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Justice Department has ‘concerns’ about Purdue Pharma bankruptcy exit plan

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department said Monday it has “fundamental concerns” with Purdue Pharma’s plan to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Purdue filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of lawsuits across the country over its aggressive marketing of OxyContin and other opioid products.

While the department said it supports Purdue Pharma’s proposed business model of becoming a public benefit corporation and welcomes the distribution of more than $4 billion to states for opioids mitigation, it opposes shielding the heirs of founders Raymond and Mortimer Sackler from additional opioids-related litigation since they themselves are not going through bankruptcy.

“The proposed shareholder release violates due process principles,” the Justice Department statement, filed with the bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York, said.

“To be sure, many individual creditors in the Purdue bankruptcy have agreed to give this release in exchange for the payments and other benefits they will receive under the plan, and presumably find this to be a fair deal. But many others, including states who have voted against or objected to the plan, have not agreed.”

Also on Monday, the United States trustee, who supervises bankruptcy cases for the Department of Justice, took the more formal step of objecting to the plan, which requires Sackler family members to pay over $4 billion in cash and assets, but does not require any admission of wrongdoing.

U.S. Trustee William K. Harrington cited the “extraordinarily broad release of the Sackler family” from any liability for the nation’s opioids epidemic as a reason for his objection.

“The plan provides that some members of the Sackler family will ‘contribute’ more than $4.3 billion to fund opioid abatement and compensation trusts established under the plan,” Harrington said in the court filing. “But there is a catch: Payment is conditioned on every member of the Sackler family and associated parties — which total hundreds, if not thousands — receiving a release from all liability from all persons, even if they are not creditors or parties in interest, for the Sackler family’s alleged wrongdoing in concocting and perpetuating for profit one of the most severe public health crises ever experienced in the United States.”

“Although styled as a third-party release, it is nothing less than an illegal, court-ordered discharge of a potentially limitless group of non-debtors,” the trustee wrote.

The Justice Department has, in other cases, formally objected to releasing third parties who are not going through the bankruptcy process themselves from legal liability.

In a letter last month, Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to formally object to Purdue’s plan.

“Allowing the Sacklers to obtain legal immunity through Purdue’s bankruptcy would be a tragic miscarriage of justice,” Maloney said. “While the settlement will provide much-needed transparency about the Sacklers’ central role in creating, fueling, and profiting from America’s opioid epidemic, we remain troubled that the Sacklers are poised to escape accountability yet again.”

Purdue Pharma’s reorganization plan “has the potential to improve public health by speeding resources to communities and individuals affected by the opioid crisis,” Steve Miller, chairman of Purdue’s board of directors, said in a statement earlier this year. “That is what we have been working toward since the 2019 bankruptcy filing.”

The company last year pleaded guilty to three felonies — one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute — as part of a settlement with the Justice Department.

A hearing to finalize Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy exit plan is scheduled for Aug. 9.

ABC News’ Celia Darrough contributed to this report.

Dad shares warning after kids allegedly contract COVID-19 from unvaccinated relative

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — A Philadelphia father of two is speaking out about the ongoing risk of COVID-19 for children after his son and daughter tested positive for the virus.

Adam Joseph, a meteorologist for ABC station WPVI, said his 6-year-old son Jacob and 5-year-old daughter Hannah tested positive for COVID-19 after having contact with a relative who was not vaccinated against the virus.

Joseph said the relative tested negative for COVID-19 prior to the visit with his family, but later tested positive for the virus.

In addition to his children, their nanny also contracted COVID-19, according to Joseph.

He and his husband, Karl, are both vaccinated and have so far both tested negative for COVID-19.

“We kind of feel like we failed as parents, to a degree, after protecting our children for nearly a year-and-a-half from this, and were doing so well,” Joseph said in a Facebook video.

Children under the age of 12 are currently not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for use in children ages 12 to 15 in May by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The two other COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are currently available only for people 18 years and older in the U.S.

Joseph’s warning to parents about protecting young children from people who are not vaccinated comes as top health officials warn that COVID-19 has become a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” in the U.S.

In addition to data showing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are predominantly among unvaccinated people, the more transmissible delta variant is driving up COVID-19 cases.

In light of the delta variant, health experts are pushing back on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May that fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks.

The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday called for schools to enforce universal masking mandates because so many children won’t be protected by fall and schools have no way of verifying COVID vaccine status yet.

People who are not vaccinated, including children between the ages of 2 and 11, should continue to wear face masks in indoor public places and practice social distancing and hand washing, according to the CDC.

Joseph’s children experienced symptoms including a fever, chills and coughing, but are now improving. The children’s nanny and relative are experiencing additional COVID-19 complications, according to Joseph.

“Please, if you are not vaccinated, do not go around children who are under 12, they are so vulnerable right now,” Joseph said on Facebook. “They do not have a choice to get the vaccine at this point.”

“We need to protect our children, and make sure they stay healthy because this delta variant is affecting kids. This new delta variant is affecting vaccinated people as well,” he said. “It’s everyone’s choice, we’re all adults, whether we want to get vaccinated or not. I’m not here to push that. I’m just asking you, begging you, if you’re not vaccinated, to wear a mask wherever you go in public, even though it’s not mandatory.”

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Soon-to-be youngest American in space shares how surviving cancer helped prepare her for mission

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hayley Arceneaux’s dreams of becoming an astronaut were crushed after being diagnosed with pediatric bone cancer at 10 years old, but now she’s set to go to space in the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth.

Now, the 29-year-old St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital physician assistant is set to make history as the youngest American, first pediatric cancer survivor, and person with a prosthesis to go to space as one of the crew members in SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission.

The four-person mission will launch in September in a SpaceX rocket commanded by entrepreneur and part-time pilot Jared Isaacman.

Isaacman donated two seats to the hospital: One for Arceneaux and another that is being raffled to the public as part of a $200 million fundraiser for the hospital.

Arceneaux shared how her battle with cancer as a child prepared her for the mission into orbit and her excitement for the experience ahead.

Arceneaux told co-host Sunny Hostin that she’s “been so excited” and “so ready” for the space mission.

“I’m going to be the youngest American to go to space, but also what I’m really excited about is that I’m going to be the first pediatric cancer survivor to go to space, and the first person with an internal prosthesis,” she said.

During her one-year treatment at St. Jude for bone cancer, Arceneaux had to get surgery to replace her knee and had a metal rod put in her left thigh bone to save her leg.

“I’m really excited to show all these kids going through cancer treatment what they can do too,” Arceneaux said.

Arceneaux’s family trip to NASA’s headquarters when she was 10 years old inspired her to become an astronaut, but she said her hopes came to a halt after being diagnosed with bone cancer just a few months later.

Looking back on when the doctors told her she had cancer, Arceneaux recalled bursting into tears. “I kept saying, ‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die,’ because at age 10, everyone I had known with cancer had passed away.”

She added that it wasn’t until she was “walking into the doors of St. Jude’s” that she felt hope for survival.

“That year that I spent going through cancer treatment at St. Jude was actually the most important year of my life,” Arceneaux said. “It definitely made me who I am, and made me tough because of it, and I think in a way it prepared me to go to space.”

While Arceneaux beat cancer, she thought that going to space was a wish she’d never be able to fulfill. That is, until she received an “out of the blue” phone call in January from St. Jude.

“I was absolutely shocked when they asked if I wanted to go with them to space,” she said. “Immediately, I said yes, and then thought for a second. I was like, ‘Well let me check with my mom.'”

“Getting to be this first all-civilian mission to space, and what this means for everyone coming after us, it’s incredibly exciting to be part of,” she said.

Arceneaux, who’s currently an astronaut-in-training and will become a certified commercial astronaut after completing her mission, will be orbiting Earth for three to four days.

During her training, she said she’s learned the ins and outs of SpaceX’s spacecraft as well as centrifuge training and hypoxia training. Next week, the crew will learn about water survival.

Since Arceneaux is a physician assistant, she’s the designated medical officer on the mission and goes through additional training.

While they are in orbit, “going deeper, higher into space” than any space crew has in 15 years, Arceneaux and the crew will do research on the radiation profile that is seen in that level of space.

“We’re gonna be doing some cognition tests while we’re up there, taking some blood and all kinds of samples to learn any radiation exposure effects, and also testing the microbiome as we’re in this close capsule, all of us breathing the same air, seeing really what the bacteria does on our skin,” she said on “The View.”

On July 11, billionaire Sir Richard Branson flew to the lower edge of space and back to planet Earth in the first fully crewed flight from his private space tourism firm Virgin Galactic. Another billionaire, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is set to launch to the edge of space on Tuesday with the first crewed flight from his private space-faring firm Blue Origin.

Arceneaux weighed in on the billionaires blasting off into space.

“It’s so exciting that more and more people are getting to experience space,” Arceneaux said, adding that her Inspiration4 mission crew was together to watch Branson and plan to be together again to watch Bezos.

“How our mission is different is we’re going to be orbiting, and spending three days in space, participating in research and going through some really extensive training to get us there,” she continued.

“Until my mission, I could have never been a NASA astronaut with the rod that I have in my leg,” Arceneaux said. “Now that space travel is being opened up, you no longer have to be physically perfect to go to space.”

Every episode of ABC’s award-winning talk show “The View” is now available as a podcast! Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher or the ABC News app.

Children found alive after suspect opens fire on EMTs, firefighters responding to separate incidents

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TUCSON, Ariz.) — Several children initially missing following a deadly fire and shooting rampage that targeted multiple first responders in Tucson, Arizona, have been found alive, police said on Monday.

Tucson Police Department Sgt. Richard Gradillas told ABC News that the two or three children who resided at a home where a badly burned body was discovered in the blaze were found on Monday, but released no further details.

Gradillas said police were still conducting an investigation to determine that the children were not harmed. He said police plan to hold a news conference on Monday afternoon to update the public on the shooting spree.

A 35-year-old man allegedly launched a shooting rampage across three different crime scenes that left at least two people dead and four wounded.

The alleged gunman, whose name has yet to be released, was critically wounded in a shootout with a police officer after he allegedly rammed the officer’s squad car with his SUV, officials said.

The gunman allegedly began the deadly rampage by targeting two EMTs who were responding to a medical emergency at a park, Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said at a news conference on Sunday.

Magnus said the suspect got out of his silver SUV, approached the ambulance and opened fire, striking the driver in the head and the passenger in the arm and chest.

The 20-year-old EMT driver remained in “extremely critical condition” on Monday, while the EMT in the passenger seat, a 21-year-old woman, is listed in stable condition.

The suspect fled the scene and allegedly drove up to the house blaze in an SUV about 3:45 p.m. local time on Sunday as fire trucks were arriving.

That’s when the suspect “arrives on the scene and starts firing at both the fire department personnel and the neighbors,” Magnus said.

Without warning, the suspect unleashed a barrage of gunfire, hitting a fire department captain in the arm and fatally striking a neighbor who was helping to put out the fire in the head, police said. A second neighbor was grazed in the head by a bullet.

At this point, firefighters called the police to say they were being shot at.

The fire captain and neighbor wounded in the incident were both in good condition on Monday.

The first police officer who arrived at the scene of the fire and shooting spotted the suspect’s vehicle in the area, officials said.

The suspect’s SUV rammed the officer’s car, disabling it, Magnus said. The officer then exited the vehicle and exchanged gunfire with the alleged suspect, striking him.

Magnus said making the incident more complex is the fact a dead body was found inside the burning residence. The fire victim was burned beyond recognition and police have not released the person’s identity. Police said it’s unclear if the person’s death is directly related to the suspect.

This is a “highly tragic, really horrific incident with many unknowns,” Magnus said Sunday night. The investigation, he said, will be “lengthy and complex.”

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero posted a message on Twitter asking residents to pray for the full recovery of the wounded first responders.

“This was a horrific and senseless act of violence,” Romero said.

Extreme heat causing baby birds to injure themselves after fleeing hot nests

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(New York) — The record-breaking heat waves that have killed dozens of people in the West Coast last month have also had a dire impact on the region’s bird population, particularly its youngest members.

And wildlife experts and environmentalists are warning that this could be a dire sign of things to come as climate change continues to alter the ecosystem.

During the record-breaking heat wave at the end of June, dozens of nesting baby birds, from raptors to corvid species, have been jumping out of their nests to escape the heat and falling to the ground. The Portland Audubon Society reported that it had 100 hawks admitted to wildlife care centers during the final week of June when temperatures were as high as 116 degrees.

“As we have more heat waves and more wildfires, we’re taking away their habitat and they won’t have anywhere to nest,” Sally Compton, the executive director of Think Wild Central Oregon, a nonprofit wildlife hospital, told ABC News.

Compton said her office received triple the amount of calls of injured and separated baby birds and patients than last summer, with 60 patients at the end of June alone.

“During the busy season we have about 10 to 20 cases,” Compton said.

The patients suffered severe head trauma and other fractures, she said. Other birds have showed signs of overheating, such as mouth breathing and longer sleep periods, according to Compton.

Nesting season usually takes place between April and June in the West Coast, according to the Audubon Society. In most cases birds will build their nests in the highest locations of the forests, Compton said.

The extreme heat waves, however, made these locations more dangerous for the baby birds, she said.

“Not only are they exposed to the really high temperatures but they’re also exposed to the direct sunlight,” she said. “They have no choice that they have to flee from the nest.”

Nat Seavy, director of migration science with the Migratory Bird Initiative at the National Audubon Society, told ABC News that baby birds are the most vulnerable because they are still fledging.

“They simply don’t have the ability to move to a better place,” Seavy told ABC News.

And it’s not just the birds that are feeling the heat. Compton said she treated a golden mantle ground squirrel that suffered burns from the heat last weekend.

So far, the damage to the animals hasn’t been too harsh, according to the advocates who have been treating them.

Compton said her team has been able to heal many of the injured birds, reunite them with their families and establish nests in parts of the forests with more shade. The Portland Audubon Society also reunited some hawks that were injured.

She and other advocates warned that increased heat waves will result in long-term problems for the West Coast fauna.

Liz Hadly, a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, told ABC News that nesting seasons tend to align with times of the year that weren’t hot.

“That mismatch of the nesting period of the bird and the rising temperatures is offset. When you factor in that developmental phase of being fed in the nest and not able to leave the nest, this makes them sitting ducks,” she said.

The ecological shift could lead to several dire outcomes including, longer fledging periods for the baby birds and a decline in the number of birds that make it to adulthood, according to Hadly.

“Their nesting success may decline,” she said.

Seavy and the other experts said that this should propel everyone to work on combating climate change because once the bird population is negatively affected, it won’t take long for other animals to suffer as well.

“Birds tell us the impacts of climate change are serious,” he said. “We have to recognize that we have to address the changes for both wildlife and people.”

New chief chosen for Capitol Police: Sources

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) —The Capitol Police Department has a new chief, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

They confirmed to ABC News that J. Thomas Manger has been selected to be the leader of the department.

Manger has previously served as the police chief in Montgomery County, Maryland, and in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was also the president of the Major City Chiefs of Police Association.

He replaces acting Chief Yogananda Pittman.

Capitol Police referred questions from ABC News to the Capitol Police Board which picks the new chief.

This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.

Chicago unveils gun violence plan after another violent weekend

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(CHICAGO) — Following another violent weekend in Chicago in which 56 people were shot, 11 fatally, the Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown announced a new strategy to combat gun violence.

Brown said the department will create a team of 50 officers to target gun traffickers, straw buyers, unscrupulous licensed firearms dealers and anyone who facilitates the flow of illegal guns into the city.

“The point of this investigations team — which is new and unique, and a first in its class — is to get the gun before it hits the streets at the trafficking level,” Brown said at a news conference Monday. “These third parties need to hear me loud and clear: We’re coming for you, and we’re going to try to charge you with the highest charge we can, if not in the federal system, then at the state attorney’s office.”

The new strategy comes amid an 11% increase in shootings in Chicago this year over the same time period as last year.

Aiming his words at those who purchase illegal guns used in crimes, he said, “Do not buy guns for violent people is our message, or you will pay the price for them by doing what we hope to be serious time.”

“Whatever they’re paying you to go buy these guns … it’s blood money,” Brown said. “Blood is on your hands, and we’re coming for you.”

He said the new gun investigations team will work closely with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as state and federal prosecutors in an attempt to demolish any gun pipelines into the city and bring purveyors of illegal firearms to justice.

Brown said one of the major focuses of the team, which the department began assembling in the spring, will be to trace every illegal gun seized in Chicago to the person who sold the weapons to the perpetrators or those who bought the guns on their behalf.

He said the federal government will also being sending a firearms strike force to the city as early as this week to help curb the flow of illegal firearms.

The superintendent also announced that a 24-hour gun trafficking tipline is being established and will be supported by a $1 million fund allocated by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to “give Chicago residents a voice to remove these tools for violence from the streets of Chicago.” He said “significant payouts” will be made for tips that lead to arrests, indictments and convictions of gun traffickers and others that deal in illegal firearms.

“Someone in this community knows who that is, and we want to incentivize you coming forward anonymously,” Brown said. “We want to incentivize you to help the police department protect your community by giving these people up.”

Brown began the news conference by saying that over the weekend, Chicago police officers seized 113 illegal guns and that, so far this year, a total of 6,629 illegal firearms have been taken off the streets — a 26% increase from 2020.

“Every gun recovery is a potential deadly force encounter, and every gun recovery is a potential saved life,” Brown said.

The superintendent added that 3,264 people have been arrested this year on gun charges.

He also announced arrests in two homicides. In one, a 17-year-old juvenile and an 18-year-old man were arrested in the slaying of a 73-year-old Vietnam vet during a July 14 carjacking. In the other, a 31-year-old suspect was arrested in the fatal execution-style shooting of a man on July 17.

But Brown said seizing illegal guns and solving homicides has clearly not been enough to stem the tide of gun violence overwhelming the city, noting the number of shootings that occurred over the weekend.

Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said one of the shootings occurred on Saturday night at a graduation party in the Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side and left six people injured, including four children.

“This was a group that had gotten together previously to celebrate a graduation party, and it was very successful, a really good group of kids and individuals and no issues,” Deenihan said. “So they decided since they had a successful gathering the first time, then ‘why can’t we do this again?'”

He said that during the party, a vehicle drove up, and two gunmen opened fire on the group mingling outside.

“There was no motive as to anybody in this group was involved in any criminal activity,” Deenihan said.

No arrests were made in what Deenihan described as a mass shooting.

Brown said police in Chicago and across the nation are seeing a surge in drive-by shootings rivaling a level not seen since the 1980s and 1990s.

He said that while the new gun investigations team will be “relentless” in its effort to intercept illegal firearms before they are used on the streets, he added they will need held from the community and “a lot of luck.”

“It’s always better to be lucky than good, but we’re going to be very good at this,” he said. “If we are successful, and I believe we will be, it will save untold lives getting these guns out of the hands of people in the first place instead of waiting until after they use the gun or after we make an arrest and recover the gun. We’ll be on the front end of this to get the traffickers.”

Ciara debuts Dare to Roam line of antimicrobial accessories

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Ciara is a superstar singer, mom, wife and all-around mogul, and her latest venture, Dare to Roam, feels right on time.

Just ahead of back-to-school shopping, the “Level Up” singer has introduced a new line of accessories that are ideal for children and adults.

Dare to Roam launches Aug. 11 and includes stylish, functional backpacks, lunch boxes and pouches.

Ciara was inspired to create the brand after spending lots of time at home and wanting to transform the way we commute, travel and get back into the world post-pandemic.

The collection features EPA-registered antimicrobial texture, which serves as an added layer of protection against harmful bacteria — suppressing the growth of mold, mildew, fungi and bacteria.

The antimicrobial shield also helps to eliminate discoloration, odors and overall deterioration, which allows for each accessory to require less washing and be more sustainably used.

“I’m excited to share a cool new project I’ve been working on to help you rebuild your confidence as you Dare To Roam,” said Ciara in a statement Monday as she shared the collection on Instagram.

Dare to Roam came to life in partnership with NYC-based creative agency Harper + Scott with style, utility and protection top of mind, and the agency’s CEO Michael Scott Cohen mentioned in a statement that Dare to Roam was created based on Ciara’s vision.

Prices range from $42 to $98, and with every purchase, 3% of profits will go toward the Why Not You Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to education, children’s health, fighting poverty and empowering youth to lead with a “why not you” attitude.

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Ciara’s upcoming accessories rollout follows news of her husband, Russell Wilson, debuting his 3BRAND children’s clothing line.

Senate Democrats take voting rights push to Georgia

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — For the first time in 20 years, the Senate Rules Committee held a field hearing on Monday, this time in Atlanta to discuss voting rights as Democrats push for federal reform in the wake of sweeping legislation in Georgia — and in GOP-led legislatures across the country — which Democrats argue will make it harder for voters to cast their ballots.

“It is no coincidence that this assault on the freedom to vote is happening just after the 2020 election, when nearly 160 million Americans cast a ballot — more than ever before — in the middle of a pandemic, in an election that the Trump Department of Homeland Security Declared the most secure in history,” Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said as she opened the hearing.

Witnesses included Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and state lawmakers and voters who would be affected by the law — which, in part, adds a voter ID requirement and results in fewer drop boxes available in the Atlanta-area.

Those testifying focused their ire on Senate Bill 202 (SB 202), a Georgia state bill passed in March that shortens the periods between elections and runoffs, bans early voting on holidays, and makes it a crime for someone who is not an election worker to give food or drinks to anyone waiting in line.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the hearing in a statement as it kicked off Monday, deeming it all “phony hysteria.”

“This silly stunt is based on the same lie as all the Democrats’ phony hysteria from Georgia to Texas to Washington D.C. and beyond — their efforts to pretend that moderate, mainstream state voting laws with more generous early voting provisions than blue states like New York are some kind of evil assault on our democracy,” the GOP leader said.

But Warnock testified Georgia was “ground zero” for GOP efforts to suppress the vote.

“What we did in Georgia this last election, in terms of turnout, should have been celebrated, by everyone, regardless of political party. But instead it was attacked by craven politicians, who are more committed to the maintenance of their own power than they are to the strengthening and maintaining of our democracy,” Warnock said.

Citing restrictions in Georgia’s new law, particularly how it would prohibit non-poll workers from handing out water and would let people challenge others’ votes, Warnock called for federal voting right protections and emphasized the urgency of those efforts: “We Americans live in a great house that democracy built. Right now, that house is on fire.”

Georgia State Rep. Billy Mitchell also argued SB 202 was moved overly quickly through the Georgia legislature to the governor’s desk.

No Republicans were present at the hearing, but Republicans from Georgia — including Gov. Brian Kemp — criticized the event in a call with reporters later on Monday morning.

“Today’s hearing is just the latest attempt by the Democrats to ignore the catastrophe up in Washington, DC and also to really change the narrative that couldn’t get the federal takeover of elections in S1 [the For the People Act voting rights bill] passed through the Senate or the Congress,” Kemp said.

Klobuchar said that Republicans were invited to join; Kemp said that he was in a hearing about crime during the voting hearing, and that he does not believe Klobuchar’s hearing was fair.

The hearing comes as Senate Democrats put pressure on their colleagues across the aisle to move forward in unison on the stalled For the People Act, an expansive package that would transform federal elections, voting and congressional redistricting, which passed the House in March.

A more measured proposal with some Republican support named for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., which would restore pieces of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, has also failed to advance through Congress.

Democrats argue lawmakers must act with more urgency on voting legislation also in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court deciding last month to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona that Democrats and voting advocates have called discriminatory on the basis of race.

Monday’s hearing also comes at a busy time in Washington.

Both chambers of Congress were back in session Monday as Democrats in the Texas State Legislature took harbor in the capital for a second week in order to prevent Republicans in Austin from taking up the proposals in a special legislative session. While they had planned to push voting rights legislation on the hill, five members have tested positive for COVID-19.

And just days after Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty was arrested along with other activists in a display of civil disobedience on Capitol Hill, the “Women’s Moral Monday March on Washington” rally, organized by the Women’s March and Poor People Campaign, added their voices with a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court Monday.

The group demanded that Congress take action on issues such as ending the filibuster and expanding voting rights.

Sixteen states have enacted 28 laws that would restrict voting access, out of hundreds that have been introduced throughout the country, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

ABC News’ Libby Cathey and Trish Turner contributed to this report.

Canada will open borders to vaccinated Americans soon

July 19, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Nearly a year and a half after the pandemic forced Canada and the United States to close their borders, fully vaccinated Americans will have their chance to visit the Great White North.

The Canadian government announced Monday that fully vaccinated U.S. residents will be allowed to visit the country starting Aug. 9. Those travelers won’t be subject to quarantine upon entry, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.

In March 2020, the Canadian government banned travel between the two countries, with a few exceptions, because of rising COVID-19 cases around the world. Patty Hajdu, the Canadian minister of health, said the declining cases in the country and rising vaccinations among residents gave the government a strong foundation to allow international visitors.

“Canadians have worked hard and sacrificed for each other, and because of that work, we can take these next steps safely,” she said in a statement.

Americans who wish to travel to the country must be 14 days out of their second shot, according to the new rules. They must also submit their vaccination documentation and other information on the ArriveCAN website or app in order to get approval of entry.

A negative COVID-19 test is also required prior to entry.

If the health trends continue to progress favorably, the Canadian government will allow fully vaccinated travelers from other nations to visit the country.

For the last 16 months, the Canadian government has only allowed Americans to enter under certain conditions, such as if they had immediate family, were international students or worked in the country.

As of July 19, over 18.8 million Canadian residents were fully vaccinated, roughly half of the country’s population, according to John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Over 161 million Americans, roughly half of the U.S. population, is fully vaccinated, the Johns Hopkins data shows.

Any American who needs help scheduling a free vaccine appointment can log onto vaccines.gov.

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