(NEW YORK) — Amazon and Starbucks teamed up to launch a new cashier-less cafe in midtown Manhattan that opens to the public on Thursday.
The new concept store combines a traditional Starbucks pickup cafe with the so-called “Just Walk Out Shopping” experience of an Amazon Go market, allowing customers to order their coffee concoctions, pastries and sandwiches ahead of time on the Starbucks app and see the status of their order on a digital screen when they arrive.
Customers can then directly take items off the shelf to add to their Amazon Go virtual cart or put them back on the shelf to remove from their virtual cart. A customer will be charged for their items automatically when they leave the Amazon Go market, after using the Amazon app, Amazon One payment method or credit card to enter the store.
The coffee shop and market also feature a lounge and individual workplaces, expandable tables, power outlets and USB ports for those who want to work in the cashier-less cafe.
“The new Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go is designed to provide our customers with an experience that delivers convenience and connection in an effortless way,” Katie Young, the senior vice president of global growth and development at Starbucks, said in a statement.
“Our goal with this new store concept is to give our customers the ability to choose which experience is right for them as they go through their day, whether it is utilizing the Starbucks and Amazon apps to purchase food and beverages on the go, or deciding to stay in the lounge for the traditional third place experience Starbucks is known for,” Young added.
The Seattle-based companies said they plan to open a second location in the New York Times Building next year, and a third one in New York City soon to meet “evolving customer preferences for convenience, higher levels of mobile ordering and contactless pay, and reduced time waiting in lines,” according to a joint statement Thursday.
The initiatives come as the service industry notably struggles to hire staffers in the wake of COVID-19-related shocks, but also as millennial and Gen Z shoppers have increasingly driven demand for unattended commerce.
The store also opens amid the backdrop of new unionization efforts emerging at both Amazon and Starbucks.
Attorneys representing Elijah McClain’s family and the City of Aurora have reached an agreement that the city will pay out $15 million in the civil rights lawsuit filed over McClain’s violent arrest and subsequent death, an official briefed on the matter told ABC News.
This will be the highest police settlement in the history of Colorado, the official said.
The agreement comes over a year after the family filed a 106-page federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado that accused several first responders involved in the incident of violating Elijah McClain’s civil rights and causing his death.
The money will be divided between Elijah McClain’s mother and father. ABC News has reached out to their attorneys for comment.
McClain, 23, was confronted by police on Aug. 24, 2019, while walking home from a convenience store after a 911 caller told authorities they had seen someone “sketchy” in the area.
McClain was unarmed and wearing a ski mask at the time. His family says he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.
According to an independent review of his death, officers placed McClain in a carotid chokehold that restricts the carotid artery and cuts off blood to the brain.
The independent review found that McClain had pleaded with officers, crying out in pain, apologizing, and attempting to explain himself.
When EMTs arrived, he was administered a shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine and placed in an ambulance where he had a heart attack, according to officials. He died on Aug. 30, three days after doctors pronounced him brain dead and he was removed from life support, officials said.
The legal battle over McClain’s death is not over: A state grand jury filed a 32-count indictment against the three officers and two paramedics in September, accusing them of several charges, including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
The defendants’ next court date is on Jan. 7, when they are expected to enter their pleas on the charges.
The Aurora Police Association Board of Directors has defended the officers, saying in a past statement: “There is no evidence that APD officers caused his death. The hysterical overreaction to this case has severely damaged the police department.”
(NEW YORK) — The pandemic has slowed down the supply chain in many sectors, but Campbell’s CEO says he expects the company’s products to be fully available this holiday season.
Mark Clouse, CEO of Campbell’s Soup Company told “Good Morning America” a week ahead of Thanksgiving, that the company’s efforts are the result of “the amazing work of our teams on the front lines and plants and logistics and sales teams.”
“You’ll have all of your holiday favorites on the shelves ready to go. They’ve worked hard to do it and, you know, I would say plan early, but I think we’re in great shape going into the holidays,” he said.
But availability isn’t the only concern for consumers — paying more at checkout has also been a burgeoning issue nationwide.
After a full year into the pandemic, the Economic Research Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted the cost of food from grocery stores would rise 1-2% this year. The latest Consumer Price Index Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the food-at-home index increased 1% over the month as all six major grocery store food group indexes continued to rise.
“Food-at-home” is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as grocery store or supermarket food purchases.
“There’s also been a significant amount of inflation that we’ve seen over the last several months,” Clouse said. “We use every tool we’ve got to keep price affordable. We know how important it is, especially for this time of year and through holiday celebrations so we’ve worked hard to keep the prices reasonable but there has been an increase in price.”
The index for other food at home — not including meat, poultry fish or eggs — “rose 1.2% over the month, its largest monthly increase since April 2020, near the onset of the pandemic,” the BLS report stated. “Cereals and bakery products rose 1% in October following a 1.1% increase the prior month. The index for nonalcoholic beverages rose 0.8 percent in October, the index for dairy and related products rose 0.2%, and the index for fruits and vegetables advanced 0.1%.”
Clouse continued: “Inflation, I would expect to continue to see as we move forward into ’22, but count on us to be doing everything we can to find ways to keep the prices reasonable and affordable, especially through the holiday season.”
To help offset the rising production costs that could be passed on to consumers, Clouse said Campbell’s has relied on “a combination of bringing in a lot of new workers into our facilities as well as the teams performing very well.”
“I would expect as we go into ’22 you’re going to see steady improvement on that front and we’re expecting as we get into the new year to be fully back in supply on most of our products,” he added.
As shoppers head to the store before Thanksgiving, Clouse said “I’m hopeful for everybody that you have a wonderful happy Thanksgiving. My advice is get online, get your recipes, figure out those ingredients you need for your dishes, get out early to the store and get them ready to go.”
(NEW YORK) — When Kara Moore, a mom of three, returned to the workforce last year after nine years as a stay-at-home mom, she struggled to find a job.
Moore, 42, who holds a bachelor’s degree and spent nearly a decade working in corporate America, eventually took a part-time job with a local school district.
“The job wasn’t even a fit, it was just out of necessity that I took it,” Moore, of Delta, Pennsylvania, told “Good Morning America,” noting that a part-time role worked better for her financially because it meant she did not have to pay for child care.
Around six months into that job, the coronavirus pandemic struck the United States and Moore said her role was eliminated.
While home and unemployed, Moore, a single mom who had at the time recently separated from her husband, signed up to work with Instacart, a grocery delivery service.
Moore says she is now making nearly five times what she did in her school district job. And since she can set her own schedule, she does not have to put her children in daycare.
“If I was working in an office, corporate-style job, I would be paying for daycare and I wouldn’t have been able to afford it,” she said. “Now I’m home every night with my daughters. I’m able to take them to sports and be home with them for homework. I can take off if my kids are sick.”
When Moore signed on with Instacart, she joined a growing number of women who have recently jumped into the gig economy, an umbrella term that applies to all people who effectively work as their own bosses, whether on app-based platforms or as entrepreneurs and freelancers.
At Uber, the number of women who earn on the app has increased nearly 80% since the beginning of the year, while the number of men increased by about 40%. On Uber Eats, more than 40% of delivery drivers in the U.S. are female, and that share is growing, a company spokesperson told ABC News.
At Instacart, nearly 70% of its shoppers identify as women, and nearly half say they have children living at home, according to the company.
DoorDash, a technology that connects consumers with their favorite local and national businesses, says 58% of delivery workers on its platform are female and that the flexibility to design their own schedule is a top reason they choose DoorDash.
“In the past year, more women than men are coming to DoorDash to make up for lost income and to cover expenses,” said Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, the company’s vice president of communications and policy. “When you think about the pandemic and the disproportionate impact on women, it makes a lot of sense that a flexible schedule that allows them to set their own hours is something that can be appealing.”
Since the start of the pandemic, around 3.5 million moms of school-age children have left active work, shifting into paid or unpaid leave, losing their job or exiting the labor market altogether, in many cases because of the demands of caregiving duties according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Women are still in a lot of cases predominantly responsible for a lot of care in the home and in families with children,” said Isabel Soto, director of labor market policy at the American Action Forum, a policy institute. “The gig economy allows you to make your own hours, set your own rates of pay and own your work in a way that the traditional work structure doesn’t allow you to do, so it makes sense that it’s attractive to women.”
A reflection of what’s broken in the labor market
The shift for women into the gig economy is as much about opportunity as it is a reflection of what’s broken in the labor market, according to Shelly Steward, director of the Aspen Institute’s Future of Work Initiative.
“When we’re in a crisis of child care and job quality — too many jobs do not pay enough and do not allow basic levels of flexibility — women will turn to gig work,” said Steward. “We do not have enough good jobs that allow people to balance different commitments or that allow flexibility of scheduling. We do not have an adequate system of child care. We do not pay [child] care workers enough and we do not ensure that care is provided to people and families who need it.”
Jackie Poole, 50, of Colorado, has for the past three years worked a full-time job and also delivered for DoorDash in order to help cover the costs of caring for her 15- and 12-year-old sons.
Poole, a single mom, is not alone as the majority of female DoorDash workers use the platform to earn additional income, according to the company.
I get aggravated sometimes that I have to work a second job to make extra income.
“I get aggravated sometimes that I have to work a second job to make extra income,” said Poole. “But on the other hand, I am so thankful and grateful to work where you don’t have to report to anybody, you can work [the job] on your terms and it can accommodate you.”
Shari Stephens, a mom of two from Rochester, Michigan, said she would not have been able to support her family during the pandemic had she not restarted her career two years ago as a freelance marketing expert.
Through her freelance work on the online platform Upwork, she is now able to set her own schedule and set her own income, two things she said she struggled with in previous corporate jobs.
Had she been in a corporate job during the pandemic, Stephens said she likely would have had to quit because of the demands of her caregiving duties.
“We would have lost everything,” said Stephens. “Because I was working at home and could do homeschool with my kids and still have finances coming in, we didn’t have to make some of those tough choices that I know so many mothers had to.”
Gig economy not a fix for women, some experts say
Though the gig economy works for many women, some experts, including Steward, say it should not be seen as a cure-all for the ways in which the traditional labor market has historically left women behind.
“It’s not a solution to those problems,” said Steward, adding that gig work is something women are, “forced into, because there are no other options.”
Often, when women step out of the workforce — to raise kids, for example — they often return to lower pay and career stagnation, a pay gap known as the “motherhood wage penalty.” Some experts worry the same will happen to women choosing the gig economy now because of caregiving demands.
Tiffany Stockton, a mother of two in Kentucky, left the corporate world when she became a mom. When she tried to rejoin the workforce, she said she was not able to find a job that was both well-paying and matched her skill set.
Frustrated, she started as a delivery person for Uber Eats, where 41% of delivery people are female, according to an Uber spokesperson.
“Employers wouldn’t hire me for the higher-level positions they had,” she said. “It was a big catch-22 and I just kind of threw in the towel and said, ‘Fine, I’m going to become an independent contractor and take control of my own work.'”
Stockton, whose husband has a full-time, salaried job with benefits, said she enjoys the work, but does think about what is next and the difficulties she may face if she tries again to return to the traditional workforce.
“I haven’t been in that corporate world for so long I would likely have to start at the bottom again, go through all of the rungs as I climb the ladder again,” she said. “And for now, the corporate world really isn’t designed for the mom that has kids at home.”
Likewise, Moore said she also worries her job delivering for Instacart does not offer a clear career path or benefits like retirement savings, but for now, it works.
“It’s a little bit on the backburner for me,” Moore said of planning for her future. “For right now, I don’t have to worry about how we’re going to get food or whether we can stop for a soft drink on the way home from a doctor’s appointment, and those were concerns before.”
Many women-focused policy groups, including the AAUW, are calling for more protections for gig workers, from health insurance to retirement savings plans.
Soto, of the American Action Forum, said she predicts that as the gig economy continues to grow, there will be more options that give gig workers more workplace protections, like benefits that are portable, meaning they are tied to the employee and not the employer.
Some companies have started offering some benefit options on their own. Instacart, for example, offers a comprehensive workplace insurance plan for all shoppers, and discounts to other services, like assistance with filing taxes.
The company also employs in-store shoppers that are employees of Instacart with access to benefits like paid sick time and a retirement plan, according to a company spokesperson.
In other cases the benefits a gig worker receives may depend on where they live. In California, for example, state lawmakers sought to require companies that employ drivers through apps to classify them as employees in order to get minimum wage and benefits .A ballot measure, Proposition 22, that passed in November keeps rideshare and related gig workers classified as independent contractors, but the legal battle over that measure continues in court.
Both Uber and DoorDash, which backed Proposition 22, say the majority of their drivers want to stay as independent contractors because of the flexibility and independence it provides, according to the companies.
And in a different approach, Uber has started offering support to its female drivers trying to get back into the workforce. After seeing the spike in women on the app this year, Uber partnered with Dress for Success to give drivers access to the organization’s coaching, networking and professional development services.
Some experts who question the sustainability of the gig economy for women say the onus still should not be on women to have to go outside the traditional labor market to make their careers work.
“I would shift the responsibility from working women and put it towards policymakers, business leaders, people in positions of power to change things,” said Steward. “To recognize that we don’t have enough good jobs, and we don’t have enough jobs that allows people to balance different commitments in life and we don’t have a basic care infrastructure that provides and values caretaking.”
“If we address those problems, then women will not be in a position of needing to find any means of earning a little bit of extra income at the hours that work for them as they balance so many different things in their lives,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 767,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 18, 4:38 am
Disney Cruise Line to require guests ages 5 and up be vaccinated
Disney Cruise Line said it will require all passengers ages 5 and up to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 starting next year.
Guests who are not vaccine-eligible because of their age will have to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result taken between three days and 24 hours their sail date.
“We are resuming sailing in a gradual, phased approach that emphasizes multiple layers of health and safety measures, considering guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical experts,” Disney Cruise Line said Wednesday in an updated policy on its website. “Under this guidance, we’ve reimagined your cruise experience so we all can enjoy the magic responsibly.”
The vaccine mandate will take effect Jan. 13 and will apply to sailings both in the United States and abroad.
Currently, passengers ages 12 and older as well as all crew members must be fully vaccinated, while unvaccinated guests ages 5 to 11 must take a pre-departure COVID-19 test.
Nov 17, 6:27 pm
FDA expected to authorize Pfizer, Moderna boosters for all adults soon: Source
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 booster doses for all adults as soon as Thursday, a government official with direct knowledge of the process told ABC News.
That would come in time for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory panel meeting this Friday to discuss booster recommendations regarding all adults for both manufacturers.
The CDC previously signed off on a third dose of both vaccines for certain populations, as well as a booster of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine for anyone 18 years and older.
ABC News’ Eric Strauss
Nov 17, 2:26 pm
Moderna asks FDA to authorize booster for all adults
Moderna has now asked the FDA to authorize its COVID-19 booster for all adults.
Pfizer has already asked the FDA to amend its booster authorization to all adults.
The FDA could make an authorization decision by Friday. The CDC also needs to sign off. The CDC’s advisory committee will meet on Friday to discuss new booster recommendations.
Johnson & Johnson boosters are already authorized for everyone 18 and older.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Nov 17, 1:24 pm
2.6 million kids to be vaccinated by end of day: White House
Nearly 10% of the 28 million eligible 5- to 11-year-olds will be partially vaccinated by the end of Wednesday, White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients said at a White House briefing.
The kids vaccine program has been operational for about 10 days.
(WASHINGTON) — In an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” Co-Anchor George Stephanopoulos, Vice President Kamala Harris defended her job performance, insisting she and President Joe Biden have been able to deliver for the American people.
“Vice presidents always face chatter about their role and their relevance. You’re no exception to that. Even your close friends and allies like the lieutenant governor of California, Eleni Kounalakis, have expressed some frustration because they think you can be more helpful than you’ve been asked to be. Do you share that frustration? What do you say to your friends who are frustrated?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“This was a good week, and this week, when we got this Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed and signed by the president, makes a statement about all of the hard work that has gone into it, month after month after month. I’ve traveled around the country, as has the president,” Harris answered. “We have convened members of Congress, we have convened people around our nation, asking, ‘what do you want?’ And this is a response to what they want. And it’s actually going to hit the ground in a way that is going to have direct impact on the American people. We’re getting things done, and we’re doing it together.”
“So, you don’t feel misused or underused?” Stephanopoulos followed up.
“No,” Harris said. “I don’t. I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished. But I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we’re gonna get it done.”
Harris’ defense comes in the wake of a CNN report that alleges the West Wing has grown frustrated with Harris and her staff, describing dysfunction within her office and frustration with her lack of visibility with the American people.
Her chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, pushed back on the depiction of Harris in the report, saying in a statement, “It is unfortunate that … some in the media are focused on gossip — not on the results that the President and the Vice President have delivered.” Harris’s team members echoed solidarity with their boss, saying they were “honored” and “proud” to work for her.
The negative report comes as the White House is eager to tout passage of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package. Harris was front and center at Biden’s signing ceremony for the bill Monday, introducing the president and standing over his shoulder as he signed the bill into law.
But even as the White House celebrates that victory, Americans continue to feel the effects of the steepest rise in inflation in 30 years.
“It’s real. And it’s, it’s rough. Groceries — the cost of groceries — has gone up, the cost of gas has gone up. And, as this is all happening, in the context of two years of a pandemic. Over 700,000 lives lost much less the loss of livelihoods and, and a sense of normalcy. So, it’s a lot. And it’s one of the highest priorities actually, for the president and for me,” Harris said of the challenge inflation poses.
“Essentially what we need to do is, we need to bring down the cost of living and so we’re dealing with this issue in a number of ways,” she said. “The short-term issue, and the long-term issue.”
“We passed this week, the infrastructure bill, bipartisan infrastructure bill, and that’s going to be about repairing roads and bridges and bringing internet and high speed internet to all families. But also we need to deal with the cost of child care, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of housing, and that’s what we intend to do when we get the Build Back Better agenda passed,” Harris said, referring to Biden’s next major priority — the $1.75 trillion social spending package.
“I know you hope to get that passed, but as you know, several people including Senator Manchin, who could be the key vote on Build Back Better, believe that the bill is actually going to make inflation worse,” Stephanopoulos said. “That’s why they’re holding back.”
Harris responded, “So, here’s the thing, talk tot 17 Nobel laureates who are economists, who actually have studied the issue and have indicated that we’re not looking at a contribution to inflation, but actually we’re going to bring prices down. In fact, today Moody’s and a number of others have said, listen, when you look at the numbers, the whole point about inflation and why it hurts us is because prices go up. With the Build Back Better agenda, it’s gonna bring the cost down, again, cost of child care, elder care, housing. These are very critical issues for American families, who have to make very difficult choices about whether they can afford to pay for child care, or prescription drugs, or, or pay the rent. So, that’s what we’re going to actually accomplish, accomplish with this, is to bring the prices down.”
While Harris has been involved in negotiations on the spending packages, making phone calls to lawmakers and hosting groups like the Congressional Black Caucus, she has also lately been bolstering her credentials on the world stage, traveling last week to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron and participate in multiple international conferences. The trip abroad was her third as vice president, after a trip to Asia overshadowed by the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and a thorny trip to Guatemala and Mexico to discuss the root causes of migration.
Addressing historic levels of illegal border crossings, Harris told Stephanopoulos it will not be a quick fix.
“It’s not going to be overnight. We can’t just flip a switch and make it better,” she said. “The reality is that we inherited a system, an immigration system that was deeply broken, and it’s requiring us to actually put it back together in terms of creating a fair, um, process that is effective and efficient.”
Stephanopoulos asked Harris about reports the Department of Justice was weighing making payments of as much as $450,000 to migrant families forcibly separated at the southern border under a Trump administration policy. Biden has indicated the payments won’t be that large, but that he does support payments to the families in general.
“Is there going to be compensation? How much is it going to be?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, as you know, there’s, there’s apparently some litigation around that, and that will be resolved in court,” Harris said.
“So, but, but the White House is open to it?” Stephanopoulos pressed.
“Well, the, usually courts rule on that kind of thing,” Harris demurred.
Stephanopoulos asked Harris whether Biden has told her whether he’s going to seek reelection in 2024. Harris maintained that she and Biden are focused on infrastructure, national security and other priorities.
“So, you’re not discussing 2024 yet?” Stephanopoulos asked.
(WASHINGTON) — Reeling from Republican wins in elections earlier this month, Democrats are pounding the pavement ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
But President Joe Biden’s success passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill is bumping up against the facts that the country’s inflation rate has reached a 30-year high and Americans increasingly feel the economy is in trouble.
A new ABC News / Washington Post poll found that 70% say the economy is in bad shape, a 12-point increase since last spring. More than half of those polled — 55% — disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy while 39% say they approve. But that approval number has plummeted six points since September and 13 points since the spring.
While only 50% blame Biden directly for inflation — which has now reached a 6.2% increase compared with the same period last year, 3% of Democrats say the economy is excellent, 47% say it’s good, 35% say it’s not so good and 14% say it’s poor.
In a series of ABC News follow-up interviews with poll respondents who were Biden voters but expressed disappointment with the state of the economy, people expressed a range of views about what they think went wrong and who is to blame.
Judith Steele, a registered Democrat from California, told ABC News she feels the Biden administration did a bad job in preparing for economic woes faced by certain Americans.
“His administration has been behind the curve in anticipating how bad this was going to get for lower- and middle-class families — that they tend to take a ‘wait and see approach,’ or, ‘this is going to pass,’ and then it’s too late,” Steele, who plans to switch her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, said in an interview.
Steele assigns some of the blame for the poorly-performing economy to legislative squabbles in Congress.
“They should have gotten the infrastructure bill done months ago. They had the votes to do it. But they had to push. I do like the second bill, but they should have gotten the first one passed and signed, and started putting people back to work at decent union jobs,” she said. “I don’t know what they’re ever going to get done with this. And they’re always consumed with investigations and committee work and not getting anything done.”
Although Biden’s overall approval rating reached a new low (41%) in a new ABC/ Washington Post poll, his legislative plans have majority approval among respondents, with 63% support for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress and 58% support for the now nearly $2 trillion social spending bill still under debate.
The White House is set to launch a nationwide tour to continue pitching Biden’s plans to voters and Democrats are rolling out 1,000 events before the end of the year to promote the Biden agenda.
Still, disapproval of Biden on the economy is six points higher than former President Donald Trump’s highest disapproval rating on the same issue, which came in September 2017, nearly the same amount of time into his presidency as Biden is now. In November 2018, Republicans relinquished control of the House, with 68% of the country overall saying in exit polls they felt the economy was in good shape.
Steele isn’t the only Democrat who supported Biden but doesn’t feel good about the economy. Norman Hall, an 82-year-old Pennsylvania voter who has been a Democrat since he was 21, is trying to stretch his social security checks and doesn’t think Biden is doing enough to address the issue.
“All them prices went up, my check disappeared real quick, my social security check. It’s usually around hundred-and-some dollars a month when I buy groceries. It was $217 for almost the same thing I buy all the time,” said Hall, who voted for Biden last year. “I have to cut down. I have to quit spending.”
“I don’t know who’s to blame for it, but he’s not doing anything to help it,” he added of Biden.
Hall said he plans to vote for Republicans on his midterm ballot unless he sees Democrats “do things differently.”
The ABC News / Washington Post poll found that if the midterm elections were held today, 51% of registered voters say they’d support the Republican candidate in their congressional district, 41% say the Democrat. That’s the biggest lead for Republicans in the 110 ABC/Post polls that have asked this question since November 1981.
Tiffany Woods, a community health care worker from St. Louis, told ABC News she typically votes for Democrats and was excited to cast her ballot for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Since then, though, Cross said she hasn’t been impressed with Biden’s accomplishments in Congress and is seeing the economic effects of the pandemic continue to take a toll in her community.
Woods pointed to heightened utilization of her local food banks as her friends and family struggle to make ends meet with inflation and unchanged qualifications for government assistance programs.
“While these qualifications are not changing, the price of products are going up, and people can’t afford it,” she said. “People are depending a lot more on our food banks now. Now they need it for themselves.”
Woods lives in progressive Democrat Rep. Cori Bush’s Missouri district. She said if Biden and Harris are on the ticket again in 2024, she doesn’t think she’ll cast a ballot for them, but she does plan to vote next year for Bush, who fought into the summer to extend eviction moratoriums put in place due to the pandemic.
“I really do think that I will continue to vote Democrat because of people like her, who I do think are doing a wonderful job. I just don’t think that I would just vote for Biden, Kamala,” she said.
Margaret Johnson, a retiree in Georgia, was a lifelong Republican before Trump entered the party. She broke her dedication to the GOP in 2020 — casting ballots for Biden and both Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — but she regrets her decision.
“I went against my Republican instincts and voted for Biden, which I’m very sorry with. If I had to do it over again. I wouldn’t vote for either one of them. I would have just stayed out of it,” she said. “Everybody I know is having to pinch pennies. To me, more and more people are using less and less … But it’s not just groceries. It’s everything.”
Johnson said that despite her discontent with the GOP, she doesn’t think she’ll cast a ballot for a Democrat again, including for Warnock when he is up for reelection next year.
“I don’t think I would ever vote Democrat again. I really don’t think I would,” Johnson said.
ABC News’ Danielle DuClos contributed to this report.
(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — COVID-19 cases in New Mexico are “trending in a worrisome direction,” health officials said this week, as they called on residents to get vaccinated amid the surge.
New Mexico reported 1,530 new cases and 539 hospitalizations Wednesday, rivaling numbers last seen in December and January, during the state’s last COVID-19 wave.
“Things are not going well in our hospitals,” Dr. David Scrase, acting cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health, said during a COVID-19 briefing Wednesday, noting the state is “facing some very serious problems,” including with intensive care unit capacity.
“Last week, we had only eight ICU beds, now we’re up to 10 — still nowhere near enough ICU beds,” he said. “What this does mean is someone having a heart attack right now may or may not have access to ICU care in New Mexico, and frankly, as cases start rising again in other states, we may not find a bed there.”
Six hospitals across the state have activated crisis standards of care in recent weeks, including the University of New Mexico Health System’s and Presbyterian Healthcare Services’ Albuquerque metro hospitals, as they are being stretched to the limit in terms of space and staffing due to increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations and a high volume of patients with acute conditions, officials said.
The decision means that nonessential medical procedures could be delayed by up to 90 days, and patients may need to get treated at different regional hospitals, or possibly out of state, hospital officials said.
Given the high risk for exposure and rising hospitalizations, New Mexico was one of the first in a growing number of states to urge all fully vaccinated adults to get boosters once they meet the six- or two-month thresholds, ahead of federal authorization.
“I want folks to get their boosters,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during the briefing. “Until we get to that 80, 85, 90% of individuals who are eligible for a booster, we are going to see these risks where we have breakthrough infections.”
Over 21% of fully vaccinated residents have gotten a booster dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials have cited waning immunity among fully vaccinated residents as one of the factors fueling the surge in COVID-19 cases, along with transmission of the highly contagious delta variant, increased tourism to the region and colder weather driving people indoors.
Amid the surge, health officials are also focused on getting shots to people who have yet to get a first dose. Unvaccinated residents remain a major driver of transmission and make up the bulk of hospitalizations, with over 71% of new COVID-19 cases and nearly 80% of hospitalizations reported from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15 in unvaccinated people, according to state data.
“Full vaccination is still New Mexico’s first priority,” Dr. Laura Parajón, deputy secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health, said during the briefing. “If you look at the whole of New Mexico, the whole population, 61.4% of all New Mexicans are vaccinated. However, we are having a surge, because 38.6% of people still remain unvaccinated.”
COVID-19 cases across New Mexico are currently “trending in a worrisome direction,” according to Dr. Christine Ross, the state epidemiologist, with the positivity rate at about 12.5%.
“What this means to us is there’s a very high burden of disease in our communities,” she said during the briefing, noting that transmission among school-aged children in particular is “very concerning.”
Over 25% of COVID-19 infections in the past week in New Mexico were pediatric cases, according to Ross. With children ages 5 to 11 newly eligible to get vaccinated, health officials urged parents to get their children vaccinated.
“We know that children are at low risk for serious outcomes, but they are not at zero risk,” Ross said. “These vaccines are safe and highly effective. This is the best tool to protect your kids and to prevent onward transmission of the virus and to help us end the pandemic.”
Scrase said he is excited by the prospect of outpatient oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, such as molnupiravir, though they’re not available yet.
For now, he urged people to continue to follow measures like social distancing and mask-wearing. New Mexico is one of a handful of states that still have mask mandates in effect. The state’s health department extended an order requiring masks while in indoor public settings through Dec. 10, due to the significant COVID-19 case counts and strained hospital capacity.
Scrase also warned against unproven treatments for COVID-19, noting that New Mexico saw a third death since August from ivermectin, an anti-parasite medicine that is not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19. The man took 150 milligrams of a horse formulation of ivermectin and suffered from liver and kidney failure, according to Scrase.
Health officials said they’re continuing to work with community health workers and local organizations to combat misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.
“We’re really trying to meet people where they’re at,” Parajón said.
(PAUMA VALLEY, Calif.) — The key to helping curb greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture industry may be hidden just beneath the surface.
While in the past century farming has transformed to be faster and on a larger scale, the newfound efficiency came at a cost to the environment. Farmers extracted more nutrients from the soil than what was being replaced, and the fertilizers used to aid crop growth are responsible for one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions from global agriculture industry, according to experts.
In the U.S. alone, the use of nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for about 195 million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, comparable to the emissions of 41 million passenger vehicles per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Some farmers believe the solution to making the agriculture industry more environmental-friendly lies in revitalizing the soil in which they grow crops, rather than traditional methods, such as fertilizer and conventional tilling.
One of the ways to do this is the no-till method, an old practice where the soil structure is not disturbed, experts and officials say. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, continuous no-till practices can save money, improve soil health and conserve resources such as fuel and labor investments. Practicing no-till management for multiple years allows fields to have a higher water holding capacity than conventionally tilled fields, which is particularly important in areas prone to drought, according to the USDA.
And the agency has said that soil disturbance stimulates the microbes that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Adoption of the method, which the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has encouraged, has been increasing, about 8% from 2012 to 2017 according to the latest Census of Agriculture, and accounted for more than 100 million acres. Intensive tillage declined 35% during the same time.
‘Healing process’
It is important for farmers to look at their land and pay attention to “what it’s telling you,” Nan Cavazos, co-owner of Solidarity Farm in Pauma Valley, California, told ABC News. That includes looking at what kind of weeds are growing and improving the health of the soil based on that, he added.
“When you touch the soil, there’s a healing process that happens between soil and humans,” Cavazos said.
Workers at Solidarity Farm stopped plowing the soil in order to encourage more resilient arable land — so that the soil can “hold life” and create better quality crops, Cavazo said. Tilling destroys the soil structure, which makes it difficult for organisms in the soil to survive, Leah Penniman, co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm, a New York-based farm committed to social justice and ending racism in the food industry, told ABC News.
“And if the soil holds life, it’s easier for growing produce, and probably healthier produce,” he said.
As the effects of climate change intensify and threaten future food supplies, young farmers are reimagining their farms to withstand the increase of natural disasters, Sophie Ackoff, co-executive director of the Young Farmers Coalition, told ABC News. They think about conservation as they build their businesses, such as capturing water in the soil to prepare for a hotter and drier future, Ackoff added.
“Young farmers are imagining farming their entire lives in climate change conditions,” Ackoff said. “They’re already experiencing climate change on their farms.”
The variable climate in Southern California, which can include days ranging from 60 to 100 degrees, depending on the time of year, can have a detrimental effect on number and quality of crops, Cavazos said.
“Which makes it really hard for certain crops, you know?” Cavazos said. “The crops are all happy and then at a sudden, like, the sun comes out, and you’re like, ‘Whoa. What just happened?”
‘Cushion’ of protection
Beds of soil that are well-nourished can resist harsher temperatures and are more resilient to the heat because there is a “cushion” of protection, Cavazos said.
Diversifying the number of crops also makes for healthier soil, Cavazos said, adding that his farm grows between 50 and 60 different types of vegetable crops every year.
MORE: Eating sustainably is one of the easiest ways to combat climate change, experts say
Industrial and corporate agriculture prioritize efficiency, and the current food and much of the agriculture system in the U.S. is a result of decades of federal farm policies that incentivized industrialization and consolidation, Ackoff said.
“As soon as you take a step back and look at a five or five year or more timespan, you’ll see that this system is not very resilient,” Penniman said. “If there’s a drought, if there’s a flood or hurricane, heat wave, pest outbreak, that system starts to break down because it has such a narrow margin of conditions in which it can be successful.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Regenerative agriculture is an indigenous practice of farming that improves the land that is being utilized, Penniman said. The methodology involves leaving the soil better than it was found, she added.
“Take care of your soil, take care of your place, and it will take care of you,” he added.
(VACAVILLE, Calif.) — Emily Johnson had planned on giving birth to her second child in a hospital, with an epidural.
Instead, Johnson, 31, of Vacaville, California, gave birth to her son, Thomas Alan, on Nov. 4, on her front lawn, with no pain medication.
Johnson told “Good Morning America” she and her husband, Michael Johnson, announced their son’s birth on Facebook by posting, “Thomas is here and there is Ring footage.”
“He’s a pretty quiet and chill little dude,” Emily Johnson said of her son, noting the contrast with his “chaotic arrival.” “He just stares and watches the world go by or sleeps.”
Thomas’s unconventional birth story began around 6:30 p.m., a week before Emily’s Johnson’s due date, when she started feeling contractions that were around 10 minutes apart.
Remembering the 18-hour labor she’d had with her 3-year-old son, Emily Johnson said she and her husband thought they had plenty of time and kept monitoring the contractions.
When the contractions began to quicken just after 9 p.m., the Johnsons said they called Emily’s mom to come watch Blake, and called the hospital to tell them they were on their way.
“While Mike was getting the car packed up, the contractions went from three minutes to two minutes to one minute very rapidly,” said Emily Johnson. “And then when I was standing at the car door, I just couldn’t get in the car.”
Though the hospital was just five minutes away, Emily Johnson said she knew she wasn’t going to make it.
She moved herself to the front lawn of her home, and her husband and her mother, Kristy Sparks, who had arrived to care for Blake, began to deliver the baby while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.
“The dispatcher really helped with the process,” said Emily Johnson. “She really guided Mike and my mom through as they were trying to keep me as calm as possible because I was having a baby on the lawn.”
At 10:42 p.m., just two minutes after paramedics arrived, Thomas Alan was born — a healthy 7 pounds, 11 ounces.
“I was right there by her side with one hand on the speakerphone and one hand with a flashlight,” said Michael Johnson. “Her mom was there to catch the baby”
Michael Johnson was able to cut the umbilical cord on the front lawn, and then paramedics transported baby and mom to the hospital.
It was there that the Johnsons said they realized their Ring camera captured Thomas’ birth.
“When Michael got to the hospital, he started looking at the footage and showing it to the nurses,” said Emily Johnson, adding that they were able to figure out how Thomas’s birth took less than 30 minutes.
Though Thomas’s birth didn’t unfold exactly as planned, it did happen on a special day: He was born on the same day as his late paternal great-grandfather, Alan, from whom he gets his middle name. And he was born two days before the 82nd birthday of his maternal great-grandfather, Thomas, from whom he gets his first name.
