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Judge rejects plea deal for father and son in federal case over Ahmaud Arbery’s murder

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A U.S. District Court judge rejected on Monday a plea deal that would have allowed the white Georgia man and his father convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery to serve a large part of their sentences in federal prison.

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood’s decision to turn down Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael’s plea agreements with federal prosecutors came after Arbery’s parents and two aunts gave emotional statements asking the judge to reject the deal and proceed with a federal trial next week.

“All they would have to do is stand up and say that they were motivated by hate and then this court will concede to their preferred conditions of confinement,” Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told the judge. “I do not need to hear them say they were motivated by hate. That does me no good. It does my family no good.”

She added, “It is not fair to take away this victory that I prayed and I fought for. It is not right. It is not just. It is wrong. Please listen to me. Granting these men their preferred conditions of confinement would defeat me. It gives them one last chance to spit in my face after murdering my son.”

Following Travis McMichael’s hearing on Monday, a second hearing was to schedule on the plea deal the government’s attorneys negotiated with 66-year-old Gregory McMichael. However, Godbey Wood said her decision would be the same in the case of the elder McMichael, whose attorney agreed to cancel the hearing.

Both men and their neighbor, 52-year-old William “Roddie” Bryan, were convicted on state murder charges in Arbery’s 2020 death. They were sentenced to life in prison. Travis and Gregory McMichael were sentenced without the possibility of parole.

A federal prosecutor told the judge during Monday’s hearing that the agreement called for the men to immediately be turned over the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve 30 years in a federal penitentiary before being returned to the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of their sentence.

Godbey Wood gave both men the option to go forward with their guilty pleas and risk her giving them a harsher sentence than what they agreed to, or to withdraw their pleas and go to trial starting on Monday.

The judge gave them until Friday to decide.

Prior to the judge’s decision, federal prosecutor Tara Lyons touted the plea deal as one that “powerfully advances the larger interest of justice.”

“Through this resolution, the defendants will accept responsibility for the full nature of their crime, admitting publicly in front of the nation that this offense was racially motivated,” Lyons said.

Federal prosecutors filed notices of plea agreements for Travis McMichael, 35, and Gregory McMichael, on Sunday in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, and requested Monday’s hearing for Godbey Wood to review the deal.

No plea agreement was announced for Bryan.

In announcing her decision, Godbey Wood said the plea agreement would lock her into a sentence of 30 years or 360 months.

“Here in this relatively early stage in the case, I can’t say that 360 months is the precise, fair sentence in this case,” Gobey Wood said. “It could be more, it could be less, it could be that. But given the unique circumstances of this case and my desire to hear from all concerned regarding sentencing before I pronounce sentence, I am not comfortable accepting the terms of the plea agreement.”

Prior to Monday’s hearing, Arbery’s relatives slammed the plea deal, alleging it was done behind their backs. But Lyons said her office was in frequent communication with attorneys for Arbery’s family and that they assured prosecutors the family would not oppose the plea arrangement.

“We respect the court’s decision to not accept the sentencing terms of the proposed plea and to continue the hearing until Friday,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “The Justice Department takes seriously its obligation to confer with the Arbery family and their lawyers both pursuant to the Crime Victim Rights Act and out of respect for the victim.”

Clarke added, “Before signing the proposed agreement reflecting the defendants’ confessions to federal hate crimes charges, the Civil Rights Division consulted with the victims’ attorneys. The Justice Department entered the plea agreement only after the victims’ attorneys informed me that the family was not opposed to it.”

Arbery was out for a jog on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, when the McMichaels assumed he was a burglar, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. Bryan joined the five-minute pursuit, blocking Arbery’s path with his truck and recorded video on cellphone of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun during a struggle.

Arbery’s parents, Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, asked the federal court to be allowed to assert their right under federal law to oppose the plea deal directly before the court.

“The DOJ has gone behind my back to offer the men who murdered my son a deal to make their time in prison easier for them to serve,” Cooper-Jones said in a statement before Monday’s hearing. “I have made it clear at every possible moment that I do not agree to offer these men a plea deal of any kind. I have been completely betrayed by the DOJ lawyers.”

When Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted on state charges of murdering George Floyd, reached a plea agreement on federal charges that he violated Floyd’s civil rights, he asked to be sent to federal prison even though he is expected to serve more time than the 22 years he was sentenced to in state court.

In response to Chauvin’s plea deal, legal experts told ABC News that federal penitentiaries run by the Bureau of Prisons tend to better than state prisons. The experts said federal prisons have fewer overcrowding issues, more comfortable bunks and even better food and educational resources than often cash-strapped state prisons. High-profile inmates, especially former law enforcement officers like Chauvin and Gregory McMichael, tend to also get greater protection in federal prison, the experts said.

The federal Bureau of Prisons estimated that the annual cost of housing an inmate in a federal facility in 2020 was a little over $39,000.

The annual cost of housing an inmate in a Georgia state prison is roughly $20,000, according to a 2015 study by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit research and policy organization.

“Federal prison is going to be a lighter sentence for these men,” Lee Merritt, an attorney for Cooper-Jones said during a news conference prior to the Monday’s hearing.

Merritt also cited an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice into conditions at Georgia state prisons that was launched in September.

The DOJ said in a statement that the investigation is primarily focused on whether Georgia provides inmates reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners and staff.

Cooper-Jones said at Monday’s news conference that she found the plea deal “disrespectful.”
MORE: Travis McMichael testifies in his own defense in Ahmaud Arbery case

She said she learned of the deal on Sunday and has had discussions with DOJ attorneys since.

“I told them very, very adamantly I wanted them to go to state prison and do their time,” Cooper-Jones said.

In a separate news conference, Marcus Arbery said that finding out about the deal made him “mad as hell.”

He said his son’s death was a racially-motivated murder and “we want 100% justice, not half justice.”

He added, “I don’t want no chance of trying to make their lives easy.”

ABC News’ Janice McDonald and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.

COVID-19 live updates: Only five states reporting jump in cases

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 885,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 63.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:
-Only 5 states reporting jump in cases
-Moderna gets full FDA approval for vaccine
-Prime Minister Trudeau tests positive
-‘Partygate’ report finds ‘failures of leadership and judgement’ by UK leaders

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Jan 31, 5:00 pm
Pediatric cases drop for 1st time since Thanksgiving

New COVID-19 cases among children dropped last week for the first time since Thanksgiving, according to a new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. About 808,000 children tested positive last week, down from a peak of 1,150,000 cases reported the week ending Jan. 20.

However, the organizations warn that pediatric cases remain “extremely high,” still triple the peak level of the delta surge in the summer of 2021.

AAP and CHA noted there is an “urgent” need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects. The two organizations note in their report that a small percentage of pediatric cases have resulted in hospitalization and death.

More than 28 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal and census data.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 31, 3:30 pm
Novavax asks FDA for emergency use authorization for its vaccine

Novavax on Monday submitted a request to the FDA for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine.

Novavax uses a more traditional protein-based vaccine platform, which is different from Pfizer and Modena’s mRNA technology and Johnson & Johnson’s viral vector technology.

Novavax’s vaccine exposes a person to a lab-based piece of coronavirus to build immunity.

Novavax’s studies — conducted before the omicron variant — showed an approximately 90% efficacy.

Novavax was one of the early contenders for a COVID-19 vaccine; Operation Warp Speed allocated $1.6 billion for 100 million doses if the vaccine was authorized by the FDA.

ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss

Jan 31, 12:00 pm
Only 5 states reporting jump in cases

After weeks of surging cases, many U.S. states continue to see impressive declines in their national case averages.

The U.S. is reporting an average of about 543,000 new cases per day, down by about 32.2% in the last two weeks, according to federal data. Two weeks ago the nation was reporting more than 800,000 new cases every day.

Only five states are seeing at least a 10% increase in new cases: Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana and Washington.

But case levels still remain much higher than the nation’s previous surges. Experts point out that many Americans who are taking at-home tests are not submitting their results, and thus, case totals may be higher than reported.

Alaska now leads the nation in new cases per capita followed by Washington state, Kentucky and Oklahoma, according to federal data.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 31, 11:30 am
Moderna gets full FDA approval for vaccine

Moderna has now received full FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine, the second vaccine maker to be granted full approval, after Pfizer.

All three vaccines currently available in the U.S. were granted emergency authorization based on large clinical studies and at least two months of safety data.

Moderna said the full approval was “based on a comprehensive submission package including efficacy and safety data approximately six months after second dose.”

ABC News’ Sony Salzman

Six HBCUs received bomb threats Monday

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — For the second time this month, at least six historically black universities and colleges have received bomb threats.

Howard University, Bowie State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Southern University, Delaware State University and Albany State University have all reported potential threats Monday.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is aware of the series of bomb threats and is working with law enforcement to address potential threats.

“As always, we would like to remind members of the public that if they observe anything suspicious to report it to law enforcement immediately,” the FBI said in a statement to ABC News.

The acting deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Thomas Chittum, also said that agents from the bureau are responding to the reports.

“We can confirm that ATF has responded,” Chittum told reporters on a call Monday. “Of course, it is a federal crime to use interstate facilities to make a bomb threat, and so ATF will provide our investigative expertise and support to that investigation, but obviously, the facts are preliminary and unfolding.”

Albany State University in Georgia received notice of a bomb threat to the academic buildings of its campus. As local law enforcement officials investigate, all ASU campuses remained closed and employees and students were told not to report to campus.

Bowie State University in Maryland is also investigating a bomb threat with bomb technicians from the Maryland State Fire Marshal. The campus remains closed as K9s conduct sweeps of university buildings.

“OSFM Bomb Technicians and explosive detection K9s are assisting @BowieState PD with a telephonic bomb threat,” a tweet from the agency read. “Maryland State Police are on the scene. The investigation is active. Prince George’s County Police Department is also on the scene.”

Southern University and A&M College also received a bomb threat Monday and went into lockdown. The university told students classes were canceled and that they should remain in their dorm rooms until an all-clear was issued.

Delaware State University told ABC News that University Police are investigating and that employees and commuter students have been instructed not to report to the campus until further notice. Residential students have also been asked to remain in their dorm rooms.

Howard University and Bethune-Cookman University also report potential bomb threats to their campuses, according to ABC-affiliate ABC7 News.

Judson Bible College, which is not an HBCU, was also targeted.

On Jan. 4, at least seven historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats, according to school officials.

However, no bombs were found on the campuses of Florida Memorial University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University, The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Norfolk State University and Xavier University of Louisiana.

The threats forced campuses to lockdown or evacuate and local law enforcement was alerted.

Editor’s note: ABC News incorrectly listed the HBCUs targeted with bomb threats Monday. Judson Bible College was included but it is not an HBCU, however it was also targeted.

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.

Detectives involved in death case of Lauren Smith-Fields suspended: Mayor

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two Bridgeport, Connecticut, detectives involved in the case of Lauren Smith-Fields, who was found dead in her apartment after a date last month, have been placed on administrative leave and are being investigated by the police department’s internal affairs office, according to the mayor.

Disciplinary actions may also be taken against Bridgeport Police detectives Kevin Cronin and Angel Llanos, due to a “lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police policy” in the handling of the two cases, according to a statement from Joseph P. Ganim, the city’s mayor.

“It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed,” Ganim said. “To the families, friends and all who care about the human decency that should be shown in these situations in this case by members of the Bridgeport Police Department, I am very sorry.”

The detectives are also being investigated for their handling of the case of Brenda Lee Rawls, who was found dead and alone in her home on Dec. 12.

Smith-Fields was found dead in her apartment that same day, shortly after meeting a man on a dating app.

The families of Smith-Fields, 23, and Rawls, 53, claim the police failed to notify them of the deaths and say they learned of the deaths from others. Both women are Black.

The supervisory officer who was in charge of overseeing these investigations retired from the department on Friday, the mayor said, adding that the cases are both under active investigation and have been reassigned.

Both cases are both under active investigation and have been reassigned.

The news comes just days after the Connecticut chief medical examiner’s office announced that Smith-Fields’ cause of death was “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol” and the medical examiner ruled the manner of death an “accident.”

The cause and manner of death in Rawls’ case are still undetermined, the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reports.

The Bridgeport Police Department said it was unable to respond to ABC News’ request for comment and union Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees did not respond. It is unclear if Cronin and Llanos have legal representation.

Smith-Fields’ family announced earlier this month it plans to file a lawsuit against the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, as well as the Bridgeport Police Department, alleging that police haven’t properly investigated her death and have violated their civil rights.

“The way they handled her investigation was literally disgraceful, disgusting, horrible. It was not even human,” Lakeem Jetter, Smith-Fields’ brother, said in an interview with Good Morning America.

Judge rejects Travis McMichael’s plea deal in federal case over Ahmaud Arbery’s murder

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A plea deal that would have allowed a white man convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery to serve a large part of his sentence in federal prison was rejected by a U.S. District Court judge on Monday.

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood’s decision to turn down Travis McMichael’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors came after Arbery’s parents and two aunts gave emotional statements asking the judge to reject the deal and proceed with a federal trial next week.

A second hearing on a plea deal the government’s attorneys negotiated with McMichael’s father, 66-year-old Gregory McMichael, was also scheduled to occur on Monday. However, since Godbey Wood said her decision would be the same in the elder McMichael’s case, Gregory McMichael’s lawyer said there was no need for a hearing.

A federal prosecutor told the judge during Monday’s hearing that the agreement called for the men to immediately be turned over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve 30 years in a federal penitentiary before being returned to the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of their sentence.

The judge gave them until Friday to decide.

No plea agreement was announced for Bryan.

Prior to Monday’s hearing, Arbery’s relatives slammed the plea deal, alleging it was done behind their back.

“This proposed plea is a huge accommodation to the men who hunted down and murdered Ahmaud Arbery,” the family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, said in a statement. “The family is devastated at this development, their wishes are being completely ignored and they do not consent to these accommodations.”

Arbery was out for a jog on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, when the McMichaels assumed he was a burglar, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. Bryan joined the five-minute pursuit, blocking Arbery’s path with his truck and recorded Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun during a struggle on his cellphone.

Arbery’s parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, asked the federal court to be allowed to assert her right under federal law to oppose the plea deal directly before the court.

“The DOJ has gone behind my back to offer the men who murdered my son a deal to make their time in prison easier for them to serve,” Cooper-Jones said in a statement. “I have made it clear at every possible moment that I do not agree to offer these men a plea deal of any kind. I have been completely betrayed by the DOJ lawyers.”

During a news conference in Georgia on Monday, Merritt said Cooper-Jones and Arbery’s father will be allowed to speak at the hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday. Merritt said the parents plan to ask a federal judge to reject the plea deal.

The federal Bureau of Prisons estimated that the annual cost of housing an inmate in a federal facility in 2020 was a little over $39,000.

The annual cost of housing an inmate in a Georgia state prison is roughly $20,000, according to a 2015 study by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit research and policy organization.

“Federal prison is going to be a lighter sentence for these men,” Merritt said.

Merritt also cited an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice into conditions at Georgia state prisons that was launched in September.

The DOJ said in a statement that the investigation is primarily focused on whether Georgia provides inmates reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners and staff.

Cooper-Jones said at Monday’s news conference that she finds the plea deal “disrespectful.”

“I fought so hard to get these guys in state prison,” Cooper-Jones said.

She said she learned of the deal on Sunday and has had discussions with DOJ attorneys since.

“I told them very, very adamantly I wanted them to go to state prison and do their time,” Cooper-Jones said.

In a separate news conference, Marcus Arbery said that finding out about the deal made him “mad as hell.”

He said his son’s death was a racially-motivated murder and “we want 100% justice, not half justice.”

He added, “I don’t want no chance of trying to make their lives easy.”

Midwest braces for major snowfall, ice on roads: Forecast

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Midwest is bracing for a storm that could bring major snowfall and leave dangerous ice on roadways.

The storm is set to strike Tuesday through Thursday. A winter storm watch has been issued from Colorado to Michigan, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit.

More than 1 foot of snow is possible between Chicago and Indianapolis and also near Detroit.

This storm is expected to drop freezing rain and sleet — leaving dangerous, icy roads — in a huge part of the country, especially in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

By Thursday morning the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to drop to 14 degrees in St. Louis, 0 degrees in Chicago, minus 25 degrees in Minneapolis, minus 17 degrees in Amarillo, Texas, and minus 16 in Denver.

Meanwhile, by the end of the week the Northeast will be thawing out, with temperatures rising to the mid 40’s in New York City and Boston.

Russia has chance for ‘diplomatic way out’ of Ukraine crisis: US ambassador to UN

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned on Sunday that Russia’s menacing military troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders signals the Kremlin’s “intentions to use them,” noting that Russia still has a chance to “find a diplomatic way out.”

Thomas-Greenfield’s comment to ABC’s This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos came on the eve of an open U.N. Security Council meeting she requested to discuss Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine and what to do about it.

Stephanopoulos pressed Thomas-Greenfield, asking, “Does the U.S. believe an invasion is imminent?”

“You don’t amass 100,000 troops if you don’t have intentions to use them,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

She said Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting “is one more opportunity to find a diplomatic way out for the Russians.” She added that Ukrainian officials have also asked for the meeting, which is expected to be heard in open session.

“We’ve made clear that we’re prepared to address our concerns, Ukrainian concerns and Russian concerns at the diplomatic table, but it cannot be done on the battlefield,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Russia has maintained that it has no intentions to invade Ukraine and has objected to Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting, threatening to move to try to block the gathering. Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy permanent representative at the United Nations, posted on Twitter that the meeting was a “clear PR stunt shameful for the reputation of UN Security Council.”

“Can Russia block it?” Stephanopoulos asked Thomas-Greenfield of the U.S. Security Council meeting. “If not, what do you hope to achieve?”

“They know that they cannot block the meeting and I expect that, knowing what we’re dealing with, that they will make an attempt,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “But the Security Council is unified, our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves. We’re going to go into the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda and we’re going to be prepared to respond to any disinformation that they attempt to spread during this meeting.”

While Russia’s official line has been that it has no plans to invade, it has demanded promises that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO and that the Western alliance will pull its troops out of Eastern Europe. Both requests have been rejected by the United States and its Western allies.

Stephanopoulos noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team have “expressed some irritation, even alarm” that the U.S. and its allies are exaggerating the threat for political reasons.

“How do you respond to that?” Stephanopoulos asked Thomas-Greenfield.

She said the United States has engaged very closely with the Ukrainians, citing the call Biden had last week with Zelensky, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent trip to Ukraine and her meetings on a regular basis with the Ukrainian ambassador in New York.

“We’ve also been working with the Ukrainians on building up their defenses in the event of an attack,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “And … since 2014, we’ve provided close to $5 billion in support to them, $200 million of that was just provided in the past week.”

“We’ve seen the Russian playbook before,” she added. “They are using disinformation. They’re encouraging Ukrainians not to worry about an attack. But we know an attack is possible.”

Stephanopoulos pressed Thomas-Greenfield on what a diplomatic settlement would look like.

“You know, at first it would mean Russia making the decision to de-escalate, to pull their troops back and to come to the diplomatic table and to talk with the United States, with the Ukrainians and our NATO allies about their security concerns,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Turning to concerns over seven ballistic missile tests North Korea has conducted this month alone — more than all it conducted in 2021, including Sunday’s launch of the longest-range missile it has tested since 2017 — Stephanopoulos asked about how the U.S. will respond.

“It is provocative and it is something that we have very very strongly condemned in the Security Council,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

She said the United States has imposed unilateral sanctions in the last few weeks against North Korea and has pushed for sanctions within the U.N. Security Council.

“I will be engaging with our allies, the (South) Koreans as well as the Japanese, who are also threatened by this, to look at other options for responding,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Stephanopoulos followed: “Is it time for President Biden to engage personally with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un?”

“You know, we have been clear on that from the beginning: We are open to having diplomatic discussions,” Thomas-Greenfield replied. “We’ve offered this over and over to the DPRK, and they’ve not accepted it.”

“But we’re absolutely open to a diplomatic engagement without pre-conditions,” she added. “Our goal is to end the threatening actions that the DPRK is taking against their neighbors.”

DNC pulls record fundraising end-of-year hauls leading into critical midterm election year

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic National Committee announced it hit new fundraising highs, raking in $10.7 million in December and $157 million in 2021. Both figures are records for the committee in a non-presidential election year.

The haul by the DNC and its joint fundraising arm, first published by ABC News, provide a war chest to a party that’s set to face tough midterm election races across the country as the Biden administration sees poor polling numbers across a wide range of issues.

A new ABC/Ipsos poll finds troubling disapproval numbers for the administration’s handling of inflation, the economy, crime, among other issues. Only 1% of Americans believe the state of the economy to be “excellent,” according to the polling data, a clear series of hurdles the campaign arm of the Democratic Party must overcome if it wishes to maintain its razor-thin majority on Capitol Hill. Republicans only need to flip five House seats and one Senate seat currently held by Democrats to take both chambers of Congress.

The DNC, helmed by former Senate candidate turned Biden ally Jaime Harrison, was able to rake in large sums of cash, but recent reports allege fissures between Harrison and the White House, according to a report from NBC News.

Neither Harrison nor the White House reportedly have a clear strategy on how to rebound Biden’s struggling reputation, either, according to the report. Questions remain if those are obstacles the DNC — and Harrison — will navigate alone.

Without mentioning the report by name, Harrison took to Twitter Sunday to defend himself and his work.

“Only in DC … can you break a fundraising record & have folks complain it isn’t enough. That’s what the DNC did in ’21! The DNC work isn’t always easy & covid has created its own challenges. Our offices have been closed since 2020, but despite barriers we are making a difference,” Harrison tweeted as part of a longer thread.

“To unnamed sources … if you expect me to go away or roll into a ball and whimper… you picked the wrong one. The focus is upending the party of fraud, fear and fascism. You have the mission, now get with the program,” Harrison continued.

An advisor to President Joe Biden told ABC News Sunday that it has full confidence in Harrison’s leadership at the DNC.

“President Biden and Democrats are united – we’re focused on lowering costs for the American people while talking to the American people about our accomplishments – we created more jobs than in any one year in the history of the country and passed a historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” the advisor said. “Jaime Harrison has been a critical partner in this effort, helping share our message with the American people, while working to put Democrats in the best position to win in 2022 and 2024.”

Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., defended Harrison’s leadership in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday morning, saying that the DNC leader believes in “fighting rather than switching.”

“He knows what it is to run. He knows what it is to lose,” said Clyburn. “Jaime Harrison is just what we need.”

And despite potential tumult between leadership and the White House, the DNC saw particular gains in its grassroots fundraising program, which also saw its best off-year pull. The grassroots team brought in $6.1 million in December, while the group’s major donor team raised $2.5 million over the last December averages.

One million people donated to the committee in 2021, beating out the previous record set in 2009 by at least 200,000 donors. Its end-of-year push surpassed the group’s $9.1 million haul in November.

The DNC now has $65 million cash on hand, a spokesperson told ABC News, which puts the group near even with late winter totals from the Republican National Committee, who ended November 2021 with more $65 million cash on hand. More recent RNC disclosures are not yet public.

Back in April, the group announced at least a $20 million investment in midterm battlegrounds, sending resources, such as increasing staffing, to key states such as Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, hoping to replicate the successes in the Georgia runoff elections for this upcoming cycle, Harrison said at the time.

“We’re going to start our coalition-building earlier,” Harrison said in April, during the announcement of the multi-million dollar investment. “You’ve heard the criticism of the Democratic Party, ‘Why are they just sending people to our community three months before the election?’ Well, folks, we are going to end that right now. We are going to start sending people to your community now.”

Experts say the COVID-19 emergency could end this year. What would it look like?

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — On the cusp of the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is battling back the biggest surge of the virus yet with the omicron variant.

Cases, even while receding in some places, are near record levels. And daily deaths, while lower than the peak of last winter, are still averaging more than 2,000 nationwide.

Despite pitched battles over masks and vaccines, life appears somewhat normal in many respects — kids are going to school, people are going into work and large indoor gatherings and events are being held.

So, while it may be hard to imagine, many experts suggest 2022 could be the year COVID becomes an endemic disease, meaning it is always circulating within the population but at low rates or causing just seasonal outbreaks.

During a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the U.S. can get “sufficient control” over COVID-19 so it “does not disrupt us in society, does not dominate our lives, not prevent us [from doing] the things that we generally do under normal existence.”

This is because the virus will start running out of people to infect as people become immune and follow mitigation measures such as mask-wearing and testing if they have symptoms.

“We have the tools with vaccines, with boosts, with masks, with tests and with antivirals,” Fauci said.

As an endemic disease, COVID-19 would shift from becoming a global health emergency to a virus that the world learns to live with.

Public health experts say many societal changes are needed for a time when the virus circulates but is not as disruptive, such as targeted testing, more vaccination, better treatments and allowances for staying home when you’re sick.

“We really need to be shifting our thinking to how do we live with this virus rather than can we make it completely go away,” Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, told ABC News. “So I think we need to sort of move into the mode of minimizing the impact of the virus as much as possible in terms of health, economic and social disruption — recognizing this virus is going to be there.”

People who are sick will be advised to stay home or wear masks in public

When the virus does become endemic, experts say people will be advised not go into school or work while sick and instead stay home, unlike before the pandemic.

If you have to leave the house, it could remain common to wear a mask on public transit or in indoor spaces.

“It will become a culture of if you’re sick you stay home,” Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told ABC News. “Don’t come to work, don’t go to school, don’t send your kids to school. There will be more of an appreciation of the collective responsibility that we have for each other.”

Currently, federal law does not require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees although some states, such as California, New York and Washington, have laws requiring it.

Antivirals may become more common in doctor’s offices and hospitals

In addition to vaccines, some antiviral treatments, from Pfizer and Merck, have come out in the past several months, specifically for those who test positive or had symptoms recently developed.

Studies have shown that these antivirals can help prevent hospitalization, especially those who are at high risk of severe illness.

Experts stress that even after the emergency phase is over, antivirals should not be considered a substitute for vaccines, but rather an extra layer of protection, specifically for at-risk groups.

“The distribution of antivirals is really important in terms of making sure immunocompromised people and people with disabilities have that sort of protection,” Abdulah Shihipar, a public health researcher at Brown University, told ABC News.

Brewer agrees and says he thinks the treatments for COVID-19 will be similar to those for HIV in that they will get better and better over time.

“HIV is no less pathogenic today than it was 40 years ago but the difference is we have very effective treatments, we have excellent antivirals against HIV,” he said. “So I think as antivirals become available that they will play a very important role” in combating COVID-19.

Shihipar says he hopes the federal government comes up with a long-term plan for distribution whether that means a program people can sign up for to get cheap subsidized drugs, setting up at pharmacies, delivering it to rural areas and so on.

Testing will be more strategic such as just screening people with symptoms

Currently, the U.S. has a model based on two types of testing: diagnostic for symptomatic people to see if they are positive for COVID, and preventive for asymptomatic people to make sure they are not infected before participating in activities or seeing others.

But in a world in which COVID-19 is more seasonal of a virus, experts say the country will have to shift to more focused testing, particularly focusing on the symptomatic.

“Now we kind of test just to test everybody, it should be more focused,” said El-Sadr. “For people who are symptomatic, if you have symptoms, it is a good idea to get tested, absolutely. So I think focusing on people who are asymptomatic will be very important.”

Right now, an average of 1.7 million tests is being administered per day in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say that, during peaks, a minimum of 2 million is needed to keep up with demand. Supplies have been short in some cases as manufacturers ramp up production of at-home tests and omicron redefines infection levels in the country.

El-Sadr also says testing can be used for specific high-risk activities such as eating indoors with family members who are unvaccinated or having a social gathering with someone who is immunosuppressed as opposed to generally for indoor gatherings.

“We have to think of what is the strategic use of testing,” El-Sadr added.

Brewer believes testing programs currently in place at schools, such as students testing before returning and then undergoing weekly testing, won’t work in the long run.

“It’s logistically and financially too cumbersome and expensive and slow,” he said. “Given that we know up to 40% or more of people can be asymptomatic when infected and we know asymptomatic people can spread disease, we just kind of need to operate under the assumption that anyone is potentially infected and do things like hand hygiene and vaccination rather than relying on a testing strategy.”

Improved ventilation standards in workplaces and schools could be implemented

Experts say that improving indoor air quality will be one of the most important tasks, specifically as states begin to roll back mandates and mitigation measures.

Making sure indoor air is being recirculated will lower rates of cases and prevent outbreaks.

Shihipar says the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had standards for health care settings (which have since expired) that need to be expanded to all workplaces.

“We need to change the way we deal with indoor air, like how do we properly ventilate these spaces — not just for COVID but for flu and all these other diseases,” he said. “How do we make the air cleaner so that the disease spreads less?”

He continued, “We need emergency temporary workplace standards from OSHA. One for all workers would actually regulate employers to make their workplaces safe in terms of ventilation, in terms of capacity.”

Shihipar added that he’d like to see the government giving each teacher a certain number of portable air filters for their rooms and the governments and setting up clear standards of air regulation for school districts.

We may need annual COVID vaccines

Experts have suggested that annual COVID-19 vaccines, just like the flu shot, could become a reality in a world where the virus is endemic to keep antibody levels high.

They could even be adapted to combat variants just the flu shot is manufactured to combat which strains researchers think will be the most dominant.

Brewer said it will depend on two factors: how long immunity lasts after vaccination and how much the virus changes.

COVID-19 live updates: Prime Minister Trudeau tests positive

January 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 884,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 63.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 31, 10:10 am
Prime Minister Trudeau tests positive

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he tested positive for COVID-19 Monday morning.

“I’m feeling fine — and I’ll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines,” Trudeau tweeted. “Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted.”

Jan 31, 10:04 am
‘Partygate’ report finds ‘failures of leadership and judgement’ by UK leaders

The initial findings of a long-awaited investigative report into lockdown-breaching parties allegedly attended by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff were published Monday, saying, “there were failures of leadership and judgement.”

The probe led by senior civil servant Sue Gray looked into claims that Johnson and his staff flouted COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on England in 2020 and 2021 by holding parties at 10 Downing Street, his official residence and office in London. Johnson has been facing growing anger and calls for his resignation over the allegations, which are also being investigated by London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

“At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time,” Gray wrote in the 12-page report, which included two blank pages. “At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public.

“There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No. 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times,” she added. “Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office told ABC News in a statement earlier Monday that Gray “has provided an update on her investigation to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson is expected to address members of Parliament during Monday afternoon’s session.

Jan 31, 7:38 am
‘Partygate’ report delivered to Boris Johnson, UK government says

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received a highly anticipated report from an investigation into allegations that he and his staff attended parties during England’s strict lockdown, the U.K. government said Monday.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office told ABC News in a statement that senior civil servant Sue Gray “has provided an update on her investigation to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson is expected to address members of Parliament during Monday afternoon’s session.

The prime minister is facing calls for his resignation over claims he and his staff flouted COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on England in 2020 and 2021 by holding parties at 10 Downing Street, his official residence and office in London.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service is also investigating the so-called “partygate” allegations.

Jan 31, 4:37 am
New York City offering free home delivery of antiviral pills

New York City’s health department is now offering free, same-day, at-home delivery of COVID-19 oral antiviral medications, Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday.

“Delivering the antiviral pills to you at home if you’re an eligible New Yorker and it’s for free,” Adams said during a press conference at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. “We want you to take advantage of this. This is a great deal and a great program we put together, and it’s proven to keep people out of the hospital, particularly those who are at-risk or seriously ill. It’s a win-win for us.”

The city’s pharmacy partner, Alto Pharmacy, will deliver antiviral pill treatments Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer, and Molnupiravir, made by Merck, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. Both medications were approved in December for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19.

“New York is one of the only places in the nation where we are doing this free deliver,” Adams told reporters.

With a limited supply of pills, the city restricted delivery to only residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have mild or moderate symptoms.

“Oral antiviral pills, like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, taken for five days help stop the virus from reproducing, which reduces the amount of virus in the body and prevents symptoms from getting worse,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi said during Sunday’s press conference.

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