(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is planning to send out hundreds of thousands of monkeypox vaccines in response to the outbreak of the rare disease that has been identified in multiple non-endemic countries.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday on a call with reporters that it will be sending out 296,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine for prevention of the disease for people who have been exposed.
Of that number, 56,000 doses will become available immediately and an additional 240,000 doses will become available in a few weeks. Officials said they expect 750,000 more doses to become available over the summer, and an additional 500,000 doses throughout the fall.
This allows for a total of “1.6 million doses we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Dr. David Boucher, director of infectious disease preparedness and response at HHS, told reporters during the call.
Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding its recommendation of who gets the monkeypox vaccine due to the difficulty identifying all contacts in the current outbreak.
Previously, the federal health agency only recommended vaccination for people who had been identified as being exposed through contact tracing.
But the CDC said it is now recommending the vaccine for those with confirmed and suspected exposures, including those who have had close physical contact with a person who was diagnosed, contact with a known sexual partner who was diagnosed, and men who have sex with men who were in an area with known monkeypox exposure.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on the call that, as of Tuesday evening, 4,700 monkeypox cases have been detected globally in 49 countries.
In the U.S. alone, 306 cases have been identified across 28 jurisdictions with no deaths.
Many cases have been reported among men who identify as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, but there is currently no evidence monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection — and the experts emphasize that anyone can be infected.
Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said the majority of U.S. cases in this outbreak have occurred through intimate close contact as exposure to transmission via droplets.
However, officials advised Americans not to panic and that there are plenty of tests, vaccines and treatments for those who have been exposed to monkeypox.
“We want to remind folks this is not a novel virus,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said. “Unlike COVID, monkeypox is a virus that has been around forever. We have known about it for 60-some-odd years and we have spent years treating it in endemic nations.”
(MENDON, Mo.) — Four people were killed and dozens were injured Monday when an Amtrak train derailed after hitting a dump truck that was in an uncontrolled public crossing in Mendon, Missouri, according to Amtrak and officials.
Eight passenger cars and two locomotives derailed at about 12:42 p.m. local time, Amtrak said.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Justin Dunn initially said two of the train’s passengers were killed, along with someone who was in the dump truck.
On Tuesday, the highway patrol said a third train passenger died overnight, bringing the total number of deaths to four.
At least 150 people involved the crash were treated at 10 hospitals in the area for minor to serious injuries, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement, citing updated information from Amtrak and law enforcement.
NTSB investigators said Tuesday that the dump truck was transporting aggregate to contractors nearby for an Army Corps of Engineers project. The NTSB said the vehicle was crossing the track when the backside was hit by the train.
The agency said it was downloading the event recorders from the train and noted the train had two forward-facing cameras. The dump truck also had a data recorder that investigators are trying to examine, according to the NTSB.
“It was something that you never think is going to happen, but when it does happen, it’s far worse than anything you could have imagined,” Jason Drinkard, a passenger on the train, told ABC affiliate station KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri.
Drinkard, a high school teacher, said he was traveling with his wife and six students to Chicago for a conference, when the crash occurred. He described seeing the “carnage,” with injured passengers and crew unable to walk.
The train was en route from Los Angeles to Chicago with 275 passengers and 12 crew members on board at the time of the crash, Amtrak said. All the train occupants from the scene were evacuated, according to Dunn.
Officials at Hendrick Medical Center accepted seven patients from the scene, while officials at MU Health Care University Hospital/Columbia said its facility was treating 16 patients as of 10 p.m. ET Monday. Pershing Memorial Hospital received between 15 and 20 people from the accident.
Passenger Rob Nightingale, 58, told ABC News his train car tipped to the side and he climbed through a window to escape. He said he saw a little girl crying and her family trying to comfort her.
Some people were covered in blood, he added.
Aboard the train were two Boy Scout troops from Appleton, Wisconsin, that sprang into action, breaking windows and helping to evacuate passengers, two of the scouts’ mothers told ABC affiliate station WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Berken and Tierney said they both described a nerve-racking period of time between learning of the crash and hearing that their sons survived the crash without injuries.
“Until I heard from my son an hour later, that he was OK, I couldn’t stop shaking or crying,” Berken said.
Tierney added, “It was a phone call that no parent should ever have to receive. It was probably way up there on the scariest moments of my life.”
Scott Armstrong, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, told ABC News Tuesday that there were 16 scouts, ages 14 to 17, and eight adult chaperones who were returning home from a week-long backpacking trip at a wilderness camp in New Mexico. He said three of the adult chaperones suffered non-life-threatening injuries and remained in the hospital in stable condition.
Armstrong said one of the scouts was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released.
“Our scouts immediately sprung into action and assisted other people in getting out of the train wreckage,” Armstrong said. “The train itself is physically on its side, which can be very traumatic and disorienting, and (the scouts) helped a lot of people with basic first aid and made sure they got the proper medical attention once it arrived on scene.”
He said most of the scouts on the trip had achieved their first aid merit badge and some had been awarded their emergency preparedness merit badge.
“Frankly, we know what these kids are capable of,” Armstrong said. “I’ve always described that scouting takes ordinary kids and enables them to do extraordinary things and that was on full display yesterday.”
Armstrong said one of the scouts, a 15-year-old he described as a troop senior patrol leader, went to the front of the train and discovered the driver of the dump truck that was hit, who had been ejected from his vehicle and landed in field adjacent to the toppled train. He said the scout attempted first aid on the dump truck driver and summoned state police and emergency responders, who continued to try to save the man’s life.
“They continued to give aid and then wound up just giving comfort, frankly, as he passed away on the scene, unfortunately,” Armstrong said.
He said the scouts will be monitored in the coming weeks to ensure they are both mentally and physically OK.
“It’s a pretty traumatic experience,” Armstrong said. “It’s not always evident immediately after any incident like this and so we have mental health professionals that we’re in consultation with to make sure that those services are available to the scouts and the leaders as necessary.”
Missouri Public Safety officials, highway patrol troopers and other personnel were dispatched to the scene, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson tweeted.
Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri.
The NTSB also said there are 130,000 passive crossings in America right now, which account for about half of all crossings. The agency said it has made recommendations for years about transforming and improving “passive” crossings.
It would’ve cost $400,000 to add cross arms, lights, and bells to the Mendon crossing, according to the NTSB.
The crash came a day after an Amtrak train collided with a car in California, killing three people.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement, “My thoughts are with the victims and families affected by today’s Missouri train derailment and the Northern California collision that occurred over the weekend. I have been updated on these crashes and my team is in communication with Amtrak and the relevant authorities.”
Federal Railroad Administration personnel are en route to Mendon, where they will support NTSB investigators, Buttigieg added.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Gio Benitez and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
An archival Alice Cooper concert album that captures the shock rocker performing at a Dallas record store with the surviving members of his original band will get its official wide global release. Live from the Astroturf will come out on multiple formats September 30.
The album was originally released as a limited-edition vinyl disc. The new release will be available as a colored-vinyl LP packaged with a DVD featuring the 2019 documentary about the reunion performance; a CD/Blu-ray set also featuring the audio and the documentary; and a digital version of the record.
The reunion show took place in 2015 at Good Records in Dallas and featured Cooper joined by guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith from the original Alice Cooper band as well as guitarist Ryan Roxie from Alice’s current touring band, who stepped in after the late Glen Buxton died in 1997.
The performance was a surprise to the attendees, who had gathered at the record shop for a special in-store signing event intended to promote Dunaway’s memoir, Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!
The concert featured Cooper and company running a selection of songs from the group’s early-1970s albums, including classics like “I’m Eighteen,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Under My Wheels,” “Elected” and “School’s Out.”
The band’s performances of “I’m Eighteen and “Under My Wheels” will be featured on the Live at the Astroturf DVD and Blu-ray in addition to the documentary about the event and a lengthy interview with Dunaway, Bruce and Smith.
Physical versions of Live at the Astroturf can be preordered now at Ear-Music.net.
Here’s the full Live from the Astroturf track list:
“Caught in a Dream”
“Be My Lover”
“I’m Eighteen”
“Is It My Body”
“No More Mr. Nice Guy”
“Under My Wheels”
“School’s Out”
“Elected”
“Desperado” (Instrumental Bonus Track)
DVD/Blu-ray:
–Documentary
–Music Video: “I’m Eighteen”
–Music Video: “Under My Wheels”
–Extensive Interview with Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith
Primus has canceled the upcoming European leg of the band’s A Tribute to Kings tour.
The outing, set to kick off in the fall, was scrapped due to “unavoidable logistical challenges.”
“We apologize to our fans who were planning to attend and look forward to performing in Europe again soon,” Primus says.
Refunds will be issued to ticket holders at the point of purchase.
The A Tribute to Kings tour, which first launched in 2021, features Primus performing Rush‘s 1977 album A Farewell to Kings in full, as well as a set of their own songs. The most recent North American leg made a stop in the “Tom Sawyer” outfit’s hometown of Toronto in May, which was attended by Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
The lineup of the 2022 Aftershock festival is going through some shake-ups.
Organizers for the California hard-rock extravaganza announced Tuesday that Judas Priest and several other acts — including Bullet for My Valentine and Alice Cooper touring guitarist Nita Strauss — have dropped off the bill. A tweet announcing the news did not give a specific reason for the change, noting only that those acts are “no longer able to perform at Aftershock 2022.”
As replacements, Danzig and In Flames are among the artists that have now joined the Aftershock lineup.
Aftershock 2022 takes place October 6-9 in Sacramento. The lineup also includes KISS, Stone Temple Pilots, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, Papa Roach, Shinedown, My Chemical Romance, Helmet, GWAR and Evanescence.
Judas Priest had been scheduled to perform on October 7, the same day KISS is headlining the event. The appearance had been the first scheduled date on the fall 2022 leg of Priest’s 50 Heavy Metal Years tour, which now will kick off with an October 13 concert in Wallingford, Connecticut.
Jimmie Allen will make his debut performance appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Tuesday night, airing at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS. He’ll also perform on Good Morning America and GMA3 Wednesday morning on ABC.
Kelsea Ballerini will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday. Comedian Chelsea Handler is filling in as a guest host. The show airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
Fancy Hagood has teamed up with Kacey Musgraves for “Blue Dream Baby,” released in honor of International Pride Day.
Garth Brooks will be honored with the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award at the NSAI Nashville Songwriter Awards on September 20 at the Ryman Auditorium.
Kesha released the music video for her 2019 single “Rich, White, Straight Men” on Tuesday to protest the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. “Abortion is healthcare and healthcare is a human right,” she said. “I am a woman who should have the right to my own bodily autonomy. I should feel safe. I don’t. We won’t rest until we all are protected.”
Demi Lovato has a new tattoo — a spiderweb on their left shoulder. The “Skin of My Teeth” singer showed off their new ink on their Instagram Stories and wrote, “A spider you can see now!”
You want to live next door to Taylor Swift? Now you can! Seacoast Current reports the home located at 2 Kidds Way in Westerly, Rhode Island, is a stone’s throw away from her house and is on sale for $18.5 million. The beachfront home has several amenities, including a pool, seven bedrooms and 8.5 baths — but being neighbors with Taylor is probably the biggest perk.
Speaking of Taylor, Camila Cabello spread the love to her friend on her Instagram Stories by sharing a clip of Taylor performing “Betty” and wrote, “I will always f***in love Taylor Swift.”
Another one of Taylor’s friends had her in mind on Tuesday. Selena Gomez told USA Today the “Shake It Off” singer “really loved” the new season of Only Murders in the Building, whichis streaming now on Hulu.
Selena also revealed to The Times she has a lot in common with her Only Murders character, Mabel. “Being standoffish is not foreign to me,” she quipped. “Most of the time, I don’t trust a lot of people.”
Meghan Trainor reflected on her breakout single, “All About That Bass.” She said of her debut song, “Can’t believe it’s been 8 years and now I just finished my 4th album???” Meghan’s new album, Takin’ It Back, arrives October 21.
The Who‘s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have donated a signed electric guitar to a charity auction that will raise money for Music Support, an organization that helps people in the U.K. music industry who are dealing with mental health and addiction issues.
Daltrey and Townshend have signed a white Fender Stratocaster “Player” model that’s up for bid at CharityStars.com. As of Tuesday evening, the highest bid for the guitar was $1,220. Bidding will continue until July 5 at 3 p.m. ET.
Several other items are being auctioned at CharityStars.com to benefit Music Support, including a snare-drum head played and signed by The Clash‘s Topper Headon, a Fender Strotocaster guitar autographed by all six members of Iron Maiden and a Fender Squier guitar signed by each member of Coldplay.
Sean Penn has returned to Ukraine, where he was shooting a documentary when the Russian invasion began, and he’s apparently back to work there.
The Oscar-winning actor reportedly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, where the president reportedly thanked him “for the attention and support he has provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the war,” according to the Ukrainian Presidential News Service.
“Sean, we are very interested in showing the world what happened around Kyiv,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying. “I know you were here in the early days of this war. Much has changed in Kyiv. But there are some cities around Kyiv that are very important to show to the world — to show what Russia has done.”
For his part, Penn reportedly was interested in visiting various places in the country to document what has happened since he fled the country on foot into Poland back in February.
He said in a statement to People at the time, “President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle,” calling the country “the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams.”
In June, Penn’s Community Organized Relief Effort raised money for the war-torn country at an event that Zelenskyy addressed remotely.
(WASHINGTON) — As Tuesday’s primaries get underway, the influence of big money, the “big lie” and some Democratic groups have meddled in some of the races.
Primaries in several states, including Colorado, Illinois and New York, will also be held against the backdrop of the latest — surprise — Jan. 6 hearing in the House.
Republican candidates remain divided on Donald Trump’s evidence-free election denialism across Colorado’s congressional and statewide GOP nominating contests, which are further complicated by Democratic efforts to boost the seemingly more right-wing candidates — assuming those choices would then backfire in the general election.
Two GOP politicians are on the ballot in the Republican Senate primary hoping to unseat Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet. Businessman Joe O’Dea, the moderate in the race, has focused his campaign on public safety and economic reform.
In stark contrast, Ron Hanks has centered his campaign around the “big lie,” baselessly disputing the last presidential race. Hanks attended Trump’s infamous Jan. 6 rally in Washington ahead of the deadly insurrection at the Capitol.
In this GOP Senate primary, some Democrats have directed their money toward supporting Hanks, the election denier in the race. Democratic Colorado, a super PAC, has run ads highlighting Hanks’ conservative values; and ProgressNow Colorado has simultaneously campaigned against O’Dea. Their thinking — as yet unproven — is that Hanks will ultimately be less appealing to much of the electorate even if the conservative base embraces him.
Meanwhile four Republican candidates are vying for the nomination in Colorado’s newly minted 8th Congressional District. Whoever wins will face off against Democratic Nominee Rep. Yadira Caraveo. This highly competitive election could help decide who controls Congress in 2022, where Democrats hope to preserve their fragile majority.
The candidates in that race include state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, Thornton Mayor Jan Kulmann, Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine and political newcomer Tyler Allcorn.
While there is no front-runner in this four-way primary, Lori Saine, the most conservative candidate on the ballot, may likely prove the easiest for Democrats to beat, given past trends.
The House Majority PAC has run ads featuring Saine. Though the ad does not deliberately promote her, it characterizes her as a “conservative warrior” with strong popular Republican stances. A political action committee backing Democratic candidates has also run ads against Saine’s opponent Kirkmeyer.
For the governor’s race, two candidates are facing off in Colorado’s Republican primary to unseat Democratic incumbent Jared Polis: Heidi Ganahl, the establishment favorite, and Greg Lopez, an outspoken election denier who has emphasized that, if elected, he would pardon Tina Peters, an accused election worker there. (She has said she is innocent.)
The Democratic Governors Association sponsored ads raising Lopez’s profile, emphasizing his staunch conservative stances on issues like abortion access and gay marriage.
Against the backdrop of Trump’s election lies, Democrats play a risky game — potentially advancing election deniers further in the race for elected office.
In New York, the Democratic primary for governor features a three-way race between a favored incumbent who has yet to serve a full term and two challengers on her left and right.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is considered a front-runner after she stepped into the position (and became New York’s first female governor) in 2021, following Andrew Cuomo’s resignation.
Her two primary opponents are Rep. Tom Suozzi and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Four candidates are fighting for the nomination in the New York GOP gubernatorial primary: Rep Lee Zeldin, Rob Astorino, Andrew Giuliani (son of Rudy Giuliani) and Harry Wilson.
Zeldin was first elected to the House in 2014 after serving in the state Senate; he is a member of the House Financial Services and House Foreign Affairs committees. Zeldin also voted in 2021 to sustain objections to certifying the 2020 election results even after the Jan. 6 attack.
The younger Giuliani’s dad is a former New York City mayor and adviser and attorney for former President Trump. Andrew Guiliani recently had to join a gubernatorial debate from a separate studio, instead of appearing alongside the other candidates, because he refused to provide proof of being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Astorino is a consultant and former county executive of Westchester County while Wilson is a businessman who emphasizes his working-class roots. Notably, Wilson supports abortion rights, according to Politico, which could appeal to liberal-leaning voters in a general election in light of the reenergized national conversation around abortion after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
In Illinois, the governor’s race is becoming a heated battle between billionaires as candidates enter the last leg of the primary.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker — whose family controls the Hyatt Hotel enterprise — is running for reelection. A billionaire in his own right, Pritzker is expected to succeed in his party’s primary.
Two Republicans are fighting for the chance to go head-to-head with Pritzker in the general election.
Richard Irvin was the first Black mayor of one of Chicago’s largest suburbs, Aurora. Irvin and his campaign have heavily focused on crime and taxes, while the former mayor has avoided mentioning other pressing issues such as abortion.
Pritzker’s nemesis — Billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel, a hedge fund and financial services company — has helped fund Irvin’s campaign: According to the Illinois State Board of Elections website, Griffin has donated $50 million. Griffin also poured millions in 2018 against Pritzker during his first run for governor of Illinois.
Pritzker and the DGA have spent millions trying to ensure that Irvin is not the GOP nominee in the race.
Another candidate is Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey, who received an endorsement from Trump on Saturday during the former president’s rally in Illinois.
Bailey fought against COVID-19 restrictions, is against abortion access and is an avid supporter of the Second Amendment and Trump.
Bailey has also garnered support from billionaire Richard Uihlein — a mega GOP donor who has thrown millions behind Bailey’s run for governor. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections website, Uihlein has donated $9 million to Bailey’s campaign.
The Illinois primary will also display some of the most heated battles involving incumbent candidates drawn into the same congressional district.
GOP Reps. Mary Miller and Rodney Davis will face off against each other in Tuesday’s primary.
Davis voted to certify the 2020 election and supported a proposal for a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission. On the other hand, Miller voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
Trump endorsed Miller in the race earlier this year and held a rally for her last weekend where Miller spoke on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, saying that it was a “historic victory for white life.”
“President Trump, on behalf of all the MAGA patriots in America, I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday,” Miller said.
A spokesperson for Miller told the Associated Press the line was a “mix up of words.”
Davis tweeted to criticize Miller, saying her initial comments were part of a “disturbing pattern of behavior she’s displayed since coming to Congress.”
In January 2021, Miller had quoted Adolf Hitler during a rally in Washington. She said then: “Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.'”
Davis has also outraised Miller, $3.4 million to $1.4 million. In addition, the Club For Growth has supported Miller during her reelection.
Over in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, incumbent Reps. Marie Newman and Sean Casten will face off against one another.
As a member of the progressive caucus, Newman is facing an ethics probe into whether or not she bribed someone into not running for office. She has denied wrongdoing.
