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Jan. 6 committee live updates: Police officers to recount attack at first hearing

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Despite Republican opposition, the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol holds its first hearing.

The panel will hear from law enforcement officers who defended the building, including Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone. They both lobbied lawmakers in May, alongside the family of fallen Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, to form a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the attack — an effort Republicans blocked in the Senate.

The House voted to form the select committee to which Speaker Nancy Pelosi has appointed eight members — six Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who broke from the GOP to vote in favor of creating the panel.

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

Jul 27, 9:53 am
Chairman: ‘This threat hasn’t gone away’

At the end of a video with never-before-seen footage of the attack, one rioter said they’ll be back, which Thompson said was a warning that “this threat hasn’t gone away” but “looms over our democracy like a dark cloud.”

Thompson closed his opening statement by saying while the attack was fueled by a “vile, vile lie,” his committee will be a beacon for uncovering the truth of that day.

“The rioters who tried to rob us of our democracy were propelled here by a lie. As Chairman of this Committee, I will not give that lie any fertile ground,” he said.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be undone by liars and cheaters. This is the United States of America,” he added.

Jul 27, 9:50 am
Chairman opens hearing with praise for officers, new video

Opening the hearing, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said there’s “no place for politics or partisanship” in their investigation and praised the police officers for testifying for the panel.

“For appearing here, and more importantly, for your heroism on Jan. 6, you have the gratitude of this committee and this country. You held the line that day, and I can’t overstate what was on the line: our democracy. You held the line,” he said.

“We’re going to revisit some of those moments today, and it won’t be easy,” Thompson added. “But history will remember your names and your actions.”

Thompson proceeded to play video from Jan. 6 showing the officers defending the Capitol from a violent, pro-Trump mob, intermixed with their pleas to each other over their radios.

“Just describing that attack doesn’t come close to capturing what actually took place that day, so we’re going to see some of what our witnesses saw on Jan. 6,” he said.

Jul 27, 9:37 am
Hearing gets underway

The House select committee’s first hearing is underway.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will each deliver opening statements ahead of testimony from four police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Cheney will speak in place of Republicans, whose ranking member would typically be given an opportunity to make opening remarks after the committee chair — but House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his members from the panel, leaving only Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who took appointments from Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Tuesday’s hearing is expected to go two to three hours and will feature new video elements from the attack.

Jul 27, 9:35 am
Chairman: Subpoenas for Trump, Ivanka, McCarthy possible

Ahead of the hearing, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., left the door open to subpoenas for the former president and those close to him on Jan. 6.

“Wherever the investigation leads us,” Thompson told ABC News Correspondent Kyra Phillips, when asked also about subpoenas for the House GOP leader and Ivanka Trump. “We will look at who made phone calls to the White House that day, we’ll look at whether or not there were any text messages, where there any emails — all of that is part of the investigation.”

Thompson said the August recess for the committee will include a lot of work and include conversations with Attorney General Merrick Garland and the White House.

“We are looking for a cooperative investigation, so whatever it takes to get that cooperation we plan to do,” he said.

Jul 27, 9:26 am
Why did the committee start with police officers?

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the panel and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who briefed reporters on a call ahead of the hearing, said it was important to have the officers explain the brutality of what they confronted, with the help of video footage from that day.

Schiff said the officers can “put to rest some of the revisionist history, the effort to whitewash what took place and understand keenly the importance of getting to the truth about what led up to that insurrection and what happened thereafter.”

He added, “We didn’t want to compel anyone to testify that didn’t want to or didn’t feel that they could. A lot of those who were the most severely injured continue to struggle with the after-effects of that day, so we want to be sensitive to those concerns.”

Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, who was seen on video getting brutally attacked by rioters, told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott he plans to testify in uniform and won’t let politics surrounding the committee hinder the truth in his testimony.

Jul 27, 9:21 am
What to expect Tuesday

At Tuesday’s hearing, titled “The Law Enforcement Experience on January 6th,” the panel will hear from police officers who protected lawmakers from rioters during the assault on the Capitol and have them explain new video footage showing what they experienced that day.

Harrowing testimonies are expected from Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell and Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will each deliver opening statements ahead of testimony from the officers. The opening statements from police officers will each be roughly five minutes, though the committee won’t be enforcing the “5-minute rule” on members and witnesses as it typically does in major hearings. There will only be one round of questions.

The hearing is expected to go two to three hours and will feature new video elements from the attack, according to a congressional aide.

Jul 27, 8:53 am
Republicans blame Pelosi for alleged security lapse ahead of hearing

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, joined by other Republican leaders and the five GOP members he appointed to the committee, held a news conference at the Capitol about an hour before the first hearing was set to began to air grievances about Reps. Jim Banks and Jim Jordan being rejected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The group attempted to place blame for Jan. 6 on Pelosi.

“The American people deserve to know the truth that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on Jan. 6,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, who replaced Cheney in her No. 3 GOP leadership role earlier this year.

One reporter noted that Pelosi didn’t say the election was stolen or call her supporters to the Capitol, asking McCarthy, “So are you trying to cover up what the former president’s role was on Jan. 6?”

“Nothing, we’re not pre-determining any questions. We’d like to be on the committee to ask them,” he replied, before resuming his attacks on Pelosi and the Democratic-led committee.

Jul 27, 8:30 am
Rep. Liz Cheney on ABC’s Good Morning America says subpoenas possible for McCarthy, Trump

With hours until the first hearing kicks off, Rep. Liz Cheney — one of two Republicans serving on the select committee — shot back at fellow Republicans criticizing her role in the probe, saying, “This is absolutely not a game. This is deadly serious.”

”There are some in my party, including Leader McCarthy, who continue to act as though this is about partisan politics, I think it’s really sad. I think it’s a disgrace,” she told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

She also said subpoenas for House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and even former President Donald Trump are possible.

“The committee will go wherever we need to go to get to the facts,” she said.

At least one killed, over a dozen injured in explosion at German chemicals site

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(BERLIN) — At least one person was killed and more than a dozen others were injured in an explosion at an industrial park for chemical companies in western Germany on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The powerful blast at Chempark’s site in Leverkusen reverberated through the surrounding city and sent dark plumes of smoke billowing into the air just before 10 a.m. local time. Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance classified the explosion as “an extreme threat” and urged residents in the area to stay inside and keep all windows and doors closed.

Currenta, the operator of Chempark, which is home to dozens of chemical companies including Bayer, confirmed the death of one employee and said four others were still unaccounted for. City officials said at least 16 people have been injured.

The deadly explosion occurred at a waste disposal center within Chempark Leverkusen, where more than 5,000 types of chemicals are manufactured, and sparked a fire at a tank storage site. Firefighters have since extinguished the blaze, according to Currenta.

Pollution detection vehicles were also deployed to the scene to assess what threat the smoke could have on the surrounding air quality. Police in the nearby city of Cologne, about 12 miles south of Leverkusen, took to Twitter to advise people to avoid the area of the explosion, saying the situation was still unclear. Several highways in the surrounding area have been blocked off due to the incident.

The cause of the explosion was unknown, according to Currenta.

Mask mandates return at local level as some officials defy state rules

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the delta variant drives a surge in COVID-19 cases across the U.S., some local health departments are taking the lead to reimpose indoor mask mandates for all residents — despite CDC guidance that most fully vaccinated Americans can go maskless.

The move from local municipalities in several states, including Massachusetts and Nevada, follows the announcement earlier this month by Los Angeles County — the most populous county in the nation — that it would reinstate mandatory indoor masks after seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.

The CDC said in May that fully vaccinated Americans could go without masks — but that was before the delta variant dramatically changed the landscape of the pandemic.

Vaccines are still working, experts say. But the highly transmissible delta variant means that cases are once again surging — especially among the one-half of all Americans who are not yet fully vaccinated. Over the past few weeks, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations among unvaccinated people in nearly every state have been on the rise, just as some states were in the process of declaring an end of their state of emergency from the pandemic.

ABC News identified at least a dozen states that have seen a reversal of their mask guidance at the local level — from cities, counties and school districts — in the past couple weeks. Some of these efforts have received solid support from state government, while some others are being challenged by state officials.

In some states, local governments have imposed new mask mandates, while in other states, local officials have instead announced new recommendations or reiterated existing recommendations.

In California, while the new mask mandate has only been issued in Los Angeles County, at least 10 additional counties across the state are now strongly recommending indoor mask-wearing for all residents — including those who are fully vaccinated. In Massachusetts, several counties and municipalities have brought back mask mandates.

In the cities of Las Vegas and New Orleans, health officials have moved to implement masks for county employees regardless of their vaccination status. Savannah became the first major city in Georgia to reinstate an indoor masks policy for all residents in response to a spike in coronavirus cases in the surrounding counties.

“It’s clear to us we’re on a very dangerous trend,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said on Monday. “And in order to try to slow this trend down, the mask mandate was the least invasive and destructive way to do it.

In some states, efforts to bring back mask requirements have faced immediate pushback.

In Missouri, as the case rate has increased and the vaccination rate remains low, St. Louis city and county officials announced last week that they will require masks to be worn in indoor public places and on public transportation — but state Attorney General Eric Schmitt said that he will be filing a lawsuit to stop the city and the county from bringing back such a mandate.

In Florida, where hospitalizations in some areas are increasing at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, Palm Beach officials this week went against Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statewide ban on mask mandates by imposing an indoor mask mandate for residents regardless of vaccination status.

And Miami Dade and Orange counties, while stopping short of imposing a mandate, have brought back recommendations to wear masks in crowded areas, prompting DeSantis to warn Orange County that it “cannot impose civil or criminal penalties on citizens who choose not to wear masks.”

Similar laws restricting local governments from imposing mask orders have been passed in Iowa, Montana, Arizona, and Arkansas, while governors in Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina have signed executive orders prohibiting local governments from imposing mask mandates.

In Montana, Missoula County’s health officer has blamed the state ban for the county’s inability to bring back a mask mandate despite a rise in cases.

And in Texas, many lawmakers and health officials are urging Gov. Greg Abbott to reverse his school ban and allow mask mandates in schools to be reinstated.

“We now know that even vaccinated people can catch and spread coronavirus,” 31 Texas lawmakers wrote in a letter to Abbott on Friday. “Under these circumstances, we must continue to fight against this virus with all the tools at our disposal.”

Some local school districts in Atlanta, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois have announced various mask mandates for school students and staff members, regardless of vaccine status, for the fall semester.

Officials in other states including Pennsylvania, Kansas and New York are focusing on increasing the number of vaccinations instead of reconsidering their mask guidance.

On Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the entire city workforce will be mandated to either get vaccinated or get tested once per week in response to rising coronavirus cases in the state.

As officials move to restore mask recommendations on the local level, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, told CNN on Sunday that revising national mask guidance for vaccinated individuals is “under active consideration.”

“The CDC agrees with that ability and discretion to say, you know, you’re in a situation where we’re having a lot of dynamics of infection,” Fauci said of the local mask mandates. “Even if you are vaccinated, you should wear a mask. That’s a local decision that’s not incompatible with the CDC’s overall recommendations that give a lot of discretion to the locals.”

Woman shares warning on TikTok after having 7-pound cyst removed

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Kayley Reese first noticed what seemed like a growing bump in her stomach over a year ago.

“The reason I really noticed it was because I own a clothing store and am in all the photos and it got to a point where I could see it in every single photo,” Reese, of Richmond, Virginia, told Good Morning America. “It looked like I was pregnant.”

Reese, 23, said she did not notice any other physical symptoms, so she did not do anything about it.

“On social media I would see some things like it’s your uterus protruding or everyone has it, it’s a protective layer,” she said. “So I kind of made it normal in my head.”

It was not until June when Reese flew home to Orlando, Florida, that she began to feel symptoms and sought treatment.

“I was nauseous and dizzy and my appetite wasn’t normal and I had shortness of breath, painful urination, all that,” said Reese. “My mom asked to feel the spot that I was complaining about and said, ‘That is not normal.'”

Reese went to a local emergency department, where she underwent testing that found a large cyst near her left ovary.

“The [doctors] weren’t sure how long it had been there but they said the symptoms I was having were from that,” she said. “At 23, I had no idea this could ever happen to me.”

Reese underwent a two-hour surgery to remove the cyst, which she said was eight inches in length, seven pounds in weight and was filled with two liters of fluid.

The cyst was diagnosed as a paratubal, or paraovarian cyst, a type of cyst that forms near an ovary or fallopian tube but does not adhere to an internal organ, like an ovary.

“It was the best possible case scenario because they were able to save both my ovaries,” she said. “When I went into surgery they said they were likely going to have to take out an ovary and my fallopian tube.”

While she was recovering, Reese said she saw a video on TikTok that prompted her to share her own story publicly.

“I saw someone else’s TikTok about having something similar and all the comments on her video were like, ‘That’s normal. Everyone has it,'” said Reese. “I thought this was exactly why I didn’t think much of my own [stomach bump].”

Reese posted a now-viral video sharing her own story, explaining, “I feel like if I had seen my own TikTok, I would have gone to the doctor a lot earlier.”

She said she was overwhelmed by the response, both from women thanking her for the information and women who also had paratubal cysts.

“When it started to get picked up I was very nervous because I’m like I’m not a doctor, but I saw that it brought awareness to a lot of women,” said Reese. “I got messages from women who had the same situation and they said was the first time they heard anyone even talk about it, so it was super emotional.”

The type of paratubal cyst Reese had differs from the more well-known ovarian cyst because a paratubal cyst does not attach to the ovary or fallopian tube.

While most paratubal cysts do not cause symptoms, some develop and become extremely large before causing symptoms including abdominal pain, frequent urination and feelings of fullness in the abdomen.

Problematic cysts can be removed through surgery.

Women with frequent or painful cysts, including paratubal cysts or ovarian cysts, may be advised by their doctor to take over-the-counter pain medication or hormonal birth control, according to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health.

Over 50 major health care organizations call for mandating vaccines in their own industry

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association have joined up with over 50 other health care organizations to call for mandatory vaccinations in their industry, citing rising COVID cases and their trust in the vaccine.

“Due to the recent COVID-19 surge and the availability of safe and effective vaccines, our health care organizations and societies advocate that all health care and long-term care employers require their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” the organizations wrote in a joint statement on Monday morning.

Between them, these health care organizations represent millions of physicians, nurses and other health care workers across the country, including pediatricians, oncologists and pharmacists.

And they don’t think the health care industry should be the only one to require vaccines. They also called on other industries to follow suit.

“As the health care community leads the way in requiring vaccines for our employees, we hope all other employers across the country will follow our lead and implement effective policies to encourage vaccination,” the joint statement said. “The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it.”

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, just 58% of nursing home staff are vaccinated. According to one estimate in late May, 1 in 4 health care workers were unvaccinated in the U.S. In some places, like Florida, the rates were as low as 40%.

Nationwide, the U.S. is struggling to increase its vaccination rates past 50% of the total population, including children, and missed President Joe Biden’s goal to get 70% of adults vaccinated with one shot by July Fourth. As of Monday, about three weeks later, still just 69% of adults had met that goal, while 60% of adults were fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The influential statement has the potential to move the needle on an issue that, so far, has held up in court and proven to be effective at increasing vaccinations, at least in the health care field. Over the winter, Houston Methodist became the first hospital to require vaccines for its staff, and many hospital systems around the country have followed suit. In Houston, the hospital was sued, but won a lawsuit over the requirement and saw the vast majority of its 26,000-person staff get vaccinated, while around 150 quit or were fired for not adhering to the policy.

That decision spurred a recent statement from another massive health care organization, the American Hospital Association, to call for mandatory vaccinations in hospitals and paved the way for even more to get on board as they did on Monday.

“I think it’s incredible to see these organizations come together and make the bold statement to mandate vaccinations, which we know are safe and effective,” said Dr. Jay Bhatt, the former chief medical officer for the AHA and an ABC News contributor.

“We know, as Americans, it’s hard for folks to agree on a lot of things. So if we’re seeing big organizations agree on vaccinations, we should be paying attention to it,” Bhatt said.

In defending their reasons, the groups that came out in support of vaccine mandates on Monday said it was necessary for caregivers to protect patients who might be immunocompromised or not yet eligible for a vaccine, and for their own health.

The organizations emphasized their confidence in the vaccines, which are safe and effective, and hinted at the fact that the vaccines would be fully approved by the FDA soon, which will also bring more employer mandates. Currently, the vaccine is authorized under an Emergency Use Authorization, which is a temporary approval.

“As we move towards full FDA approval of the currently available vaccines, all health care workers should get vaccinated for their own health, and to protect their colleagues, families, residents of long-term care facilities and patients. This is especially necessary to protect those who are vulnerable, including unvaccinated children and the immunocompromised,” the joint statement said. “Indeed, this is why many health care and long-term care organizations already require vaccinations for influenza, hepatitis B, and pertussis.”

Also on Monday, the Department of Veteran Affairs announced that it would mandate the vaccine for its doctors and nurses. The decision came after four unvaccinated employees of the department died in recent weeks. The mandate will go into place in two months.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonough said the mandate is “the best way to keep veterans safe, especially as the Delta variant spreads across the country.”

While there is a risk of pushback that could lead to people leaving their jobs, particularly in parts of the country where there is more refusal to get the vaccine, the rising levels of the delta variant, which currently makes up 83% of all cases in the U.S., could also hit hospital workforces hard, particularly for doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic.

“Either way, there’s a risk of them not being in the workforce. And I would say the cost of getting COVID is great enough that it warrants vaccination,” said Bhatt.

But for those who can’t be vaccinated because of medical reasons, which the groups estimated to be “a small minority of all workers,” they should be evaluated individually.

Eight dead in Utah, including four children, after sandstorm causes series of car crashes

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MILLARD COUNTY, Utah) — Eight people are dead in Utah, including four children under the age of 15, after a sandstorm caused a series of car crashes Sunday, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.

The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. local time on Interstate 15 in Millard County and involved 22 vehicles. There are still three others in critical condition following the pileup, authorities said Monday.

Utah Highway Patrol released the names of the victims Monday afternoon, including five victims that are from one family. The victims of Sunday’s accident are Kortni Sawyer, 30; Riggins Sawyer, 6; Franki Sawyer, 2; Race Sawyer, 37; Ryder Sawyer, 12; Richard Lorenzon, 51; Maricela Lorenzon, 47 and Cameron Valentine, 15.

“We’re stunned and saddened by the horrific accidents in Millard County,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox tweeted. “We fervently pray for the loved ones of those who perished and for those fighting for their lives.”

Officials said winds caused a sand or dust storm and severely impaired visibility on the roadway, which led to the crash.

“It’s very tragic, it’s very hard to see the loss of life, and the families and the people affected,” Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Cameron Roden told ABC News Salt Lake City affiliate KTVX.

Authorities said a couple of minor crashes forced a semi-truck to rear-end a pickup truck. The “most significant crashes happened behind the semi with two vehicles becoming wedged underneath the back of the trailer. They appear to have been hit from behind by another pickup,” according to UHP.

“Heartbroken over the tragic deaths and injuries following a 22-vehicle pileup near Fillmore on Sunday, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney tweeted Monday night. “Ann and I are praying for the victims and their loved ones as we grieve this terrible loss.”

Trump’s endorsement looms over Texas special runoff election

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Nearly three months after the crowded race in Texas’ 6th Congressional District advanced into a runoff between two Republicans — Susan Wright and state Rep. Jake Ellzey — the major theme of the contest remains the same: will former President Donald Trump’s influence translate into victory on the campaign trail?

In April, Trump endorsed Susan Wright — the widow of the late Congressman Ron Wright who died in February after suffering from COVID-19 and complications from cancer — before the special election even took place. In the leadup to Tuesday’s contest, Trump publicly reiterated his support for Wright in a statement, saying she “supports America First policies” which earned her his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”

The former president also recorded a robo-call that was circulated online that touted Wright as “a great Republican (and) a great woman” who would carry on her husband’s politically conservative legacy in Congress. Although Wright’s inheritance of her late husband’s congressional track record is not an unusual phenomenon in the history of campaign politics, the widow-turned-congressional-hopeful is not yet guaranteed to win outright given Ellzey’s fundraising prowess.

Despite not having Trump’s endorsement, Ellzey has been able to raise more than double that of Wright. As of July 7, the state congressman raised more than $1.2 million compared to Wright’s $454,000, which could have helped him streamline his campaign’s voter mobilization efforts ahead of Tuesday’s contest.

Going into the matchup, Ellzey also has the backing of several high-profile Texas Republicans — including former Gov. Rick Perry, who also served as energy secretary in the Trump administration, and Rep. Dan Crenshaw who represents the district bordering Houston. The pair defended Ellzey on the campaign trail after he faced weeks of attacks from the conservative, anti-tax group, the Club for Growth, through mailers and advertisements.

“Nothing irritates me more than the junk that I have seen in the mailboxes talking about him. If you want to win an election that bad, I don’t want you to be my congressman,” Perry said at a campaign rally for Ellzey in mid-July.

Following that rally, Club for Growth President David McIntosh issued a statement in which he praised Wright as a “principled conservative” while calling Ellzey a “serial opportunist with a record of missing votes and supporting higher taxes.”

But the political back-and-forth could take a backseat to voter engagement given that special elections historically draw far fewer voters to the polls than midterm or general election cycles.

“Susan Wright is still probably the favorite based on the early judgments people made and the Trump endorsement in particular, but I think what makes it unpredictable is that Ellzey is probably a better campaigner than Susan Wright is, and in a very low turnout race — which this is expected to be — it’s very hard to tell (who will win),” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University who specializes in Texas politics.

Jillson predicts it will be unlikely that Independent and Democratic voters turn out in large enough numbers on what is expected to be a scorching hot day to cast their ballots in opposition to the Trump-backed candidate. Still, the uncertainty of how many voters plan to participate in an off-cycle runoff election looms over the contest.

“You don’t know how many people are going to turn out. You don’t know who they’re going to be, (or) where they’re going to be — the northern part of the district leans toward Wright, the southern part of the district leans toward Ellzey,” he said in an interview with ABC News Monday.

Regardless of who comes out on top, the outcome of Tuesday’s election signals an inherent victory for congressional Republicans and will further narrow Democrats’ majority in the House. The lack of an opposing party member in the running allows Republicans to focus their spending in more competitive contests in the future.

“I look forward to welcoming a new Republican colleague to Congress,” National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Emmer said in May following Wright and Ellzey’s runoff advancements.

FDA says its ‘working as quickly as possible’ to review for full approval of vaccines

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As pressure grows for the Food and Drug Administration to give full approval for the vaccine, a move that could drive up vaccinations by allowing vaccine mandates in places such as the military and schools, the agency told ABC News on Monday that reviewing the vaccines is among its “highest priorities.”

“The FDA recognizes that vaccines are key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and is working as quickly as possible to review applications for full approval,” FDA spokesperson Alison Hunt said in a statement.

But critics maintain that full approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, beyond the temporary approval that they currently have, needs to happen quicker. The argument is that the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective, and full FDA approval could increase Americans’ confidence in the vaccines at a time when the country is teetering dangerously at just 50% full vaccination while up against the fast-spreading delta variant.

“I think a lot of us are baffled why the FDA is taking so long,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday.

The FDA will surely approve of the vaccines, Jha said, but needed to “move a bit faster now.”

So what do we know about the timeline?

Full approval of a vaccine under priority review, as both Pfizer and Moderna are, usually takes six months. The FDA has said it intends to complete it much quicker than that, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, recently said he expected full approval for Pfizer in a month or so, by August, and Moderna to follow thereafter.

Pfizer submitted for full approval on May 7, almost three months ago, and Moderna on June 1, almost two months ago. So, the decision should not be too far off.

And what does FDA say about the criticism that it’s moving too slowly?

Asked by ABC News on Monday if the review is moving slower than anticipated, the FDA stood by the process.

FDA spokesperson Alison Hunt said that reviewing the vaccines is “among the highest priorities of the agency, and the agency intends to complete the review far in advance of the PDUFA Goal Date.” The goal date is January 2022, though that’s a regulatory deadline and not when it’s expected.

“The FDA recognizes that vaccines are key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and is working as quickly as possible to review applications for full approval,” Hunt said.

The FDA also emphasized that the current authorization — an Emergency Use Authorization — was conducted thoroughly, signaling that it stands on solid ground and should be fully approved.

“Although an authorization is not an FDA approval, the FDA conducted a thorough scientific evaluation of each of the authorized vaccines and can assure the public and medical community that the vaccines meet FDA’s rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality,” Hunt said.

Some have also argued that the FDA has to take its time so that any vaccine mandates that follow the full approval go as smoothly as possible. Any cracks in the approval process or accusations of rushing, could lead to even more pushback. That’s already played out over the last few months, as hesitant Americans have refused to take the vaccine because they fear it was given emergency authorization too hastily.

That was White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s defense on Monday.

“The FDA is the gold standard in our view, and they move at the speed of science,” Psaki said to ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega, who asked why the FDA hadn’t yet given full approval of the vaccines.

“It wouldn’t be responsible to expedite that process at a faster speed than the science and data allows.”

Blinken makes first trip to India amid heightened tensions with China

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW DELHI) — If this week is the Biden administration’s full-court press in Asia, then Secretary of State Antony Blinken is playing point guard with his first trip to India.

President Joe Biden has made it a top foreign policy priority to rally against the rising authoritarianism of China, Russia.

That makes Blinken’s visit to the world’s largest democracy critical, amid global challenges like COVID-19 and climate change that Blinken has stressed require global cooperation and as ties with China harden.

That relationship took another nasty turn this past weekend. Beijing issued a strident warning to Washington as Blinken’s deputy Wendy Sherman met her Chinese counterparts in China on Sunday – again accusing the U.S. of bullying and scapegoating.

In addition to Blinken’s high-profile visit, Biden has deployed his Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Southeast Asia to meet key partners, while Sherman consulted top allies Japan and South Korea before her meetings in China.

India, with a population larger than China’s and an economy third only to the U.S. and China, is seen as critical in Washington to pushing back on Beijing. But after a decadeslong bipartisan push to pull India closer to the United States’ orbit, there is a concern in some circles over India’s democratic backsliding, especially on minorities’ rights, political dissent and freedom of the press.

Those are issues that Blinken has said will be at the forefront of Biden’s foreign policy, but they may take a back seat to pressing geopolitical priorities, like boosting India’s production and export of COVID vaccines or decreasing carbon emissions and seeking other solutions to climate change.

Dean Thompson, the top U.S. diplomat for South and Central Asia, said India’s record on human rights will be addressed during Blinken’s meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

“We will raise it, and we will continue that conversation because we firmly believe that we have more values in common on those fronts than we don’t,” he said — a collaborative, not critical tone.

Thompson also made clear that the meetings in New Delhi “will focus on expanding our security, defense, cyber, and counterterrorism cooperation” and boosting their “increased convergence on regional and global issues.” In particular, Blinken himself emphasized ending the pandemic as swiftly as possible by unleashing India’s vaccines overseas again after its own horrific outbreak led to restrictions on exports.

“When that production engine gets fully going and can distribute again to the rest of the world, that’s going to make a big difference, too, so I’ll be talking to our Indian friends about that,” he said in an interview with MSNBC Friday.

That pause in India’s distribution of vaccines has delayed efforts to combat the pandemic, although Thompson said that a billion-dose initiative by the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia is still aiming to roll out in 2022. But as cases rise around the world again, including in the U.S., there’s a new urgency to speed up global distribution and stave off any new variants.

Beyond vaccines and climate, it’s clear Biden officials hope to pick up where predecessors left off and boost ties with India to counter what they consider China’s aggressive behavior.

Wendy Sherman, the No. 2 at the State Department, met her Chinese counterparts in the northern port city Tianjin on Sunday, urging open lines of communication and saying the U.S. “do[es] not seek conflict,” according to the State Department.

But she also carried a laundry list of Chinese behaviors that the U.S. opposes, including economic espionage and cyber theft, territorial claims like in the South China Sea, and human rights violations in Hong Kong and against Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang province.

The U.S. says many of these issues are evidence of China undermining the world’s rules. But China has dismissed that in increasingly vocal and dramatic tones, including during a very public spat between Blinken and Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and their Chinese counterparts in March.

“U.S. policy seems to be demanding cooperation when it wants something from China; decoupling, cutting off supplies, blockading or sanctioning China when it believes it has an advantage; and resorting to conflict and confrontation at all costs,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said during the meetings, according to China’s Foreign Ministry. All of these issues the U.S. raised are China’s business as a sovereign country, it added, accusing the U.S. of bullying.

Not long ago, India was largely neutral on these issues. But it has also now borne the brunt of Chinese action and waded into its own hostilities with Beijing. Last year high in the Himalayas, security forces from the two countries even sparred in hand-to-hand combat over their disputed border.

In the year since then, Modi’s government has taken steps to penalize China, including banning dozens of Chinese apps like WeChat and TikTok.

That’s helped to push India closer to the so-called “Quad,” with Japan, Australia and the U.S.

Biden held the first leader-level summit of the group as one of his first foreign meetings of his administration, with Blinken’s trip this week expected to help lay the groundwork for another – and the first in-person – in the months to come.

Socialist school teacher to be sworn in as Peru’s president on 200th independence anniversary

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A rural schoolteacher and son of illiterate campesinos from the Andean highlands is poised to be sworn in as Peru’s president Wednesday, the same day the country will commemorate its 200th anniversary of independence from Spain. His inauguration comes after a fiercely contested presidential runoff last month.

The moonshot candidacy and ultimate victory of leftist Pedro Castillo, whose ascension from political oblivion as a fiery union leader, was announced last week after one of the most protracted political battles in Peru’s history. His far-right challenger, Keiko Fujimori, daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, refused to concede for over a month, alleging widespread voter fraud with sparse evidence.

Castillo’s win has rattled Peru’s coastal elites and electrified its marginalized peasant and Indigenous classes hailing from the Andes and Amazon regions, hundreds of whom have descended on the capital, Lima, to serve as ronderos, or peasant patrollers in support of the president-elect.

“Those with power in this country treat us like second-class citizens. We’re here to reclaim what is ours,” said Maruja Inquilla Sucasaca, a Quechua environmentalist from Puno in southeastern Peru.

The final tally hinged on just 44,000 votes. Castillo’s Marxist Leninist party, Peru Libre, clinched 50.1% of votes to Fujimori’s conservative Fuerza Popular party, which took 49.9%.

Backed by a battalion of lawyers, Fujimori delayed certification of Castillo’s victory for over 40 days, seeking to disqualify 200,000 votes in Indigenous and rural enclaves in which he drew overwhelming support.

In a speech last week, Fujimori maintained that thousands of votes were stolen from her. She decried the electoral commission’s results as “illegitimate” and encouraged supporters to continue to mobilize, while also signaling she would honor the results.

International observers, including the Organization of American States, have called the elections free and fair. In a statement last week, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the Biden Administration is “eager to work with President-Elect Castillo’s administration.”

“She undertook a Trump-like effort to delegitimize the election,” said Brian Winter, vice president of policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas. “But under extreme pressure, the electoral authority managed to appear sober, even-handed and calm.”

Keiko Fujimori is heiress to a political dynasty forged by her father, Alberto Fujimori, a towering and deeply polarizing figure who ruled the Andean nation with an authoritarian grip from 1990-2000.

Despite suspending the constitution and sanctioning death-squads to suppress Maoist guerrilla insurgencies in the 1990s, many credit him for laying the foundation of Peru’s modern economy. Fujimori, 82, is currently serving a 25-year sentence for human rights violations.

“It’s almost impossible to separate her identity from the nostalgia a part of Peruvian society feels toward her father,” said Winter. “She has now twice come within a very close distance of the presidency. It’s premature to declare her career over.”

For weeks, Fujimori’s supporters have camped in front of Peru’s supreme court demanding an international audit of votes.

“In this election fraud and the scourge of communism won. We’re here to fight for our democracy,” said one supporter, Fredy Gonzales, 60.

Four blocks away, in front of the national electoral commision headquarters, rural supporters of Castillo said they were camped out to “defend” the electoral authority and safeguard their votes. Some carried traditional Andean whips known as chicotes in case of unrest.

“We’ll stay until his inauguration, but if the president of the people calls on us, we’ll return as many times as he needs us,” said Jaime Diaz, 49, another Quechua supporter.

The cornerstone of 51-year-old Pedro Castillo’s campaign, a slogan as well-worn as his straw hat: “No more poor people in a rich country.” The president-elect, who hails from Cajamarca in Peru’s rugged north, has promised to rewrite the country’s constitution and redistribute mineral wealth. Peru is the world’s second-largest copper producer.

Castillo’s victory comes amid ever-deepening political turmoil. Peru has endured four presidents and two congresses in the past five years.

Castillo’s rise from a cow and chicken-raising provincial school teacher came in 2017 when he gained national recognition as leader of a prolonged teachers strike. His victory has served as a blunt rebuke of Peru’s political and business class in Lima, many of whom fear the proposed economic policies of his Marxist party will plunge the country into a crisis the likes of neighboring Venezuela.

On Wednesday Castillo will take the helm of a nation reeling from economic and public health crises. Over 195,000 Peruvians have died from COVID-19, the highest per capita death rate in the world.

Addressing hundreds of supporters from a balcony in central Lima Friday, Castillo vowed to vaccinate all Peruvians and recharge a stagnant economy. He also sought to allay concern he will transform Peru into a socialist Venezuela or Cuba.

“I categorically reject the notion that we’re going to bring in models from other countries. We are not Chavistas, we are not communists or extremists, much less terrorists.”

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