(SAN DIEGO) — Rising gas prices in the U.S. amid sanctions on Russian oil have some Americans feeling hesitant about any plans for a summer road trip. But tourism officials in one summer hot spot say they don’t think gas prices will hurt travel there much.
In San Diego, hotel owners like Bob Rouch say business has returned to pre-COVID levels. It appears that so many people want to travel and get out without masks that the desire to travel this summer outweighs any reluctance due to rising gas prices.
“I know some people refer to it as revenge travel,” Rouch said. “I think it’s people wanting to get out.”
Tourism officials say places like San Diego will likely fare well despite high gas prices because the city is a quick drive with minimal fuel burn from locations like Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Northern California.
(NEW YORK) — Russia is doubling down on its false claims that the U.S. and Ukraine are developing chemical or biological weapons for use against invading Russian forces, bringing the accusation to the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
A web of disinformation, not only from Russian state media but also Chinese propaganda outlets and even some American voices, have increasingly spread the conspiracy theory this week.
That’s prompted heightened concern among U.S. and Ukrainian officials that Russia itself may be planning to deploy chemical or biological weapons against Ukrainian targets or as part of a so-called “false flag” operation.
“This makes me really worried because we’ve been repeatedly convinced if you want to know Russia’s plans, look at what Russia accuses others of,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address late Thursday, a sentiment the White House first shared Wednesday.
Ukraine does not have biochemical weapons laboratories. Instead, there are public health and veterinary health labs operated with U.S. support in Ukraine and several other former Soviet countries that provide technical support to a government’s health ministry and study disease, like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
U.S. support originated with the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, launched in 1991 to help secure and dismantle the remnants of the former Soviet Union’s biochemical weapons program in newly independent states, including Ukraine.
The U.S. has talked openly about the program throughout its history, working with 26 facilities in Ukraine on issues like biosafety and scientific mentorship training, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, an independent nonprofit dedicated to science and global security.
But in recent years, Russia, as well as China, has escalated accusations that these labs constitute a secret U.S. biochemical weapons program, at one point even claiming in state-run media outlets that they created the COVID-19 pandemic. In bitter irony, these labs have helped detect and stop the spread of COVID-19, according to public health officials.
Those false claims have skyrocketed this week, with Russia now bringing them to one of the world’s brightest spotlights — the U.N. Security Council. Russia’s mission in New York called for an emergency meeting Friday, 24 hours after its defense ministry falsely claimed it uncovered “U.S. secret military biological projects in Ukraine,” per state-run media.
“We’re not going to let Russia get away with gaslighting the world or using the U.N. Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation,” Olivia Dalton, the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N., told ABC News Thursday.
It’s unclear if the U.S. will try to stop the meeting, currently scheduled for 10 a.m. ET. Procedural matters, like holding a meeting, require nine of the chamber’s 15 envoys to vote in favor, and no country can veto a meeting being held.
While the false claims have escalated this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ranted back in December that Ukraine, with U.S. mercenary help, was preparing a chemical weapons attack.
In 2018, Russia also made similar accusations against Georgia, the small former Soviet state that the Kremlin invaded a decade earlier as its government, like Ukraine’s, sought NATO membership. Russian forces still occupy two regions of the country, recognizing them as independent states — just as it did last month in eastern Ukraine before launching its invasion.
“The Russian allegations appear to be part of a disinformation campaign that has grown in response to scrutiny of Moscow for using and enabling the use of chemical weapons,” the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported in 2018 when Russia’s claims about Georgia were proven false.
The Kremlin record of “using and enabling the use of chemical weapons” runs deep, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, especially against individuals deemed enemies.
No one is higher on that list right now than Alexey Navalny. The opposition leader and anti-corruption activist was poisoned in August 2020 with the nerve agent Novichok by agents from the FSB, Russia’s principal security agency. He was flown to Germany and recovered before returning in January 2021 to Moscow, where he was almost immediately arrested.
Another notable example before Navalny were the Skripals. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian officer who was a double agent for the United Kingdom, was also poisoned with Novichok in March 2018 in Salisbury, England. His daughter Yulia and a police officer were also hospitalized by the attack, but all three recovered.
In contrast, Ukraine has been in full compliance with the chemical and biological weapons conventions since signing them in 1972 and 1993, respectively, according to the State Department.
Asked about Ukraine’s biomedical facilities, CIA Director Bill Burns told the Senate Thursday, “In any public health system around the world, there’s going to be work done in the interests of wider public health, to ensure that we have a grip on issues like that. But that’s in no way threatening. That’s not something that can be weaponized in the way that the Russians have clearly demonstrated — by their own actions against their citizens and people outside their country — their willingness to use.”
It’s unclear whether U.S. intelligence has any evidence that Russian forces are preparing for a chemical or biological attack. The White House, State Department and Pentagon publicly pointed only to “Moscow’s track record” and “increasingly concerning rhetoric,” in the words of State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
But a senior Pentagon official told reporters, “We have picked up indications that the Russians could be making these claims — these false claims — about us and Ukrainian work in bio defense as a way of creating a pretext of their own, to perhaps use these kinds of agents in an attack.”
Pressed on what “indications” they were referring to, they added, “I have to leave it with you with indications, and [I’m] not going to be at liberty to go in more detail than that today.”
For those in Ukraine, where Russian forces have shown there’s little they won’t do to subjugate the country, the fear is real.
“The manic obsession with which various Russian officials fantasize about non-existent biological or chemical weapons or hazards in Ukraine is deeply troubling and may actually point at Russia preparing another horrific false flag operation. This tweet is for the record,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 11, 12:15 pm
Russia claims more than 34,500 people evacuated to Russia from Ukraine in past 24 hours
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday claimed more than 34,500 people were evacuated from Ukraine to Russia in the last 24 hours, without help from Kyiv authorities.
People were evacuated from various Ukrainian regions, including Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, said at a press briefing.
“In the past 24 hours, 34,555 people, including 3,562 children, were evacuated from dangerous zones in various Ukrainian regions and the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics without Ukraine’s involvement,” Mizintsev said.
He added, “In total, more than 223,000 people, including 50,258 children, have already been evacuated since the launch of the special military operation.”
Mizintsev claimed Ukrainian authorities are refusing humanitarian corridors in Russia’s direction and prohibiting local authorities from having contacts with the Russian side.
According to Mizintsev, the city of Volnovakha is under control of the Donetsk militia and residents are reluctant to evacuate. He claimed the troops “are already establishing a return to peaceful life in Volnovakha.”
“Relevant humanitarian events involving the population are underway, and none of the residents are going to leave their homes,” Mizintsev said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed that Ukrainian officials are disrupting evacuations from Izium to Lozova.
“The travel itineraries are planted with landmines, and parts of the road are being shelled with small arms and mortars by Ukrainian territorial defense units on approaches to Lozova,” he said.
Mizintsev claimed Mariupol is blocked. “All bridges and approaches to it are destroyed, the main roads have been mined by nationalists, and gunmen are roaming the streets, firing indiscriminately, thereby forcing the civilian population to stay in,” he said.
Mizintsev also claimed Ukrainian forces blew up “a building of the institute of physics and technology in Kharkiv to hide nuclear research” and that up to 50 of its employees might be missing.
Mar 11, 11:26 am
Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus
Ukraine’s air force claimed Friday that Russia carried out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.
In a post on Facebook, Ukraine’s air force claimed Russian jets took off from a base in Belarus and entered Ukraine’s airspace, then a fire started in the village of Kopani.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov earlier claimed in a Facebook post that Russian forces would launch a strike against Kopani to “pull the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus into the war with Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 11, 11:15 am
US Restricts the export of luxury goods to Russia, Belarus
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it will restrict the export of U.S. luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, as well as “certain Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors located worldwide,” as a result of their actions in Ukraine.
The Department of Commerce said it will impose restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer of luxury items including certain spirits, tobacco products, clothing items, jewelry, vehicles and antique goods.
“Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine continues to take a devastating toll on innocent civilians in Ukraine, fueling one of the worst humanitarian crises Europe has seen in decades,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
Raimondo added, “Putin and the oligarchs who fund him have gotten rich off of Putin’s rampant corruption and the exploitation of the Russian people. We will not allow Putin and his cronies to continue living in opulence while causing tremendous suffering throughout Eastern Europe. Today’s action takes away another source of comfort and reminds them that Russia is increasingly isolated.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Mar 11, 10:16 am
WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens to prevent ‘accidental spill’
The World Health Organization said Friday that it is urging Ukraine to now destroy its pathogen samples because Russia’s war in the country risks an “accidental spill,” according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.
“This is part of us providing a public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens,” Jašarević said Friday from Lviv.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — A Texas judge is holding a hearing on whether to prevent state agencies from investigating gender-confirming care for transgender youth as child abuse.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum will hear Friday from the parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl who were under investigation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Meachum will also hear from attorneys from the state.
According to the DFPS, there are at least nine similar investigations open as a result of the attorney general’s opinion on trans care.
The opinion written by state Attorney General Ken Paxton last month stated that “there is no doubt that these procedures are ‘abuse’ under Texas law, and thus must be halted.”
He went on: “The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has a responsibility to act accordingly. I’ll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.”
The next day, Texas Governor Greg Abbott published a letter, ordering the DFPS to investigate such treatments as child abuse.
“Because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for protecting children from abuse, I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas,” Abbott said in the Feb. 22 letter.
Meachum has already blocked the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from investigating the family of the 16-year-old girl. The family is part of a lawsuit against the state’s directive from the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal.
Several companies, including Ikea, Google, Apple, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, PayPal, Capital One and Electronic Arts have spoken out against the bill in a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News.
“The recent attempt to criminalize a parent for helping their transgender child access medically necessary, age-appropriate healthcare in the state of Texas goes against the values of our companies,” a signed letter from the companies stated.
Cathryn Oakley, HRC’s state legislative director and senior counsel, said that misinformation is at the center of recent anti-LGBTQ efforts, including the Texas directive.
She told ABC News that she believes fear-mongering has painted a picture of trans youth that is “completely not true.”
She said that for many young children, transitioning means using a name and pronoun that feels right for them and presenting themselves in a way that feels right for them.
She says that when puberty hits is when medical intervention might begin through puberty blockers, which temporarily pause puberty while children and families assess their gender journey. “No one is performing surgery on kids. There’s no amputation happening,” she said.
“They’re literally putting trans kids lives on the line,” she said, referring to mental health conditions that trans youth face in the wake of discrimination.
“It’s incumbent on us to really educate folks about what it means to be a trans kid because I think the only reason people are buying into that kind of rhetoric is because even people who are fair-minded have questions about what it means to be a trans youth,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Stepping up the economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as he continues to attack Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced Friday that in conjunction with other G-7 nations and the European Union, the U.S. will move to revoke “most favored nation” trade status for Russia.
“As Putin continues his merciless assault, the United States and allies and partners continue to work in lockstep to ramp up the economic pressures on Putin and to further isolate Russia in the global stage,” Biden said from the White House. “Revoking PNTR (permanent normal trade relations) for Russia is gonna make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States.”
The move to strip Russia of its favored nation status would allow the U.S. and others to impose tariffs on a wide range of Russian goods.
JUST IN: Pres. Biden says U.S. and allies are taking steps to deny most favored nation status to Russia, calling it “another crushing blow to the Russian economy that’s already suffering very badly from our sanctions.” https://t.co/EPUvsRMUrDpic.twitter.com/zJIM1AZEn3
Biden also announced the U.S. is banning the export of luxury goods to Russia as well as banning imports of certain goods from Russia, including seafood, vodka and diamonds. He also said the G-7 is adding new names to the list of targeted oligarchs it was sanctioning.
“Putin is an aggressor — is the aggressor, and Putin must pay the price. He cannot pursue a war that threatens the very foundation to which he’s doing — the very foundations of international peace and stability and then ask for financial help from the international community,” Biden said. He added that the U.S. will speak to the G-7 about Russia’s ability to borrow the interpreter national monetary fund and world bank.
Additionally, Biden said he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday morning ahead of his remarks, and “told him — as I have each and every time I’ve spoken to him — that the United States stands with Ukraine as they bravely fight to defend their country.”
While each country will have to suspend normalized trade relations on their own, the announcement is another example of Western unity against Putin as nations tighten the squeeze on Russia. It follows the U.S. imposing an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports earlier this week.
Over the past two weeks, Russia has widened its attacks on major cities across Ukraine. The United Nations said Thursday that at least 549 civilians, 41 of whom were children, have died since Russia’s invasion began. At least 2.5 million have already fled the country.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes,” the office said.
As the threat of Russia taking over Kyiv and overthrowing Zelenskyy looms, the 40-mile Russian military convoy that was last seen northwest of Kyiv has repositioned around the capital city, appearing to take attackable positions.
“We remind Russian authorities that directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects as well as so-called bombardment in towns and villages and other forms of indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international law and may amount to war crimes,” said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell on Friday.
But Russia has doubled down, instead, on its false claims that the U.S. and Ukraine are developing chemical or biological weapons for use against invading Russian forces. Russia is expected to bring the false accusation to the United Nations Security Council on Friday — one day after a senior U.S. defense official warned that the U.S. has seen “indications” of Russia using a potential false flag operation biochemical weapons as a pretext for the potential use of “these kinds of agents in an attack.”
Asked about the accusation Friday, Biden said he wouldn’t comment on intelligence but warned Russia not to make such a move.
“Your White House has said that Russia may use chemical weapons, or create a false flag operation to use them,” a reporter said. “What evidence have you seen showing that, and would the U.S. have a military response if Putin would launch a chemical attack?”
“I’m not going to speak about intelligence but – but – but Russia would pay a severe price if they used chemical weapons,” he replied.
Moments earlier, Biden reiterated his position that “we will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine.”
“We’ll defend every single inch of the NATO territory with the full might of the united and galvanized NATO,” Biden said, but adding, “Direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III, something we must strive to prevent.”
Pres. Biden says G7 countries are stepping up economic pressure on Russian oligarchs: “They support Putin. They steal from the Russian people and they seek to hide their money in our countries… and they must share in the pain of these sanctions.” https://t.co/r4gCj2PZafpic.twitter.com/MSY790DRAo
As the situation on-the-ground escalates, Republican senators have urged the Biden administration to send Ukraine 29 MiG fighter jets Poland offered to provide to Ukraine — but only if the U.S. transports them, which the Pentagon has not agreed to.
“Enough talk. People are dying. Send them the planes that they need,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said at a press conference Thursday. Ukraine, meanwhile, has pleaded with NATO, unsuccessfully, to enforce a no-fly zone over the country.
In response to claims that Russia may view the transfer of MiGs as escalatory on behalf of the U.S., the GOP group scoffed, saying it was time for the U.S. to project strength in this conflict and have Putin fear the U.S. for a change.
Vice President Kamala Harris, making stops across Europe to address the crisis, said Thursday that the administration is inching closer to acknowledging war crimes by Russia, saying “Absolutely there should be an investigation and we should all be watching,” while White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. must go through “the legal assessment and review to make a formal conclusion.”
Biden also noted the $13.6 billion in assistance for Ukraine included in the government funding bill passed Thursday night, which he said he looked forward to signing “immediately.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan, Molly Nagle, Justin Gomez and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — With inflation at a 40-year high, Americans are seeking ways they can save some money on everything from gas to groceries.
The next time you hit a supermarket, there are several strategies you can use to help you stay on budget. Buying frozen meat and produce, opting for generic brands and buying in bulk are just some ways you can compensate for record-high prices.
ABC News’ Becky Worley shared more tips consumers can use the next time they shop for groceries:
(NEW YORK) — On March 26, 1997, an anonymous caller directed police to a mansion outside San Diego where authorities soon discovered the largest mass suicide on U.S. soil.
The 39 victims found within the home were all members of a strange and secretive cult called Heaven’s Gate, which had a goal to transcend to “higher beings” by spaceship.
Watch the full story on “20/20” TONIGHT at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
The anonymous caller was Rio DiAngelo, a surviving member who left the group after three years and was to stay behind and tell the world about the group’s story.
“I was always looking for answers, looking for purpose in my life,” said DiAngelo. “I loved these people … it meant everything to me.”DiAngelo first spoke to ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in 1997.
“We lived like we were living in a monastery. We were all celibate individuals, looking forward to self advancement,” said DiAngelo.
Heaven’s Gate began in the early 1970s by co-founders Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lou Nettles. Applewhite was the son of a Presbyterian preacher and became a talented stage actor and singer. He struggled with his sexuality and had a complicated relationship with his father.
At a moment in his life when he was depressed, hearing voices in his head and having apocalyptic visions, he met Nettles. She was a nurse and mother of four children. She had already believed in UFOs and astrology prior to meeting Applewhite.
According to former friends and colleagues, she said the voices in his head may be spirits from above telling him he one day could be a divine teacher.
Applewhite and Nettles told their followers that the human body was a “vehicle” to carry their soul and that the savior had returned in the human form of Applewhite, who was called “Do.”
They set out to start their own religion and seek out followers. They told people interested that, if they joined them, they could learn how to be pure enough to be invited to heaven too.
Over the course of several years, Applewhite and Nettles required their followers to adhere to increasingly more strange and severe rules, including severing all contact with family and friends and encouraging adopting an asexual appearance. In later years, some members of the group underwent castration.
Now nearly 25 years later, DiAngelo reflected on where his life is now. He says he still feels the presence of Applewhite and Nettles.
“Mostly, it’s just feeling. I don’t get words, but mostly it’s just feeling,” said DiAngelo.
DiAngelo said he made the choice to move on.
“I tried to get a job and people would not hire me because they thought I was part of some crazy thing. And so it’s really a matter of choice for me to get along with my career, my life, just so people would not look at me,” said DiAngelo. “It’s not about me, you know?”
DeAngelo, now a retired art director, said he’s reunited with his mother and is focusing on spending more time with his granddaughter.
“I’m a regular guy. I’m tryin’ to be more of myself,” said DeAngelo. “And a better person in every way I can.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support. Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for help.
(NEW YORK) — Inside hundreds of pharmacies across the country, high-risk Americans who test positive for COVID-19 have been told they will soon be able to find and fill a prescription for oral medication directly at the store.
The new White House “test to treat” program, touted as a one-stop shop for antiviral pills from Pfizer and Merck, aims to create a free and streamlined approach to get sick people the lifesaving care they need, when they need it.
Although Pfizer and Merck’s COVID-19 pills were authorized in December, scarce supply has made them difficult to access.
Major pharmacies have already begun ordering their new “test to treat” supply directly from the federal government, and anticipate being able to start as early as this week. CVS will offer end-to-end access to the pills at their nearly 1,200 MinuteClinic locations as soon as this week, spokesperson Matthew Blanchette told ABC News, while a Walgreens spokesperson said patients will be able to get the antiviral pills at “select stores” where provider partners are available to assess and prescribe medication.
The idea is for everyday Americans to be able to visit their local pharmacy for a rapid test, and if positive, “you can be treated right there on the spot,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease expert from South Shore Health.
As clinic doors open to this new initiative, however, numerous puzzle pieces must align to ensure the smooth rollout the president has hoped for.
“We’re leaving no one behind or ignoring anyone’s needs as we move forward,” President Joe Biden said of the plan during his State of the Union address last week, emphasizing his administration has “ordered more pills than anyone in the world has.”
The program’s promised scope hinges on sufficient participating locations and drug supplies.
And in a development that could jeopardize the program’s future, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced this week that COVID-19 funding would be stripped from an upcoming government funding and Ukraine emergency aid package — an element hotly contested by some members.
Without this additional pandemic funding, the White House has warned there could be “dire” consequences: the U.S. could run out of pill supplies by the end of the summer.
The government has so far purchased 20 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, although it’s not expected to be widely available until later this spring.
And there are other hurdles. Test to treat’s reach is bounded by the requirement that there must be a prescribing health care provider on site, a feature at a fraction of the tens of thousands of pharmacies in the country.
Some pharmacy groups have chafed against the required authority, like a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, who must prescribe the pills on-site.
“We were anticipating something that would really have an impact on the pandemic and on patients being able to access medications and instead we’re underwhelmed with the missed opportunity of what this could have been,” said Michael Ganio, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ senior director of pharmacy practice and quality.
While the plan is a step in the right direction, “further action is needed” to enhance equity and access, National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ President and CEO Steven Anderson said, adding that the current test-to-treat plan “does not leverage fully the health and wellness professionals and access points in America’s pharmacies.”
Conversely, the American Medical Association called the plan “well-intentioned” but that it “oversimplifies challenging prescribing decisions by omitting knowledge of a patient’s medical history, the complexity of drug interactions, and managing possible negative reactions.”
The drugs are not appropriate for everyone. Merck’s Molnupiravir, for example, is not recommended during pregnancy or for minors, while Pfizer’s Paxlovid runs the risk of negatively interacting with other commonly prescribed drugs, including medicines that manage heart conditions and cholesterol, and those with severe kidney or liver problems.
Another issue, doctors say, is that patients will need to start taking the pills within days of developing symptoms, which means participating stores need to be convenient enough to access quickly, and with enough rapid tests to diagnose in time.
To connect patients with convenient pickup sites, the government is developing a website to help people find a site near them, set to launch later this month.
“The biggest issue is making sure that you get seen and diagnosed rapidly because you’ve got a five-day window of opportunity for Paxlovid to be optimally effective,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an infectious disease physician.
“If you’re a high-risk individual, you want to make the diagnosis as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Hospital. “And then make contact with a health care provider.”
(WASHINGTON) — The last time Democrats gathered in-person for a caucus retreat, in 2019, the House majority crafted an agenda centered on plans for a bipartisan infrastructure bill and lowering prescription drug prices.
Three years later, with full control of Congress and the White House, but facing historic headwinds in the midterm elections, an ongoing pandemic and record-high inflation, Democrats argued that they had a substantive record to sell to voters, even if their agenda remained unfinished.
“If our agenda is incomplete it doesn’t mean we are broken, it means we have to keep working,” Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the chair of House Democrats’ campaign committee, told reporters Thursday. “We know what the stakes are.”
Last year, President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan into law with bipartisan support, clearing the way for repairs to America’s aging roads, bridges and airports and new investments in broadband.
But the larger social policy plan has been stuck on Capitol Hill, with progressives in the House and several moderate Democrats in the Senate at odds over its scope and scale.
In his State of the Union speech, Biden, who will travel to Philadelphia on Friday to address the caucus, reframed his policy agenda as a plan to fight inflation, and urged lawmakers to revisit lowering prescription drug and child care costs.
“We just have to figure it out and see what’s possible,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a leading progressive, said Thursday. “The hard reality of 50 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House is the reality we’ll have to focus in on.”
Huddling after a bruising spending bill fight over coronavirus funds that delayed the start of their retreat, Democrats held several sessions with guest speakers and experts on reaching seniors and young voters, national security and immigration.
Maloney, who gave members a presentation on the midterm outlook for the party, acknowledged to reporters that although the president’s party traditionally loses seats in the midterm elections, Democrats are campaigning on more favorable terrain thanks to unexpected redistricting results that created more districts that were won by Biden in the previous election.
“We came out of redistricting with a better map than the one through which we currently hold the majority,” Maloney said, while also acknowledging that Republicans are supported by outside political groups that have outraised their Democratic counterparts.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., argued that Democrats also have a positive story to tell voters about the state of the pandemic, and can sell the benefits of the American Rescue Plan, the massive Democratic stimulus effort pumped into the economy after the election.
“In November of 2020 it was dark, we could not be with our families, and COVID was raging,” she told ABC News. “Now, a year and three months later, we are able to be with family and gather.”
Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus laid out new plans to unveil proposed executive actions that the Biden administration could take to address unfinished agenda items on policing and voting rights, which have also stalled in Congress given GOP opposition and the 50-50 split Senate.
Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., held out hope that some voting measures Democrats have pushed for could also be included in any potential reforms to the Electoral Count Act put forward by a bipartisan group of senators.
For their part, Republicans have continued to hammer Biden and Democrats over rising gas prices and inflation, unveiling new ads targeting swing-district Democrats and predicting that prices will only increase given the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Democrats repeatedly acknowledged the problem of inflation and rising prices but have attempted in recent days to reframe soaring gas prices as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and a sacrifice that Americans should be prepared to make as the West sanctions Russia and supports Ukraine’s democratic government under attack.
“What is the price that we as individuals will want to contribute in solidarity with the Ukrainian people?” Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Thursday. “If it means paying a few extra cents at the gas tank, then we’re willing to pay that.”
Maloney also told Democrats they need to think more carefully about how they communicate with voters.
“We need to talk like real people, and pass what I call the Maloney brothers test: If you go home for Thanksgiving and your brothers think you sound like a jerk — you know, what your grade point average was — it doesn’t matter to them. You have to show up and be a human being,” he said.
The president’s role in the midterms, Maloney said, is to be the “strong, decent man” who “crushed” his State of the Union address and is “leading the world to stand up to Russian aggression.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 11, 6:48 am
UN bolstering assistance for growing number of displaced people
The U.N. said it is increasingly concerned about the nearly two million internally displaced people and nearly 13 million impacted by the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Of particular concern are supplies of food, water, medicines and other necessities that are urgently needed in the hard-hit cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol, according to UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh. Access to these areas remains restricted because of military operations and hazards like land mines.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is working to provide heating stations at border crossings for those who are particularly vulnerable and is also working to roll out cash assistance.
Mar 11, 5:05 am
Number of refugees from Ukraine rises to 2.5 million
The number of refugees in the Ukraine crisis has increased to 2.5 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Commissioner Filippo Grandi called the conflict “senseless” in a tweet and said that the number of displaced people inside Ukraine had reached about two million.
Mar 11, 4:49 am
Putin orders Russian military to help volunteer fighters from Middle East travel to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defense minister to assist “volunteer” fighters to travel to Ukraine to join Russian forces there.
The order appears to relate to Russian efforts to recruit Syrian fighters that U.S. officials have said are underway.
Russia’s defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, claimed to Putin that 16,000 volunteers from “the Middle East” had expressed a desire to come.
Shoigu claimed that the fighters, who he said had experience fighting ISIS, wanted to come not for money but a “sincere” desire to help.
U.S. officials have said they believe Russia is recruiting Syrians experienced in urban combat from its areas held by its ally, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. They are reported to be being offered just a few hundred dollars.
Mar 10, 11:08 pm
Senate approves $1.5 trillion funding bill with supplemental aid to Ukraine
The Senate passed a $1.5 trillion government funding bill late Thursday that includes $13.6 billion in supplemental aid to Ukraine by a vote of 68-31.
The legislation will now head to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
In a statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki thanked leaders for “getting this bill done” and said Biden “looks forward to signing it into law.”
“With these resources, we will be able to deliver historic support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracy,” she said in part.
The supplemental Ukrainian aid is split between defense and nondefense funding. The $1.5 trillion also includes funding for many of the administration’s priorities as well as sizable amounts for defense spending.
Mar 10, 10:43 pm
Biden to call for end to normal trade relations with Russia: Source
President Joe Biden will call for an end to normal trade relations with Russia on Friday, following their invasion of Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the matter. The decision would give the White House clearance to increase tariffs on the Kremlin.
“Tomorrow President Biden will announce that the U.S., along with the G-7, European Union, will be calling to revoke Most Favored Nation status for Russia, or called permanent normal trade relations, ‘PNTR,’ in the U.S.,” according to the source. “Each country will implement based on its own national processes. President Biden and the administration appreciate the bipartisan leadership of Congress and its calls for the revocation of the PNTR. Following the announcement tomorrow, the Admin looks forward to working with Congress on legislation to revoke PNTR.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has already publicly voiced support for this move.
