(NEW YORK) — The remains of two American women who went missing after their plane crashed off the coast of Panama a month ago have been recovered, officials said.
Debra Ann Velleman, 70, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Sue Borries, 57, of Teutopolis, Illinois, both retired public school teachers, were part of a community of snowbirds and expats living in the area of Chame, Panama.
The two friends were traveling home after spending New Year’s Eve weekend at a bed and breakfast on the Panamanian island Isla Contadora on Jan. 3 when their small plane, piloted by the B&B owner, suffered an engine failure and crashed off the coast of Chame, according to friends and family.
Debra Ann Velleman’s husband, Anthony Velleman, another passenger and the pilot were rescued by Panamanian search and rescue teams. Their families believed the women were still in the unrecovered plane wreckage, and as the search stretched on for days and then weeks, they pleaded with the U.S. government for help they said never came.
Tuesday morning, Velleman and Borries were recovered from inside the plane, according to Albert Lewitinn, a representative for the Velleman family.
A Panamanian search and rescue team helped recover the bodies after more than 690 hours of searching, authorities said.
The Panamanian government had requested that the U.S. deploy assets including Navy salvage divers and sonar to aid in the search effort and locate the wreckage in the days after the crash, but the request was denied due to a lack of assets and jurisdiction, according to a statement from the Velleman and Borries families.
The families continued to plead with the U.S. government to send equipment and personnel to aid in the search and recovery effort. As the effort wore on, they enlisted the help of the Wisconsin-based volunteer search and recovery organization Bruce’s Legacy and set up a GoFundMe to help defray the costs of bringing the nonprofit to Panama.
The plane was located with the help of Bruce’s Legacy, as well as a local family whose boats were used in the mission, Lewitinn said.
The families are now working on having the womens’ remains brought back to the U.S., he said.
“It is our intention — almost exactly one month following this tragic accident — to give proper thanks to all those who supported our families during this difficult time, as well as to have many outstanding questions answered by way of a swift and thorough investigation,” the families said in a joint statement. “For now, however, this finally marks the beginning of our grieving process and provides us with a path to closure.”
The Velleman family had been in touch with several Wisconsin and Illinois representatives as they sought assistance from the U.S. government in the search and recovery effort.
According to Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office, the U.S. Coast Guard provided Panamanian authorities with technical modeling to support the search for the aircraft.
ABC News had previously reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Panama for comment but did not receive a response.
(WASHINGTON) — As the federal investigation into possible sex trafficking allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz continues, his campaign’s fundraising has been dwindling.
In its latest campaign finance disclosure filed on Monday, the Gaetz campaign reported raising $534,000 in the final three months of last year — a major drop from the $1.8 million he raised in the first three months of the year, fresh off the 2020 election.
Overall, Gaetz’s fundraising has been gradually slowing down, dropping to $1.4 million in the second quarter and then to $527,000 in the third quarter.
A dip in fundraising between election years isn’t uncommon, and some of Gaetz’s GOP colleagues, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, saw a similar slowdown in fundraising from their earlier hauls. A joint fundraising operation between Gaetz and Greene also reported bringing in only $19,000 in the final quarter of 2021, compared to the nearly $360,000 it raised in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, as the sex trafficking investigation unfolded over the past year, disclosure records show that the Gaetz campaign’s legal bills rose significantly.
In total, from July 2020 through the end of December 2021, the Gaetz campaign reported spending nearly $200,000 on legal bills, minus $25,000 that was returned by a firm named Zuckerman Spaeder LLP two months after the Gaetz campaign paid that amount to the firm.
In the first few months of 2021, as news of the investigation into Gaetz and his associates emerged, the campaign also spent more than $800,000 on strategic consulting by PR firm Logan Circle Group — but the campaign’s payments to the firm dropped to under $3,000 in the final three months of 2021.
The latest financial disclosure filing also shows the Gaetz campaign has continued to pay the office of New York criminal defense attorney Marc Fernich, who lists on his website “notable clients” that include convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Among Fernich’s other clients are Mexican drug lord El Chapo, former mobster John “Junior” Gotti, and “alleged propagandist in Nazi Hungary” Ferenc Koreh, according to his firm’s website.
The Gaetz campaign made a $50,000 payment to Fernich’s firm in October, according to the latest filing — its second payment to the firm after a payment of $25,000 in June of last year.
As his fundraising slowed down last year, Gaetz’s campaign spending also dropped significantly, with disclosures showing most of his money going to direct mail messaging and fundraising.
“I’m the only Republican in Congress who doesn’t take lobbyist or PAC money. I rely exclusively on donations that average around $38,” Gaetz said in a statement to ABC News. “HBO made a movie about it called The Swamp.”
The financial disclosures come as the federal probe into possible sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz continues.
Earlier this month Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend, a one-time Capitol Hill staffer, testified in front of a federal grand jury that’s hearing evidence in the investigation, according to multiple sources. The ex-girlfriend, who ABC News is not naming, was one of the women allegedly on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas with Gaetz and others that prosecutors are investigating.
Sources familiar with the grand jury proceedings said the woman provided information regarding a phone call that prosecutors say occurred between her, Gaetz, and another woman who is also a witness in the sex-crimes probe and who met the congressman through his one-time friend, former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg.
A week after Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testified in front of the grand jury, Joe Ellicott, a close friend of Greenberg — who himself pled guilty last year to multiple charges including sex trafficking a minor — also agreed to plead guilty to fraud and drug charges. Ellicott, like Greenberg, allegedly attended multiple gatherings that involved drugs and young women who were paid for sex, sources told ABC News.
Ellicott also allegedly knows the one-time minor at the center of the sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz, as well as another woman who is involved, sources said. ABC News previously reported that in a private text exchange over the encrypted messaging app Signal, Ellicott allegedly told Greenberg in August 2020 that a mutual friend was worried she could be implicated in the investigation into the sex ring involving a minor.
The attorney for Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend, Tim Jansen, declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
The latest developments come after Greenberg, as part of a plea deal, had been steadily providing prosecutors with information that allegedly included years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos, as well as access to personal social media accounts, ABC News previously reported.
Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes. In a statement to ABC News responding to Ellicott’s guilty plea agreement, Gaetz’s chief of staff Jillian Lane Wyant, said, “After nearly a year of false rumors, not a shred of evidence has implicated Congressman Gaetz in wrongdoing. We remain focused on our work representing Floridians.”
Ellicott’s guilty plea hearing is set for Feb. 9, while Greenberg’s sentencing is slated for the end of March after being pushed back multiple times amid the ongoing investigation.
(WASHINGTON) — Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for emergency use authorization for its vaccine for children under the age of 5.
The move puts the process in motion for the FDA to review the data, bring it before its independent advisers and potentially authorize the vaccine in the coming weeks. The FDA independent advisers are already slated to have a public hearing on Feb. 15.
The data would then be brought before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent advisers for another review, and finally, a potential recommendation by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky — all potentially within the month.
As of now, Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine is available to anyone over 5 years old. A booster shot after five months is available to anyone over 12 years old. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are available to adults.
Pfizer announced it had safety and efficacy for its vaccine for kids under 5 in December, but determined that the two-dose regimen wasn’t as effective for children 2, 3 and 4 years-old as it was for adults. The dose for kids under 5 is one-tenth the dose for adults.
On Tuesday, Pfizer again submitted data on two doses of the vaccine, but with the expectation that data will soon be available to make it a three-dose vaccine, which will likely be more effective at preventing illness.
Pfizer is expected to have more information on the efficacy of a three-dose regimen in March or April, but authorizing the first two doses in February would start the immunization process earlier.
The third dose would be given at least eight weeks after the second dose.
“As hospitalizations of children under 5 due to COVID-19 have soared, our mutual goal with the FDA is to prepare for future variant surges and provide parents with an option to help protect their children from this virus,” Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, said in a press release Tuesday.
“Ultimately, we believe that three doses of the vaccine will be needed for children 6 months through 4 years of age to achieve high levels of protection against current and potential future variants. If two doses are authorized, parents will have the opportunity to begin a COVID-19 vaccination series for their children while awaiting potential authorization of a third dose.”
Some parents of young kids have been desperate for a shot to be authorized so they can protect their children against severe disease. Kids under the age of 5 have now spent nearly half of their lives in the pandemic, and for many parents their unvaccinated status has been a huge stressor.
Last week, about 808,000 children tested positive for COVID-19, down from the peak level of 1,150,000 reported the week ending Jan. 20, according to a new weekly report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
However, the organizations warn that pediatric infections remain “extremely high,” still triple the peak level of the summer delta surge in 2021.
A total of 11.4 million children have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic. Child COVID-19 cases have “spiked dramatically” during the omicron variant surge, with more than 3.5 million child cases reported in January.
Still, because kids are less likely to get seriously sick from COVID-19, many parents have opted not to vaccinate them even when they become eligible.
Nearly 70% of eligible kids ages 5 to 11 have yet to get a shot, according to a January survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health nonprofit. It’s unclear how many parents will opt to vaccinate their children under 5, when the vaccine becomes available.
But experts point to many reasons to get children vaccinated, including their own health and the health of the community around them.
According to the CDC, unvaccinated 12 to 17-year-olds had an 11 times higher risk of hospitalization than fully vaccinated adolescents.
And while young kids are less likely to end up in the hospital, it’s still possible. They can also be vectors for spread, infecting other, higher-risk adults in their community.
Both the delta and omicron surges saw full pediatric wards in hospitals, often with doctors pleading for communities to increase their vaccination rates.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic, children ages 5 and under are one step closer to being eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Pfizer on Tuesday asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 6 months to 5 years old.
The FDA will now review the data, bring it before its expert advisers and potentially authorize the vaccine in the coming weeks before sending it to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for final approval.
“Ultimately, we believe that three doses of the vaccine will be needed for children 6 months through 4 years of age to achieve high levels of protection against current and potential future variants,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. “If two doses are authorized, parents will have the opportunity to begin a COVID-19 vaccination series for their children while awaiting potential authorization of a third dose.”
Here are nine questions answered about the COVID-19 vaccines and kids as families seek to make the best decisions.
1. What is the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine?
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology, which does not enter the nucleus of the cells and doesn’t alter human DNA. Instead, it sends a genetic “instruction manual” that prompts cells to create proteins that look like the outside of the virus — a way for the body to learn and develop defenses against future infection.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses an inactivated adenovirus vector, Ad26, that cannot replicate. The Ad26 vector carries a piece of DNA with instructions to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that triggers an immune response.
This same type of vaccine has been authorized for Ebola and has been studied extensively for other illnesses and for how it affects women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Neither of these vaccine platforms can cause COVID-19.
2. What is the status of vaccine eligibility for kids?
Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to receive Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine.
Children ages 12 to 15 are also eligible to receive a Pfizer vaccine booster shot.
Pfizer has submitted data to the FDA for a two-dose vaccine for kids under five, with the expectation that data will soon be available to make it a three-dose vaccine, which will likely be more effective. The company announced in December that it would amend its ongoing clinical trials for children under age 5 to add a third dose.
The two other vaccines currently available in the U.S., Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are currently available only for people 18 years and older.
Moderna filed for emergency use authorization with the FDA for its vaccine in adolescents in June but is still awaiting a decision.
Johnson & Johnson announced in April that it had begun vaccinating a “small number of adolescents aged 16-17 years” in a Phase 2a clinical trial.
As of April, the trial was enrolling participants only in Spain and the United Kingdom, with plans to expand enrollment to the U.S., the Netherlands and Canada, followed by Brazil and Argentina.
3. Why do kids need to be vaccinated against COVID-19?
While there have not been as many deaths from COVID-19 among children as adults, particularly adults in high-risk categories, kids can still get the virus and they can also transmit the virus to adults.
A total of 11.4 million children have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic. Child COVID-19 cases have “spiked dramatically” during the omicron variant surge, with more than 3.5 million child cases reported in January.
According to the CDC, unvaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds had an 11 times higher risk of hospitalization than fully vaccinated adolescents.
“We know that COVID does not spare kids,” ABC News medical contributor Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, said in December. “Maybe it’s less severe than their adult counterparts but we also know that the virus has had real significant impacts on morbidity and mortality in kids.”
“We also know that kids play an important role as vectors of spread,” he said. “And especially in light of increases we’re seeing right now, with increases of cases in kids in record numbers, infections among kids further perpetuate community transmission and further create risks for those who would be the most vulnerable of the virus.”
4. Do kids experience the same vaccine side effects as adults?
Adolescents experienced a similar range of side effects to Pfizer’s vaccine as seen in older teens and young adults — generally seen as cold-like symptoms in the two to three days after the second dose — and had an “excellent safety profile,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in August.
None of the children in Pfizer’s clinical trials of kids ages 5-11 experienced a rare heart inflammation side effect known as myocarditis, which has been associated with the mRNA vaccines in very rare cases, mostly among young men.
5. Is there data showing COVID-19 vaccines are safe for kids?
The CDC released three studies in December showing COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective for children.
One study, which evaluated the safety reports of more than 42,000 children ages 5 to 11 who received a Pfizer shot, found the side effects from the Pfizer vaccine were mostly mild and temporary. It also found that myocarditis, a heart inflammation side effect that has been associated with the mRNA vaccines in very rare cases, does not appear to be a risk.
A second study, which looked at data from 243 children ages 12 to 17 in Arizona, found the Pfizer vaccine was 92% effective at preventing infection. The study, conducted between July and December when delta was the dominant variant in the U.S., also found that adolescents who developed COVID-19 reported a lower percentage of time masked in school and time masked in the community.
The third study, also conducted when delta was dominant, found that among children ages 5 to 17 hospitalized due to COVID-19, less than 1% were fully vaccinated against the virus.
6. How effective are the vaccines in children?
Pfizer announced in late March that its clinical trials showed the vaccine was safe and 100% effective in children ages 12-15, similar to the 95% efficacy among adult clinical trial participants.
Marks confirmed on May 10 that after a trial with more than 2,000 children, Pfizer found no cases of infection among the children who had been given the vaccine and 16 cases of infection among the children who received a placebo.
No cases of COVID occurred in the 1,005 adolescents that received the vaccine, while there were 16 cases of COVID among the 978 kids who received the placebo, “thus indicating the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 In this trial,” said Marks.
7. Do kids get the same dose of the vaccines as adults?
In Pfizer’s clinical trial, children between 6 months and 5-years-old received two doses of 3-microgram shots, a tenth of the dose given to adults, three weeks apart.
Kids ages 5 to 11 are given a 10-micrograms dose of the Pfizer vaccine, one-third of the adolescent and adult dose. Like with adults and adolescents, the pediatric vaccine is delivered in two doses, three weeks apart.
For 12-to-15-year-olds, the FDA has authorized the same dosing as adults with the Pfizer two-dose vaccine.
The FDA and CDC have recommended the Pfizer booster shots now available for kids ages 12 and older be administered five months after the primary vaccine series.
8. Could COVID-19 vaccines impact puberty and menstruation?
There is currently no clinical evidence to suggest any of the COVID-19 vaccines can have long-term effects on puberty or fertility.
9. Where can kids get vaccinated against COVID-19?
Vaccines are accessible at pediatricians’ offices, children’s hospitals, pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid and school and community-based clinics.
Parents can search for appointments at Vaccines.gov to find a local provider.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Anne Flaherty, Eric Strauss, Cheyenne Haslett and Jade A. Cobern, MD, a member of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.
(RICHFIELD, Minn.) — One student is dead and another is critically injured after being shot on the sidewalk outside of a school Tuesday in Richfield, Minnesota, according to police.
Police said the incident took place around noon outside the South Education Center, but the suspects fled the scene, Jay Henthorne, chief of Richfield Police, told reporters.
The cause of the shooting is still under investigation.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on the scene and assisting with the investigation.
Erica Barlow, who is the principal at nearby Richfield Middle School, sent a letter to parents informing them of the incident.
“The officers had weapons drawn and were in bullet-proof vests. It is unlikely that many students witnessed the event, as they were in class at the time,” she wrote. “However, it is important that you are aware of the incident in the event that your child hears about it, as some children may be deeply impacted by this type of news.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — During the omicron wave, unvaccinated Americans had much higher rates of COVID-19 cases and hospitalization than fully vaccinated people — especially those who received a booster shot, officials said Tuesday.
In a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health looked at county-level COVID data between Nov. 7, 2021 and Jan. 8, 2022.
They found that in the 14-day period ending Dec. 11 — the last period in which the delta variant was dominant — COVID case rates in Los Angeles were 12.3 times higher among the unvaccinated compared to boosted individuals. Hospitalization rates were 83 times higher.
By the time the omicron variant became dominant, the rate ratios were lower, but still showed that vaccinated people are much more protected.
During the week ending Jan. 8, unvaccinated people had infection rates 3.6 times higher than people who had received boosters and hospitalization rates were 23 times higher.
Additionally, fully vaccinated people in Los Angeles who had not received a booster had COVID case rates that were twice as low and hospitalization rates 5.3 times lower than the unvaccinated group.
The report found that, over the course of the two-month study period, nearly 423,000 COVID-19 cases were reported in Los Angeles County residents aged 18 and older.
Of the cases, 33.6% were among the unvaccinated, 53.2% were among the fully vaccinated without a booster and 13.3% were among fully vaccinated people who had received a booster.
It’s worth noting that, as of Jan. 8, 71% of county residents were fully vaccinated, according to county health department data. This means there will be a higher risk of breakthrough infections due to the higher absolute number of people being vaccinated.
Nearly 3% of unvaccinated individuals were hospitalized, 0.5% were admitted to the ICUs and 0.3% died of the virus, according to the report.
By comparison, 1% of fully vaccinated people without a booster and 0.7% of people with a booster were hospitalized.
Additionally, 0.12% of unboosted people and 0.08% of boosted people were admitted to ICUs and 0.05% and 0.03% died, respectively.
The report found that, during the omicron wave 6,743.5 per 100,000 unvaccinated people were contracting COVID-19 and 187.8 per 100,000 were hospitalized.
Among fully vaccinated people without a booster, rates were lower at 3,355.5 per 100,000 for COVID-19 cases and 35.4 per 100,000 for hospitalizations.
Rates were lowest among fully vaccinated people with a booster at 1,889 per 100,000 for infections and and 8.2 per 100,00 for hospitalizations.
“These findings align with those from recent studies, indicating that COVID-19 vaccination protects against severe COVID-19 caused by … variants, including omicron,” the authors wrote in the report. “Efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccination and boosters are critical to preventing COVID-19–associated hospitalizations and severe outcomes.
The CDC has previously released similar estimates on the high risks for the unvaccinated when it comes to the omicron variant.
A report published last month from the agency found unvaccinated adults had a three times higher risk of infection than fully vaccinated adults and five times higher risk than those who had also been boosted.
(NEW YORK) — Johnson & Johnson and the nation’s three largest drug distributors agreed Tuesday to settle opioids-related claims by Native American tribes for nearly $600 million.
The settlement, announced in a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, is tentative until hundreds of tribes sign on, which is expected.
“The Native American population has suffered some of the worst consequences of the opioid epidemic of any population in the United States. Indeed, American Indians have suffered the highest per capita rate of opioid overdoses,” the tribal leadership committee said in a statement filed with the court. “American Indians and Alaska Natives had the highest drug overdose death rates in 2015 and the largest percentage increase in the number of deaths over time from 1999-2015 compared to other racial and ethnic groups.”
Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $150 million over the next two years while not admitting liability or wrongdoing. The company defended its promotion of the medications.
“The Company’s actions relating to the marketing and promotion of important prescription opioid medications were appropriate and responsible,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. “DURAGESIC®, NUCYNTA® and NUCYNTA® ER accounted for less than one percent of total opioid prescriptions in the U.S. since launch. The Company no longer sells prescription opioid medications in the United States as part of our ongoing efforts to focus on transformational innovation and serving unmet patient needs.”
The drug distributors — AmerisourceBergen Corp., McKesson Corp., and Cardinal Health, Inc. — agreed to pay $440 million over the next seven years.
The tribal leadership committee said the money would help offset the “considerable” funds tribes have had to spend to cover the costs of the opioid crisis.
“The burden of paying these increased costs has diverted scarce tribal funds from other needs and has imposed severe financial burdens on the Tribal Plaintiffs, which will continue to bear significant costs related to abatement of the opioid addiction problem in their communities,” the tribal leadership committee said in its statement.
“This is a monumentally historic settlement that goes a small but very important distance toward addressing a killing epidemic that devastated tribal communities,” said Lloyd Miller, one of the lead tribal attorneys.
“Tribes are sovereign governments and must be able to vindicate their own interests to protect the health and welfare of their tribal communities,” Miller added.
The settlement puts Native American tribes on equal footing with states and cities as they try to abate the opioid crisis.
“The tribes have established in this case that they can play a major litigation role along with the state and local governments,” fellow tribal attorney Steve Skikos said. “The focus should be on the tribes themselves and how this settlement can help continue their efforts to address the opioid crisis.”
Tuesday’s result is different than Big Tobacco litigation, in which tribes were relegated to the sidelines and given only a share of what states received to address the consequences of tobacco and nicotine.
Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — The family that owns Purdue Pharma is “close” to an agreement that substantially increases its financial contribution to a nationwide opioids settlement, according to a new court filing.
The filing from Judge Shelley Chapman, who is mediating a dispute between Purdue Pharma and states that objected to its bankruptcy reorganization plan, asked for an extra week to reach a deal. Tuesday had been the original deadline.
Descendants of Raymond and Mortimer Sackler initially agreed to contribute $4 billion to resolve private and public claims against the bankrupt maker of OxyContin and fund opioid relief and education programs.
“The Mediation Parties are close to an agreement in principle that provides for substantial additional consideration incremental to the $4.325 billion provided for in the Plan – an incremental amount that would be used exclusively for abatement of the opioid crisis and related matters,” the filing said.
An agreement could end a legal challenge that has prevented Purdue Pharma from exiting bankruptcy and reconstituting itself as a public benefit corporation.
“The proposed settlement requires the agreement of all Mediation Parties. In order to conclude the negotiations and address a number of remaining issues, the Mediator respectfully requests an extension of the Termination Date to February 7, 2022,” the filing said.
The mediator’s filing described intense negotiating sessions, including scores of phone calls, “hundreds of emails and text messages” and two days of in-person mediation on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26 that each ran more than 12 hours.
The initial reorganization plan had been hashed out over two years. Members of the Sackler families agreed to contribute $4 billion and give up ownership of Purdue, which would become a new company with profits used to fight the opioid crisis.
In exchange for the contributions, Sackler family members were given protections from lawsuits over opioids.
Approval of that plan was rescinded by a federal judge because it released the Sacklers from legal liability even though they’re not part of the bankruptcy.
Eight objecting states also argued the $4 billion is insufficient to hold the Sackler family members accountable. They have denied wrongdoing.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden began what he has said would be a bipartisan process to pick his Supreme Court nominee, hosting meetings at the White House on Tuesday amid Republican criticism of his history-making move to nominate the first Black woman to the bench.
Biden met with Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and the committee’s top Republican Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Tuesday afternoon to consult with them on the nomination and confirmation process. Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden has said will advise him on his selection, was also on hand for the Oval Office event.
“The Constitution says ‘advise and consent, advise and consent,’ and I’m serious when I say I want the advice of the Senate as well as the consent,” Biden told reporters at the top of the meeting.
“I’m looking for a candidate with character, with the qualities of … a judge in terms of being courteous to the folks before them and treating people with respect. As well as a judicial philosophy that is more one that suggests that there are unenumerated rights to the Constitution and all new members mean something including the Ninth Amendment,” Biden said.
He also reiterated his intention to announce his nominee by the end of the month.
“I think I’ll be courteous to the president and try to answer his questions,” Grassley told reporters on the Hill earlier Tuesday morning. “I don’t know what those questions are going to be, but I’m going to take the approach that we need somebody that’s going to interpret the law and not make a law because that’s Congress’s job.”
While some in the GOP have criticized Biden’s campaign pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the court, arguing all nominees should be considered for their qualifications, Grassley said he wouldn’t enter that debate until he sees the nominee.
“The president makes a nomination. That’s his privilege,” Grassley said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, meanwhile, doubled down on his belief to reporters that Biden’s pledge is “offensive” to Black women and claimed Tuesday that Democrats are “very comfortable discriminating based on race.”
“When Joe Biden throws out a quota that the only people he will consider for this nomination are African American women. He is number one rejecting regardless of merits everybody else, whether they are white or Black or Hispanic or Native American,” Cruz said.
Despite some Republican opposition, the White House has dug into the commitment, pushing back on the idea of Biden choosing a candidate just to get bipartisan support.
“The president is going to select a woman, a Black woman, who is qualified, who is prepared, who has impeccable experience to serve on the court,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. He’s going to do that based on her credentials, of course having a discussion with her and not through gaming out the system.”
Psaki said Biden will also begin consulting with legal experts and scholars on the decision this week.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer applauded the president for his commitment to nominating a Black woman to the high court in an earlier floor speech and called on members from both sides of the aisle to embrace his efforts to diversify the court.
“Every single member of this chamber regardless of party should embrace the president’s commitment to make sure that our courts and especially the Supreme Court better reflect our countries diversity. And nominating a Black woman as justice is a long-overdue step to achieving that goal,” Schumer said.
“The more our judges reflect our nation’s vibrancy and diversity, the more effectively they will be able to administer equal justice,” he added.
Biden has not yet named a nominee but said he anticipates making a formal nomination before the end of February. Supreme Court nominees only require a simple majority of senators to vote for confirmation, which means there is little Republicans can do to block a Biden nominee if all Democrats — holding 50 seats in the Senate, and Vice President Kamala Harris acting as a tie-breaking vote — stick together.
No Black woman has ever been nominated or served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Two Black men and five women, in total, have served on the bench. There have been 115 justices.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 886,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 01, 3:24 pm
Unvaccinated 23 times more likely to be hospitalized with omicron than those vaccinated, boosted
A new study from Los Angeles County’s health department estimates that during the city’s omicron surge, people who were unvaccinated were 3.6 times more likely to get COVID-19 and 23 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to people who were vaccinated and boosted.
The unvaccinated were 2 times more likely to get COVID-19 and 5.3 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to people who were vaccinated but not yet boosted, according to the study, which was published in the CDC’s weekly journal, MMWR.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Feb 01, 2:55 pm
US daily case rate drops below 500,000 for 1st time in weeks
The U.S. daily case rate has dropped below 500,000 for the first time in nearly one month, falling by 37.4% in the last two weeks to an average of 497,000 cases per day, according to federal data.
However, experts continue to caution that case levels remain much higher than previous surges, with the U.S. still reporting millions of new cases every week.
Alaska now leads the nation in new cases per capita followed by Kentucky, Washington, Oklahoma, Minnesota, California and North Dakota.
The number of COVID-19-positive Americans requiring hospitalization continues to steadily fall, with now under 129,000 virus-positive Americans currently receiving care — down by about 31,000 patients from 12 days ago, according to federal data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 01, 1:21 pm
FDA advisory committee to review Pfizer vaccines for kids under 5 on Feb. 15
The FDA’s advisory committee will meet on Feb. 15 to review the Pfizer vaccine for use in children under the age of 5. The advisory committee is an independent group whose vote is non-binding, but the FDA takes it into consideration when making a final decision.
The vaccine would still need to go through several other approvals before it can be used on children under the age of 5. It would need to be authorized by the FDA, then the CDC advisory committee would need to meet for recommendations and it would need to be approved by the CDC.
Feb 01, 11:35 am
WHO: ‘Worrying’ increase in COVID deaths in most regions
Since omicron was first identified 10 weeks ago, nearly 90 million COVID-19 cases have been reported around the world — more than all the COVID-19 cases reported in 2020, according to the World Health Organization.
Now most regions of the world are “starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths,” WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Tuesday.
“This virus will continue to evolve, which is why we call on countries to continue testing, surveillance and sequencing. We can’t fight this virus if we don’t know what it’s doing. And we must continue to work to ensure all people have access to vaccines,” he said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 01, 10:18 am
Vaccines for kids under 5 might come this month: Report
Pfizer and BioNTech are expected to ask the FDA to authorize their vaccine for kids under 5 as soon as Tuesday. If the FDA grants authorization, the vaccine may be available for children ages 6 months to 5 years by the end of February, The Washington Post reported.
Pfizer is expected to ask for authorization with two doses as the company continues to wait for data on three doses, the report said.
Vaccines are currently authorized for people 5 and older.
-ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss and Cheyenne Haslett
Feb 01, 6:19 am
American bobsled star Elana Meyers Taylor tests positive for COVID-19
American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor has tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Taylor, 37, announced her positive test in a statement posted on social media Tuesday. The three-time Olympic medalist and mother to a 1-year-old son revealed that she tested positive on Saturday, just two days after arriving in the Chinese capital.
“I am asymptomatic and currently at an isolation hotel — and yes I am completely isolated,” Taylor said. “Getting to the Olympics is never easy, and this time, as a new mom, it has been the most challenging, but also, incredibly rewarding, to be able to show that it can still be done.”
“So many people, especially other moms from all walks of life, have been so supportive of my efforts to get back to the Olympics,” she continued. “It’s been an incredible wave of positivity that I’ve been riding to a while so I’m going to continue to do that. This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete.”
The Winter Games kick off Friday with the opening ceremony. Bobsled competition doesn’t start until Feb. 13.
Feb 01, 6:19 am
American bobsled star Elana Meyers Taylor tests positive for COVID-19
American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor has tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Taylor, 37, announced her positive test in a statement posted on social media Tuesday. The three-time Olympic medalist and mother to a 1-year-old son revealed that she tested positive on Saturday, just two days after arriving in the Chinese capital.
“I am asymptomatic and currently at an isolation hotel — and yes I am completely isolated,” Taylor said. “Getting to the Olympics is never easy, and this time, as a new mom, it has been the most challenging, but also, incredibly rewarding, to be able to show that it can still be done.”
“So many people, especially other moms from all walks of life, have been so supportive of my efforts to get back to the Olympics,” she continued. “It’s been an incredible wave of positivity that I’ve been riding to a while so I’m going to continue to do that. This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete.”
The Winter Games kick off Friday with the opening ceremony. Bobsled competition doesn’t start until Feb. 13.
Jan 31, 5:00 pm
Pediatric cases drop for 1st time since Thanksgiving
New COVID-19 cases among children dropped last week for the first time since Thanksgiving, according to a new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. About 808,000 children tested positive last week, down from a peak of 1,150,000 cases reported the week ending Jan. 20.
However, the organizations warn that pediatric cases remain “extremely high,” still triple the peak level of the delta surge in the summer of 2021.
AAP and CHA noted there is an “urgent” need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects. The two organizations note in their report that a small percentage of pediatric cases have resulted in hospitalization and death.
More than 28 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal and census data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 31, 3:30 pm
Novavax asks FDA for emergency use authorization for its vaccine
Novavax on Monday submitted a request to the FDA for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Novavax uses a more traditional protein-based vaccine platform, which is different from Pfizer and Modena’s mRNA technology and Johnson & Johnson’s viral vector technology.
Novavax’s vaccine exposes a person to a lab-based piece of coronavirus to build immunity.
Novavax’s studies — conducted before the omicron variant — showed an approximately 90% efficacy.
Novavax was one of the early contenders for a COVID-19 vaccine; Operation Warp Speed allocated $1.6 billion for 100 million doses if the vaccine was authorized by the FDA.
-ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss
Jan 31, 12:00 pm
Only 5 states reporting jump in cases
After weeks of surging cases, many U.S. states continue to see impressive declines in their national case averages.
The U.S. is reporting an average of about 543,000 new cases per day, down by about 32.2% in the last two weeks, according to federal data. Two weeks ago the nation was reporting more than 800,000 new cases every day.
Only five states are seeing at least a 10% increase in new cases: Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana and Washington.
But case levels still remain much higher than the nation’s previous surges. Experts point out that many Americans who are taking at-home tests are not submitting their results, and thus, case totals may be higher than reported.
Alaska now leads the nation in new cases per capita followed by Washington state, Kentucky and Oklahoma, according to federal data.
