(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court will take up the Texas abortion law on the merits next month in a rare highly-expedited case that could definitively resolve the fate of its six-week ban and unprecedented enforcement mechanism.
SB8 will remain in effect for the near future until the Court issues its decision, which wouldn’t typically be expected for weeks to months after a case is argued.
The justices granted the request of Texas abortion providers and civil rights groups to hear the case before lower courts ruled on the law.
They also said they would also examine the question of whether the U.S. government, in the separate case, could even seek an injunction against a state law like Texas’.
Oral arguments are set for Nov. 1 — one month before the court is already set to hear a milestone abortion rights case out of Mississippi.
The court said it deferred a decision on the Justice Department’s emergency request for the court to put SB8 back on hold and that it would wait for oral arguments before taking action. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — For reporters in Washington, it’s a frequent refrain from President Joe Biden on the status of negotiations with lawmakers on his domestic agenda: “I won’t negotiate in the press.”
But Thursday evening marked a shift from the strategy of playing his cards close to his chest. The president was unusually candid at a CNN town hall, laying his cards out publicly, and unafraid to call out moderate Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on the roadblocks they’ve created in the talks.
The decision was perhaps a calculated one, as the White House counts down the days before Biden departs for a major climate summit in Europe, at which the president hopes to have real domestic progress in hand to encourage other nations to adopt similar measures.
Early Friday morning, Biden hosted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the White House for breakfast, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joining remotely, the three leaders already back at the bargaining table.
Pelosi later told reporters Friday that Democrats are nearing a deal on their two major agenda packages.
“We have a couple of outstanding issues that just need a decision,” she said, describing a deal as within reach. “I think it’s very possible,” she added.
Biden’s town hall capped off what has been the most momentous week of negotiation in months, with the president acquiescing to losing some key programs from his initial $3.5 trillion wish list, in order to meet those moderates calling for less government spending. The acknowledgement of the concessions could send a signal to Democrats that a deal on the package, which has been whittled from Biden’s $3.5 trillion wish list to just under $2 trillion, is imminent.
“I do think I’ll get a deal,” Biden said, in summary of the movement in recent days.
That deal has not been easy in coming. Biden admitted some painful cuts to his programs at the town hall, but the lifelong politician, who campaigned on his ability to reach bipartisan deals, said some losses were inevitable.
“Hey look, it’s all about compromise. You know, it’s – ‘compromise’ has become a dirty word. But it’s bipartisanship and compromise still has to be possible,” Biden said Thursday.
One of those compromises – losing the corporate tax rate hike Biden has long pushed for.
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the vote,” Biden said. He was blunt in pinning the blame on a lone hold-out in his caucus.
“Senator Sinema is opposed to any tax rate hikes for corporations and for high earners,” Biden said, offering an unusual amount of insight into his talks with the moderate Democrat.
Later Thursday, a White House official clarified that Biden meant it would be challenging to get enough votes to raise the corporate tax rate, but that other proposals, such as a tax increase on stock buybacks, or instituting a tax on billionaires’ stock holdings, could make up the difference, ensuring the package, which will likely to top out just under $2 trillion, would not add to the federal deficit.
Biden also wasn’t shy in pulling back the curtain on his conversations with moderate Manchin. Admitting that the plan to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision “a reach” at this point in the talks, Biden revealed Manchin’s thinking, and said he could settle for $800 vouchers to cover dental work.
“He says he doesn’t want to further burden Medicare so that — because it will run out of its ability to maintain itself in the next number of years. There’s ways to fix that, but he’s not interested in that part, either. But, look, Joe — Joe’s not a bad guy. I mean, he’s a friend. And he’s always, at the end of the day, come around and voted for it,” Biden said.
Biden also for the first time admitted that his proposal to guarantee 12 weeks of paid family leave will be cut significantly.
“It is down to 4 weeks,” Biden said, in a frank assessment. “And the reason it’s down to 4 weeks is because I can’t get 12 weeks.”
Biden also confirmed that two years of free community college is falling victim to the downsizing. He offered an increase to Pell grants instead, and vowed to continue to fight for the program.
“I promise you, I guarantee you, we’re going to get free community college in the next several years, across the board,” he said, adding jokingly that his first lady Jill Biden, a community college professor, would insist on it.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Climate change is not only warming the planet, it’s negatively affecting human health in myriad ways, with researchers reporting surges in heat-related illnesses, infectious diseases, poor sleep and an increase in suicides, according to a major report by The Lancet Countdown that’s been cosigned by health experts from more than 70 institutions worldwide.
“There is no safe temperature rise from a health standpoint,” Dr. Renee Salas, an author of the report and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard, said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “The take-home message of this year’s brief is clear: Climate change is first and foremost a health crisis.”
Additionally, the report shows how decades of racial inequity has deepened divides when it comes to health outcomes, especially in the U.S. over the last few decades, as researchers have observed an increase in the intensity, duration and frequency of heat waves, wildfires and droughts.
We could be investing in a healthier future. This is a pivotal moment in history.
More than a third of urban heat-related deaths in the 1990s and early 2000s can be attributed to climate change, and extensive research also has shown that exposure to heat waves poses a range of health risks, from heat rashes to heat exhaustion to heatstroke.
“During the last heat wave, I saw paramedics with burns on their knees from kneeling down on the sidewalk to take care of patients with heatstrokes,” said Dr. Jeremy Hess, a co-author of the report and a professor of environmental and occupational health services at the University of Washington. “I have seen patients die of heatstroke this year. These are preventable problems.”
Warmer temperatures also contribute to people sleeping less and observable increases in suicide and crime.
“Patients tend to complain more about sleep disturbances during heat waves, which generally go away once the weather passes,” said Dr. Shehram Majid, a New York City-based psychiatrist. “I have seen a rise in patients struggling with mood and anxiety disorders during periods of extreme weather in NYC.”
One study estimates that in the U.S., suicide rates rise 0.7% for every 1 degree Celsius increase in average temperature.
Climate change also creates and exacerbates droughts, which can lead to more wildfires that burn for much longer, which means more dust and smoke that destroys air quality. Agriculture suffers. Pollen levels can increase, affecting those with allergies.
And poor air quality can be felt thousands of miles away from fires. In July 2021, smoke from California’s Dixie Fire reached the Eastern Seaboard, contributing to the worst air quality in New York City in 15 years.
“September 2020, we saw the max wildfires to date, with about 80,000 wildfires in the U.S., which is eight times greater than 2001,” Salas added.
Emerging evidence, cited in the report, also shows that wildfire smoke may be more harmful than many other types of smoke, especially for children. Exposure has been linked to an increased risk of heart and pulmonary disease, premature death, worsened mental health and greater risk of preterm birth.
More flooding can create conditions that lead to increased mosquito breeding, which means diseases such as Dengue fever, a dangerous viral infection, can spreader wider more quickly via the insects.
“New Dengue transmission potential is five times higher than 1950,” Salas added.
Longer warm seasons also means more ticks are spreading Lyme disease.
“We spent many years talking about the pandemic, yet we were not prepared. We are bound to make the same mistake again with climate change. We have not invested in the mitigation and adaptation necessary,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “The health sector is already stressed, and when you add these natural disasters it pushes things to the breaking point.”
Policymakers need to get serious about taxing carbon and reaching zero-emission targets, said Benjamin, adding: “This is an opportunity to invest differently in a green recovery that isn’t fueled by fossil fuels. We could be investing in a healthier future. This is a pivotal moment in history.”
Yalda Safai, M.D., M.P.H., a psychiatry resident in New York City, is a contributor to ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — Robert Durst has been charged in Westchester County with the murder of his former wife, Kathie, who disappeared in 1982, according to the district attorney’s office.
A criminal complaint was filed Tuesday of this week.
“The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office can confirm that a complaint charging Robert Durst with the murder of Kathleen Durst was filed in Lewisboro Town Court on Oct. 19, 2021. We have no further comment at this time,” a statement from a spokeswoman for Westchester DA Mimi Rocah said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ATLANTA) — A infant who was born at 25 weeks, after his mom was stabbed while walking on a trail in Atlanta, went home this month after spending nearly five months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The baby, Theodore Jude, was released from the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta at Egleston on Oct. 8 with a farewell parade from nurses, who lined the halls with rattles to say goodbye.
“We’re obviously super grateful and praising that he’s alive and with us,” said Theodore’s mom, Valerie Kasper. “It’s been a long journey and it’s already been exhausting and like a rollercoaster, and now that he is home, this is the start of a new thing.”
Kasper, 34, was walking near her car with her 3-year-old son, Benjamin, on June 5, when she was stabbed multiple times by a homeless man who later admitted to the stabbing, according to the Associated Press. Police said they believe “mental illness played a role” in the case.
While Benjamin sustained no physical injuries in the attack, Kasper was transported to a local hospital, where she underwent an emergency C-section.
“The trauma of the attack was pretty intense obviously and the moment of going into surgery was just as scary,” said Kasper. “When I went into surgery I was crying, saying, ‘Save my baby and save my uterus,’ because I thought if he didn’t make it, I would want to have another baby.”
Theodore weighed just two pounds when he was born, and was immediately whisked away to the NICU, according to Kasper.
While they were performing the C-section, doctors also repaired Kasper’s colon and liver, which she said were both damaged in the attack.
She was not able to see her newborn son until 24 hours after giving birth, when she went in a wheelchair to visit him in the NICU.
“I was in so much pain that I couldn’t handle sitting in the wheelchair and I almost passed out in the NICU,” recalled Kasper, who was also not able to hold her son because he was still so fragile. “It was really hard.”
Kasper spent the next week in the hospital recovering from her injuries and from giving birth. Shortly after she was discharged on June 12, Kasper received a call from the NICU that Theodore was not doing well and would have to be transferred to another hospital for surgery.
“That was devastating,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘This is it. This is the life of the NICU. How am I ever going to fall asleep waiting for these phone calls?'”
Theodore survived what would be the first of four surgeries following his birth.
Kasper and her partner, Steven Barkdoll, both teachers, spent the next several months traveling back and forth between the NICU and their home, where they stayed with Benjamin.
Kasper was only able to hold Theodore for the first time during a visit to the NICU on June 28, three weeks after his birth.
“It took like three people to help me into the chair, to help the baby in my arms, and he was still intubated so it was just extremely fragile moving him,” she said. “I was sitting there kind of in pain, wanting to enjoy the moment but also having to be aware of my own limitations.”
After several more months of treatment, doctors discharged Theodore from the NICU on Oct. 8.
It was then that he met his older brother, Benjamin, for the first time.
“Benjamin just like ran over to the stroller, so excited to see his brother,” Kasper said of the meeting, five months in the making. “That was a big day.”
Though the family is now home under one roof for the first time in months, the recovery continues for both Theodore and Kasper, who still has limited mobility and pain from her wounds.
Theodore remains on oxygen and a feeding tube, as well as a heart monitor, according to Kasper. He also takes several medications and has frequent appointments with doctors and specialists.
“It’s like bringing home a newborn baby that needs lots of attention, and he needs a little even more attention,” said Kasper. “He’s a cutie pie and we love all the snuggles, but it’s still a stressful situation to be in.”
“We’re just monitoring him as he grows and supporting him the best we can to try to get him off all the machines and let him be a big boy,” she said of Theodore, who now weighs 11 pounds.
Kasper said she and her family have been touched by the outpouring of support they have received, from a GoFundMe account that has raised over $100,000 to friends and family offering support and the nurses and doctors who helped she and Theodore recover.
“It’s definitely a big motivator and relief, in a way, to know that evil can happen, or bad things can happen, and the love shines through,” she said. “I just get overwhelmed by that.”
“I feel that once we’re back on our feet, we’re going to have to be giving back for sure,” Kasper added.
(NEW YORK) — More than 731,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Oct 22, 8:56 am
Pfizer vaccine highly effective in children 5-11
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 91% effective against symptomatic illness in children ages 5-11, according to new data posted Friday ahead of a major FDA advisory committee meeting on Tuesday.
The vaccine also appeared safe, with none of the children experiencing a rare heart inflammation side effect known as myocarditis. If authorized in children 5-11, the Pfizer vaccine will be given at a smaller, one-third dose.
This efficacy estimate is from the company’s clinical trial of 2,268 children in which some children got a placebo, and some children got the Pfizer vaccine. During the trial, 16 children who got the placebo shots developed COVID-19. Only three children who got the real vaccine developed COVID-19.
A small number of the children who were vaccinated and later developed COVID-19 experienced symptoms far fewer and milder than the children who were unvaccinated. For example, none of the vaccinated children developed a fever, while a majority of the unvaccinated children developed a fever along with other symptoms.
None of the children experienced serious adverse events. Many experienced typical symptoms like pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache.
The FDA’s advisers will meet Tuesday to vote on whether to authorize the vaccine. From there, the FDA itself and the CDC will need to sign off — a process that can take several days — before shots could become available to children nationally.
Oct 21, 8:39 pm
CDC signs off on Moderna, J&J boosters
Hours after the unanimous vote from its independent advisory committee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed off on recommending booster shots for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines for certain populations.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky recommended boosters for Pfizer and Moderna recipients with no preference on the brand, leaving that decision up to the individual.
People who are 65 and older, or individuals as young as 18 who have underlying medical conditions or live in high-risk or long-term care settings, are eligible to receive either a Pfizer or Moderna booster at least six months after their second shot, the CDC said.
The one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is eligible to anyone aged 18 and up, at least two months after their initial dose, the CDC said.
Oct 21, 5:44 pm
CDC recommends Moderna and J&J boosters
An independent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted unanimously Thursday evening to recommend booster shots for both the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines for certain populations.
The panel recommended a third dose of the Moderna vaccine at least six months after a person’s initial course for those 65 and older, as well as those as young as 18 who are at higher risk due to underlying health conditions or where they work or live.
A second dose of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine was recommended for anyone aged 18 and older, at least two months after the first dose.
The panel also cleared the way for allowing mixing and matching of booster doses.
The recommendations fall in line with the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of the boosters Wednesday.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must now sign off on the panel’s recommendations. A decision is expected within a day.
Oct 21, 3:14 pm
Hospital admissions on the decline
COVID-19 hospital admissions in the U.S. have dropped by about 9.7% in the last week, according to federal data.
Death rates are also falling, though they remain persistently high, with an average of just under 1,250 Americans dying from the virus each day, according to the data.
Alaska currently has the country’s highest infection rate, followed by Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and North Dakota.
The U.S. is currently averaging around 76,000 new cases per day, down from 160,000 in early September. Despite boasting high vaccination rates, several Northern states continue to see cases tick up as the weather gets colder.
(WASHINGTON) — Two top prosecutors in the Justice Department were added several months ago to the ongoing federal probe examining sex trafficking allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The Washington-based prosecutors, one with expertise in child exploitation crimes and the other a top official in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, have been on the Florida-based case since at least July. In recent months, they joined a team in Florida that’s been looking into whether Gaetz violated federal law by providing goods or payments to a 17-year-old girl in exchange for sex, sources confirmed to ABC News. The news of the new prosecutors was first reported by The New York Times.
Gaetz has not been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement to ABC News on Thursday, a spokesperson for Gaetz said, “Congressman Gaetz is innocent. The former DOJ official who tried to extort him is guilty. No number of political operative prosecutors at a politically weaponized DOJ will change this.”
The news comes just days after a federal judge in Central Florida granted a request from attorneys representing former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, Gaetz’s one-time self-described “wingman,” to delay Greenberg’s sentencing while he continues to provide prosecutors with information about his activities in connection with the ongoing federal probe.
Greenberg in May pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor and introducing her to other “adult men” who also had sex with her when she was underage, and agreed to provide “substantial assistance” to prosecutors as part of their ongoing investigation.
“This is obviously not a normal situation,” U.S. attorney Roger Handberg told the judge earlier this week in requesting a delay in Greenberg’s scenting. “Mr. Greenberg is a prolific criminal.”
“Mr. Greenberg was not alone,” Handberg added. “This is an unusual situation with a number of lines of investigation we are pursuing.”
ABC News previously reported that Gaetz’s former associate had been steadily providing information and handing over troves of potential evidence in the sprawling probe, including years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos, as well as access to personal social media accounts, sources said.
Private messages first reported by ABC News potentially shed light on how Greenberg allegedly met women online who were paid for sex, and allegedly introduced them to the Florida congressman and other associates. The messages, first reported by ABC News in August, appear to show Greenberg texting with a woman he met online in September 2018 and discussing payment options. Greenberg also appears to ask the woman, who was of legal age, if she would take drugs; he then sets up a get-together with himself, Gaetz, the woman, and one of her friends, the messages appear to show.
Amid the ongoing investigation, Gaetz has remained active in Congress and has forcibly pushed back against the DOJ and the media. During Thursday’s House Judiciary hearing, Gaetz questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland on whether there are prohibitions against DOJ officials who have been “partisan committee staff” members working on criminal investigations. Todd Gee, one of the two new prosecutors added to the Gaetz investigation, previously worked as a House Homeland Committee staffer for Democrats during the Bush Administration.
Greenberg’s sentencing is now scheduled for March 2022, a date the judge said would be a “deadline we have to meet.”
(NEW YORK) — There is a growing sense of optimism across the country, with national coronavirus infection rates steadily falling, booster shots available for many Americans and pending vaccine approval on the horizon for young children.
In southern states like Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia, which were hit early on by the delta surge, hospitalizations are on the decline.
But despite the good news, experts are pleading with Americans to remain alert, as the highly infectious delta variant continues to circulate.
Despite vaccination rollouts, several states, particularly those in colder climates, are beginning to see a rise in infections.
“You’re starting to see an uptick in cases in the colder parts of the country and as people are driven indoors without masks on,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNN earlier this month. “The delta wave has not run through the United States… I think we have a couple of months to go.”
Experts have been warning for weeks that colder areas may see an uptick in cases this winter.
“We may be starting to see the delta surge in the northern parts of the country that were relatively spared over the summer,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
In recently released forecasts, the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reported that infection rates in parts of the Midwest and Mountain states remained “stubbornly high,” and that despite declining transmission in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and in California, a period of resurgence may be on the horizon for northern regions of the country.
“We can take some comfort this week in the fact that national daily case counts have dropped below 100,000 and national adult and pediatric hospital censuses have declined by 50% since late summer,” the group wrote, adding that the country must still be prepared to see a resurgence.
In the Midwest, many counties throughout Minnesota and Michigan have had a significant rise in cases, while other states (Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming) are reporting high transmission in nearly every county, according to federal data.
“Coronaviruses tend to thrive in winter months and colder weather,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said. “Right now is not the time, as cases are coming down to become complacent because we do know colder weather is ahead of us.”
These local increases in cases are being accompanied by an uptick in hospitalizations. Ten states (Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wyoming) are already seeing a higher number of hospital admissions.
In Montana, forecasters noted that cities are experiencing the highest rates of case incidence and hospitalizations they have seen throughout the pandemic, mirroring what happened in Idaho last month. Similarly, in Utah, the outlook continues to worsen, specifically in the Salt Lake City region, as resurgence spreads to a wider geographic area.
According to the PolicyLab, the regional variation across the country makes predicting the trajectory of this period of the pandemic challenging. While the team wrote that the likelihood of a fall and winter resurgence in northern areas “seems more probable,” there is “uncertainty about the magnitude, duration and breadth of geographic regions that will be impacted.”
“We need to expect that, as we enter a season of shorter, colder days that will push more people to gather indoors, we will soon see a widening geographic distribution of resurgent transmission in many locations,” forecasters wrote.
The group noted that the Northeast did not experience a significant surge last year, until the holiday season in November and December, and added that nationally, case incidence increased rapidly just after Halloween last year, surging through the New Year.
“As winter approaches, indoor mixing, especially among the remaining unvaccinated populations, means that we will likely continue to see increases in cases. The biggest remaining question is whether we have vaccinated enough of the population to see a decoupling with hospitalizations and deaths,” added Brownstein.
People who have not been fully vaccinated are 6.1 times more likely to test positive with the virus and 11.3 times more likely to die from it, compared with people who are vaccinated, according to federal data.
Although nearly two-thirds of Americans have now received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, more than 112 million Americans remain completely unvaccinated. Approximately 64 million of those unvaccinated Americans are people over the age of 12, and thus, are currently eligible to get the shot.
PolicyLab experts say it is therefore critical for communities to act now in order to “maximize vaccinations among children and adults so that we can prevent local surges in all regions this winter and finally move toward the waning days of the pandemic.”
(NEW YORK) — A spate of strikes has rocked the private sector, revealing the new power workers wield as the pandemic wanes in the U.S. and sending a message to employers who may have been working from home for the past year that a return to the status quo isn’t going to cut it.
A confluence of unique labor market conditions — including record-high levels of people quitting their jobs and an apparent shortage of workers accepting low-wage jobs — has contributed to the recent rash of work stoppages, experts say, but they also come after decades of stagnating wages and soaring income inequality in the U.S.
The post-traumatic shock of a deadly pandemic that took an inordinate toll on workers who didn’t have the privilege of earning a living remotely, and their families, has also been linked to the recent employee activism.
“I think workers have reached a tipping point,” Tim Schlittner, the communications director of the AFL-CIO, told ABC News. “For too long they’ve been called essential, but treated as expendable, and workers have decided that enough is enough.”
“They want a fair return on their work and they’re willing to take the courageous act of a strike to win a better deal and a better life,” he added. The AFL-CIO is a coalition of labor unions that collectively represents some 12.5 million workers.
Here is what to know about what some lawmakers are dubbing “Striketober,” the recent labor movement uprising that has spanned across industries and states.
Who is striking?
There have been 255 strikes this year, with 43 occurring in October, according to the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ tracker. The researchers behind the tracker define a strike as a “temporary stoppage of work by a group of workers in order to express a grievance or to enforce a demand,” that “may or may not be workplace-related.”
Among the most prominent is the ongoing strike of 10,000 John Deere workers across more than a dozen plants who are represented by the United Auto Workers. Some 1,400 workers represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union are also on strike at Kellogg’s plants across four states.
The Cornell researchers also collect data on “Labor Protests,” defined as a collective action by a group of people as workers but without withdrawing their labor in order to express a grievance or enforce a demand. The group has tracked an additional 19 labor protests this month, and a whopping 554 in 2021.
The group collects information on strikes from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services data, Bloomberg Law’s work stoppage database, major media outlets, organizational press releases and social media. The researchers then follow a set of verification protocols to determine which instances constitute a strike or labor protest.
In 2020, as the pandemic raged, the Cornell ILR School recorded 54 strikes and eight labor protests.
Why now?
“I think it’s a combination of things, but certainly influenced by the pandemic and the kind of economic situation coming out of that,” Alex Colvin, the dean of the Cornell IRL School and a professor of conflict resolution, labor relations and law, told ABC News.
“People feel like they contributed a lot during the depths of the pandemic and now they’re looking for some of the returns when the economy’s doing better and companies are doing better — profits are up, stock prices are up,” he added. “We’re seeing similar effects going on with quit rates going up, people more willing to leave their jobs now and look for something better.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a release earlier this month that the number of people who quit their jobs in August jumped to the highest since its record-keeping began, representing nearly 3% of the entire workforce. The record-high quit rate bested the previous high of 2.7% that was set in April of this year, and then repeated in June and July.
As the number of people quitting their jobs has reached record highs in recent months, so have the number of job openings, the BLS data indicates.
Meanwhile, a dismal 194,000 jobs were added to the economy last month, according to BLS data, as employers struggled to fill positions. This was lower than the already-disappointing figure of 366,000 in August, and the million-plus jobs added in July.
Due to working through a COVID-19 pandemic that has left more than 730,000 Americans dead, and because of the recent labor market trends, workers may be “less willing to take what they’ve been willing to take in the past,” Colvin said, but added that these factors also increase the leverage unions have when executing a strike.
“It makes sense for workers to push to kind of share in the gains of the improving economy,” he said. “But also, they have more leverage because it’s harder to replace them in a tighter labor market.”
The AFL-CIO’s Schlittner said the pandemic also exposed some deep “imbalances of power in the economy.”
“The pandemic has made clear what’s important and what’s not, and workers are looking at work in a new way, and demanding more of a return on their labor, and demanding things like basic respect, dignity and safety on the job,” Schlittner told ABC News. “The pandemic has put on display for everyone to see how important workers are to this country, and you can’t call workers essential for 18 months and then treat them like crap when they all come back on the job.”
What’s causing the so-called ‘labor shortage’?
Recent labor market data has sowed confusion for some over where workers have gone. The unemployment rate as of last month remains at an elevated 4.8%, still above the pre-pandemic 3.5% seen in February 2020. The number of job openings, however, has hit record high after record high in recent months — with the most recent BLS data indicating that there were some 10.4 million job openings in August after a record-high 10.9 million in July.
A report from Moody’s Analytics released earlier this week attributed the workforce reduction in large part to child care issues, which have plagued working parents and taken a disproportionate toll on mothers during the pandemic, and was the most-cited reason for why people aren’t returning to work. The Wall Street analytics firm also found that millions not working said they were out of work because they were laid off or their employer had gone out of business during the pandemic, and some economists have attributed pandemic-era protections and government support to their slower return to the workforce. Finally, their data indicates fear of getting or spreading the virus was heavily cited among those not working.
Schlittner said he doesn’t see it as a labor shortage, but rather “a shortage of good-paying jobs.”
“There’s a shortage of good-paying, quality jobs; that’s the scarcity story in America today,” he said. “If employers raise pay, improve working conditions and give every worker the right to form a union, the workers will be there, ready to report to the job.”
Some data indicates the power that lack of laborers willing to accept low pay can have on pushing up wages, and the power of collective activism.
The federal minimum wage has remained unchanged for over a decade at $7.25 an hour, despite widespread activism — especially in the hospitality industry — to raise that to $15 an hour through organizations such as the Fight for 15. Post-pandemic demand for staffers as restaurants reopen has pushed the average hourly wages of workers at food and drinking establishment to a record-high $17.40 an hour in August, according to preliminary data from the labor department.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe started in support of the John Deere workers on strike has garnered over $80,000 in just four days from more than 2,000 donors.
“More workers are recognizing the power in each other, that standing together with their co-workers is a powerful act, and can bring about great change,” Schlittner said. “And that’s what ‘Striketober’ is all about. It’s about changing an economy and a system that isn’t working for regular working people. One picket line at a time, we can start to do that.”
(LONDON) — Queen Elizabeth was hospitalized Wednesday night for “preliminary investigations,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman confirmed to ABC News.
The queen was back at her desk at Windsor Castle by Thursday afternoon and undertaking light duties.
No other details about the queen’s condition are currently available.
“Following medical advice to rest for a few days, The Queen attended hospital on Wednesday afternoon for some preliminary investigations,” the palace said in a statement. “[She] remains in good spirits.”
Queen Elizabeth, 95, hosted a reception for leaders, including Bill Gates and John Kerry, at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
The next day she was forced to cancel a trip to Northern Island as her medical team advised her to get some rest.
