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COVID-19 live updates: US death toll crosses 800,000

December 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including more than 800,000 in the U.S., according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61% 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:

Dec 15, 6:23 am
Over 67,000 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in US as winter surge intensifies

With winter closing in and COVID-19 cases on the rise, hospitals across the United States are once again facing the pressures of caring for thousands of patients.

More than 67,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide, according to federal data.

Rebecca Long, lead nurse in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told ABC News that she and her team “literally do not have any ICU beds” available.

“I don’t want anyone else’s family member or loved one to have to be in the position where we say, like, we can’t help you because we don’t have the resources,” Long said. “As health care providers, all we want to do is help people and we can’t because we physically can’t.”

Dr. Kyle McCarty, medical director of emergency services at both HSHS St. Mary’s and HSHS St. Vincent hospitals in Green Bay, Wisconsin, told ABC News that health care workers are feeling burned out after “being asked to do more with less.”

“We’re exhausted by the knowledge that we are the duct tape that is preventing a complete collapse of the health care system,” McCarty said. “There’s a national shortage of hospital staff, which is making it difficult to take care of patients the way that we want it. There aren’t enough inpatient beds for the patients that need to be admitted to the hospital.”

“This is a call for reinforcements, not a warning to stay away, because we don’t want this to be the new normal,” he added. “If we can recruit more health care teammates, it doesn’t have to be.”

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 14, 7:19 pm
US death toll from COVID-19 crosses 800,000

The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in the United States surpassed 800,000 on Tuesday, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

The figure is greater than the approximately 700,000 Americans who have died from AIDS-related illnesses over the last four decades, and it’s higher than the total number of U.S. troops who have fallen in battle since 1900.

Since last December, when the first COVID-19 vaccines were being administered, an additional 500,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus.

Of those, some 230,000 have died since April 2021, when U.S. President Joe Biden announced COVID-19 vaccines were widely available to every American over the age of 18.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 14, 6:59 pm
US sees sevenfold jump in omicron cases over the last week

The U.S. saw a sevenfold increase in the prevalence of the omicron COVID-19 variant over the last week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Just over two weeks after it was first discovered in the country, the omicron variant is now estimated to account for nearly 3% of all new cases in the U.S., the latest data from the CDC shows.

Last week, omicron accounted for an estimated 0.4% of all new cases, according to the data.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 14, 2:52 pm
Omicron will ‘for sure’ become dominant strain in US: Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Tuesday that omicron will “for sure” become the dominant strain in the U.S. given how rapidly it is spreading.

“Omicron is going to be a challenge because it spreads very rapidly,” Fauci said.

Fauci reiterated that omicron so far appears to be less severe, adding, “Whether it is inherently less pathogenic as a virus or whether there is more protection in the community, we’re just going to have to see when it comes in the United States.”

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

COVID-19 live updates: Journalist traveling with Blinken tests positive in Malaysia

December 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 800,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61% 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:

Dec 15, 8:09 am
Journalist traveling with Blinken tests positive for COVID-19 in Malaysia

A journalist traveling alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his visit to Southeast Asia has tested positive for COVID-19 in Malaysia, according to U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price.

Meanwhile, Blinken and his senior staff all tested negative for COVID-19 upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday night. The member of the traveling press pool who tested positive had last tested negative in Indonesia’s capital, their previous stop, on Tuesday.

“The individual who tested positive will remain in isolation,” Price said in a statement Wednesday, “and we will continue to adhere to and go beyond CDC guidance, including with our rigorous testing protocol, for the remaining traveling party.”

Blinken has canceled a scheduled trip to Thailand “out of an abundance of caution” and will return home to the United States, according to Price.

“The Secretary expressed his deep regret to the Foreign Minister that he would not be able to visit Bangkok this week,” Price said. “He explained that, in order to mitigate the risk of the spread of COVID-19 and to prioritize the health and safety of the U.S. traveling party and those they would otherwise come into contact with, the Secretary would be returning to Washington, D.C. out of an abundance of caution.”

“The Secretary extended an invitation for the Foreign Minister to visit Washington, D.C. at the earliest opportunity and noted that he looked forward to traveling to Thailand as soon as possible,” Price added. “They affirmed that they would use the upcoming engagements to further deepen the U.S.-Thai alliance.”

The U.S. Embassy in Malaysia confirmed that the infected individual “was not involved and has not participated in any of Secretary Blinken’s program in Kuala Lumpur.”

“The sole member of the traveling party who tested positive is observing all requirements of the Ministry of Health,” the embassy said in a statement Wednesday. “We confirm all other members of the party tested negative for COVID-19 upon arrival in Malaysia.”

Blinken was in Indonesia on Tuesday, and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta confirmed that no members of the traveling party tested positive for COVID-19.

All members of the U.S. delegation are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and undergo regular testing on trips.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Dec 15, 6:23 am
Over 67,000 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in US as winter surge intensifies

With winter closing in and COVID-19 cases on the rise, hospitals across the United States are once again facing the pressures of caring for thousands of patients.

More than 67,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide, according to federal data.

Rebecca Long, lead nurse in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told ABC News that she and her team “literally do not have any ICU beds” available.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 14, 7:19 pm
US death toll from COVID-19 crosses 800,000

Since last December, when the first COVID-19 vaccines were being administered, an additional 500,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus.

Of those, some 230,000 have died since April 2021, when U.S. President Joe Biden announced COVID-19 vaccines were widely available to every American over the age of 18.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 14, 6:59 pm
US sees sevenfold jump in omicron cases over the last week

The U.S. saw a sevenfold increase in the prevalence of the omicron COVID-19 variant over the last week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Just over two weeks after it was first discovered in the country, the omicron variant is now estimated to account for nearly 3% of all new cases in the U.S., the latest data from the CDC shows.

Last week, omicron accounted for an estimated 0.4% of all new cases, according to the data.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 14, 2:52 pm
Omicron will ‘for sure’ become dominant strain in US: Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Tuesday that omicron will “for sure” become the dominant strain in the U.S. given how rapidly it is spreading.

“Omicron is going to be a challenge because it spreads very rapidly,” Fauci said.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

House votes to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress over Jan. 6 probe dispute

December 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House voted Tuesday night to hold former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack to appear for a deposition.

The vote was 222-208, with GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming voting with all Democrats.

Meadows is now the first former lawmaker ever held in criminal contempt by Congress — and the first held in contempt since 1832 — when former Rep. Sam Houston was held in contempt for beating a colleague with a cane.

The vote sends the matter to the Justice Department, which will determine whether to bring any charges against Meadows, after previously doing so against Trump ally Steve Bannon.

During debate on the floor Tuesday evening, and earlier in the day, in the House Rules Committee, members of the Jan. 6 select committee released new text messages from the tranche of records Meadows had turned over to the committee.

“I heard Jeff Clark is getting put in on Monday. That’s amazing. It will make a lot of patriots happy, and I’m personally so proud that you are at the tip of the spear, and I could call you a friend,” a text to Meadows from an unknown number read, according to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

The new messages further underscored Meadows’s importance to the congressional investigation, as a key figure in Trump’s orbit who personally participated in discussions about challenging the election results and advocated for voter fraud investigations from his perch in the West Wing.

“Mr. Meadows’s testimony will bear on another key question before this committee: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress’s official proceeding to count electoral votes?” Cheney, the panel’s vice-chair, said Tuesday.

On Jan. 3, Meadows told an unnamed member of Congress that Trump “thinks the legislatures have the power but that the Vp has power too,” according to Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., who read the message about the counting of the electoral votes on the House floor.

On Nov. 4th, an unnamed member of Congress texted Meadows that Republican-led legislatures should “just send their own electors to Congress” to challenge the official results in key states, and allow the Supreme Court to determine how to award the votes and the winner of the election.

Lawmakers on the panel argued that Meadows, despite his deference to Trump’s alleged claims of executive privilege, was improperly refusing to appear under subpoena to discuss topics referenced in the materials he already shared with Congress or mentioned in his new memoir.

Meadows turned over some 9,000 documents from personal email accounts and a cell phone to the committee, including urgent text messages from Republican lawmakers imploring him to get Trump to something to stop the violence.

But he then reversed course and refused to appear under subpoena to answer questions about the records he provided.

During Monday’s committee meeting, before members voted unanimously to recommend Meadows be held in contempt, Cheney quoted extensively from text messages sent to Meadows during the riot from Fox News hosts, GOP lawmakers and Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son.

Cheney said the messages left “no doubt” the White House “knew exactly what was happening” at the Capitol during the riot.

“He’s got to condemn [the riot] ASAP,” Trump Jr. told Meadows in a text message, according to Cheney, saying that Trump’s tweet about Capitol Police “is not enough.”

“I’m pushing it hard,” Meadows replied. “I agree.”

“We need an Oval Office address,” Trump Jr. said in a follow up message. “He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”

“Please get him on tv,” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade wrote to Meadows. “Destroying everything you have accomplished.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., read aloud from text messages Meadows received from unnamed GOP lawmakers before and after the riot.

“Yesterday was a terrible day,” one wrote. “We tried everything we could in our objection to the 6 states. I’m sorry nothing worked.”

Cheney quoted again from text messages Tuesday morning.

“It is really bad up here on the Hill,” one message read.

In another, an unnamed lawmaker texted Meadows: “Fix this now.”

“We need to question him about emails and texts he has given us without any claims of privilege,” Cheney said.

Commitee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Tuesday that “only three people” of “over 300” have not cooperated with the committee. He shared that Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is among those scheduled to cooperate and speak to investigators.

“I have no great desire to be here seeking consideration of this contempt referral. Mr. Meadows was a colleague for more than seven years. But that doesn’t excuse his behavior. If anything, his time as a member of the House should make him more aware of the potential consequences of defying a congressional subpoena,” Thompson said.

Republicans for the most part defended Meadows and suggested the committee’s push to hold Meadows in contempt would squander any chance they had to secure his cooperation.

“Today they are destroying executive privilege,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said on the House floor. “It is a vote to put a good man in prison.”

In a statement Tuesday, Meadows attorney George Terwilliger said his client “never stopped cooperating” with the panel. “What message does that duplicity send to him as well as to others who might be inclined to consider cooperating in good faith to the extent possible?”

Democrats and Republicans aligned with the committee blasted Meadows’ argument, pointing to the fact that he published a memoir detailing conversations with Trump around Jan. 6.

“This is a witness who is refusing to comply with the law,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said. “But look at his book and you get more information than our committee did.”

Trump ally Steve Bannon was charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for rebuffing the committee’s subpoenas and has pleaded not guilty. That trial is scheduled to begin in July 2022.

Apple could become 1st US company worth $3 trillion

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Apple’s stock on Tuesday morning was hovering just below the threshold required to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion, a milestone no publicly traded U.S. company has ever reached.

Shares for the iPhone maker hit an all-time high Monday during intraday trading before opening slightly lower Tuesday at $175.25 per share, roughly 4% shy of the $182.86 required to reach the historic mark.

The tech giant’s stock has gained more than 30% in 2021 and skyrocketed by nearly 500% over the past five years.

Analyst Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, said in a note shared with ABC News that hitting the $3 trillion market cap would be “another watershed moment for Apple as the company continues to prove the doubters wrong with the renaissance of growth story playing out in Cupertino.”

Supply shortages disrupting global iPhone production remain an issue for Apple, according to Ives, but he said he expects these to ease in early 2022.

Despite chip shortages and more, Ives said he’s predicting Apple is on pace to sell “north of 40 million iPhones during the holiday season,” driven in part by strong demand from China.

Rumors of an Apple electric car project also have investors optimistic for the tech giant’s future.

The tech sector has led the U.S. stock market’s rapid growth in recent years and proven resilient to separate shocks to the economy related to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as tech tools became essential for conducting business and remote schooling.

In August 2020, amid the pandemic, Apple stock soared to make it the first U.S. company to boast a market valuation of $2 trillion.

Belarus jails husband of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for 18 years

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — A court in Belarus has sentenced the husband of the leader of the country’s pro-democracy movement, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, to 18 years in prison, convicting him in a closed-door trial widely condemned as revenge for challenging authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Sergey Tikhanovsky was jailed on Tuesday along with five other opposition activists who all received lengthy sentences — from 14 to 16 years in maximum security prisons — after they were found guilty of inciting mass unrest and social hatred.

Tikhanovsky, 43, was a popular video blogger who built a following by travelling the country, pointing out problems and criticizing Lukashenko’s rule. Last year, he sought to run against Lukashenko in a presidential election, but authorities blocked Tikhanovsky from the ballot and arrested him, prompting Svetlana to take his place.

She then found herself at the head of the huge protest movement that erupted against Lukashenko following the election in August and briefly seemed close to toppling him. Tikhanovskaya was forced into exile in neighboring Lithuania, and her husband remained behind bars as Lukashenko regained his grip through intense repression.

Tikhanovskaya on Tuesday said her husband’s sentence was Lukashenko’s “personal revenge.”

“The dictator publicly takes revenge on his strongest opponents,” she wrote on Twitter. “While hiding the political prisoners in closed trials, he hopes to continue repressions in silence. But the whole world watches. We won’t stop.”

The verdicts come amid a campaign of relentless repression in Belarus over the past year that has seen many thousands detained and hundreds made political prisoners.

The court also sentenced Artsyom Sakau, who helped on Tikhanovsky’s presidential campaign, and Dmitry Popov, his social media manager, to 16 years in prison. Mikola Statkevich, an opposition activist, received 14 years, and Ihar Losik, a journalist with the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was jailed for 15 years.

The verdicts were slammed by European countries and the United States, which demanded Lukashenko’s government immediately release them and other political prisoners.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement the verdicts were “politically motivated” and further evidence of the Lukashenko regime’s disregard “for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Belarusians.”

Video released from the court room on Tuesday showed the men in a cage, smiling. As the verdict was read out, Tikhanovsky turned his back on the judge.

Losik’s wife later published a video address castigating the court and challenging Lukashenko to meet with her.

She said her husband already had endured two hunger strikes and had slit his wrists in an attempt to die by suicide. She accused a prison psychologist of encouraging him to make another attempt.

“Let’s meet, and I will tell you what our family has gone through thanks to your underlings,” she said, addressing Lukashenko. “And you try to explain to me why we have gone through, and continue to go through, all these torments.”

“I don’t intend to run and hide abroad,” she added. “Prove to me you’re not a coward. I’m waiting for your invitation.”

‘A defining tragedy’: US COVID death toll eclipses 800,000 as winter surge intensifies

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As Americans gather to toast the end of another particularly difficult year, many loved ones will be notably missing from holiday celebrations, a glaring reminder of the tragic realities of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, the United States reached yet another staggering milestone, with 800,000 Americans now confirmed lost to the coronavirus, according to newly updated data from Johns Hopkins University.

“This will be a defining tragedy of our generation,” David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News. “We’ve gotten to the point where our eyes glaze over on these numbers. But by now, almost every one of us knows someone who has died of COVID-19.”

The sobering marker comes less than two years into the pandemic, and despite the introduction of the first coronavirus vaccines, nearly one year ago.

Half a million lives lost since last December

When the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered last December, many Americans hoped the shots would herald a return to normalcy. However, since last December, an additional 500,000 Americans have died of the virus. Of those, just shy of half — 230,000 — lost their lives since April 2021, when President Joe Biden announced the vaccine was now widely available to every American over the age of 18.

“The vast majority of these deaths could have been avoided,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “Despite the availability of vaccines, we have seen close to half a million deaths since first shots went into arms last December.”

Americans in every state, city and town have felt the personal impact and ripple effect of the virus.

An analysis tracking the extensive reach of COVID-19 loss of kin with a bereavement multiplier, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, estimated that 7.2 million family members may be grieving the loss of a loved one due to the virus.

The staggering number of deaths due to COVID-19 is now higher than the 700,000 Americans who have died from AIDS-related illnesses over the last four decades. It is also higher than the total number of American troops who have died in battle since 1900, and about the same as the population of North Dakota.

“Every other minute in this country, for almost two years now, that story has repeated itself. By the time you finish reading this [story], someone else will have died of this disease,” Dowdy said.

Although the death rate is significantly lower than it was at the nation’s peak last January, on average, more than 1,000 Americans are still being reported lost to the virus each day.

“[The average] is more than twice the rate of most countries in places like Europe, even though they have more cases than we do. This is an ongoing failure of our society,” said Dowdy.

Some experts believe that the current COVID-19 death count could potentially be greatly undercounted, due to inconsistent reporting by states and localities, and the exclusion of excess deaths, a measure of how many lives have been lost beyond what would be expected if the pandemic had not occurred.

‘This pandemic is clearly not over’

In the early days of the pandemic, even the highest death toll projections seemed unimaginable.

Studies have found that the virus was present in the U.S., potentially as early as December 2019, although widespread transmission likely did not occur until late February 2020, according to experts.

The COVID-19 death toll is now eight times what former President Donald Trump once stated, in the early days of the pandemic.

“The minimum number was 100,000 lives, and I think we’ll be substantially under that number… So we’ll see what it ends up being, but it looks like we’re headed to a number substantially below 100,000,” Trump said in April 2020.

Forecasts predict that as the U.S. faces yet another winter viral resurgence, and it is possible that thousands more lives could be lost before the end of 2021.

Experts say that a confluence of factors, such as vaccine hesitancy, cold weather, relaxed restrictions, the highly transmissible delta variant and the impact of waning vaccine immunity over time have all contributed to the higher death toll.

“This pandemic is clearly not over,” UMass Memorial Health Care President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson told ABC News. “This is really the toughest period of this whole pandemic right now for some of us.”

Although 60% of Americans are currently fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95 million Americans remain completely unvaccinated, and thus at risk for infection, severe illness and death.

Now, with new concerns over the omicron variant, health experts are urging Americans to get boosted as soon as possible. About 50 million people – 25% of fully vaccinated Americans — have received an additional vaccine dose, according to the CDC.

Unvaccinated individuals had a 5.8 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 14 times greater risk of dying from it, as compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data compiled in September 2021.

Although masking is required in all forms of public transportation across the country, COVID-19 restrictions have become sparse, with few jurisdictions now requiring face coverings or social distancing.

“Vaccine resistance coupled with a rapid return to normal life has been at the expense of a tragic loss of life,” Brownstein said.

The rest of the upcoming winter holidays also continue to be a major source of concern for experts, after many communities saw an increase in cases and hospitalizations following Thanksgiving.

“While so many have done their part, we still have tens of millions of eligible people who have yet to recognize the tremendous loss of life that can be averted with the benefit that comes from getting vaccinated. This divide means that our devastating march to a million lives lost becomes even more certain,” Brownstein said.

Full House expected to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House on Tuesday is expected to hold Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for his testimony from the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Meadows, a former House member, would be the first former lawmaker to be held in criminal contempt by Congress — and the first lawmaker held in contempt — since 1832.

The vote would refer the matter to the Justice Department to decide whether to bring charges against the North Carolina Republican. Meadows could face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted.

Meadows turned over some 9,000 documents from his personal cell phones to the committee, including urgent text messages from Republican lawmakers imploring him to get Trump to something to stop the violence.

But he then reversed course and refused to appear under subpoena to answer questions about the records he provided.

During Monday’s committee meeting, before members voted unanimously to recommend Meadows be held in contempt, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the panel, quoted extensively from text messages sent to Meadows during the riot from Fox News hosts, GOP lawmakers and Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son.

Cheney said the messages left “no doubt” the White House “knew exactly what was happening” at the Capitol during the riot.

“He’s got to condemn [the riot] ASAP,” Trump Jr. told Meadows in a text message, according to Cheney, saying that Trump’s tweet about Capitol Police “is not enough.”

“I’m pushing it hard,” Meadows replied. “I agree.”

“We need an Oval Office address,” Trump Jr. said in a follow up message. “He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”

“Please get him on tv,” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade wrote to Meadows. “Destroying everything you have accomplished.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., read aloud from text messages Meadows received from unnamed GOP lawmakers before and after the riot.

“Yesterday was a terrible day,” one wrote. “We tried everything we could in our objection to the 6 states. I’m sorry nothing worked.”

She quoted again from text messages Tuesday morning.

“It is really bad up here on the Hill,” one message read.

In another, an unnamed lawmaker texted Meadows: “Fix this now.”

“We need to question him about emails and texts he has given us without any claims of privilege,” Cheney said.

Commitee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told the committee that “only three people” of “over 300” have not cooperated with the committee. He shared that Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is among those scheduled to cooperate and speak to investigators.

Republicans for the most part defended Meadows and suggested the committee’s push to hold Meadows in contempt would squander any chance they had to secure his cooperation.

“Today they are destroying executive privilege,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said on the House floor. “It is a vote to put a good man in prison.”

Democrats and Republicans aligned with the committee blasted Meadows’ argument, pointing to the fact that he published a memoir detailing conversations with Trump around Jan. 6.

“This is a witness who is refusing to comply with the law,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said. “But look at his book and you get more information than our committee did.”

Ex-Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg agrees to pay Seminole County nearly $2M in restitution

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Ex-Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg agrees to pay Seminole County nearly M in restitution

(SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.) — Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, the one-time associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz who in May pled guilty to multiple charges including sex trafficking a minor, has reached a verbal agreement to pay back the county over $1.8 million in restitution, according to the Seminole County attorney.

County Attorney Bryant Applegate told Seminole County commissioners on Tuesday that he had reached a “verbal” deal for Greenberg — Gaetz’s self-described one-time wingman — to pay back nearly $1.9 million in restitution related to his time in office, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News.

If Greenberg fails to pay the restitution, the county will move to go after other entities, the source said.

Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Schiller, confirmed the verbal agreement to ABC News.

Greenberg, who reached a plea deal earlier this year and has been cooperating in the ongoing federal investigation into potential sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz and others, was initially charged with over 30 counts last year, including defrauding the Seminole County Tax Office out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through schemes ranging from buying sports memorabilia and cryptocurrency to paying women he met on a self-described “sugar daddy” website using the office credit card.

Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime.

“When I became aware of some of Greenberg’s misdeeds, I deeply regretted my friendship with him,” Gaetz told Pensacola ABC affiliate WEAR in October. “I do believe that it’s fair for the people of Northwest Florida to judge me based on the associations that I’ve had, and I deeply regret my association with Joel Greenberg, politically, socially and otherwise.”

Greenberg is scheduled to be sentenced in March after his sentencing was delayed twice over the summer.

OJ Simpson granted early release from his parole

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LAS VEGAS) — O. J. Simpson was granted an early discharge from his parole by Nevada state officials.

Simpson, 74, has been on parole since October 2017 following a nine-year prison stint on various charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping. He was scheduled to be discharged from his parole on Feb. 9, 2022, but the Nevada State Police’s Division of Parole and Probation sent an early discharge request to the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.

Such a request is part of state law.

On Nov. 30, the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners conducted an early discharge hearing, and on Dec. 6 the board approved the request, according to the Nevada State Police.

“The board awarded credits in an amount equal to the time remaining on the sentence to reduce the sentence to time served,” the Nevada State Police said in a news release.

The former Buffalo Bills player and NFL commentator was convicted in 2008 for a confrontation that took place in a Las Vegas hotel room the prior year.

Bruce Fromong, a sports memorabilia dealer, claimed Simpson and a group of men broke into his room and stole sports memorabilia at gunpoint. Simpson contended the items were stolen from him and he was taking the goods back.

Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison but was eligible for parole after nine years. In 2017, the board granted Simpson parole.

Senate Democrats raise debt limit by $2.5 trillion, averting financial calamity

December 14, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Senate Democrats raise debt limit by .5 trillion, averting financial calamity

(WASHINGTON) — The Senate narrowly averted financial calamity Tuesday by passing legislation to raise the federal borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion dollars.

All Democrats voted to raise the debt limit. No Republicans joined them.

The legislation heads to the House next, where it is expected to pass. Once signed by President Joe Biden, the congressional action will have prevented a U.S. default that could have halted Social Security and veterans’ payments, hiked interest on mortgages and loans and disrupted the global economy.

The Treasury Department predicted that the U.S. would be unable to pay its bills come Wednesday.

Congressional action was the last step in a months-long process aimed at raising the federal borrowing limit.

In October, Republican and Democratic leadership locked horns over the spending cap. Though both parties acknowledged the necessity of raising the debt limit, Republicans argued that Democrats ought to raise the limit on their own — wrongly claiming they needed to offset the cost of Biden’s yet-to-be passed $1.75 trillion social spending bill.

Democrats, who helped raise the debt limit multiple times under the Trump administration, insisted it be a bipartisan effort since the debt limit had to be raised to cover past spending.

The October dispute ended in the GOP blinking, with Republicans giving Democrats the votes necessary for a short-term raise to the debt limit, but vowing they’d be less cooperative in the winter.

Last week, however, party leaders announced an agreement on a two-step process to raise the debt limit. Republicans ultimately provided 10 votes to permit a one-time rule change altering the number of votes necessary to pass the debt-limit hike, and clearing a path for Democrats to pass the legislation without a single GOP backer.

The reached agreement required Democrats to name a specific amount they want to raise the debt limit by. They settled on $2.5 trillion — enough to prevent the government from defaulting through early 2023, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.

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