(LOS ANGELES) — Climate change is making wildfires in the western United States larger and more destructive, and the effects are felt across the country, according to a study by Steve Davis, a professor of Earth systems science at the University of California Irvine.
Davis ran a study looking into the cost of wildfires, which was published in the journal Nature Sustainability.
According to Davis, “It’s not just relegated to California, there’s places beyond California that are being affected.”
The research also considers more than just the cost of destruction. It includes the price of health care for smoke inhalation from the fires, people missing work and supply chain issues nationwide from products coming from California.
His team found the cost of the 2018 wildfire season to have totaled about $150 billion in losses. That amounts to .7 percent of the gross domestic product of the U.S.
Davis says, “If we continue to have these kinds of wildfire seasons, the costs are going to maintain themselves.”
In 2021, living in California means an almost year-round threat of wildfires.
According to CAL Fire, wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape. Yet the fire season in California and across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year.
They say climate change is considered a key driver of this trend with warmer temperatures, less rainfall and a more intense dry season all contributing to more severe wildfires.
Since 2017, wildfires have broken all-time size and destruction records consistently.
CAL Fire’s Top 20 Largest California Wildfire statistics show the top eight largest in the state’s history have all happened in the last five years. This includes the August Complex, which burned 1,032,648 acres of land alone.
(NEW YORK) — Republican Glenn Youngkin, a former private equity executive running his first campaign for political office, will be the next governor of Virginia, ABC News has projected.
ABC News has yet to project the winners in the races for lieutenant governor or attorney general.
Around 10 p.m., Democrat Terry McAuliffe spoke at his election night event, but did not concede defeat.
“We still got a lot of votes to count, we got about 18% of the vote out, so we’re gonna continue to count the votes because every single Virginian deserves to have their vote counted,” McAuliffe said.
Youngkin’s projected win over McAuliffe, a longtime fixture in Democratic politics and a former governor of the commonwealth, marks the first time a Republican has won the gubernatorial election since 2009 and the end to Democrats’ trifecta government control in Richmond.
It’s also a warning shot to Democrats one year out from the 2022 midterm elections.
The race, nationalized by the candidates themselves, was viewed by most as a referendum on President Joe Biden and a bellwether for next year’s contests, when Democrats have to defend their slim majorities in the House and Senate with history already against them.
Poll after poll showed Republican voters felt more enthusiastic about participating in this election than Democratic voters, and in the lead up to the election, Youngkin was able to turn the race into a dead heat.
He centered his closing message around parents’ rights to have a say in their child’s education, accusing McAuliffe of wanting to “put government in between parents and our children” after he said during the final debate that he doesn’t “think parents should be telling schools what to teach.”
Youngkin also pledged to raise the standard in schools, keep them open to in-person instruction amid the pandemic and ban critical race theory from being taught in K-12 schools, even though it’s not in the curriculum.
McAuliffe called Youngkin’s closing message around education divisive, saying, “He has pitted parents against parents. He’s got parents against teachers, and he’s bringing his personal culture wars into our classrooms.”
But according to exit polls, Youngkin’s message appears to have resonated with Virginia voters — about half say parents should have “a lot” of say in what their child’s school teaches — and now can serve as a blueprint for Republican candidates competing in bluer areas of the country.
Essentially running as the incumbent in the race, McAuliffe promised to build on Democrats’ accomplishments over the last eight years, beginning first under his administration. He made promises like increasing the minimum wage and teacher pay, making health care more affordable and requiring vaccinations for nurses, doctors and teachers.
But his campaign against Youngkin focused more on a Republican who was not on the ballot — Donald Trump — and painting a dire picture of what Virginia would look like under a Youngkin administration by asserting that Youngkin’s agenda is Trump’s agenda.
At every opportunity, McAuliffe and his allies tied Youngkin to the former president, who Virginia voters rejected by a 10-point margin in 2020. Trump endorsed Youngkin after he won the nomination and never campaigned with him directly, but that didn’t stop McAuliffe from linking them as one in the same.
The former president took partial credit for Youngkin’s projected victory, saying in a statement, “I would like to thank my BASE for coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin. Without you, he would not have been close to winning.”
He mocked McAuliffe’s strategy of connecting Youngkin to Trump.
“It is looking like Terry McAuliffe’s campaign against a certain person named “Trump” has very much helped Glenn Youngkin. All McAuliffe did was talk Trump, Trump, Trump and he lost!” Trump said in a second statement. “I didn’t even have to go rally for Youngkin, because McAuliffe did it for me.”
McAuliffe’s apparent defeat Tuesday is the latest indication that trying to tap into voters’ disapproval of Trump may not be a winning strategy for Democrats — especially when they’re facing headwinds from an unpopular president and stalled agenda in Washington. According to exit polls, 54% of voters disapprove of Biden’s job performance, and nearly twice as many “strongly” disapprove of his work in office than strongly approve.
(NEW YORK) — Members of the United Auto Workers Union voted Tuesday against a tentative agreement that would have ended the ongoing strike of more than 10,000 John Deere workers.
The vote came up 55% against and 45% in favor, according to the UAW. This is the second time the union has rejected a tentative contract offer.
“The strike against John Deere and company will continue as we discuss next steps with the company,” the UAW said in a statement. “Pickets will continue and any updates will be provided through the local union.”
Earlier news of a tentative deal, which would have given approximately double the wage increase compared the previously rejected offer that kicked off the strike on Oct. 14, came as unique labor market conditions have resulted in workers wielding new power as the pandemic wanes.
An apparent shortage of workers accepting low-wage jobs has left many major companies reeling for staff and has been linked to the spate of strikes that have rocked the private sector in recent weeks. The labor crunch — combined with recent record-high rates of people quitting their jobs and record-high job openings, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data — have resulted in workers gaining new leverage as they seek to bargain for better pay or working conditions.
(NEW YORK) — Democrat Eric Adams is projected by ABC News to win the New York City mayoral race.
The win, while expected in a city with many more registered Democrats than Republicans, makes some history as Adams is only the second Black mayor in the history of the city.
Curtis Sliwa, who founded the Guardian Angels as a response to crime in the subway in the 1970s and was later a political commentator, was the Republican nominee.
“This is is an amazing day, to reach this point,” Adams told reporters Tuesday morning as he took to the polls. “Back in 1977, my mom brought me into that polling place. Every little boy or little girl who was ever told they’ll never amount to anything — every child with a learning disability, every inmate sitting in Rikers, every dishwasher, every child in a homeless shelter — this is for all of you. I only have three words: I am you.”
Sliwa made his own headlines at the poll, trying to bring one of his rescue cats into his voting location. The passionate animal rescue activist was told his feline friend had to stay outside.
But even once he got inside, his ballot got jammed in the scanner and technicians were needed to fix it.
“There will be safe streets, safe parks, safe subways,” he said, later reunited with one of his 17 cats, Gizmo, outside the polling spot. “There will be safe schools. That’s what I’ve been doing as head of Guardian Angels for 42 years.”
Adams currently serves as Brooklyn borough president –first elected in 2013 and reelected in 2017 — and is a former captain in the New York City Police Department. He was also in the New York state Senate from 2006 to 2013 representing Brooklyn.
David Dinkins, who died last year at 93, was the first Black mayor in New York City history, serving from 1990 to 1993 before losing to Rudy Giuliani in a heated reelection campaign.
Adams, considered a moderate Democrat after the progressive Bill de Blasio spent two terms in office, won out for the nominee in a crowded field in June. Adams separated himself from a pack that included former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and second- and third-place finishers Kathryn Garcia, the former Department of Sanitation commissioner, and Maya Wiley, who was favored by progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In the city’s first use of ranked choice voting, Adams crept over the 50% mark with Garcia at 49.6%. A snafu from the city elections board caused confusion in the weeks after the June 22 voting date before Adams was eventually declared the nominee.
De Blasio was term-limited out of office and previously explored a presidential run during his second term. Sliwa often attempted to tie Adams to the unfavorable opinion many hold for the current mayor.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — A more closely divided electorate than a year ago, underwater ratings for President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump alike and a popularity deficit for the Democratic candidate define the hard-fought, off-year contest for Virginia governor in preliminary exit poll results.
Among challenges for the Democrats — who’ve won all statewide races in Virginia dating to 2013 — is the lack of personal appeal of their candidate: former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Just 45% see him favorably, versus 52% unfavorably, in exit poll results so far. Republican Glenn Youngkin does better on this score, 53-43%, favorable-unfavorable.
Compounding McAuliffe’s challenges are negative views of Biden’s job performance; more Virginia voters disapprove than approve, 54-45%. Intensity, which can influence turnout, is particularly poor for Biden: Nearly twice as many “strongly” disapprove of his work in office, 45%, than strongly approve, 24%.
Given those views, turnout has shifted from a year ago. Virginia voters report having split evenly between Biden and Trump in 2020, 46-46% — indicating that many Biden supporters were sitting this contest out, since he won the state by a 10-point margin.
Trump, for his part, is no more of an attraction: He’s seen favorably by 42% in these preliminary results, unfavorably by 53%, an 11-point negative score. Youngkin kept Trump at arm’s length in the campaign, as did McAuliffe with Biden (save two joint campaign rallies), for reasons that seem evident.
These are preliminary exit poll results, including early voters, and can change as data are updated throughout the evening.
The race is being watched as an early test of Democratic vulnerabilities under Biden, with an eye toward the 2022 midterm elections. More Virginia voters say a reason for their vote was to show opposition to Biden (29%) than support for him (21%). Still many more, 47%, say he wasn’t a factor in their choice for governor.
In terms of preliminary exit poll estimates among voter groups:
The suburbs are a key battleground in Virginia, as elsewhere. A big group — they account for more than six in 10 voters — suburbanites are tipping slightly toward Youngkin in preliminary exit poll results, 53-47%.
Robust turnout by college-educated voters is one factor for McAuliffe. College graduates account for 49% of voters in preliminary exit poll results, up 6 points from last year’s presidential election, and McAuliffe is winning 58% of this group. Youngkin, for his part, does strongly among those without a college degree, outperforming Trump a year ago.
Youngkin may have done himself a favor by keeping Trump at a distance. Among the majority of Virginia voters who hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump, 2 in 10 are voting for Youngkin regardless. About half as many Biden disapprovers are backing McAuliffe, 9% percent.
Youngkin made education a centerpiece of his campaign, arguing for parental input and against critical race theory. Just fewer than a quarter of voters pick education as the top issue in their vote — second only to the economy — and Youngkin is winning them by 56-44% in these preliminary results.
This is the first election in which Virginia has offered early in-person voting, from mid-September through Saturday, and the exit poll estimates that 27% voters availed themselves of it — a group in which McAuliffe won 57%, countered by strong results for Youngkin among Election Day voters.
Youngkin is winning 87% of white evangelical voters, the largest share of white evangelicals for a Republican in Virginia in exit poll data in gubernatorial or presidential elections dating to 2008. They make up more than a quarter of the electorate.
Voters’ criticisms extend to the major parties overall, indicating more vulnerability for the Democratic Party — 52% call it too liberal — than for the Republican Party, called too conservative by fewer, 43%.
On specific issues, though, the electorate itself is not so easily categorized. Fifty-eight percent in these preliminary results favor legal abortion and 54% support employer mandates for coronavirus vaccines, both closer to McAuliffe’s views than to Youngkin’s. On the other hand, 54% say monuments to Confederate leaders on government property should be left in place.
Youngkin sought to make parental involvement in school curricula a key issue, striking a chord; 53% of voters say parents should have “a lot” of say in what their child’s school teaches.
Voters divide in choosing the most important of five issues facing Virginia: the economy and jobs (33%), education (23%), taxes (15%), the pandemic (14%) and abortion (9%). It’s notable that the economy finishes as the top issue even as 56% rate it positively — and also that the pandemic trails as a top concern.
Youngkin, a former private equity executive, and McAuliffe run closely in trust to handle the economy, 42-40% in these preliminary results. Youngkin opens a 4-point edge in trust to handle crime, 42-38%; McAuliffe counters with a 7-point lead in trust to handle the pandemic, 43-36%. Neither approaches majority preference on any of these, given the numbers who trust both or neither.
The poll, conducted for ABC News and its media partners, includes interviews conducted both in advance of Election Day, to capture the views of early and absentee voters, and among in-person voters today. Results will be adjusted to reflect the official results after votes are counted.
In an additional potentially key measure of turnout, white Virginians account for 74% of voters in exit poll results so far, compared with 67% in 2020, when Trump won them by 8 percentage points. Members of racial and ethnic minority groups are 26% of voters in these data, vs. 33%last year, when Biden won them by a vast 53 points. That said, minority voters accounted for about the same share of turnout, 28%, when McAuliffe won the governorship in 2013.
Preliminary data indicate a dearth of young voters and a surfeit of those age 65 and older. Still, another shift suggests potentially higher turnout in the more Republican-leaning central and mountain regions of the state. And one region flipped — Richmond/Southside, from +14 for Biden in 2020 to +6 for Youngkin in these results.
In partisan preferences, Democrats and Republicans are evenly matched, 35-35% in these preliminary results, with independents — likely the decisive group — making up the rest.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — Virginia voters had a choice: They could continue the commonwealth’s more than a decade-long streak of backing Democratic candidates at the statewide level, or they could reestablish Virginia as a battleground where Republicans can not only compete — but win.
Tuesday’s election determines three statewide officeholders and which party controls the state legislature’s lower chamber. The stakes, as defined by the candidates at the top of the ticket, extend far beyond one state.
“The eyes of the nation are on us. Why? … We all know that as Virginia goes, so goes the nation,” Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for governor, said at a rally over the weekend. “We are going to send a shockwave across this country, and there’s not going to be a Democrat in any seat anywhere in this nation who’s going to think that his or her seat is safe.”
The gubernatorial race was the marquee race of the year. It was the first competitive contest since Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump in the Oval Office, and both men loom large over the race.
Months ago, it looked like Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic nominee who first served as Virginia’s governor between 2014 and 2018, was on his way to a comfortable win in a state that trended blue under Trump’s presidency and delivered Biden a win by a 10-point margin. But going into Election Day, the matchup is a dead heat.
McAuliffe, who has pledged to build on Democrats’ progress over the last eight years, told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in October that he hopes his race will “set the tone” for the Democratic Party heading into the midterms when its members have to defend their slim majorities in the House and Senate.
Rather than trying to divorce its fate from the off-year election, the national party has gone all in for the Democratic ticket, investing a record $5 million and sending top surrogates to campaign with McAuliffe. Those surrogates, which include President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama, have made it clear: Virginia is a political bellwether.
“What happens in Virginia will, in large part, determine what happens in 2022, 2024 and on,” Harris said, stumping for McAuliffe on Friday. “Don’t let Virginia be an experiment.”
Youngkin, a former private equity executive who ran as a political outsider, opted for a different strategy, mocking his opponent for bringing in “fellow career politicians” as he mostly campaigned alone.
Mark Rozell, the dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said McAuliffe’s strategy is indicative of the enthusiasm gap polls have consistently shown exists between Republican and Democratic voters.
“The McAuliffe campaign is bringing in all these big-name national figures to try to drive up the Democratic turnout,” Rozell said in an interview. “(They’re) worried that the Democratic base is asleep right now.”
State Sen. Creigh Deeds, who beat McAuliffe in the 2009 gubernatorial primary, told ABC News that Tuesday’s contest is “a turnout election.”
“Terry was an energetic and effective governor for four years. He left office popular. I think it’s still his race to lose,” Deeds said. “It’s just about our turning people out. The votes are out there. If they get them out, he’ll win, but it’s on all of us to make sure that it happens.”
Former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy lost to McAuliffe in the June Democratic primary, but she’s since rallied around McAuliffe’s campaign and through her political action committee, Virginia For Everyone, has contributed to the Democrats’ voter engagement efforts.
“Running for office, it’s all about the ground game,” she said in an interview. “We are mobilizing a multiracial, multigenerational coalition of supporters and voters. … We all are committed to making sure that we get the Democratic ticket statewide and down ballot races elected because failure is not an option.”
Youngkin, however, was banking on Democratic failure.
His campaign’s momentum can be traced back to the final debate in September when McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Youngkin pounced, launching a “Parents Matter” mobilization effort and centering his closing message around this issue by defining himself as an advocate for parents and McAuliffe as someone who isn’t.
Sarah Isgur, a GOP strategist and ABC News contributor, said the schools issue is an enthusiasm driver for voters, and even if Youngkin doesn’t win, Republicans have already learned it’s an effective message going into the midterms.
McAuliffe has pushed back on Youngkin’s narrative of him on this issue, accusing his opponent of using education “to divide Virginia” and using students as “political pawns.”
Painting Youngkin as a divisive and extreme candidate has been central to McAuliffe’s attacks against Youngkin. He’s done that by linking the GOP nominee to Trump, who’s deeply unpopular in Virginia, and warning he will bring Trump’s policies to the commonwealth.
The tactic forced Youngkin to perform a delicate dance of embracing Trump enough so as not to alienate the former president’s base, but not so much that he turned off moderates and independents. Trump endorsed Youngkin after he secured the nomination, but he never appeared with the nominee on the trail. While Youngkin campaigned heavily on “election integrity” — an issue inextricably tied to Trump — during the primary, he’s since pivoted to other issues with appeal beyond the base.
“Unfortunately for McAuliffe, I suppose, Donald Trump is a somewhat diminished figure. … he isn’t the threat that he was the previous four years in which Democratic turnout in Virginia was off the charts,” Rozell said.
Rozell said Youngkin has also benefited from an amenable Trump base: “They’re not pushing him to go all in 100%, 100% of the time on their issues.”
Trump’s willingness to mostly sit this race out, has “unquestionably allowed Youngkin to consolidate the Republican vote and focus on the independents — something that a lot of other Republicans haven’t had the luxury to do,” Isgur said.
If McAuliffe’s strategy of tying Youngkin to Trump fails, she added, the silver lining for Democrats is that they have the opportunity to rethink messaging ahead of the midterms.
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is ending Ethiopia’s special trade status under U.S. law — the latest penalty imposed on the Ethiopian government amid its ongoing war with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, the regional force that once controlled the federal government.
The decision, announced Tuesday by the White House, comes amid an expansion in the conflict, which has its anniversary Wednesday. The U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa warned it could spill out into a wider civil war, threatening even more suffering for the Ethiopian people and more instability in the region.
To halt that expansion and push both sides to negotiate, the administration has prepared targeted U.S. sanctions against figures on all sides, according to two sources familiar with the plans.
The State Department has also prepared a declaration that the Ethiopian government’s atrocities against Tigrayans constitute a genocide, both sources said, although it’s unclear whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken will sign it and when.
A State Department spokesperson declined to speak to a possible genocide declaration, but told ABC News they are “deeply alarmed by the continuing violence in northern Ethiopia” and “undertaking a review of available facts to assess whether atrocity crimes have been committed.”
Every side in the conflict was been accused of atrocities, including rape and sexual assault, executions, displacement and the destruction of hospitals, farms and food stores.
On Nov. 3, 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a campaign against Tigrayan forces after weeks of tension over regional elections and years of animosity. The TPLF, the Tigray region’s powerful political party and military force, dominated Ethiopian politics for decades until Abiy’s election in 2018.
Federal troops under Abiy were joined by forces from the neighboring country Eritrea, also long at odds with Tigrayan forces, and the neighboring region Amhara — a regional conflict that soon escalated ethnic tensions across Africa’s second most populous country and among its diaspora around the world.
The Biden administration has tried to use diplomatic tools to ease tensions and urge negotiations, deploying visa restrictions against officials in May and launching a sanctions regime in September without targeting any officials just yet.
While those first sanctions could come soon, it’s the suspension of Ethiopia’s trade status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act on Tuesday that marked a new step. In a message to Congress, President Joe Biden said Ethiopia’s “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” made it ineligible for AGOA under the law.
The suspension is required under U.S. law, but it is also seen as another warning shot across Abiy’s bow — with a potentially strong economic impact on the country, which exports between $100 million and $200 million to the U.S. each year, according to various estimates.
But it won’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2022, so Ethiopia can still reverse the decision before its implementation, according to Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa.
“It’s not too late to retrace our steps toward the path not taken, but the change in direction must occur in days, not weeks,” he said Tuesday.
Events on the ground, however, show the war is heading in the opposite direction. Abiy’s government declared a national state of emergency Tuesday amid concern that the Tigrayan Defense Forces may move on the capital Addis Ababa after seizing towns just 160 miles to the northeast, according to the Associated Press.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration criticized the Biden administration’s decision, saying that it was “extremely disappointed” and that the move will “reverse significant economic gains in our country and unfairly impact and harm women and children.”
“We urge the United States to support our ongoing efforts to restore peace and the rule of law — not punish our people for confronting an insurgent force that is attempting to bring down our democratically elected government,” it added in a statement.
But Feltman made clear the U.S. sees Abiy’s government as part of the problem here, in particular because its “unconscionable” blockade on the Tigray region since June has led to shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and cash. Some 900,000 people are facing famine-like conditions in the region, according to U.S. estimates.
The United Nations has estimated that 2,000 trucks of aid are needed per month to deal with the humanitarian crisis, but just 1,100 trucks have entered in total since the beginning of July — 13% of what’s required — per Feltman.
“Without question, the most serious obstacles are intentional government delays and denials,” he added during remarks at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “This unfortunately suggests an intentional effort by the authorities to deprive Ethiopians who are suffering of life-saving assistance. … No government should be adopting policies or allowing practices that result in mass starvation of its citizens.”
Feltman was also quick, however, to condemn the TPLF, especially for its “unacceptable” offensives into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions that have worsened the humanitarian situation. He urged them not to march on Addis, too.
That delicate balance — calling out each side without appearing to take sides — may have hampered the U.S. response to this fast-evolving conflict. In June, the then-top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Robert Godec, told Congress the State Department was conducting a review for a genocide determination.
“We have this fact and law-based review underway. We have pushed it at a very accelerated pace, and it is far advanced. The Secretary needs to make a decision, and when he’s ready, I’m sure that will happen,” acting Assistant Secretary Godec told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement.
Since then, however, there has been no determination. That’s in part, according to one source, because of U.S. concerns about Tigrayan Defense Forces’ atrocities since it launched counter-offensives in June — and about a perception in Addis that the U.S. supports the group over the federal government.
Feltman declined to speak to a genocide determination Tuesday, but he rejected that perception forcefully.
“This could not be further from the truth. We have consistently condemned the TPLF’s expansion of the war outside Tigray, and we continue to call on the TPLF to withdraw from Afar and Amhara,” he said.
The UN human rights office will issue a joint report with the Ethiopian government’s human rights commission on Wednesday — the only official investigation into possible war crimes that Abiy’s government has allowed, although it has already been accused of trying to limit the report, according to the Associated Press.
Feltman said the U.S. would look to the report as it makes its own determinations about possible war crimes or genocide, adding, “The Ethiopian people who have suffered are going to want to see some kind of justice, some kind of reckoning for the horrors that they’ve been through because of this needless conflict, and we will be looking to encourage the type of accountability and justice that the Ethiopian people have every right to expect.”
He was clearer that the U.S. has sanctions ready to go against figures from each side: “The United States is prepared to pursue the first sanctions… against those fueling this crisis and obstructing humanitarian operations, and we will be targeting all parties implicated,” he said.
To date, the U.S. has only sanctioned Eritrea’s top military official, Gen. Filipos Woldeyohannes, for his forces’ human rights abuses. Feltman said Tuesday Eritrean troops have played an “extremely damaging and destructive role” and are responsible for “some of the absolute worst, most horrifying human rights violations.”
But it’s unclear what kind of impact these diplomatic tools will have on either side. While Feltman said the conflict will end in talks no matter what — and the leaders should spare the Ethiopian people by talking now — it seems clear from the continued blockade and the TPLF offensive that each side still believes they can win a military victory.
(WASHINGTON) — They’re cheap, easy to produce and can make guns more dangerous in minutes.
Gun modifications are becoming a problem for the country as the number of shooting incidents linked to automatic weapons is on the rise, according to two U.S. senators.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are pushing the federal government to take action and sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last week voicing their concerns.
Specifically, they are looking for the Department of Justice to investigate the sale and distribution of “auto sears” and other conversion devices. When an auto sear is installed into a semi-automatic firearm, the weapon will fire multiple rounds as long as the trigger is pulled instead of just one round.
The modifications can be done in under a minute and require “little technical expertise,” according to the senators who cited a Minneapolis Star Tribune article that included interviews with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about the mods.
Klobuchar and Booker expressed concern about how easy it is for one to acquire or make these modification devices, “in part due to the ease and accessibility of 3-D printing and the availability of cheap imported conversion devices from countries like China, which can be purchased for as little as $19 each.”
The letter noted that Minneapolis has seen a spike in the use of automatic weapons in the last year. The Minneapolis Police Department’s data found that there have been 72 incidents involving automatic weapon discharge in 2021 so far compared to five during the same time last year, according to the senators.
The Minneapolis Star Tribute reported that seven people were injured in a shooting in August where an automatic weapon was used. Over 100 bullets were fired during the incident, according to the police.
Klobuchar and Booker asked the Department of Justice to provide them with the agency’s current plans to address the rise of gun modification devices, as well as any strategies at curbing illegal sales the agency is considering.
The senators are also looking for responses from the Department of Justice in addressing the availability of 3-D printing technology for auto sears as well as information on its coordination with local law enforcement on the issue.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told ABC News the office received the senators’ letter but didn’t have an immediate comment.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Following nearly two years of reported sightings of a man flying at relatively high altitudes around aircrafts landing at Los Angeles International Airport, the police department released a new theory — there may not have been a man after all.
A helicopter crew captured images of a life-sized balloon flying over Century City last November, near where earlier sightings had been reported, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The balloon reportedly resembles the fictional character “Jack Skellington” from Tim Burton’s 1993 movie “A Nightmare Before Christmas.”
The first reported sighting of a possible jetpack flier was made on Aug. 30, 2020, after two different commercial airline pilots reported seeing a man in a jet pack hovering near LAX, ABC News reported.
The second report was made on Oct. 14, 2020, and the third was made on July 28, 2021, all in the same surrounding area as the first.
Federal authorities said that none of the theories surrounding the sightings have been confirmed, and they are continuing to investigate the situation with the Federal Aviation Administration.
“The FBI has worked closely with the FAA to investigate reported jetpack sightings in the Los Angeles area, none of which have been verified,” the FBI said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday. “One working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons.”
(ATLANTA) — A committee of independent experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously on Tuesday to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for children 5-11, checking off one of the last boxes in the authorization process.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to issue the final recommendation as soon as Tuesday evening, capping off the process and allowing the first shots to be administered by Wednesday morning.
But vaccinations are not expected to kick into high-gear until Nov. 8, when the White House says Pfizer’s pediatric vaccines will be more widely accessible across the nation.
About 15 million doses are expected to ship out over the next week. The majority, about 10 million, will be available at pediatrician’s offices, children’s hospitals, community centers and mass vaccination sites. About 5 million doses will go to pharmacies.
Many parents are anxious to protect their children after the delta surge over the summer led to increased cases and hospitalizations among kids. Though the variant is not more deadlier, it is more transmissible — and because kids are unvaccinated, the variant rocketed through schools and camps.
The most recent data from Pfizer’s clinical trials found that the vaccine for children ages 5-11 was nearly 91% effective against symptomatic illness.
For kids, the vaccine will be given at a smaller, one-third dose.
The vaccine also appears safe. The company says none of the children in clinical trials 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.
The CDC’s expert on myocarditis, Dr. Matt Oster, a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, said unequivocally at Tuesday’s meeting that he believes the benefits of the vaccine for 5-11 year-olds outweighs the potential risks of vaccine-related myocarditis.
“The bottom line is getting COVID I think is much riskier to the heart than getting this vaccine, no matter what age or sex you have,” Oster told the committee.
Meanwhile, the risks of not getting vaccinated loom far larger than the rare and mostly mild vaccine side effects seen in some adolescents, CDC’s Dr. Sarah Oliver said.
For every million pediatric vaccinations, more than 18,500 COVID cases and 80 hospitalizations could be prevented, Oliver estimated, using a model based on cases throughout the pandemic so far. If cases returned to the peak seen during the delta variant, over 58,200 COVID cases and over 220 hospitalizations could be prevented.
“There could also be possible prevention of transmission and a greater confidence in a safer return to school and social interactions,” Oliver said. “Wide use of an effective vaccine would reduce the public health burden of COVID in children five through 11 years of age.”
Other CDC committee members agreed.
“I think the data supports that we have one more vaccine that saves lives of children and that we should be very confident to employ it to the maximum,” said Dr. Sarah Long, a member of the CDC’s committee and professor of pediatrics at Drexel University.
Last week, all of the efficacy and safety data was reviewed by a panel of experts at the Food and Drug Administration, which then voted nearly unanimously to authorize the vaccine.
Then, last Friday, the vaccine was authorized by FDA acting commissioner Janet Woodcock.
Whether parents will embrace the vaccine for their kids is still a question. In an October poll, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about a third of parents with kids ages 5-11 were willing to vaccinate their kids right away, while another third wanted to “wait and see.” The figures represented a slight uptick in vaccine acceptance among parents of elementary-school-aged kids since July, but they have stayed steady since September.
Woodcock told reporters on Friday that she hoped parents would quickly see the benefits.
“We certainly hope that as people see children getting vaccinated and being protected, being able to participate in activities without concern, that more and more people will get their kids vaccinated,” she said.
And she emphasized the urgency of preventing the conditions that can come with COVID diagnoses in kids.
“As a parent, if I had young children this age group I would get them vaccinated now. I would not want to take the risk that they would be one of the ones who would develop long COVID, who would develop multi-system inflammatory syndrome or have to be hospitalized from from the virus,” Woodcock said.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
