country has reopened over the past several months is to be expected, according to Divya Robin, a New York City-based psychotherapist.

“For the last year to year-and-a-half we’ve been repeatedly told to stay home, wear a mask, social distance,” said Robin. “That’s been the message that’s completely wired in our brain. We were almost trained to be fearful of seeing people, fearful of the virus.”

“Now we have to give our brain time to adapt again, to shift again what we’re doing,” she said. “We have to think back to March, and the time it took then.”

The increased anxiety felt by many people mostly stems from the uncertainty and lack of control around the pandemic, according to Robin.

Those feelings may be even more intense now as the United States faces a COVID-19 summer surge as the delta variant spreads.

“We all have a fear system in our brains and that’s where anxiety stems from,” she explained. “We’re used to day-to-day there being a few times that it’s activated, like if you’re walking on the street and a car comes near you.”

“Over the past year of the pandemic and what’s going on now with the uncertainty around new variants coming and cases rising, it’s been activated nearly constantly,” Robin added. “That’s one of the reasons anxiety has shown up for more people.”

Anxiety can show up in different ways for different people, from overwhelming and worrisome thoughts to physical symptoms like chest tightness, fatigue, brain fog and difficulty concentrating and focusing, according to Robin.

While it’s important to know and expect that anxiety may arise, it’s just as important to have tools to handle it, she noted.

Here are five tips from Robin to help handle anxiety in a post-pandemic world.

1. Be patient with yourself:

Robin says to think of preparing yourself for a return to the office and social events in the same way you would think about getting back in shape after time away from the gym. In other words, patience.

“Two or three years ago, we’d be able to go three or four happy hours a night, and now many of us don’t have the energy,” she said. “It’s like if you go to the gym every day and run five miles and lift weights and then you don’t do it for a year-and-a-half, it’s hard to do.”

“But with time and training, it comes back,” added Robin.

2. Set small goals:

In order to train yourself to essentially be social again, Robin suggests setting small goals, like a new activity each weekend, or meeting a different friend weekly for coffee, for example.

“Don’t feel like you need to totally jump into things,” said Robin. “Start small and build your way up, just like any training program.”

Manning said she learned that lesson the hard way now looking back on her own experience.

“One of the learnings I took is I tried to do much at once,” she said. “It was easy to be like, ‘OK, great, everything is normal again,’ but I had to acknowledge that it was a lot for me to do a whole day outing and to be more intentional and ease into it.”

3. Try not to compare yourself to others:

Every person has a different perspective on and approach to post-pandemic life, so don’t compare yourself to others, recommended Robin.

“Be real with yourself about what your limits are instead of comparing yourself to other people,” she said. “Really resist the urge to compare, especially because that can cause more anxiety.”

“Instead, think about what feels right for you.”

4. Practice deep breathing:

If you feel yourself having anxiety thoughts or physical symptoms of an anxiety attack, Robin recommends practicing grounding and deep breathing techniques.

“Think about where you are in the moment,” said Robin. “If you’re sitting with a friend, feeling the sensation of your feet on the ground, your back leaning on the chair. Feeling grounded in where you are.”

“And for deep breathing, focus on really feeling your belly as you inhale. You want to feel like a balloon is being inflated inside your stomach.”

5. Pay attention to your thoughts:

Noticing the thoughts that you’re having can help you to not give into your anxious patterns, according to Robin.

“Anxiety a lot of the time stems from thinking of things that are outside our control,” she said. “Notice when those [anxious] thoughts come up and be aware of them, but don’t ruminate. Try to stay with one thought instead of ruminating and running away with all the worst case scenarios.”

Biden’s vaccine requirement could ‘very well’ require troops to get the shot

July 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

New vaccine requirements for federal employees expected to be announced by President Joe Biden Thursday “very well” could mean troops will be required to get the shot, a senior Pentagon official told ABC News on Wednesday. But if not, it still may only be a matter of time.

Because COVID-19 vaccines are available to the military under the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization (EUA), the shot has so far been strictly voluntary.

“It is not FDA approved, and therefore, it is still a voluntary vaccine,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters earlier this month. “I would like to add that as we speak, almost 69% of DOD personnel have received at least one dose. That’s not bad.”

By last week, the proportion of fully vaccinated troops had risen past 70%, based on data from the Department of Defense. That’s significantly higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate of 49% for the U.S. population as a whole.

While the DOD can’t independently decide to force service members to take a vaccine that isn’t fully approved, the president “may under certain circumstances waive the option for members of the armed forces to accept or refuse administration of an EUA product,” according to the FDA.

Biden said Tuesday that a federal mandate is “under consideration” and sources familiar with the discussion told ABC News the president is likely to announce federal employees will be required to be vaccinated, or else abide by “stringent COVID-19 protocols like mandatory mask wearing — even in communities not with high or substantial spread — and regular testing.”

The president demurred on the issue when asked by ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers as he arrived in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday.

“I’m talking about made in America today, that’s all I’m going to talk about,” Biden replied. “Tomorrow I’ll talk about whatever you want to talk about, including COVID.”

If Biden doesn’t include service members in a mandate for federal workers, one could still come later.

Pentagon officials have publicly said they would consider requiring COVID vaccinations, as is done with more than a dozen other vaccines, after the FDA fully approves the vaccines.

“I believe that when it’s formally approved, which we expect pretty soon, we probably will go to that, and then that question will kind of be moot,” Vice Adm. John Nowell told a sailor in a town hall question-and-answer video posted to Facebook last month.

On July 1 the Army Times reported it had obtained an internal Army memo that said commanders should “prepare for a directive to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for service members (on or around) 01 September 2021, pending full FDA licensure,” the order said.

“As a matter of policy we do not comment on leaked documents. The vaccine continues to be voluntary,” Maj. Jackie Wren, an Army spokesperson told ABC News. “If we are directed by DOD to change our posture, we are prepared to do so.”

Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense and ABC News analyst, said evidence should determine the issue.

“Readiness has always been a key component of any military, especially one as expeditionary as the U.S. Ever since the existence of vaccines they have been a part of the readiness capability,” Mulroy said. “If the medical professionals in the CDC and the DOD determine it is safe and critical to protect our force from COVID and all its variants, then that should be dispositive on the issue.”

So far, the Pentagon has not announced any official decisions for the future.

“There has been no change to our use of the vaccine as a voluntary measure of protection,” Kirby said in a statement to ABC News Tuesday. “We continue to urge everyone in the department to get vaccinated.”

A defense official confirmed on Wednesday that this stance has not changed.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Molly Nagle and Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega contributed to this report.

Children remain unvaccinated as delta variant surges, back-to-school concerns

July 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(UNITED STATES) — With the COVID-19 delta variant surge once again prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend masks indoors for teachers and other vaccinated school employees, many parents are left wondering if the new landscape of the pandemic means it’s safe for their still-unvaccinated young children to return to school this fall.

Early in the pandemic, epidemiologic data showed parents a reassuring trend: children were less likely to be infected and more likely to have mild infections. However, as COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out and the country made progress toward herd immunity, there came a shift: The viral spread is now predominantly among the unvaccinated, and of the largest unvaccinated populations is children under 12, who are not yet eligible for the available vaccines.

Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics has shown that children have made up a higher proportion of overall COVID-19 infections over the past couple of weeks.

“This increase is concerning, and yet not surprising, as the virus is going to infect those who are not protected,” said Dr. Amanda D. Castel, pediatrician and professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at George Washington University. “Children are still at risk for developing severe complications from COVID-19.”

Fall classrooms will be ground zero for a recipe that epidemiologists fear: Unvaccinated populations combined with close proximity and limited social distancing could become an avenue for disease spread.

While children are not necessarily more vulnerable than they were before, the biology of the disease has changed. The delta variant is more transmissible regardless of age and spreads more efficiently across unvaccinated populations.

“Make no mistake, this is a virus that can cause children to suffer and die,” said Dr. Paul A. Offit, pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

An important question now circulates in parent and teacher circles: how do you mitigate risk and still give kids a normal school year? The CDC updated its prior guidance on Tuesday, saying that children and teachers should be wearing masks in school this fall.

Experts agree that a nuanced approach to preventing transmission and creating herd immunity with high vaccination rates is key.

“Teachers can enforce proper social distancing practices and keep extra personal protective equipment (PPE) for themselves and students in supply,” said Kamon Singleton, M.Ed, a teacher at Heyward Gibbes Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina. “Although most schools may provide some PPE, teachers may want to keep an excess of supplies.”

Castel said she believes “layers of protection” are the answer.

“The first layer is to have everyone who can receive a vaccine do so,” Castel said. “Parents of children age 12 and older can make an appointment now. The shots create a bubble of protection not just for kids who have been vaccinated but also for kids who cannot get the vaccine yet. For those that can’t get vaccinated, wearing masks.”

While the pandemic is now largely fueled by those who decide not to vaccinate, this fall and winter, the focus will shift to keeping children from becoming the pandemic’s next target until vaccines are available for all.

Nancy A. Anoruo, MD, MPH, is an internal medicine physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and public health scientist. John Brownstein, Ph.D., is chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an epidemiologist. Both are faculty at Harvard Medical School and contributors to ABC News’ Medical Unit.

COVID-19 live updates: US reports highest number of new cases in the world

July 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 611,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 57.6% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

Worldwide, the virus that causes COVID-19 has infected more than 195 million people, with over 4.1 million dying from the disease.

Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Jul 29, 5:41 am
Dozens of cases across US linked to Christian summer camp

At least 75 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 17 U.S. states have been linked to a Christian summer camp in North Carolina, officials said.

The outbreak is associated with campers and staff who attended The Wilds camp near Rosman in North Carolina’s Transylvania County between June 28 and July 17, according to a statement from the local public health department.

Last week, a spokesperson for the camp told Ashevile ABC affiliate WLOS that they had cancelled sessions that week to work on enhancing COVID-19 protocols. Although there was no plan to cancel further sessions, the spokesperson said the camp was working to limit the number of attendees and started asking campers to get tested for COVID-19 before their sessions.

“We’ve been checking our staff, we’ve been doing screenings for everyone who comes onto the campsite and anticipating they’re coming to our campsite healthy,” the spokesperson told WLOS during a telephone interview last week. “And the anticipation is that they would leave healthy as well.”

Jul 29, 1:20 am
FDA approves shelf life extension for J&J vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration has approved another extension to the shelf life of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, from four-and-a-half months to six months, J&J said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated the vaccine is stable at six months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 – 46 degrees Fahrenheit,” J&J said.

Jul 29, 12:38 am
CDC changes testing guidance for vaccinated people

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated its guidance on testing for vaccinated people on its website.

While the CDC had previously said vaccinated people did not have to get tested for COVID-19 after being exposed to someone with the virus, unless they had symptoms, that is no longer the case.

The government agency now recommends: “If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you should get tested 3-5 days after your exposure, even if you don’t have symptoms.”

“You should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative. You should isolate for 10 days if your test result is positive,” the updated guidance states.

Jul 28, 10:20 pm
Disney World brings back indoor mask requirement for all guests

Masks once again will be required while indoors at Disney World, regardless of vaccination status, the company announced Wednesday, as Florida has quickly become a COVID-19 hotspot.

Starting Friday, face coverings will be required for all guests ages 2 and up while indoors, including upon entering and throughout all attractions.

They are also required while riding Disney transportation.

Masks are still optional in outdoor common areas, the company said.

The theme park had initially dropped its mask requirement for vaccinated guests last month.

The updated rule will also go into effect Friday at Disneyland in California.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Pacific Northwest braces for another heat wave as dozens of wildfires continue to burn

July 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Pacific Northwest is bracing for another heat wave as large wildfires continue to burn through the region.

While the spread of wildfires has slowed in recent days, that could soon change. Temperatures near Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, are expected to approach 100 degrees by Friday and dry lightning originating from the deadly monsoons in the Southwest could spark more fires.

Currently, dozens of uncontained wildfires are burning in the U.S., with the majority of them located in the West — a region experiencing tinderbox conditions as a result of megadrought and climate change.

The Dixie Fire near the Feather River Canyon in Northern California has grown to nearly 218,000 acres, destroying more than a dozen structures, and was 23% contained. Crews are prepping for structure protection in Taylorsville, California. The fire is now the largest burning in the state and more than 8,000 people are under evacuation orders, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, currently the largest in the country and the third-largest in state history, has burned through more than 413,000 acres and was 53% contained by Tuesday.

The Tamarack Fire near Gardnerville, Nevada, has scorched more than 68,000 acres by Monday and was 59% contained.

A heat wave is blanketing much of the country outside the West as well.

The heat dome is continuing to build from the north and central Plains to New Orleans. Fifteen states are currently under heat warnings and advisories.

The humidity and high temps will make it feel more like 110 degrees for some areas. Some cities in the upper Midwest, such as Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Minneapolis, could break records as temperatures climb toward 100 degrees.

Wisconsin judge finds probable cause to charge police officer in fatal shooting

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MILWAUKEE, Wis.) — A judge announced Wednesday that he has found probable cause to bring homicide charges against a Wisconsin police officer, five years after a local district attorney declared the officer was justified in his use of deadly force on a man he found sleeping in a car in a suburban Milwaukee park.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro said at a hearing that there is probable cause that former Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah committed the crime of homicide by negligent handling of a dangerous weapon when he killed 25-year-old Jay Anderson Jr. in 2016.

“This decision has not been taken lightly, nor was it predetermined. It is the result of a careful and extensive review of the evidence in this case,” Yamahiro said.

Yamahiro came to his conclusion after holding a rarely used “John Doe hearing,” which provides a forum and a procedure in Wisconsin for a citizen to ask a court to review a district attorney’s decision not to issue criminal charges in cases where the citizen believes one or more crimes have occurred.

“There is reason to believe, based on the testimony, that Officer Mensah created an unreasonable, substantial risk of death,” Yamahiro said as he read his lengthy decision in a courtroom packed with Anderson’s relatives.

Yamahiro said he will appoint a special prosecutor within 60 days to review the case and “decide which charge or charges, if any, they believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, a far higher standard than probable cause.”

Anderson’s loved ones, including his parents, burst into tears and applause upon hearing the judge’s decision. Outside the courtroom, a large crowd of supporters cheered and began chanting Anderson’s name.

“It’s awesome, I can breathe,” Anderson’s mother, Linda Anderson, said after the hearing.

Anderson’s father, Jay Anderson Sr., added, “We feel good. This is something that should have been done five years ago. This is justice, you guys, this is justice.”

Now a Waukesha County, Wisconsin, deputy sheriff, Mensah left the Wauwatosa Police Department after fatally shooting 17-year-old Alvin Cole in 2020, an incident that sparked large protests in and around the Milwaukee area.

It was the third on-duty fatal shooting in five years that Mensah was involved in. His use of deadly force was justified by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm in each case, including the 2015 killing of 29-year-old Antonio Gonzales.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Yamahiro’s ruling.

“What happened today is historic not just for the state of Wisconsin but for this country,” said Kimberley Motley, an attorney for the Anderson family who requested the John Doe hearing.

Motley also represents the families of Gonzales and Cole.

Anderson’s death unfolded just after 3 a.m. on June 23, 2016, when Mensah found him sleeping in a car in Madison Park.

“Approximately five and one-half minutes after Officer Mensah entered the park, Mr. Anderson was shot,” Yamahiro said.

Mensah claimed he opened fire in self-defense when Anderson “lunged for a gun” that was in the passenger seat of the car he was in, according to evidence presented at the John Doe hearing Yamahiro held between Feb. 19 and May 19 of this year.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Yamahiro said Mensah failed to activate his body-worn camera until after the shooting and did not turn on his squad car’s emergency lights, which would have automatically switched on his vehicle’s dashboard camera. Mensah’s body-worn camera, however, activated automatically and recorded about 25 seconds of the incident without audio and captured the shooting.

“The court has also heard testimony that Officer Mensah failed to activate his emergency lights or recording equipment at the time Antonio Gonzales was shot in 2015,” Yamahiro noted.

In an interview with Milwaukee Police Department investigators, the agency assigned to conduct an independent investigation of the shooting, Mensah claimed that when he approached the vehicle Anderson was in, he saw a handgun through the open passenger-side window lying on the passenger seat.

Mensah claimed that Anderson initially complied with orders to put his hands up, but during the encounter, he claimed Anderson appeared to reach for the gun with his right hand four different times before he lunged for the weapon, according to his statement to investigators.

During the John Doe hearing, two retired police homicide detectives testifying as expert witnesses claimed Mensah’s story of how Anderson was shot conflicted with the physical evidence at the crime scene and the findings of an autopsy that showed Mensah was shot three times in the right side of his head and once in the right shoulder.

Ricky Burems, a retired Milwaukee Police Department detective who has investigated more than 1,000 homicides, testified that if Anderson had been lunging for the gun, he would have sustained wounds to the front of his body, the front of his head or his upper chest and even the top of his head. Burems also said there would have been blood on the passenger seat.

“All of the blood was on the driver’s seat, the driver’s floor, the roof of the driver’s seat, the backrest, the pad or bottom where your legs and butt are and also the driver’s headrest,” Burems said, according to a transcript of his testimony that Yamahiro read in court Wednesday.

“So that tells me that when Mr. Anderson was shot, he was facing straight ahead. If Mr. Anderson had been lunging toward the passenger seat, that’s where his body would have been,” Burems testified. “So there’s no way that he could be shot while extending or leaning or lunging toward the passenger seat and then afterward be upright in the driver’s seat with his hands on his lap.”

Yamahiro also said that before Milwaukee police investigators arrived at Madison Park, the crime scene was compromised by other Wauwatosa police officers who removed the gun from Anderson’s car without first taking photos of the weapon and the position it was in when Anderson was shot.

“That is critical evidence that the Milwaukee Police Department didn’t get to, because Wauwatosa had already handled the gun and already moved it from the car, and already cleared it,” Yamahiro said. “I don’t know if that means they unloaded it or if they looked and saw there were no bullets in it, to begin with.”

Efforts by ABC News to reach Mensah on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, where Mensah now works, released a statement saying, “In light of Judge Glenn Yamahiro’s decision regarding Joseph Mensah, Sheriff Eric Severson will be reviewing all of his options, and will have a more detailed statement and decision forthcoming.”

Wauwatosa Police Chief James MacGillis, who has been on the job for just three days, read a statement during a brief news conference, saying, “The officers of the Wauwatosa Police Department continue their dedication to public safety for all citizens and understand that this is a time for community healing and trust-building.”

MacGillis said he has contacted the Anderson family in private to express his condolences.

“Now is the time to process the judge’s decision and then move forward,” MacGillis said. “The legal process has played itself out, and it’s going to continue to play itself out. My role is to lead this department, look at processes, look at how we function as an organization.”

Senate votes to start debate on $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In a key test vote Wednesday evening, the Senate voted in favor of beginning debate on a $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal that would provide funding for core items like roads, bridges, waterways and broadband.

Negotiators announced earlier in the day that they had reached a deal on the major aspects of plan.

Shortly after news broke that a deal had been reached, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would hold the test vote on the bill Wednesday, a critical first step to its passage.

Republican negotiators, all of whom blocked the procedural motion last week, said that they were ready to vote to move the bill forward and on Wednesday evening, 17 Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — voted with all of the Democrats to advance the legislation, which was still being finalized. In a surprise split in the Republican leadership, McConnell’s deputy, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., voted no.

Details about the agreement were still emerging, but an aide close to the talks confirmed to ABC News that the top-line value for new spending has decreased from $579 billion in the original bipartisan agreement to $550 billion.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator for the bipartisan group, said the bill is “more than paid for,” an essential priority for Republicans, without raising taxes on those making under $400,000 a year, a red line for President Joe Biden.

The deal 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.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., the chief Democratic negotiator, told reporters that she expects some of the bill text to be available Wednesday with further updates released as the remaining details are worked out.

A “small, tiny thing” related to transit and a “small thing” related to broadband must still be addressed, Sinema said, adding that negotiators are “very excited” to have a deal.

Sinema said she spoke with Biden and said he too is “very excited” about and “committed to” the plan.

Biden released a statement Wednesday afternoon hailing the deal as a signal to the world that “our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things.”

“As the deal goes to the entire Senate, there is still plenty of work ahead to bring this home,” Biden wrote. “There will be disagreements to resolve and more compromise to forge along the way.”

Portman announced the agreement flanked by the four other Republicans in the core negotiating group early Wednesday afternoon.

“As of late last night and really early this morning we now have an agreement on the major issues we are prepared to move forward,” Portman said. “We look forward to moving ahead and having the opportunity to have a healthy debate here in the chamber regarding an incredibly important project to the American people.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who was part of the bipartisan negotiation group, touted the deal as a much-needed signal that bipartisanship is possible, even in an evenly divided Senate.

“I am delighted that we’ve been able to come together as a bipartisan group,” Collins said. “America needs to see us be able to tackle an important issue that will affect the lives of Americans throughout this country.”

It’s still not clear if all Democrats are going to support the bipartisan deal. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, said Wednesday morning that was an “unanswered question.”

“We certainly don’t have a whip or people signing on the dotted line,” Durbin said. “We need some assurances that we are all in this together.”

Wednesday’s test vote in the Senate was expected to be the first in a long series of hurdles to pass this bill and Biden’s other agenda priorities. In addition to the procedural hurdles which still threaten to trip up the bipartisan deal on the floor, Democrats are also working to push through a second, larger budget bill containing the remainder of Biden’s American Families Plan priorities along party lines.

Schumer has long insisted that both the budget bill and the bipartisan bill need to pass together using a “two-track” approach.

But Sinema threatened to derail that plan on Wednesday, announcing in a press release that she won’t support spending the $3.5 trillion that Budget Committee Democrats agreed to as a top line for the budget bill.

“I have told Senate leadership and President Biden that I support many of the goals in this proposal to continue creating jobs, growing American competitiveness, and expanding economic opportunities for Arizonans,” Sinema said. “I have also made clear that while I will support beginning this process, I do not support a bill that costs $3.5 trillion — and in the coming months, I will work in good faith to develop this legislation with my colleagues and the administration to strengthen Arizona’s economy and help Arizona’s everyday families get ahead.”

To pass the budget bill, Democrats will need the support of every Democrat serving in the Senate. Sinema’s opposition points to the possibility of a long road ahead for many of Biden’s infrastructure priorities.

‘Made in America’ company creates fashionable bags out of recycled sails

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(PORTLAND, Maine) — One company is taking used sails from sailboats and creating something totally brand new: summer tote bags.

Sea Bags, founded in Portland, Maine, makes unique tote bags out of locally recycled materials. Since 1999, the company says it has saved over 700 tons of material from going into landfills.

“Our materials come from Maine first; New England, second; and [the] U.S.A, third,” it says on the company’s website.

Located right on the water on Custom House Wharf in Portland, Sea Bags employs 200 workers.

Employee Dillon Leary, who has been working for Sea Bags since high school, said he’s proud of his role in producing the bags.

“We get to see the process from the very beginning,” said Leary, “Out of the thousands of pounds of sails that we’re taking per year, every single one of those starts in this building.”

Timeiqua Nixon, who has been a part of the design team for over six years, said that pride goes into each product.

“Everything is handmade. So I love that we just do it ourselves,” she said. “Which is, we’re the main source for it. We don’t have to outsource anything.”

Republicans, Democrats battle over new House mask mandate

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday battled over the new House of Representatives’ new mask mandate, with more than a dozen Republicans voting twice without masks, despite new guidance from the Capitol physician aimed at preventing fast-spreading COVID-19 infections.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy “such a moron” Wednesday morning when asked about his criticism of the new mask mandate in the House.

“That’s the decision from the Capitol physician, a mandate from him,” Pelosi told reporters. “I have nothing to say about that, except we honor it.”

Asked about McCarthy saying the decision was not “based on science,” she replied, “He’s such a moron,” as she got into her car.

In a directive issued Tuesday night, The Office of the Attending Physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, said it was now required that all members and staff wear “medical-grade” masks throughout the House, unless members are speaking in the halls of the House or individuals are alone.

Members and staff will once again be prohibited from stepping on the floor to vote without a mask, or risk incurring fines.

The directive cited the increasing threat from the delta variant and noted House members travel weekly to and from areas of both high and low rates of disease spread. It also mentioned the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mask guidance for vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in where transmission is high or substantial, as well as recommending universal masking in schools.

“The same bureaucratic ‘public health experts’ who completely upended our society by pushing lockdowns and yearlong school closures now want to force Americans to return to pre-vaccine control measures. By forcing vaccinated Americans to return to masks, the Biden administration is not only casting doubt on a safe and effective vaccine, but contradicting why vaccines exist,” McCarthy said in a statement in response. “Make no mistake — the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.”

After meeting with the top doctor on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon, McCarthy took to the House floor to decry the return of the House mask mandate and to slam Pelosi for calling him a “moron.”

“Today, the Speaker who didn’t know her own science, and said names to people, broke her own rules. Twice today, I saw the speaker in a crowded room without a mask. Less than 24 hours after imposing a mask mandate,” he said.

“You don’t know the facts or the science!” he said. “Do you know what frustrates Americans the most? Hypocrisy.”

McCarthy claimed the vaccination rate for members of Congress is over 85 percent. “And, as of today, the transmission rate on the Capitol campus is less than 1 percent,” he continued. “Well, the facts would tell us this isn’t a hot spot, so the CDC recommendation doesn’t apply to us!”

Republicans derailed the House floor schedule twice earlier on Wednesday, by forcing procedural votes protesting the new requirements.

At one point, the House was forced to vote on a motion to adjourn offered by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas to disrupt proceedings, ostensibly over the mask mandate.

“This sham of an institution is doing nothing for the American people!” Roy yelled.

“We have people infected with Covid coming across the southern border,” he added, demanding that Dr. Fauci appear before Congress to testify about natural immunity. “Which is it? Vaccines or masks?”

“I don’t believe that masks make any difference,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told ABC News when asked why he wasn’t wearing a mask. “If they’ve been vaccinated, what are they worried about a threat from me?”

When asked if he had been vaccinated, he said, “I don’t answer that question because it’s no one’s business.”

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, another unmasked member, said he had “double immunity” from the vaccine and a prior COVID-19 infection.

“I’ll pay the fines, I’m not wearing a damn mask,” he said.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., another unmasked and unvaccinated member, got into a shouting match with liberal Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., who told him to “get vaccinated,” and continued the feud on Twitter.

“You can’t compel people to put something in their own body. People have to decide to do that for themselves,” Donalds said. “I’m 42, healthy, and I already had COVID.”

Asked about his colleague Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who was hospitalized despite believing he already had COVID, he said, “The reality is that people are going to make their own decisions.”

As for the possibility of spreading the disease to vulnerable people with preexisting conditions, he said, “Anybody would be concerned about that.”

“What we’re doing is shifting the goalposts to eliminating COVID. And I want to eliminate COVID but we can’t be just shifting the goalposts on every American,” Higgins said. “If you have symptoms, go get tested. If you test positive, go isolate. This is not hard.”

Among the Republicans bristling at the return of the mask mandate on Wednesday was longtime opponent Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who was seen throwing a mask back at a House staffer who offered her one.

According to two people who saw the exchange, Boebert threw a mask back at a staffer on the House floor and refused to put one on to comply with the latest rules. One person said she threw the mask on the ground.

Boebert’s office did not dispute the exchange, saying in a statement, “Rep. Boebert refuses to comply with Speaker Pelosi’s anti-science, totalitarian mask mandate. When offered a mask, she returned it with a quick slide across the table.”

Boebert could receive a $500 fine for breaking the new mandate. GOP Reps. Roy, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who also appeared on the floor without masks, could be fined as well.

Members can appeal the fines to the ethics committee, and receive $2500 fines for subsequent offenses.

Blinken warns of ‘deeply, deeply troubling’ reports of atrocities in Afghanistan amid US withdrawal

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged Wednesday during a joint press conference in India that the situation in Afghanistan is headed in the wrong direction — noting the Taliban is “making advances” and calling reports that the group has committed atrocities “deeply, deeply troubling.”

They “certainly do not speak well of the Taliban’s intentions for the country as a whole,” he told ABC News.

Blinken made a quick visit to New Delhi, where he and senior Indian officials focused on deepening U.S.-Indian cooperation on key challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, China, and climate change. But with the security situation in nearby Afghanistan deteriorating quickly, their meetings also focused on the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the Taliban’s swift efforts to control more territory.

As he and other Biden officials have argued, however, he said that the international community would make a “pariah state” of an Afghan government that “does not respect the rights of its people, an Afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people.”

“The Taliban says that it seeks international recognition, that it wants international support for Afghanistan,” and that it wants sanctions and travel bans on its leaders lifted, he added, saying there’s “only one path” to achieving those aims, “and that’s at the negotiating table.”

But it doesn’t seem that the Taliban — which now control nearly half of the country’s districts since launching their offensive in May, according to the Pentagon — agrees.

The group’s leadership has also denied responsibility for the atrocities Blinken mentioned, including extrajudicial killings, forced displacements and attacking civilian infrastructure — a sign that their promises remain empty and they do believe they can take power by force or that they don’t have full control of their fractured forces across the country.

President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops before the 20th anniversary, this fall, of the Sept. 11th attacks that brought American forces to Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida’s operations there and topple the Taliban government that gave them sanctuary.

In the weeks since then, the Taliban have won control of dozens of districts by force or through surrenders, as they dawdle at negotiations with the Afghan government meant to secure a ceasefire and decide on the country’s future government.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, agreed with Blinken that, despite the deadlock in those talks, they were the only solution to Afghanistan’s fighting. But he declined to say how concerned India’s government is now about the deteriorating security situation, instead calling it “natural” and “inevitable” that “there will be consequences” to the U.S. military withdrawal.

“What is done is done. It is a policy taken, and I think in diplomacy, you deal with what you have,” he told ABC News – agreeing with Blinken that negotiations are the only solution.

But he subtly took issue with Pakistan, India’s neighbor and long-time adversary, adding that “not everyone who agrees … does what they say they will do.” Without a direct mention, he called its support for the Taliban a “reality of the last 20 years.”

A senior State Department official said after the day’s meetings that the two sides made no specific asks of one another, but committed to deepening cooperation and information-sharing on the situation.

“It’s a chance for us to talk about, sort of, the way forward and really where we can find points of leverage to try to bring the Taliban along and get toward a negotiated settlement,” they said.

The two foreign ministers were chummy after their day of meetings — cracking jokes and praising U.S.-Indian cooperation. Jaishankar said the two powers had “entered a new era,” with cooperation on COVID-19, defense, trade and investment, climate change, and regional issues.

In particular, Blinken said the two countries “will be leaders in bringing the pandemic to an end,” as India ramps up vaccine production and exports, and the U.S. launches the first of the 500 million doses next month that Biden promised during the G-7 summit.

The Biden administration had hoped to share three million of those doses with India, but they remain held up by Indian bureaucracy, which must first approve their import, according to the senior State Department official, who added they hoped for “some movement soon.”

While the increasing U.S.-India partnership has irked the Chinese government, which has accused both countries of trying to “contain” it, Jaishankar shot back Wednesday — saying, “People need to get over the idea that somehow other countries doing things is directed at them.”

“For groups of countries to work together is not strange. It’s the history of international relations,” he added, earning a laugh from Blinken.

But much of this visit has been focused on China — including Blinken’s meeting Wednesday morning with the Dalai Lama’s representative, Central Tibetan Administration Representative Ngodup Dongchung. It’s the first high-level engagement from the Biden administration with the Tibetan leader and his team — one that is sure to anger Chinese officials who have long opposed U.S. support for the spiritual figure.

The senior State Department official tried to downplay the meeting, saying they met “very briefly” so that Dongchung could present Blinken with a scarf as a “gesture of good will and friendship.”

Blinken also tried to send a message with another meeting Wednesday morning, starting his day before the cameras with a group of Indian civil society leaders. Before the press, he talked about how both countries’ democracies “are works in progress. … Sometimes that process is painful, sometimes it’s ugly, but the strength of democracy is to embrace it.”

That process in India has been particularly ugly in recent years. Earlier this year, Freedom House, the U.S. think tank, rated India as “partly free” for the first time in its annual global survey, as the government of Narendra Modi has been accused of curtailing minorities’ rights, especially Muslims; attacking political opponents and the free press; and restricting human rights groups and NGOs.

With his morning meetings, Blinken tried to send a message about that, talking up the importance of “a vibrant civil society” and talking openly about American democracy’s struggles and faults — including the events of Jan. 6.

But during their presser, Blinken was more conciliatory than critical of Modi and Jaishankar’s administration, saying Americans “admire” India’s “steadfast commitment to democracy, pluralism, human rights, fundamental freedoms.”

“As friends, we talk about these issues. We talk about the challenges that we’re both facing in renewing and strengthening our democracies, and I think humbly, we can learn from each other,” he added, clearly highlighting the common ground, rather than risk alienating this critical new partner.

Jaishankar had a sharper edge in response to the question — telling the reporter who asked that Modi’s changes are an effort to “really right wrongs when they have been done” — the kind of ‘don’t question’ attitude that critics say is at the heart of Modi’s democratic back-sliding.

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