(HOUSTON) — An 11-year-old boy was shot on Thursday in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Harris County, Texas, while walking to get something from his mother’s car, according to police.
Deputies and EMS found the boy with at least one gunshot wound to the chest and aid being administered by his family. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead there, according to Harris County police.
Harris County deputies responded to an apartment complex just before 7 p.m. after receiving reports of a shooting. Multiple shots were fired, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide and Crime Scene Units are conducting an investigation, police said.
Early stages of the investigation indicated that gunshots were heard shortly after the boy walked to the parking lot to retrieve something from his mother’s car, according to police.
Witnesses said they saw a teenage black male fleeing the scene on foot. He ran through the complex and jumped over a wooden fence to exit the complex, police said.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(NEW YORK) — The monster storm that dumped more than 1 foot of snow from Missouri to the Northeast is continuing its push east, bringing ice to the Northeast and freezing temperatures to Texas.
With 5,210 flights canceled Thursday nationwide, including over 1,400 in Dallas, the day marked the highest number of weather-related cancellations since March 14, 2017.
The latest
The heavy snow is stretching from western Pennsylvania to Maine Friday afternoon, bringing over 1 foot of snow to some areas.
Icy conditions are spreading across eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, New York’s Hudson Valley and parts of New England, including Boston.
The storm is dropping rain from Washington, D.C., to New York City.
The storm moves out of the Northeast Friday night. But temperatures will continue to plummet in the Northeast Friday night, so whatever rain or freezing rain falls will freeze on any untreated roads during the evening commute.
Those in the Northeast will wake up to freezing temperatures Saturday, with the wind chill forecast to plunge to 4 degrees in Boston, 6 degrees in New York City and 9 degrees in Washington, D.C.
Texas faces a freeze
The storm dumped 1.7 inches of snow in Dallas — more than the city usually sees in an entire year.
The storm even brought freezing rain down to Texas’ Gulf Coast. Police in Houston are urging drivers to stay off the roads due to ice, and Houston schools are closed Friday.
This storm comes one year after Texas’ power grid disaster, when back-to-back winter storms left more than 4 million people without heat and safe water. It took days for power to be restored, and more than 100 people died because of subsequent blackouts. Months later, Abbott signed a bill to reform the state’s power grid.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott assured residents Friday, “The power grid continues to perform well at peak demand during this winter storm. … The Texas electric grid is more reliable and more resilient than has ever been.”
But Texans are still feeling the freeze with the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — hitting about 8 degrees in Dallas, 7 degrees in Austin and 1 degree in Lubbock on Friday morning.
Saturday morning the wind chills will fall to the teens from Texas to Georgia.
Heading into Friday night, Abbott warned, “It is anticipated that the entire state will be in a freezing or below freezing temperature situation.”
(NEW YORK) — Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of stealing from the client that helped him flirt with fame.
He was found guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after he surreptitiously diverted $300,000 that rightfully belonged to Stormy Daniels, the pornographic performer who hired Avenatti to represent her in litigation against former President Trump.
Avenatti had pleaded not guilty and argued the evidence against him was insufficient but the jury sided with federal prosecutors who said Avenatti convinced Daniels her book publisher was late with payments owed to her for her memoir, “Full Disclosure,” when he already had the money in an account he controlled. He will be sentenced on May 24.
“The defendant was a lawyer who stole from his own client. She thought he was her advocate, but he betrayed her,” assistant U.S. attorney Robert Sobelman said. “He told lies to cover it all up, lies he told to try to get away with it.”
The jury deliberated over three days and twice, before rendering a verdict, indicated it was having trouble. A few hours after deliberations began, the jury sent a note saying, “We are unable to come to a consensus on Count One. What are our next steps?”
A subsequent note indicated a single juror “is refusing to look at evidence and is acting on a feeling.” In both instances the judge ordered the jury to keep trying.
Avenatti, who represented himself during the trial, argued he was entitled to a portion of Daniels’ book advance even though she paid him an agreed-upon retainer of $100.
“Ms. Daniels was about to embark on a fight against the president of the United States, the most powerful person on the planet. And the evidence shows that I agreed to take on that fight for Ms. Daniels. But I didn’t agree to do it for free,” Avenatti said.
At one point during trial Avenatti cross-examined his former client about her belief in the paranormal in an attempt to attack her credibility.
“She claims to have the ability to talk to the dead. She claims to have a doll who talks, plays the piano, and calls her mommy,” Avenatti said. “Does this sound like someone the government should be using as their star witness in a criminal case?”
The remark during closing statements drew a sustained objection and a response during the government’s rebuttal.
“I don’t know what you all believe, whether you think it’s kooky to believe in the paranormal, whether you believe it’s weird, whether you have beliefs in the paranormal. No idea. What matters here has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with that at all. She can believe whatever she wants and still be stolen from, from the defendant, and still deserves not to be,” assistant U.S. attorney Matthew Podolsky said.
Daniels became a household name after she received $130,000 in hush money from Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. She said the payment was meant to keep her quiet about an alleged affair she said she had with Trump, who has denied it.
Daniels’ attorney Clark Brewster released a statement following the jury’s verdict, saying, “Stormy is relieved this nightmare is over. The text communications between Stormy and Mr. Avenatti in real time was overwhelming proof of his deceit and embezzlement. The forgery of her name and his concealed directive to wire the money to him was irrefutable. Still, Mr. Avenatti possessed the uncanny ability to steadfastly deny the crimes and persuade others he was entitled to the embezzled funds. Stormy is pleased that the justice system worked.”
Avenatti’s conviction is his second in recent months. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for extorting Nike and he faces a retrial in California on charges that he cheated clients other than Daniels.
(WASHINGTON) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 894,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.9% 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:
Feb 04, 5:01 pm
CDC director greenlights full approval for Moderna vaccine
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has given the greenlight on full approval for Moderna’s vaccine for all adults, which was the last step in the process for the vaccine to move from an emergency use authorization to a permanent approval.
Walensky’s ruling came after the CDC’s advisory committee voted unanimously Friday to give the Moderna vaccine full approval.
It has been nearly a year since Moderna received emergency use authorization.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Cheyenne Haslett
Feb 04, 4:55 pm
US surpasses 900,000 deaths
The U.S. has surpassed 900,000 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The death toll currently stands at 900,334.
The U.S. has had over 76 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 04, 2:56 pm
9% of ICU beds free in Oklahoma, health care workers ‘1 patient away from an emotional breakdown’
In Oklahoma, where just 9% of ICU beds are available statewide, for health care workers “every day is just filled with nonstop suffering,” a nurse told ABC News.
“I just pray I don’t have to zip up another body bag, I don’t have to call someone and let them know that their loved one’s not coming home,” Kelly Hale, a nurse at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City, told ABC News. “We’re all just one patient away from an emotional breakdown.”
“The majority of our patients are unvaccinated which adds just a whole other level of difficulty for us,” Hale said.
She continued, “No one really knows how many tears I shed. Not my family, not my friends. I really want them to know.”
“Just please be nice if you know someone in the health care field that’s going through this,” Hale said. “Just reach out see if they’re okay.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 04, 2:09 pm
Deaths at highest point in nearly 1 year
The daily death average in the U.S. now stands at more than 2,400 — the highest daily death average in nearly one year and nearly double the average from one month ago.
But cases are continuing to fall with all but three states reporting declining or plateauing case rates. Washington state is seeing an increase in cases while Maine and Montana are reporting cases at a plateau, according to federal data.
Hospitalizations are also dropping nationwide. About 120,000 COVID-19-positive patients are currently in U.S. hospitals. Fifteen days ago, there were 160,000 patients, according to federal data.
However it’s still not clear how many of these patients were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and how many people coincidentally tested positive for the virus after they were admitted for other reasons.
Nearly 62 million eligible Americans remain completely unvaccinated.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 04, 1:39 pm
Study: Odds of testing positive 83% lower if wearing N95/KN95 compared to no mask
A new study from the California Department of Public Health found that your odds of testing positive for COVID-19 are 83% lower if wearing an N95 or KN95 mask while indoors compared to no mask.
The odds of testing positive are 66% lower if wearing a surgical mask compared to no mask, and 56% lower if wearing a cloth mask compared to no mask, the study found.
This study, however, was conducted prior to the more contagious variants and did not inquire about additional infection control behaviors such as social distancing.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman, Aiya Aboubakr, Nitya Rajeshuni
Feb 03, 12:37 pm
US death rate on the rise
The U.S. is now reporting an average of over 2,300 COVID-19-related fatalities each day — the highest daily death average in nearly one year, according to federal data.
In the last week alone, the nation’s daily death average has increased by more than 31%.
Overall, however, the nation’s average is still significantly lower than last winter, when the U.S. peaked at about 3,400 deaths per day.
Meanwhile, the U.S. case rate continues to drop rapidly, according to federal data (deaths are a lagging indicator compared to cases). The nation is now reporting an average of 415,000 new cases each day — nearly half the average from the nation’s omicron peak in mid-January.
But case rates still remain extremely high, with 99% of U.S. counties reporting high transmission.
Alaska currently leads the nation in new cases per capita, followed by Washington and North Dakota.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 03, 11:05 am
Airlines ask White House to remove pre-departure testing for vaccinated international travelers
More than 25 trade groups representing the travel and aviation industry — including all major U.S. airlines — are asking the White House to remove pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated international travelers coming to the U.S.
“Clearly COVID is widespread throughout the U.S. and attempts to control its importation via air travel under today’s circumstances are unlikely to change that fact,” the groups said. “No new threatening variants appear to be imminent, but if they were, pre-departure testing could be easily reinstituted.”
The letter also says the requirement is a leading factor for Americans choosing not to travel internationally out of fear they won’t be able to return to the U.S. on schedule.
-ABC News’ Sam Sweeney
Feb 03, 9:46 am
Medicare to start paying for at-home COVID-19 tests
Medicare will cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 testing kits starting this spring, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Thursday.
It will be the first time that Medicare has covered an over-the-counter test at no cost to beneficiaries. The new initiative will enable payment from Medicare directly to participating pharmacies and retailers to allow beneficiaries to pick up the at-home testing kits for free, according to CMS, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that administers the Medicare health insurance program and works in partnership with state governments to administer the Medicaid assistance program.
CMS said it “anticipates that this option will be available to people with Medicare in the early spring.”
Last month, the U.S. government began requiring health insurers to pay for at-home COVID-19 tests. But that directive did not initially extend to Medicare, which provides health insurance coverage for Americans ages 65 and up, as well as some younger individuals with disabilities.
Feb 02, 4:49 pm
White House prepping to send out COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5
Vaccines will be made available to the 18 million kids between the ages of 6 months and 5 years “in short order” if they’re authorized and recommended by FDA and CDC later this month, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said at Wednesday’s White House briefing.
“We’ve already secured ample doses and the necessary needles and supplies specially made for kids in this age group. Following FDA authorization, we would immediately begin packing and shipping doses to states and health care providers,” Zients said. “And in short order following CDC recommendations, parents will be able to get their kids under 5 vaccinated.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said parents should feel confident that the FDA would only approve the vaccine if it was effective and safe.
“We are anticipating that we will get a good efficacy signal for the use of vaccines in children under 5 years old,” he said, adding, “But let’s wait for the FDA determination and, ultimately, the CDC recommendation.”
Pfizer and BioNTech on Tuesday asked the FDA for emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5. Pfizer and BioNTech said they’ve submitted data for two doses but expect the vaccine to be a three-dose series, and that the data for the third dose will be provided in the coming months.
The FDA’s advisory committee will meet on Feb. 15 to review the Pfizer vaccine for use in children under the age of 5. The advisory committee is an independent group whose vote is nonbinding, but the FDA takes it into consideration when making a final decision.
The vaccine would then need to be authorized by the FDA. The CDC advisory committee would then need to meet for recommendations, and it would also need to be approved by CDC director Rochelle Walensky.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Feb 02, 4:05 pm
More than 100,000 Americans have died from COVID since Thanksgiving
Since Thanksgiving, there have been more than 100,000 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths in the U.S., according to federal data.
The U.S. is reporting an average of nearly 2,300 new COVID-19-related deaths each day, the federal data show.
However, the nation’s death toll remains significantly lower than last winter when the U.S. peaked at about 3,400 deaths per day.
About 126,000 Americans with COVID-19 are currently in hospitals — down from 160,000 patients at the nation’s peak 13 days ago.
But 14 states are struggling with ICU capacities of 15% or less: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 02, 3:10 pm
US Army will ‘immediately’ discharge unvaccinated soldiers
The U.S. Army “will immediately begin separating Soldiers from the service who refuse to be vaccinated,” the Army announced in a press release.
“Army readiness depends on Soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said. “Unvaccinated Soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness. We will begin involuntary separation proceedings for Soldiers who refuse the vaccine order and are not pending a final decision on an exemption.”
The Army was the last of the military services to say it would remove service members who didn’t comply with the Secretary of Defense’s mandatory vaccination order. In the fall, the Army issued temporary guidance that soldiers who didn’t get vaccinated would be “flagged” so they would lose a command, not be promoted or would only remain until their contracts expired.
Under the earlier flagging policy, six commanders were removed from command, and 3,073 soldiers received reprimands. Wednesday’s announcement begins the discharge process for those 3,073 soldiers.
According to Army statistics, 96% of the Army’s approximately 475,000 soldiers are fully vaccinated, and 97% have received at least one dose.
(NEW YORK) — It has been nearly two years since Patricia Dowd, a 57-year-old San Jose resident, died of the coronavirus, in early February 2020. Although the virus would soon change the global landscape, upending our world, at the time, most Americans were still unaware of the mysterious disease spreading across Wuhan, China.
It would ultimately take more than two months for Dowd’s death to be determined as COVID-19-related – the first known American fatality, in what would soon become hundreds of thousands of more people succumbing from the infection.
Since Dowd’s death, more than 900,000 other Americans have perished from the virus, according to newly updated data on Friday from Johns Hopkins University.
“This new horrific milestone suggests our march to the unthinkable million mark is all but certain,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Although the nation is not losing as many Americans as it did last winter, the U.S. is still reporting more than 2,300 new COVID-19-related deaths each day, marking the highest daily death average in nearly a year.
Many experts believe that the current COVID-19 death count could already be greatly undercounted, due to inconsistent reporting by states and localities, and the exclusion of excess deaths, a measure of how many lives have been lost beyond what would be expected if the pandemic had not occurred.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since Feb. 1, 2020, there have been more than 1 million excess deaths.
David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, explained that all these deaths may not be directly related to COVID-19, but some may be excess deaths from opioid overdoses, cardiovascular diseases or other illnesses, which which could have been indirectly related to the pandemic, because of reduced access to care.
“I think it’s fair to say that over 1 million Americans would still be alive today if not for the pandemic,” Dowdy said.
15.7% of the globe’s COVID-19 deaths
No nation has reported more people lost to the virus than the U.S. Although, on a per-capita basis, the U.S. ranks 19th for COVID-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the nation has still reported approximately 15.7% of the world’s COVID-19-related deaths.
Americans in every state, city and town have felt the personal impact and ripple effect of the virus.
An analysis tracking the extensive reach of COVID-19 loss of kin with a bereavement multiplier, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, estimated that 8.1 million family members may be grieving the loss of a loved one due to the virus.
The staggering number of deaths due to COVID-19 is now higher than the number of Americans who died of heart disease or cancer in 2020, and about the same as the population of Columbus, Ohio.
The number of Americans lost to COVID-19 also continues to dwarf the number of those lost due to influenza. Between Oct. 1, 2021, and Jan. 22, 2022, the CDC estimated that there have been around 1,200 to 3,500 flu deaths. Comparatively, in the same time frame, more than 150,000 Americans have reportedly died from COVID-19.
Racial and ethnic minorities in the country have also faced increased risk of testing positive, requiring hospitalization and dying from COVID-19. According to federal data, adjusted for age and population, the likelihood of death because of COVID-19 for Black, Asian, Latino and Native American people is one to two times higher than white people.
More than 400,000 Americans lost in the last year
In the early days of the pandemic, former President Donald Trump predicted that the U.S. COVID-19 death toll would be “substantially” lower than the initial forecasts suggested.
“The minimum number was 100,000 lives, and I think we’ll be substantially under that number. … So we’ll see what it ends up being, but it looks like we’re headed to a number substantially below 100,000,” Trump said in April 2020.
Less than a year after the former president made his proclamation, more than 500,000 Americans had died.
Although in the months that followed, the U.S. would record another 100,000 deaths, COVID-19 declined to record low levels, leaving many Americans feeling optimistic that a return to normalcy was around the corner.
“The bottom line is: the virus is on the run, and America’s coming back,” President Joe Biden said during a speech following the Fourth of July in 2021.
However, the delta variant, and subsequently the omicron variant, would prove otherwise, ultimately resulting in the loss of 300,000 more Americans since last summer.
Tens of millions of eligible Americans still unvaccinated
As the omicron surge continues to wane, many Americans are eager for a return to normalcy. Though the U.S. is still reporting an average of 415,000 new COVID-19 cases every day, the highest of any viral wave, the average has declined by nearly half from the wave’s peak in mid-January, when the country was reporting more than 800,000 cases each day.
However, many health officials urge caution, reigniting the nation’s recurring debate on when it is safe for cities and towns to lift COVID-19 restrictions and mitigation efforts.
“While so much of the country has decided that the pandemic is over, continued high transmission of the virus in most communities suggests the virus is not over with us. Despite all the innovations in vaccines, treatments and testing, we have still yet to get a handle on reducing severe outcomes from infection,” Brownstein said.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky offered a similar message on Wednesday, telling reporters during a COVID-19 briefing that although it is good news that new cases are falling, hospitalization levels are still quite high, leaving many health care facilities overwhelmed.
“We really do have to look at our hospitalization rates, and our death rates, to look to when it’s time to lift some of these mitigation efforts. We will continue to reevaluate, and we know people are anxious,” she said.
Nationwide, more than 120,000 COVID-19-positive Americans are still hospitalized. Though down from the peak of more than 160,000 patients hospitalized at one time in January, front-line workers say the pressure on the health care system is still immense.
“Every day is just filled with nonstop suffering. We feel like failures. I recently overheard a co-worker saying if this young girl doesn’t make it, I don’t think I can keep doing this job. And I think that’s just the atmosphere that we work in every single day. We’re all just one patient away from an emotional breakdown,” said Kelli Hale, a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City.
According to health care workers, the majority of those who are becoming severely ill are the unvaccinated.
Nationwide, just under 62 million eligible Americans remain completely unvaccinated, and 84 million Americans — about half of those eligible — remain without a booster shot, according to federal data.
“It is tragic that, almost a year since vaccines have become widely available to the public, we continue to see thousands die each day of what is now a vaccine-preventable disease. I am devastated for the families of the people who died,” Helen Chu, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, told ABC News.
In November, unvaccinated adults had a four times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19, and a 15 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data pulled from 28 states and jurisdictions.
Additionally, unvaccinated adults had a 13 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 68 times greater risk of dying from it, as compared to fully vaccinated individuals with a booster.
Experts stress that the need for more Americans to get vaccinated remains urgent, particularly given the poignant reminder of thousands still dying every day.
“Of course we should consider off-ramps of public health interventions but we should continue to let the data drive decisions,” Brownstein said. “At over 2,300 deaths a day, we are still nowhere close to managing this virus.”
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday went further than he has before in publicly and directly criticizing former President Donald Trump, rebuking him as “wrong” in his criticism of Pence’s actions on Jan. 6.
His comments came after Trump earlier this week repeated the false claim that Pence had the power to hand the election to Trump in his role counting the electoral votes from the November election before Congress.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!” Trump said about Pence in a statement.
“There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress that I possessed unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes. And I heard this week that former President Trump said I had the right to ‘overturn the election,’ Pence said in a speech Friday to a local chapter of the Federalist Society in Florida.
“President Trump is wrong…I had no right to overturn the election,” he said. “The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American President.
“Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024,” Pence continued.
He earlier told the audience of conservative lawyers, “As Constitutional Conservatives, The American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise; theymust know, as the Bible says, that we will “keep our oath even when it hurts.”
“Under Article II Section One, elections are conducted at the state level, not by the Congress. The only role Congress has with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states. No more no less,” he said.
“Men and women, if we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections, we will lose our country,” Pence said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Thirty-three states from Texas to Maine are on alert Friday morning for snow, ice, bitter cold and flooding as a massive winter storm continues its push east.
With 5,210 flights canceled Thursday nationwide, including over 1,400 in Dallas, the day marked the highest number of weather-related cancellations since March 14, 2017.
Over 310,000 customers are without power Friday morning across Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas and Kentucky.
The monster storm brought more than 1 foot of snow from Missouri to western New York over the last 36 hours, bringing roads to a standstill.
Indianapolis recorded a record daily snowfall Thursday with 7.3 inches.
The storm brought 1.7 inches of snow to Dallas — more than the city usually sees in an entire year.
The storm even brought freezing rain down to Texas’ Gulf Coast. Police in Houston are urging drivers to stay off the roads due to ice, and Houston schools are closed Friday.
Texans are still feeling the freeze Friday morning with the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — hitting about 8 degrees in Dallas, 7 degrees in Austin and 1 degree in Lubbock.
On Friday morning, the heavy snow and ice are pummeling the inland Northeast from New York state to Maine. An additional 6 inches of snow is possible in New England.
As temperatures drop Friday morning, icy conditions will develop along the Interstate-95 corridor from New Jersey to New York City to Boston. And the temperatures will continue to plummet for the Northeast Friday night, so whatever rain or freezing rain falls will freeze on any untreated roads.
The storm moves out of the Northeast Friday night. But those in the Northeast will wake up to freezing temperatures Saturday, with the wind chill forecast to plunge to 4 degrees in Boston, 6 degrees in New York City and 12 degrees in Washington, D.C.
(BEIJING) — For the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, officials have established a series of rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This will mark the second Olympics since the pandemic began, which will be held between Feb. 3 and Feb. 20. The Paralympic Games will follow from March 4 to March 13.
China has enforced strict measures to limit the spread of the virus within its borders and there will be no loosening of these restrictions when it comes to the Olympics.
This means no spectators aside from a few local fans, a closed loop system, a rigorous testing program and stringent measures for those who test positive.
ABC News took a closer look at some of the rules that have been established for the Games.
Vaccinate or undergo quarantine
According to the Olympics playbook, all participants must be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before arriving in Beijing to avoid quarantine.
Only certain exceptions will be made if an athlete has a history of allergic reaction to a component of the vaccine or is using any immunosuppression medication.
Games officials also recommend that all participants receive a booster before traveling to China.
Anyone who is not vaccinated has to quarantine in Beijing for 21 days before being allowed in the closed loop system.
Regardless of vaccination status, all athletes and personnel must take two PCR tests at least 24 hours apart within 96 hours of their flight to China.
Closed loop system
Similar to Tokyo, Beijing has implemented a closed loop system in which athletes, coaches and their staff will undergo daily screening and testing.
Additionally, buses and trains designated for the Games will specifically move participants to the opening and closing ceremonies, training venues, competition venues, victory ceremonies and the Olympic Village, where most of the athletes are staying.
“This is to ensure there is no contact with the general public or anyone outside of the closed loop,” according to the playbook.
Minimizing physical interaction
The playbook also offers guidance for how athletes can minimize contact with each other while in the closed loop system.
Officials recommend athletes avoid hugs and handshakes and stay away from enclosed spaces or large crowds.
Individuals are also required to keep 2 meters (6 feet) from athletes, and athletes must keep 1 meter (3 feet) from each other.
Mask-wearing will be enforced at all times except “when training, competing, eating, drinking, sleeping, when alone, or during interviews, stand-ups and live presentations,” the playbook states.
Criteria for testing positive
Games officials said they are expecting more COVID-19 cases to emerge.
During a press conference last month, Dr. Brian McCloskey, chair of the Olympics medical expert panel, said the goal is “zero spread” not “zero cases.”
Because of this, Beijing has adjusted its rules regarding the threshold for when someone is considered to be positive with a figure known as the cycle threshold (CT) value.
After a sample is collected, it is isolated and undergoes multiple amplification cycles in an effort to detect viral RNA, or genetic material.
The CT value is the number of cycles needed before RNA is found, at which point the machine stops working. The higher the number, the less infectious a person is considered.
Previously, participants had to meet a CT value of 40 to be considered positive for COVID-19. Now they will have to meet a standard of 35.
What happens when participants test positive?
Any athletes who test positive will immediately be removed from the Games and the Olympic Village.
Symptomatic participants will be taken to a designated hospital while those who are asymptomatic will be in an isolation facility.
Sick individuals will not be allowed back into the closed loop system until all symptoms clear and they test negative twice in a row with two tests taken 24 hours apart.
Few spectators
There will be very few spectators in the stands to watch the athletes compete in the Games.
No fans from other countries are allowed to attend and only spectators who are selected will be allowed to watch the events in person.
“In order to ensure the safety of all participants and spectators, it has been decided that tickets should not be sold anymore but be part of an adapted program that will invite groups of spectators to be present on site during the Games,” according to an announcement released on Jan. 17.
Leaving China
All athletes and personnel will be transported to Beijing Capital International Airport using transportation services designated specifically for the Games.
Close contacts of anyone who has tested positive will be able to leave China as long as they test negative within the last 24 hours.
No more than 24 hours before leaving China, travelers will be required to fill out the online Customs Health Declaration form to show to airport officials and/or gate agents before boarding flights.
(WASHINGTON) — A lawsuit filed Wednesday against the District of Columbia alleges its police department keeps a “watchlist” of critics and stalls or denies requests for public information from those on it.
Amy Phillips, a criminal defense lawyer and “outspoken critic” of the Metropolitan Police Department, filed the lawsuit after, she said, a former employee alerted her to the alleged existence of the watchlist and her presence on it. Phillips said in the lawsuit that she is on the alleged list because she requested information that embarrassed MPD and that she intends to continue.
The lawsuit claims the alleged list is a “constitutional violation” and discriminates against requestors of public information on the basis of the “content and viewpoint of prior or anticipated speech,” according to the court filing.
Phillips is requesting the court require the District to stop the use of any watchlist policy and establish a way to ensure continued compliance. She is also asking for attorney’s fees and damages of $1.
“This lawsuit is important because MPD is trying to silence critics of police at a crucial moment in American history where people like me are trying to hold them to account,” Charlie Gerstein, Phillips’ lawyer, said in an interview with ABC News.
If someone on the alleged list submits a request to MPD under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act, it is “set aside for special review by high-ranking officials, including the Chief of Police,” the lawsuit alleges.
People are allegedly put on this list after publicly criticizing the MPD or when requesting information that could be embarrassing to the MPD or its officers, according to the lawsuit.
“Once on the list, the requesters face hurdles that the general public avoids: They may be charged money for public information that others get for free, they may have their requests delayed, or they may have their requests denied outright,” the lawsuit alleges.
In the lawsuit, Phillips said her allegedly being on the list amounts to a violation of her First Amendment rights.
Inspector Vendette Parker, a former FOIA officer for MPD, reportedly alerted Phillips to the existence of the “unofficial, unwritten policy,” the lawsuit states. Parker was reportedly told on her first day of work that the watchlist was created in an effort to prevent then-Police Chief Peter Newsham from being “blindsided” by reporters with questions regarding records they received, the lawsuit says.
According to an estimate from Parker cited in the lawsuit, the “MPD delayed, denied or improperly altered approximately 20 requests pursuant to the watchlist policy” between 2017 and the end of 2019.
“[Parker] also said that she would flag for attention any request that came from a reporter. So that, we think, has to be a lot more, but at the moment we’re not sure,” Gerstein said. “We look forward to learning more in the process of litigating this case.”
Every week, Parker was required to notify Newsham and LeeAnn Turner, the chief operating officer of MPD, of requests that “may lead to criticism of the department, specifically those originating from news reporters or people known to be critical of the department, or those containing requests for information with the potential to embarrass the department,” according to the lawsuit.
Parker would then have a weekly meeting with Turner in which she was instructed how to process the requests, the lawsuit alleges.
“Proposed responsive documents were to be presented to Turner in hard-copy form because, Turner said, she did not want to generate more records that would be subject to disclosure,” the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, those on the alleged list — including reporters, advisory neighborhood commissioners and criminal defense lawyers — always at least experienced a delay in their requests “while the department prepares for any criticism that may result.”
According to former colleagues of Parker, the lawsuit alleges, current Chief of Police Robert Contee has not ended or suspended the policy.
Phillips said she filed at least eight requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act between 2018 and 2021, including requests for information about the MPD’s disciplinary reviews of officers, Newsham’s use of “zero-tolerance policing,” and “policies governing MPD’s specialized units, including the Gun Recovery Unit, Narcotics and Special Investigations Division, and Crime Suppression Teams.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters she hadn’t read the lawsuit and couldn’t directly comment on it, but said she is taking the accusation seriously, noting “all FOIA requests should be handled as expeditiously as possible.”
“I’m never going to try to stop anybody’s First Amendment right,” she added.
Hugh Carew, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, told ABC News it hadn’t been formally served with the lawsuit but wouldn’t discuss specific allegations due to the pending litigation.
“We do acknowledge the serious nature of the claims. Transparency with our community partners is necessary to maintaining trust and agency accountability,” Carew said. “A thorough review of the assertions will be completed and appropriately acted upon.”
(CAIRO) — Rescuers intensified their efforts on Friday to recover a five-year-old boy trapped in a 32-meter-deep well in a Northern Moroccan province for almost three days in a relief operation that kept people in the Arab world on tenterhooks.
The boy, identified by Moroccan media as Rayan, reportedly fell through a narrow opening of the well while playing in the village of Ighran in Morocco’s Chefchaouen province on Tuesday evening.
A “Save Rayan” Arabic hashtag trended in several Arab countries, including in neighboring Algeria as well as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as thousands of users took to social media to offer their prayers.
Many likened his story to that of Prophet Yunis, commonly referred to as Jonah in the Bible, who was swallowed up by a whale for three days before the giant fish spat him out.
“Please God, protect him just like you protected Yunis in the belly of the whale,” read a caption on a widely shared drawing of a boy playing with toys while being trapped in a deep well.
Several Moroccan media outlets live-streamed the rescue operation to hundreds of thousands of users, leading to an outpouring of sympathy. A CCTV camera lowered into the well to track Rayan showed him alive on Thursday, albeit he appeared to be suffering from head injuries. Oxygen, food and water were also sent down.
“Still can’t sleep Till he is free fully I’m literally been depressed all day, I’m lying on my bed and I feel so exhausted imagine this little poor baby what he feels,” one Twitter user said.
Moroccan state news agency MAP said parallel digging carried out by bulldozers had reached a depth of 28 meters, reviving hopes that the rescue efforts can bear fruit soon. Horizontal drilling will start once a depth of 32 meters is reached, an informed source told MAP.
However, the source urged caution in fear of possible landslides. Footage showed parts of the soil collapsing during the digging work.
“The excavation work stopped from time to time, in order to take the necessary measures, as the rescue operation has reached a complex stage, and perform the necessary interventions to avoid a ground collapse,” the source told MAP.
