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N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologizes amid sex harassment inquiry but isn't stepping down

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-03/cuomo-addresses-harassment-claims-vows-to-stay-in-office

Besieged by sexual harassment allegations, a somber New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologized Wednesday, saying he “learned an important lesson” about his own behavior around women, but he said he intended to remain in office. “I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable,” Cuomo said at a Wednesday news conference. “It was unintentional, and I truly and deeply apologize for it.” Cuomo said he will “fully cooperate” with the state attorney general’s investigation into the allegations. Atty. Gen. Letitia James is in the process of selecting an outside law firm to conduct an investigation into the allegations and produce a report that will be made public. Cuomo had avoided public appearances for days as some fellow Democrats have called for him to resign. Before Wednesday’s news conference, the governor last spoke to reporters during a teleconference call on Feb. 22. His last media briefing on video was Feb. 19. He hadn’t spoken publicly since giving James a referral to investigate claims that he sexually harassed at least two women in his administration. Opinion It’s hard to imagine how powerful men like Andrew Cuomo can remain so willfully ignorant of the new reality of how they can behave with women. March 3, 2021 One former aide, Charlotte Bennett, 25, said Cuomo quizzed her about her sex life and asked whether she would be open to a relationship with an older man. Bennett rejected Cuomo’s attempted apology, in which he said that he’d been trying to be “playful” and that his jokes had been misinterpreted as flirting. Another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, said Cuomo commented on her appearance inappropriately, kissed her without her consent at the end of a meeting, and once suggested they play strip poker while aboard his state-owned jet. Cuomo has denied Boylan’s allegations. And another woman, Anna Ruch, told the New York Times that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her at a September 2019 wedding. Cuomo started Wednesday’s news conference focusing on the latest data on the COVID-19 pandemic. He highlighted a disproportionately high number of hospitalizations in New York City, news that the state is receiving an initial shipment of 164,000 doses of the new one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine and that three vaccination sites will temporarily shift to 24/7 operations.

In a new series, TCM takes a look at ‘problematic’ classics

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-03-03/in-a-new-series-tcm-takes-a-look-at-problematic-classics

Loving classic films can be a fraught pastime. Just consider the cultural firestorm over “Gone With the Wind” this past summer. No one knows this better than the film lovers at Turner Classic Movies who daily are confronted with the complicated reality that many of old Hollywood’s most celebrated films are also often a kitchen sink of stereotypes. This summer, amid the Black Lives Matter protests, the channel’s programmers and hosts decided to do something about it. The result is a new series, “Reframed Classics,” which promises wide-ranging discussions about 18 culturally significant films from the 1920s through the 1960s that also have problematic aspects, from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and Mickey Rooney’s performance as Mr. Yunioshi to Fred Astaire’s blackface routine in “Swing Time.” It kicks off Thursday at 8 p.m. ET with none other than “Gone With the Wind.” “We know millions of people love these films,” said TCM host Jacqueline Stewart, who is participating in many of the conversations. “We’re not saying this is how you should feel about ‘Psycho’ or this is how you should feel about ‘Gone with the Wind.’ We’re just trying to model ways of having longer and deeper conversations and not just cutting it off to ‘I love this movie. I hate this movie.’ There’s so much space in between.” Stewart, a University of Chicago professor who in 2019 became the channel’s first African American host, has spent her career studying classic films, particularly those in the silent era, and Black audiences. She knows first-hand the tension of loving films that also contain racial stereotypes. “I grew up in a family of people who loved classic films. Now, how can you love these films if you know that there’s going to be a maid or mammy that shows up?” Stewart said. “Well, I grew up around people who could still love the movie. You appreciate some parts of it. You critique other parts of it. That’s something that one can do and it actually can enrich your experience of the film.” Movies TCM’s Jacqueline Stewart will host “Silent Sunday Nights,” becoming the network’s first African American host. Sept. 9, 2019 While TCM audiences will know her as the host of Silent Sunday Nights, this past summer she was given a bigger spotlight when she was selected to introduce “Gone With the Wind” on HBO Max to provide proper context after its controversial removal from the streaming service. She remembers drafting her remarks for that while also concocting this series. “I continue to feel a sense of urgency around these topics,” she said. “We’re showing films that really shaped the ways that people continue to think about race and gender and sexuality and ability. It was really important for the group to come together to think about how we can work with each other and work with our fans to deepen the conversations about these films.” TCM hosts Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Karger, Alicia Malone and Eddie Muller will also be part of many conversations. The films that they’ve selected aren’t under the radar novelties either. As Stewart said, “they’re the classics of the classics.” The series, which runs every Thursday through March 25, will also show “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “Gunga Din,” “The Searchers,” “My Fair Lady,” “Stagecoach,” “Woman of the Year” and “The Children’s Hour.” The selections allow the hosts to think about Hollywood films more broadly, too. For “Psycho,” which will be airing on March 25, the hosts talk about transgender identity in the film and the implications of equating gender fluidity and dressing in women’s clothes with mental illness and violence. It also sparks a bigger conversation about sexuality in Alfred Hitchcock films. During the “My Fair Lady” conversation on March 25, they talk about why the film adaptation has a less feminist ending than the stage play, and Henry Higgins’ physical and psychological abuse of Eliza Dolittle. Not feeding her and stuffing marbles in her mouth are played for cute laughs in the film. Is it a commentary on misogyny or just plain misogyny? And on the “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” night, airing March 11, Stewart discusses the complex legacy of Sidney Poitier. “His career is so important for the ways that white Americans really started to have more sympathy and understanding of Black people. But at the same time, there are aspects of his films that are clearly oriented primarily to white audiences,” Stewart said. “That opens up all kinds of complications for Black viewers who felt that he wasn’t a representative of the race as a whole.” Companies have lately taken to adding disclaimers before shows and films depicting outdated or stereotypical characters and themes. And in some instances, films have just been made unavailable. Disney has said that it’s 1946 film “Song of the South” will never be on Disney+. The classic film podcast “ You Must Remember This ” has an excellent series about the controversial movie and how it came to be. The goal of “Reframed Classics” is to help give audiences the tools to discuss films from a different era and not just dismiss or cancel them. And Stewart, for her part, doesn’t believe that you can simply remove problematic films from the culture. “I think there’s something to be learned from any work of art,” Stewart said. “They’re all historical artifacts that tell us a lot about the industry in which they were made, the cultures that they were speaking to.”

Stocks on Wall Street give back some ground; bond yields ease

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-02/stocks-drift-lower-on-wall-street-yields-continue-to-ease

Stocks on Wall Street closed broadly lower Tuesday, giving back some of their big gains from the day before. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.8% after earlier flipping between small gains and losses. The prior day, the benchmark index leaped 2.4%, its best performance since June. Technology and internet stocks accounted for much of Tuesday’s selling, a reversal from a day earlier. For weeks, investors have been focused on the bond market, where a swift recent rise in interest rates is threatening one of the main reasons for the stock market’s pandemic-era run to record highs. Bond yields eased across the board Tuesday, but expectations for stronger economic growth in coming months continue to fuel worries that interest rates will head higher. Higher interest rates cause investors to rethink how much they’re willing to pay for stocks, making each dollar of profit that companies earn a little less valuable. That’s making Wall Street reconsider the value of technology stocks, in large part because those stocks’ recent dominance left them looking even pricier than the rest of the market. “Valuations have just become problematic across certain pockets of the U.S. [stock] market, and investors are starting to realize that,” said Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors. The S&P 500 fell 31.53 points to 3,870.29. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 143.99 points, or 0.5%, to 31,391.52. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 230.04 points, or 1.7%, to 13,358.79. Smaller companies fared worse than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks slid 43.81 points, or 1.9%, to 2,231.51. Treasury yields have been climbing with expectations for economic growth and inflation, and such a rise makes borrowing more expensive for home buyers, companies taking out loans and virtually everyone else. That can slow economic growth. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased a bit Tuesday, falling to 1.41% from 1.44% late Monday. That reprieve followed weeks of relentless rising. The 10-year yield surpassed 1.50% last week, up from roughly 0.90% at the start of the year, and the zoom higher raised worries that more increases would destabilize the market. Investors should be prepared for more risks in sectors that have driven the market’s growth through the pandemic because of more inflation, said Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer of Cornerstone Wealth. “What’s gotten us here is not likely to get us where we want to be going forward,” he said. Tech stocks were weak again Tuesday, with those in the S&P 500 falling 1.6%. But Wall Street strategists remain fairly optimistic, saying stocks in other areas of the market are likely to rise with expectations for the economy’s improvement this year. Gains for banks, energy producers and other companies whose profits are closely tied to the economy’s strength can help offset a pullback for tech stocks, which had been driving the market for years, the thinking goes. Shares of Zoom Video Communications, whose software helps students and workers around the world talk with one another from a distance, fell 9% as concerns over slower subscriber growth offset its otherwise solid quarterly financial report and forecast. Rocket Cos. soared 71.2%, the latest stock to be hyped in the online forum that fueled the sharp rise in GameStop and other stocks in January. Rocket shares were among the most shorted by hedge funds, according to FactSet. When investors short a stock, they’re betting that its price will fall. Rocket, which operates Rocket Mortgage and other personal finance brands, said last week that its revenue more than doubled in the fourth quarter, reflecting strong growth across all its businesses. Tuesday’s modest moves may prove short-lived. Several speeches and data reports this week could shed more light on the direction of interest rates. On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard sought to calm financial markets by emphasizing that the Fed, although generally optimistic about the economy, is still far from raising interest rates or reducing its $120 billion a month in asset purchases. She also said the Fed is closely monitoring the recent rise in the 10-year Treasury yield and an increase in investors’ inflation expectations. But she repeatedly said that the U.S. economy is 10 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level and that the Fed would keep interest rates near zero until the job market has fully recovered. “We’ve got some distance to go to meet our goals” of higher inflation and lower unemployment, Brainard said. Fed chief Jerome H. Powell is scheduled to speak Thursday, and the U.S. government’s jobs report is due out Friday. That report includes data on how much wages are rising, a key component of inflation. Worries have been rising in recent months that inflation could be headed higher as COVID-19 vaccines get the economy back to strong growth and Washington gets close to delivering a $1.9-trillion economic aid package.

Myanmar police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-02/myanmar-police-fire-tear-gas-rubber-bullets-at-protesters

Police in Myanmar repeatedly used tear gas and rubber bullets Tuesday against crowds protesting last month’s coup, but the demonstrators regrouped after each volley and tried to defend themselves with barricades as clashes between protesters and security forces intensified. Authorities have escalated their crackdown on the protests in recent days. The United Nations said it believed at least 18 people were killed Sunday when security forces fired into crowds, while a rights group said more than 1,000 people were detained over the weekend, including an Associated Press journalist. A lawyer for the journalist said he has been charged with an offense that could see him imprisoned for up to three years. Despite the increasingly brutal crackdown, demonstrators have continued to flood the streets — and are beginning to more rigorously resist attempts to disperse them. Hundreds, many wearing construction helmets and carrying makeshift shields, gathered in Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon, where a day earlier police had fired repeated rounds of tear gas. Protesters dragged bamboo poles and debris to form barricades, chanted slogans and sang songs at the police lines. They even threw banana skins onto the road in front of them to slow any police rush. The mainly young demonstrators fled each time tear gas canisters were fired but soon returned to their barricades. Videos posted on social media showed similar chaotic scenes in the Insein neighborhood of northern Yangon. Protesters also took up their flags and banners to march through the streets of Dawei, a small city in southeastern Myanmar that has seen almost daily large demonstrations against the coup. One group of demonstrators was targeted by the security forces as it entered a narrow street on its way to pay respects at the house of a man killed in Sunday’s crackdown. Another was attacked on the main street in the city’s center. Police also dispersed protests in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, on Tuesday. Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay were among the cities where security forces reportedly fired live ammunition into crowds Sunday, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. There were reports that they also fired live rounds Tuesday, but they could not immediately be confirmed. Some fear the ruling military junta’s escalating use of force is meant to provoke a violent backlash by the demonstrators — who have largely remained nonviolent — in order to discredit them and justify an even harsher crackdown. Videos from recent days show a greater number of protesters trying to stand their ground and throw objects at the police. “I beg the people in Myanmar not to fall in this trap, so to stay peaceful,” U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said in interview with CNN, acknowledging that it was easier for her, safely away from the violence, to urge peaceful protesting. She also accused the authorities of spreading rumors about the conditions of people in detention to stir up even more anger on the streets. The Feb. 1 coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma, after five decades of military rule. It came the day a newly elected Parliament was supposed to take office. Ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party would have been installed for a second five-year term, but instead she was detained along with President Win Myint and other senior officials. The military government has charged Suu Kyi, 75, with several offenses that critics say are trumped up to keep her jailed and potentially prevent her from participating in the election the junta has promised in a year’s time. Her party says it does not know where Suu Kyi — who has a long history of campaigning for democracy in Myanmar — is being held. The weekend crackdown drew international condemnation. In addition to the use of force, authorities detained more than 1,000 people, according to the independent Assistance Assn. for Political Prisoners. That included at least eight journalists, among them Thein Zaw of AP, who was detained while covering the protests. His lawyer said Tuesday that he and five other Myanmar journalists have been charged with violating a public order law. AP has decried his detention as arbitrary and called for his immediate release. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called the use of force and arbitrary arrests “unacceptable,” according to his spokesperson. The U.S., British and other governments issued similar statements of concern. But the military has showed no sign of backing down. The protesters and their supporters have appealed for help from abroad, but there are few prospects for major intervention. The Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, a regional group of 10 nations, has a policy of seeking a consensus among its members, making it unlikely to take strong action. A virtual meeting Tuesday of the group’s foreign ministers ended with only a statement — issued by the group’s chair, rather than a joint declaration — calling for an end to violence and for talks to try to reach a peaceful settlement. The U.N.’s independent expert on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, has proposed that countries could institute a global embargo on the sale of arms to Myanmar and “tough, targeted and coordinated sanctions” against those responsible for the coup, the crackdown and other rights abuses. But any kind of coordinated action at the United Nations would be difficult since two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, would almost certainly veto it. Some countries have imposed or are considering imposing their own sanctions.

Armenia's political tensions rise amid rival rallies

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/armenias-political-tensions-rise-amid-rival-rallies

Political tensions in Armenia heightened Monday, with supporters of the embattled prime minister and the opposition each holding massive rallies at separate sites in the capital. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has faced opposition demands to resign since he signed a peace deal in November that ended six weeks of intense fighting with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Russia-brokered agreement saw Azerbaijan reclaim control of large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that had been held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century. Opposition protests seeking Pashinyan’s ouster abated during the winter but intensified last week amid a rift between him and the country’s military leaders. The spat was sparked by Pashinyan firing a deputy chief of the military’s general staff who had laughed off the prime minister’s claim that only 10% of Russia-supplied Iskander missiles that Armenia used in the conflict exploded on impact. The general staff then demanded Pashinyan’s resignation, and he responded by dismissing the general staff chief, Col. Gen. Onik Gasparyan. The dismissal has yet to be approved by Armenia’s largely ceremonial president, Armen Sarkissian, who sent it back to Pashinyan, saying the move was unconstitutional. Pashinyan quickly resubmitted the demand for the general’s ouster, and the prime minister’s allies warned that the president could be impeached if he fails to endorse the move. Sarkissian’s office responded with a strongly worded statement condemning “inadmissible speculation” about his move and emphasizing that his decision was “unbiased and driven exclusively by national interests.” Addressing a rally of thousands of his supporters, Pashinyan voiced hope the president would endorse the dismissal of the General Staff’s chief for meddling in politics. He blamed the country’s former leader who lost power in the 2018 “velvet revolution” for influencing the military brass and trying to “set the army against the legitimately elected authorities and the people.” The prime minister also suggested calling a constitutional referendum in October to ask voters about expanding presidential powers to avoid future crises, although he didn’t spell out specific changes. After an hourlong speech, Pashinyan led his supporters on a march across Yerevan under the heavy escort of police and security officers. Thousands of opposition supporters rallied at a separate location, demanding that the prime minister resign, and some later marched to the president’s residence to support him in the rift with Pashinyan. The two marches proceeded along separate routes amid tight police cordons. At one point, scuffles broke out between some from the rival camps, but police quickly pulled them apart. Amid the escalating tensions earlier in the day, a group of protesters broke into a government building in central Yerevan to press for Pashinyan’s resignation, but they left shortly afterward without violence. Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a leading member of the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party, promised that the protests will continue Tuesday. He also called for another rally Wednesday, when Pashinyan is expected to appear in parliament. Saghatelyan urged opposition supporters to gather in front of parliament that day “to clearly convey our voice.” Pashinyan, a 45-year-old former journalist who came to power after leading large street protests in 2018 that ousted his predecessor, still enjoys broad support despite the country’s defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh and the opposition calls for his resignation. The prime minister has defended the peace deal as a painful but necessary move to prevent Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region, which lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. The fighting with Azerbaijan that erupted in late September and lasted 44 days has left more than 6,000 people dead. Russia has deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the Nov. 10 peace deal. Armenia has relied on Moscow’s financial and military support and hosts a Russian military base — ties that will keep the two nations closely allied regardless of the outcome of the political infighting. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry rebuked the Armenian leader for criticism of the Iskander missile, a state-of-the-art weapon touted by the military for its accuracy. The Russian military said it was “bewildered” to hear Pashinyan’s claim because Armenia hadn’t used an Iskander missile in the conflict. In a bid to repair the damage to Armenia’s ties with Moscow, Pashinyan rescinded his claim Monday, acknowledging that he made the statement after being misled.

Huawei top executive back in Canada court in U.S. extradition case

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/huawei-daughter-back-in-canada-court-in-us-extradition-case

Lawyers for a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies Co. were in court Monday arguing that evidence should be introduced that would undermine the case to have their client extradited to the U.S. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company’s chief financial officer, at Vancouver’s airport in late 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges. Her arrest infuriated Beijing, which sees her case as a political move designed to prevent China’s rise. The U.S. accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom Tech to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It says Meng, 49, committed fraud by misleading bank firm HSBC about the company’s business dealings in Iran. Much of the case centers on an August 2013 PowerPoint presentation made to an HSBC executive during a lunch in Hong Kong. Defense lawyer Frank Addario asked the court to admit evidence he says shows officials with HSBC were aware of Huawei’s connection to Skycom and another company called Canicula Holdings Inc. “It was widely known in the bank ... that Huawei owned Skycom,” Addario told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes. “It sold Skycom to Canicula and thereafter Huawei controlled Canicula’s account at the bank.” Addario said by omitting this evidence, the U.S. misled Canadian courts. “The case put to you for the prosecution is the bank’s knowledge came from all these misleading statements by Huawei employees generally,” Addario said. “Once you see all this evidence the picture that emerges is a different picture about the knowledge of HSBC employees generally and the decision makers.” Canadian government lawyer Robert Frater told Holmes that an extradition hearing is not a trial and said some of Addario’s comments are standard defense cross-examination material. “It is up to a trial to decide if a witness is credible and to determine what officials knew at a certain time. What my friend wants to do is to argue the trial issues,” Frater said. Meng attended the hearing wearing a mask and an ankle tracking bracelet. She followed the proceedings with an interpreter while reading documents on her lap and taking sips of water. Over the next several weeks, Meng’s defense team will present several arguments for halting the extradition proceedings. On Wednesday, they will be back in court to argue that her arrest was politically motivated and will point to comments made by former U.S. President Trump that he was using Meng as a bargaining chip to force a better trade deal with China. Canada’s attorney general said in court documents that Trump’s comments were public statements by a president no longer in office about a possible intervention that never occurred. Later this month, Meng’s lawyers will claim an abuse of process, saying Canada Border Services Agency officers detained and questioned Meng without a lawyer, seized her electronic devices and compelled her to give up the passcodes before her official arrest. Her lawyers also contend the U.S. is exceeding the limits of its jurisdiction by prosecuting a foreign citizen for actions that took place in Hong Kong and that Canada was misled by the U.S. about the strength of its case. Meng’s arrest has soured relations between Canada and China. In apparent retaliation, China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor. China has also placed restrictions on various Canadian exports to China, including canola oilseed. China also handed death sentences to four Canadians convicted of drug smuggling. Kovrig and Spavor remain jailed. Meng remains free on bail in Vancouver and is living in a mansion.

Georgia House passes GOP bill rolling back voting access

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/georgia-house-passes-gop-bill-rolling-back-voting-access

Republican lawmakers in Georgia muscled legislation through the state House on Monday that would roll back voting access, over the objection of Democrats and civil rights groups gathered at the Capitol to protest. The bill comes after record turnout led to Democratic wins in Georgia’s presidential election and two U.S. Senate runoffs. House Bill 531 passed the lower legislative chamber by a vote of 97 to 72. It now goes to the state Senate for more debate. The far-reaching bill would require a photo ID for absentee voting, limit the amount of time voters have to request an absentee ballot, restrict where ballot drop boxes could be located and when they could be accessed, and limit early voting hours on weekends, among other changes. It is one of a flood of election bills being pushed by GOP lawmakers across the country this year that would add new barriers to voting. Republicans say the measure is needed to restore the public’s confidence in elections, after former President Trump and his allies relentlessly pushed false claims about fraud. “House Bill 531 is designed to begin to bring back the confidence of our voters back into our election system,” said Republican Rep. Barry Fleming, the measure’s chief sponsor. Democrats say the legislation furthers lies by former President Trump about election fraud and would disproportionately affect voters of color. “It’s pathetically obvious to anyone paying attention that when Trump lost the November election and Georgia flipped control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats shortly after, Republicans got the message that they were in a political death spiral,” Democratic Rep. Renitta Shannon said. “And now they are doing anything they can to silence the voices of Black and brown voters specifically, because they largely powered these wins.” Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Capitol on Monday in opposition to the bill, chanting, “Say no to voter suppression” and “Protect the vote.” “Today, before the eyes of this country, Georgia is poised to pass some of the most egregious, dangerous and most expensive voter suppression acts in this entire nation, rolling back years of hardball progress and renewing our own reputation for discrimination,” the Rev. James Woodall, president of the Georgia NAACP, said at the rally. Alaina Reaves, the president of the Clayton County Young Democrats, was among the protesters. “We take one step forward and then you know these legislators are trying to bring us up to two steps back,” Reaves said. Later Monday, the state Senate Ethics Committee approved a Republican-backed bill that would limit who can vote absentee in Georgia to those 65 and older, people with a disability and people who will be away from their precinct on election day. That bill would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting adopted by a Republican-controlled Legislature in 2005. It could soon move to the full Senate for a vote.

Senate confirms Cardona as Biden's Education secretary

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/senate-confirms-cardona-as-bidens-education-secretary

The Senate voted Monday to confirm Miguel Cardona as Education secretary, clearing his way to lead President Biden’s effort to reopen the nation’s schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Cardona, 45, a former public school teacher who went on to become Connecticut’s education chief, was approved on a 64-33 vote. He takes charge of the Education Department amid mounting tension between Americans who believe students can safely return to the classroom now, and others who say the risks are still too great. Although his position carries limited authority to force schools to reopen, Cardona will be asked to play a central role in achieving Biden’s goal to have a majority of elementary schools open five days a week within his first 100 days. He will be tasked with guiding schools through the reopening process, and sharing best practices on how to teach during a pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month released a road map for getting students back into classrooms safely. The agency said masks, social distancing and other strategies should be used, but vaccination of teachers was not a prerequisite for reopening. Cardona, who gained attention for his efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, has vowed to make it his top priority to reopen schools. At his Senate confirmation hearing last month, he said there are “great examples throughout our country of schools that have been able to reopen safely.” The debate has become a political firestorm for Biden, who is caught between competing interests as he aims to get students into the classroom without provoking the powerful teachers unions that helped put him in the White House. He says his goal of returning students to the classroom is possible if Congress approves his relief plan, which includes $130 billion for the nation’s schools. Republicans have rebuked Biden for failing to reopen schools faster, while teachers unions opposed the administration’s decision to continue with federally required standardized tests during the pandemic. The tricky terrain is nothing new for Cardona, however, who faced similar tension navigating the pandemic in Connecticut, and who has won early praise even from Biden’s critics. Republicans in Congress have applauded Cardona’s efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, and some see him as a potential ally in their support for charter schools. Teachers, meanwhile, see him as a partner who brings years of experience in education and knows the demands of teaching. The nomination continues a meteoric rise for Cardona, who was appointed to lead Connecticut’s education department in 2019 after spending 20 years working in Meriden, Conn., public schools — the same district he attended as a child. He began his career as a fourth-grade teacher before becoming the state’s youngest principal at age 28. In 2012, he was named Connecticut’s principal of the year, and in 2015 he became an assistant superintendent of the district. When he was appointed state education commissioner, he became the first Latino to hold the post. Cardona grew up in a public housing project in Meriden, raised by parents who came to Connecticut from Puerto Rico as children. Through his career, he has focused on closing education gaps and supporting bilingual education. It’s a personal issue for Cardona, who says he spoke only Spanish when he entered kindergarten and struggled to learn English. Cardona was the first in his family to graduate from college, and his three degrees include a doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut. He and his wife, Marissa, have two children in high school. His deep roots in public schooling fit the criteria Biden was looking for in an Education secretary. During his campaign, Biden vowed to pick a secretary with experience in public education. It was meant to draw a contrast with then-Secretary Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who spent decades advocating for school choice policies. In an increasingly fractionalized world of education, Cardona has vowed to be a unifier. At his confirmation hearing, he promised to engage with “the vast, diverse community of people who have a stake in education.” He added that, “we gain strength from joining together.” As he works to help schools reopen, he will also be tasked with helping them address the damage the pandemic has done on student learning. He has echoed Biden’s call for further education funding, saying schools will need to expand summer academic programs and hire more counselors to help students with mental health issues. He also will probably face an early test as he weighs how much flexibility to grant states as they administer standardized tests. Last week, the Education Department ordered states to continue with annual testing but said assessments could be offered online or delayed until fall. The agency also held out the possibility that states could be granted “additional assessment flexibility” in certain cases. Some states are already pushing for that extra flexibility, including Michigan, which is asking to replace state tests with local “benchmark” assessments that were administered this year. It will be up to Cardona to decide how much leniency to provide. Republicans have also set the stage for a fight over transgender athletes. At last month’s hearing, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) raised objections with policies that allow transgender girls to participate in girls’ athletics. It’s the subject of a legal battle in Connecticut, where some cisgender athletes are challenging a state policy that lets transgender students participate as their identified gender. Pressed by Paul to take a stance on the issue, Cardona said he would support the rights of “all students, including students who are transgender.”

Minimum wage hike all but dead in big COVID relief bill

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/minimum-wage-hike-all-but-dead-in-big-covid-relief-bill

Democrats’ efforts to include a minimum wage increase in their $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief bill seemed all but dead Monday as Senate leaders prepared to begin debate on their own version of the House-passed aid package. Top Democrats abandoned a potential amendment threatening tax increases on big companies that don’t boost workers’ pay to certain levels, Senate aides said. Four days after the chamber’s parliamentarian said Senate rules forbid inclusion of a straight-out minimum wage increase in the relief measure, Democrats seemed to have exhausted their most realistic options for quickly salvaging the pay hike. “At this moment, we may not have path, but I hope we can find one” for pushing the federal pay floor to $15 an hour, Assistant Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said. Senate Democrats hope to unveil their version of the broad relief package and begin debate as early as Wednesday. Congressional leaders want to send President Biden the legislation combating the pandemic and bolstering the economy by March 14, the date emergency jobless benefits that lawmakers approved in December expire. The bill is Biden’s biggest early legislative priority. It looms as an initial test of his ability to unite Democrats in the Senate — where the party has no votes to spare — and risks lasting damage to his influence should he fail. Republicans are strongly against the legislation and could well oppose it unanimously, as House GOP lawmakers did when that chamber approved the bill early Saturday. Biden discussed the relief bill Monday in a virtual meeting with nine Senate Democrats, including Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, an opponent of the $15 hourly target. A White House statement said the group was “united in the goal of quickly passing a significant package that reflects the scope of the challenges our country is facing.” The Senate is divided 50-50 between the parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast only tie-breaking votes. Under streamlined rules the Democrats are using, they can approve the legislation with just 51 votes. The overall bill would provide $1,400 payments to individuals plus hundreds of billions of dollars for schools and colleges, COVID-19 vaccines and testing, mass transit systems, renters and small businesses. It also has money for child care, tax breaks for families with children and states willing to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income residents. Democrats are considering several changes in the House measure, but they seem modest compared with dropping the minimum wage increase. One top aide said the bill the Senate initially debates won’t have the minimum wage provision in it, saying the language would have pushed the bill over budget-mandated spending limits, violating Senate rules. Senate Democrats may reshape the $350 billion the bill provides for state and local governments. They also might extend its fresh round of emergency unemployment benefits, which would be $400 weekly, through September instead of August, as the House approved. The parliamentarian’s interpretation of Senate rules could force other changes as well. These might include dropping or altering provisions in the House bill providing billions of dollars to help some struggling pension plans and to help people who’ve lost jobs afford health insurance. The House-approved minimum wage language would gradually raise the federal floor to $15 an hour by 2025, more than double the $7.25 in place since 2009. After the parliamentarian said that provision would have to be deleted, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said they were working on plans to increase taxes on large corporations that don’t meet certain levels for workers’ pay. Sanders is chief Senate sponsor of the $15 plan, while Wyden is chair of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. But three Senate aides, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions, said Monday that party leaders were dropping those proposals. It was always questionable whether pressuring companies with tax increases would win enough Democratic support to survive. The White House didn’t endorse the tax proposals, which would have affected only a fraction of workers paid the minimum wage. Raising the minimum has broad support among Democrats. But while it’s embraced passionately by the party’s progressives, at least two Senate moderates — Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have voiced opposition to including it in the broader relief measure, wounding its prospects and fostering tensions within the party. The tepid Democratic reaction to the tax plan has left the party looking at potentially pushing a minimum wage increase in future legislation, where it could well face enough GOP opposition to kill it. Democrats must now decide “how we do minimum wage as part of another piece of legislation or on its own,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. As an alternative, progressives want Senate Democrats to simply overrule the parliamentarian and include the pay raise anyway, or to eliminate Senate filibusters — procedural delays that let a minority party kill legislation that lacks at least 60 votes. But those ideas seem to lack enough Democratic support to succeed. Senate moderates are wary of erasing procedures that the party has used in the past, and could use again, to protect its priorities when it is in the minority. Among those who’ve long supported retaining the filibuster is Biden, who served nearly four decades in the Senate. “The president’s view on the filibuster is well known. He has not changed that point of view,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. Despite seeming White House opposition, nearly two dozen House progressives tried pressuring Biden to have Harris join Democratic senators and vote to override the parliamentarian and include the increase in the bill anyway. “Outdated and complex” Senate rules “must not be an impediment to improving people’s lives,” the House members, led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), wrote in a letter to Biden and Harris. “You have the authority to deliver a raise for millions of Americans.”

United Methodist conservatives detail plans for a breakaway

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/united-methodist-conservatives-detail-plans-for-a-breakaway

Conservative leaders within the United Methodist Church unveiled plans Monday to form a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church, with a doctrine that does not recognize same-sex marriage. The move could hasten the long-expected breakup of the UMC over differing approaches to LGBTQ inclusion. For now, the UMC is the largest mainline Protestant church in the U.S. and second only to the Southern Baptist Convention, an evangelical denomination, among U.S. Protestant churches. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMC’s General Conference — at which the schism would be debated — has been postponed for two consecutive years, and is now scheduled to take place in Minneapolis starting in late August 2022. The Rev. Keith Boyette, a Methodist elder from Virginia who chairs the Global Methodist initiative, said he and his allies do not want to wait that long to formally leave the UMC. They have asked that the topic of schism be added to the tightly limited agenda of a special one-day general conference to be conducted online May 8. “The church is basically stalemated right now,” Boyette said. “We don’t believe an additional year is going to be helpful for anybody.” However, Louisiana-based Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, who heads the UMC’s Council of Bishops, said debate over a schism would involve “delicate deliberations” and attempting to conduct them online in May “does not seem wise or ethical.” If the issue is not addressed on May 8, Boyette said he and his allies would be willing to delay until the 2022 General Conference, but only if UMC centrists and progressives remain committed to previous agreements about a breakup. Any lessening of those commitments might prompt the conservatives to bring the new church into existence, Boyette said. Differences over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have simmered for years in the UMC, and came to a head in 2019 at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 to strengthen bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Most U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBTQ-friendly options; they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines. In the aftermath of that meeting, many moderate and liberal clergy made clear they would not abide by the bans, and various groups worked on proposals to let the UMC split along theological lines. The most prominent plan, the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation, has some high-level support, including from the Council of Bishops and from the Global Methodist group. Under the protocol, conservative congregations and regional bodies would be allowed to separate from the UMC and form a new denomination. They would receive $25 million in UMC funds and be able to keep their properties. On a website launched Monday, the Global Methodist organizers said the new denomination would allow women to serve at all levels and seek a membership that is “ethnically and racially diverse.” Regarding LGBTQ issues, organizers said the denomination would adhere to “the traditional understanding of Christian marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman and as God’s intended setting for human sexual expression.” Bishop Karen Oliveto of the UMC’s Mountain Sky region — who in 2016 became the UMC’s first openly lesbian bishop — said in an email that “it is heartbreaking when the Body of Christ fragments itself.” “I pray that those who are called into the Global Methodist Church will find themselves free to be the people whom God calls them to be,” she added. Formed in a merger in 1968, the United Methodist Church claims about 12.6 million members worldwide, including nearly 7 million in the United States. The UMC’s demography is illustrated by the apportionment of voting delegates for the 2022 General Conference: About 56% come from the U.S., 32% from Africa, 6% from the Philippines and most of the rest from Europe.

Texas top utility regulator quits in fallout over blackouts

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/texas-top-utility-regulator-quits-in-fallout-over-blackouts

Texas’ top utilities regulator resigned Monday in the widening fallout from blackouts triggered by an unusually heavy and widespread winter storm that left millions in the state without power and water for days. DeAnn Walker, the chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission, is the highest-ranking official to step down in the aftermath of one of the largest power failures in U.S. history. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Walker to the commission in 2017, and she is one of two commissioners who used to work in his office. In a letter to Abbott, Walker said she accepted her role in the outages but that others should acknowledge their responsibility, including gas companies and lawmakers. “I believe others should come forward in dignity and courage and acknowledge how their actions or inactions contributed to the situation,” Walker wrote. She resigned the same day Texas’ largest and oldest power cooperative announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and as the state’s attorney general launched an investigation into one electricity provider, Griddy, whose customers incurred massive bills during February’s winter storm. Abbott, a Republican, blamed the power failures on the state’s grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, commonly known as ERCOT. But the three-member commission appointed by Abbott has oversight authority over ERCOT. Abbott’s spokesman Renae Eze said in a short statement that the governor thanks Walker “for her years of service to the State of Texas.” The statement did not reflect on Walker’s performance ahead of the outages. Walker struggled in two lengthy appearances before legislative panels investigating the state’s electric grid breakdowns, the commission’s response and the lack of communication with the public over the approaching storm. World & Nation The Bidens spent the afternoon meeting state and local leaders and touring storm damage. Feb. 26, 2021 She initially said her agency has little control over ERCOT, but later said it has total control. Lawmakers questioned her knowledge of her agency’s authority and the decision to reduce or reassign enforcement staff charged with policing the utility companies. “Despite the treatment I received from some legislators, I am proud that I spoke the truth,” Walker wrote. She was also criticized for a lack of communication about the approaching catastrophic storm. Walker testified that she spoke with Abbott’s office, as well as staff for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others several days before the storm hit to warn them about the weather and its potential impact on power distribution in the state. Texas was hit with historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures in an icy blast that cut across the Deep South for days starting Feb. 14. More than 40 deaths in Texas — and double that toll regionwide — have been blamed on the storm and the resulting blackouts. ERCOT officials have said the entire grid — which is uniquely isolated from the rest of the U.S. — was on the brink of collapse in the early hours of Feb. 15 as power plants froze in the cold and record demand for electricity to heat homes overwhelmed the system. At least six ERCOT board members have resigned in the wake of the power failures. Also Monday, Brazos Electric Power announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing the punishing storm. The state’s largest and oldest power cooperative said it received excessively high invoices from ERCOT for collateral and purported cost of electric service during the storm, and that it was not prepared to pass those costs along to its members or customers.

States easing virus restrictions despite experts' warnings

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/states-easing-virus-restrictions-despite-experts-warnings

With the U.S. vaccination drive picking up speed and a third formula on the way, states eager to reopen for business are easing coronavirus restrictions despite warnings from health experts that the outbreak is far from over and that moving too quickly could prolong the misery. Massachusetts on Monday made it much easier to grab dinner and a show. In Missouri, where individual communities get to make the rules, the two biggest metropolitan areas — St. Louis and Kansas City — are relaxing some measures. Iowa’s governor recently lifted mask requirements and limits on the number of people allowed in bars and restaurants, while the town of Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas, now lets establishments stay open until midnight. Mike Lee, who owns Trezo Mare Restaurant & Lounge in Kansas City, said he hopes increased vaccine access, combined with warmer weather, will improve business. “I think that people are excited to put this past them and be able to start to get back to their ways of doing things,” Lee said. The push to reopen comes as COVID-19 vaccine shipments to the states are ramping up. Nearly 20% of the nation’s adults — or more than 50 million people — have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 10% have been fully inoculated 2½ months into the campaign to snuff out the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Johnson & Johnson shipped out nearly 4 million doses of its newly authorized, one-shot COVID-19 vaccine Sunday night to be delivered to states for use starting on Tuesday. The company will deliver about 16 million more doses by the end of March and a total of 100 million by the end of June. That adds to the supply being distributed by Pfizer and Moderna and should help the nation amass enough doses by midsummer to vaccinate all adults. The White House is encouraging Americans to take the first dose available to them, regardless of manufacturer. In New York City, where limited indoor dining has resumed, officials said the J&J vaccine will help the city to inoculate millions more people by summer, including through door-to-door vaccinations of homebound senior citizens. But the efforts come with strong warnings from health officials against reopening too quickly, as worrisome coronavirus variants spread. On Monday, the head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warned state officials and ordinary Americans not to let down their guard, saying she is “really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures that we have recommended.” “I remain deeply concerned about a potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic,” she said. “We stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground that we have gained.” Cases and hospitalizations have plunged since the end of January, and deaths have also dropped sharply, but they are still running at dangerously high levels and have even risen slightly over the past several days. “We cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day and 2,000 daily deaths,” Walensky said. Overall, the outbreak has killed 514,333 Americans as of Monday. The vaccine already is contributing to a decrease in severe cases and deaths among older people, and is “quickly becoming a bigger contributor” nationally, Justin Lessler, an expert in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University, said in an email. “I suspect we will see it overtake natural infection as the biggest driver of immunity late spring earliest, more likely midsummer,” Lessler said. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, said he believes states and cities have leeway to ease some restrictions because hospitals no longer are at capacity in most communities. But “I do think that masks are likely going to need to be kept in place for some time until we get more of our vulnerable populations vaccinated,” he said. “It is important for restaurants who are increasing their capacity to remember that we are still in a pandemic and to continue to follow some of those rules,” Adalja said. The Biden administration wants to see all three vaccines distributed evenly, while also acknowledging that the easy-to-handle J&J vaccine will be used in pop-up mobile sites and locations without freezer storage capacity. States are hoping that the surging vaccine supply will help tamp down new infections. In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker lifted restaurant capacity limits entirely. Theaters can open at 50% capacity, with a maximum of 500 people. And capacity limits across all businesses have been raised to 50%. Las Vegas on Monday became the latest of the nation’s largest school districts to return children to classrooms. Pre-K children to third-graders will go back two days a week, with other grades to be phased in by early April. And in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders reached an agreement aimed at getting most children back in classrooms by the end of March. Under the deal announced Monday, school districts could receive up to $6.6 billion if they reopen by March 31. The U.S. ranks fourth in the world, behind Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Britain, in the number of doses administered relative to the population, according to data compiled by the University of Oxford. President Biden fell well short of his goal of setting up 100 new federally operated mass-vaccination sites by the end of February, with just seven up and running. White House vaccination coordinator Jeff Zients also acknowledged that scheduling of vaccination appointments “remains too difficult in too many places.” But he said the White House is working with states to improve scheduling systems and is exploring federal support for call centers to make it easier for people to get appointments.

Angelina Jolie-owned painting by Winston Churchill auctions for $11.6 million

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/churchill-painting-owned-by-angelina-jolie-sells-for-11-5m

A Moroccan landscape painted by Winston Churchill and owned by Angelina Jolie sold at auction Monday for nearly $11.6 million, smashing the record for a work by Britain’s World War II leader. “Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque” sold at Christie’s in London for 8,285,000 pounds, or about $11,590,175. The painting had been estimated at about $2 million to $3.5 million, and the previous record price for a Churchill painting was around $2.5 million. The image of the 12th century mosque in Marrakech at sunset, with the Atlas Mountains in the background, is a piece of both political and Hollywood history. The only painting that Britain’s wartime prime minister completed during the 1939-45 conflict, it was completed after the January 1943 Casablanca Conference, where Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt planned the defeat of Nazi Germany. The two leaders visited Marrakech after the conference so that Churchill could show Roosevelt the city’s beauty. Churchill gave the painting to Roosevelt as a memento of the trip. The painting was sold by Roosevelt’s son after the president’s death in 1945 and had several owners before Jolie and Brad Pitt bought it in 2011. Entertainment & Arts It was late summer 1939. May 6, 2016 The couple separated in 2016 and have spent years enmeshed in divorce proceedings, amid speculation about the division of their extensive art collection. They were declared divorced in 2019 after their lawyers asked for a bifurcated judgment, meaning that two married people can be declared single while other issues, including finances and child custody, remain. The painting was sold by the Jolie Family Collection. The buyer wasn’t immediately identified. Churchill painted more than 500 works. Painting was “essential” to Churchill, his great-grandson Duncan Sandys said in a 2016 Times interview. “It’s where he went to restore himself. He’d be consumed by painting. It would refresh his mind. It gave him the ability to step back from any situation, have a change of scenery, then go back and look at the problem from a different perspective.”

J.J. Watt agrees to two-year deal with Arizona Cardinals

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-03-01/cardinals-agree-to-terms-with-free-agent-edge-rusher-jj-watt

J.J. Watt has agreed to a two-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals. The team announced the deal with the free-agent edge rusher on Monday. Watt was released last month by the Houston Texans, for whom he won three NFL defensive player of the year awards. A person familiar with the contract told the Associated Press that the total package is worth $31 million. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal any terms. A five-time All-Pro, Watt — who turns 32 in three weeks — has been one of the NFL’s best players for a decade, but asked out in Houston, which is undergoing a roster upheaval. Watt joins another former Texans star, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, in Arizona. Hopkins was acquired by the Cardinals in a one-sided trade a year ago. Watt had one year remaining on a six-year, $100 million contract with the Texans. Sports Oddsmakers are giving the Cleveland Browns the best chance at landing free agent defensive end J.J. Watt, followed by the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Feb. 17, 2021 Though he has been plagued by injuries in recent years, Watt started all 128 games in which he appeared in the past 10 years after entering the league as Houston’s first-round selection, 11th overall, in the 2011 draft out of Wisconsin. In 2017, he was selected as the Walter Payton NFL man of the year for his work in helping Houston recover from Hurricane Harvey. Watt, who long has been lauded for his humanitarian efforts, helped raise more than $40 million in hurricane relief in 2017. He was the league’s top defensive player in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Then injuries began to slow him. He appeared in only three games in 2016 and five the next season, sidelined by back problems and then a broken leg. In 2019, Watt missed half of the schedule with a torn pectoral muscle. He returned to play the entire 2020 season and was effective, though not dominant. Watt is the only player in NFL history with 20 or more sacks and 10 or more passes defended in a single season, doing it in both 2012 and 2014. He’s tied for fifth among defensive lineman in league history with six touchdowns in the regular season, including three touchdown catches. He has 101 career sacks, and over the past decade leads the league in tackles for losses (172), quarterback hits (281), multi-sack games (26) and sack yards (713 1-2).

Senate panel votes to advance Merrick Garland's nomination to be attorney general

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/senate-panel-votes-to-advance-garlands-nomination-to-be-ag

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Monday to advance the nomination of Merrick Garland, President Biden’s nominee for attorney general. The committee voted 15 to 7 in favor of Garland’s nomination at a meeting Monday afternoon. Garland, a federal appeals court judge who was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016, is among Biden’s most widely supported nominees. The committee’s vote puts him on track for a quick confirmation, potentially within days. The committee’s chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), praised Garland as a highly qualified and honorable jurist who is uniquely qualified to lead the Justice Department after a tumultuous four years under former President Trump. The committee’s top Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said he also intends to support Garland’s nomination. He said Garland is “an honorable man” but that he “has his work cut out for him.” Politics President Biden’s attorney general nominee testifies before a Senate committee weighing his appointment to be the top U.S. law enforcement official. Feb. 22, 2021 At his confirmation hearing last week, Garland vowed to prioritize combating extremist violence with an initial focus on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and sought to assure lawmakers that the Justice Department would remain politically independent on his watch. Garland will inherit a Justice Department that endured a turbulent era under Trump — rife with political drama and controversial decisions — and that faced abundant criticism from Democrats over what they saw as the politicizing of the nation’s top law enforcement agencies. Garland would confront immediate challenges if confirmed, including an ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter, as well as calls from many Democrats to pursue inquiries into Trump. A special counsel investigation into the origins of the Russia probe also remains open, which would leave Garland to decide how to handle it and what to make public.

It's 'premature' and 'unrealistic' to think COVID-19 will end soon, WHO warns

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/who-premature-unrealistic-covid-19-will-end-soon

A senior World Health Organization official said Monday it was “premature” and “unrealistic” to think the COVID-19 pandemic will be over by the end of the year, but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and death. The world’s singular focus right now should be on efforts to keep coronavirus transmission as low as possible, said Dr. Michael Ryan, director of WHO’s emergencies program. “If we’re smart, we can finish with the hospitalizations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic” by the end of the year, he said at a media briefing. Ryan said WHO was reassured by emerging data that many of the licensed vaccines appear to be making a difference in curbing the virus’ explosive spread. “If the vaccines begin to impact not only on death and not only on hospitalization, but have a significant impact on transmission dynamics and transmission risk, then I believe we will accelerate toward controlling this pandemic.” But Ryan warned against complacency, saying that nothing was guaranteed in an evolving epidemic. “Right now the virus is very much in control,” he said. WHO’s director-general, meanwhile, said it was “regrettable” that younger and healthier adults in some rich countries are being vaccinated against the coronavirus before at-risk health workers in developing countries. Politics President Biden is racing to get more Americans inoculated faster, but the lagging vaccination effort globally could allow deadly new variants to spread. Feb. 16, 2021 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said immunizations provided by the U.N.-backed effort COVAX began this week in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, but lamented that this was happening three months after countries such as Britain, the U.S. and Canada began vaccinating their own populations. “Countries are not in a race with each other,” he said. “This is a common race against the virus. We are not asking countries to put their own people at risk. We are asking all countries to be part of a global effort to suppress the virus everywhere.” However, WHO stopped short of criticizing countries that are moving to vaccinate younger and healthier populations instead of donating their doses to countries that haven’t yet been able to protect their most vulnerable people. “We can’t tell individual countries what to do,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO advisor. Politics While fighting the pandemic at home, President Biden joined top allies Friday for a virtual conference on cooperating to fix a patchy global vaccination effort. Feb. 19, 2021 Tedros also noted that for the first time in seven weeks, the number of COVID-19 cases increased last week. He described the increase as “disappointing,” but said it wasn’t surprising. Tedros said WHO was working to better understand why cases increased, but that part of the increase appeared to be due to the “relaxing of public health measures.” Associated Press medical writer Maria Cheng reported from London.

Prince Philip moved to specialized London heart hospital

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/prince-philip-moved-to-specialized-london-heart-hospital

Prince Philip was transferred Monday to a specialized London heart hospital to undergo testing and observation for a pre-existing heart condition as he continues to be treated for an unspecified infection, Buckingham Palace said. The 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II was moved from King Edward VII’s Hospital, where he has been treated since Feb. 17, to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, which specializes in cardiac care. The palace says Philip “remains comfortable and is responding to treatment but is expected to remain in hospital until at least the end of the week.” Philip was admitted to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London after feeling ill. Philip’s illness is not believed to be related to COVID-19. Both he and the queen, 94, received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in early January. The Bart’s Heart Centre is Europe’s biggest specialized cardiovascular center, the National Health Service said. The center seeks to perform more heart surgeries and MRI and CT scans than any other service in the world. Philip, who retired from royal duties in 2017, rarely appears in public. During England’s coronavirus lockdown, Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, has been staying at Windsor Castle, west of London, with the queen. Philip married the then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. In 2011, he was transported by helicopter to a hospital after suffering chest pains and was treated for a blocked coronary artery. In 2017, he spent two nights in the hospital and he was hospitalized for 10 days in 2018 for a hip replacement. Philip was last hospitalized in December 2019, spending four nights in the King Edward VII’s Hospital for what the palace said was planned treatment of a pre-existing condition.

U.S. still open to nuclear talks after Iran's rejection

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-28/us-still-open-to-iran-nuclear-talks-after-irans-rejection

The Biden administration said Sunday that it remains open to talks with Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal despite Tehran’s rejection of an EU invitation to join a meeting with the U.S. and the other original participants in the agreement. A senior administration official said the U.S. was “disappointed” in the rejection but was flexible as to the timing and format of the talks and saw Iran’s decision to snub the European invitation as part of the diplomatic process. The official said the U.S. would be consulting with the other participants — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union — on the way forward. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Earlier Sunday, Iran turned down the offer for talks saying the “time isn’t ripe” for the meeting, at which the U.S. would have participated as an observer. Iran had been insisting that the U.S. lift or ease sanctions imposed by the Trump administration under its “maximum pressure campaign” before Tehran sits down with the United States. California As the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged California prisons, some families say that officials have failed to inform them when their loved ones have been hospitalized. Feb. 28, 2021 President Biden has said repeatedly that the U.S. would return to the deal that his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew from in 2018 only after Iran restores its full compliance with the accord. “Considering US/E3 positions & actions, time isn’t ripe for the proposed informal meeting,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Twitter. He referred to the so-called E3, which comprises Britain, France and Germany. “Remember: Trump failed to meet because of his ill-advised ‘Max Failure,’” he said. “With sanctions in place, same still applies. Censuring is NOT diplomacy. It doesn’t work with Iran.” The Biden administration announced earlier this month that it would accept an EU invitation to join a meeting of deal participants as it rescinded a Trump determination from the United Nations Security Council that Iran was in significant breach of the agreement. The U.N. move had little practical effect as nearly all members of the world body had rejected Trump’s determination because the U.S. was no longer a participant in the nuclear deal. Biden administration officials said the withdrawal of the determination was intended to show goodwill toward its partners and at the same time had eased severe restrictions on the movement of Iranian diplomats posted to the U.N. Separately on Sunday, the State Department condemned a weekend attack by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels on Saudi Arabia, saying it damaged prospects for peace. Along with the overtures to Iran on the nuclear front, the Biden administration also reversed several late Trump administration moves against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken rescinded his predecessor’s designation that the Houthi rebels were a “foreign terrorist organization,” a move that the U.N. and relief groups had said would make the already disastrous humanitarian situation in Yemen even worse. In addition, the Biden administration decided to halt all offensive assistance to Saudi Arabia for its military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. The Houthis, however, have stepped up their operations in the country, pressing ahead with an offensive in Marib province and launching attacks on Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, Saudi authorities said they had intercepted a missile attack over their capital and reported that bomb-laden drones had targeted a southern province, the latest in a series of airborne assaults they have blamed on the Houthis. State Department spokesman Ned Price on Sunday said the U.S. “strongly condemns the Houthis’ attacks on population centers in Saudi Arabia.” He said they “threaten not only innocent civilians but also prospects for peace and stability in Yemen” and called on the Houthis “to end these egregious attacks.” “The United States remains committed to its long-standing partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups,” Price said.

'Tom & Jerry' scores second-best box office weekend of the pandemic

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-28/tom-jerry-gives-box-office-some-life-with-13-7m-opening

Optimists could read the weekend box-office results Sunday as an inkling of a recovery for pandemic-hit movie theaters, as Warner Bros.’ live-action/animation hybrid “Tom & Jerry” premiered with an estimated $13.7 million in ticket sales, the best domestic opening of the year. The better-than-expected numbers from 2,475 cinemas in the U.S. and Canada came despite the film’s simultaneous streaming on HBO Max for a month and despite ongoing COVID-19 closures. Just 42% of U.S. theaters are open, according to data firm Comscore. Yet “Tom & Jerry” still managed the second-best opening of the pandemic following Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman 1984,” which launched with $16.7 million in December while also landing on HBO Max. The next closest debuts — “Tenet” and “The Croods: A New Age” — each eked out about $10 million on opening weekend. “With half of theaters still closed, the pandemic still a threat and ‘Tom & Jerry’ available at home, this is a very good opening,” said David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Under normal circumstances, this weekend would comfortably be above $35 million — a positive sign for the business and for theatrical’s pull over home entertainment.” Company Town The fallout over the HFPA’s lack of Black members continues publicly and behind the scenes. Feb. 27, 2021 “Tom & Jerry” also has made $25.1 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $38.8 million, according to studio estimates. The film, directed by Tim Story and based on the characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, stars Chloë Grace Moretz. Theaters in some crucial markets are about to come online. On Friday, New York City theaters will be allowed to open at 25% capacity for the first time since they closed last March. Also next week, Disney launches the animated “Raya and the Last Dragon” in theaters and on Disney+ for $30, on top of the subscription cost. Though Warner Bros. was criticized by some for abandoning movie theaters when it announced plans to send all of its 2021 films to HBO Max as well as cinemas, the studio is a lifeline to theaters. Warner Bros. films — including “The Little Things,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Wonder Woman 1984” — accounted for about 80% of domestic ticket sales over the weekend. Private rental bookings are helping the modest return of moviegoing. Family, friends and “pods” have booked an entire theater. Warner Bros. said “Tom & Jerry” has already seen more than 10,000 such bookings. Movies A Times report highlighting ethical lapses and the lack of Black members in the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. has drawn widespread attention. Now Time’s Up is joining those calling for more action. Feb. 26, 2021

Fraud overwhelms pandemic-related unemployment programs

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-28/fraud-overwhelms-pandemic-related-unemployment-programs

With the floodgates set to open on another round of unemployment aid, states are being hammered with a new wave of fraud as they scramble to update security systems and block scammers who already have siphoned billions of dollars from pandemic-related jobless programs. The fraud is fleecing taxpayers, delaying legitimate payments and turning thousands of Americans into unwitting victims of identity theft. Many states have failed to adequately safeguard their systems, and a review by the Associated Press finds that some will not even publicly acknowledge the extent of the problem. The massive sham springs from prior identity theft from banks, credit rating agencies, healthcare systems and retailers. Fraud perpetrators, sometimes in China, Nigeria or Russia, buy stolen personal identifying information on the dark web and use it to flood state unemployment systems with bogus claims. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating unemployment fraud by “transnational criminal organizations, sophisticated domestic actors, and individuals across the United States,” said Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the department’s criminal division. California Newsom flatly rejects the suggestion that politics have played a role in his pandemic decisions and has not publicly acknowledged the recall effort even as he shifts to campaign-style events in major media markets across the state. Feb. 27, 2021 The Labor Department inspector general’s office estimates that more than $63 billion has been paid out improperly through fraud or errors — roughly 10% of the total amount paid under pandemic-related unemployment programs since March. “We’re all learning that there is an epidemic of fraud,” said U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House’s powerful Ways and Means Committee. Brady said the $63-billion estimate was “larger than the entire budget of the Department of Homeland Security.” “These are frightening levels of fraud,” he said. California has been the biggest target, with an estimated $11 billion in fraudulent payments and an additional $19 billion in suspect accounts. Colorado has paid out nearly as much to scammers — an estimated $6.5 billion — as it has to people who have filed legitimate unemployment claims. Other estimates, according to AP reporting across the states, range from several hundred thousand dollars in smaller states such as Alaska and Wyoming to hundreds of millions in more populous states such as Massachusetts and Ohio. The nationwide fraud has fed on twin vulnerabilities: a flood of jobless benefit applications since the pandemic began that has overwhelmed state unemployment agencies, and antiquated benefit systems that are easy prey for crafty and persistent criminals. In Ohio, weekly first-time unemployment claims have ranged from 17,000 to more than 40,000 during the pandemic. But since late last month, those claims have topped more than 140,000 some weeks, with many of them believed to be fraudulent. The state has paid at least $330 million in fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefit claims. Trying to catch so many bogus claims delays payouts to Ohioans who are legitimately in need of help. In the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington, Cynthia Sbertoli was receiving $228 a week after she was laid off in March from her job with a nonprofit that runs high school student exchange programs. Her benefits were put on hold in January after she informed the state that someone had tried to use her identity in a scam to claim benefits. She thought the problem was resolved, but she has yet to see a renewal of her benefit checks, which she and her husband use to help pay for a son’s vision and auditory therapy. “It’s just not a good way to take care of people,” said Sbertoli, 49. In Indiana, Kentucky and Maryland, officials said that for certain weeks in the new year at least two-thirds of the claims they received were classified as suspicious due to problems verifying identities. It’s not the first brush with serious fraud for Maryland. In July, officials said they’d discovered a massive criminal enterprise that had stolen more than $500 million in unemployment benefits. Among states that have been hardest hit are those participating in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program adopted by Congress last year. It has been a lifeline for out-of-work freelancers and gig workers who normally don’t qualify for unemployment insurance, but it’s also been a boon for criminals who use stolen identities to make claims. Nearly 800,000 of the 1.4 million claims Ohio has received through this program have been tagged for potential fraud. Scams have been so widespread that the U.S. Department of Justice is setting aside money to hire more prosecutors. In New York alone, the Department of Labor says it has referred “hundreds of thousands of fraud cases” to federal prosecutors. The state says it has blocked $5.5 billion in fraudulent claims, while New Jersey says it’s prevented $2.5 billion from flowing into the hands of criminals. Despite those efforts, a government watchdog agency says not enough states are taking the necessary steps to prevent fraud. In a recent memo, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General said that, by the end of last year, 22 of the 54 state and territorial workforce agencies were still not following its repeated recommendation to join a data exchange run by the National Assn. of State Workforce Agencies. That system is designed to check Social Security numbers used in claims to see if they are being used in multiple states, or are linked to dead people or other scam methods. The office said it had found $5.4 billion in fraudulent payments from March through October. The biggest chunk of that, $3.5 billion, came through claims that used the same Social Security numbers in multiple states. One number was used on claims in 40 states. Twenty-nine of the states paid those claims, totaling more than $220,000. “The department needs to take immediate action and increase its efforts to ensure [states] implement effective controls to mitigate fraud in these high-risk areas,” the inspector general warned Labor officials. The people whose identities are used to claim improper benefits often don’t find out until they receive their tax statements. Andrew Heidtke received a letter in September from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development notifying him that unemployment claims he never applied for were being processed. “I had no idea what was happening,” said Heidtke, who works as an administrative assistant for an engineering lobbying organization. “I kind of just thought it was spam at first.” Another victim was 99-year-old Harry Hollingsworth of Strongsville, Ohio. The retired elevator car factory worker received a form in late January showing he had received $3,156 in benefits. Hollingsworth died recently, and his son, Jim Hollingsworth, said the bogus claim created a big hassle. “It looks like the state, they dropped the ball on this completely,” he said. In its own survey of state governments, the AP found that many are not publicly disclosing the level of fraud. Some officials expressed concern that providing any information, no matter how general, could provide criminals an opening to exploit their systems further. President Biden’s administration is pledging to cut down on unemployment fraud even as it tries to extend benefits through September. As part of previous legislation, the administration is sending states $200 million to fight it. That would be welcome in Virginia, where House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, a Republican, said the Legislature’s watchdog agency should investigate how the state allowed $40 million in bogus payments through prison-inmate-related scams. “How many desperate people, laid off through no fault of their own, could have been helped with that money?” he asked. “It’s maddening.”

2nd former aide accuses Cuomo of sexual harassment

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-02-27/2nd-former-aide-accuses-cuomo-of-sexual-harassment

A second former aide said she was sexually harassed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who responded with a statement Saturday saying he never made advances toward her and never intended to be inappropriate. Charlotte Bennett, a health policy adviser in the Democratic governor’s administration until November, told the New York Times that Cuomo asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life, including whether she ever had sex with older men. Another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, a former deputy secretary for economic development and special advisor to the governor, recently accused Cuomo of subjecting her to an unwanted kiss and inappropriate comments. Cuomo denied the allegations. Cuomo said in a statement Saturday that Bennett was a “hardworking and valued member of our team during COVID” and that “she has every right to speak out.” He said he had intended to be a mentor for Bennett, who is 25. “I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate,” Cuomo’s statement said. “The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported.” California Newsom flatly rejects the suggestion that politics have played a role in his pandemic decisions and has not publicly acknowledged the recall effort even as he shifts to campaign-style events in major media markets across the state. Feb. 27, 2021 Cuomo, however, said he had authorized an outside review of Bennett’s allegations. The governor’s special counsel, Beth Garvey, said that review would be conducted by a former federal judge, Barbara Jones. “I ask all New Yorkers to await the findings of the review so that they know the facts before making any judgements,” Cuomo said. “I will have no further comment until the review has concluded.” Some top New York Democrats, however, said any investigation should be placed out of the control of the governor’s office, including the selection of the investigator. “The accused CANNOT appoint the investigator. PERIOD,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Long Island Democrat. “The continued allegations are deeply disturbing and concerning. The behavior described has no place in the workplace. A truly independent investigation must begin immediately.” State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, both Democrats, called for an independent investigator. Politics After blasting President Trump last month, Sen. Mitch McConnell now says he would “absolutely” support him again if he won the 2024 GOP nomination. Feb. 26, 2021 The pair of harassment allegations represent a deepening crisis for Cuomo, who just months ago was at the height of his popularity for his leadership during the pandemic. In recent weeks, he has been assailed over revelations that his administration had underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. A state assemblyman went public with complaints that Cuomo had threatened to destroy him politically over statements he made in the press, prompting other politicians to share stories about having been bullied by the governor. Bennett did not immediately return a Twitter message from the Associated Press seeking comment. She told the New York Times her most disturbing interaction with Cuomo happened June 5 when she was alone with him in his Albany office. She said Cuomo started asking her about her personal life, her thoughts on romantic relationships, including whether age was a factor, and said he was open to relationships with women in their 20s. Bennett said she also dodged a question from Cuomo about hugging by saying she missed hugging her parents. She said Cuomo never touched her. “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett told the Times. “And was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job.” Politics House Minority Leader McCarthy sees a chance to ride his warm relationship with Trump into the House majority and a job he’s wanted for years — speaker. Feb. 25, 2021 Bennett said Cuomo also told her he wanted a girlfriend, “preferably in the Albany area,” and he was lonely since breaking up with Sandra Lee, a chef and TV personality. Bennett also said she tried to change the subject when Cuomo’s comments were making her uncomfortable, telling him she was thinking of getting a tattoo. Cuomo, she told the Times, responded by suggesting she put the tattoo on her buttocks. Bennett said she informed Cuomo’s chief of staff, Jill DesRosiers, about the interaction less than a week later. She said she was transferred to another job on the opposite side of the Capitol. At the end of June she also gave a statement to a special counsel for Cuomo. Garvey acknowledged that the complaint had been made and that Bennett had been transferred as a result to a position in which she had already been interested. Garvey said in a statement that Bennett’s allegations “did not include a claim of physical contact or inappropriate sexual conduct” and Bennett “was consulted regarding the resolution, and expressed satisfaction and appreciation for the way in which it was handled.” “The determination reached based on the information Ms. Bennett provided was that no further action was required, which was consistent with Ms. Bennett’s wishes,” Garvey said. Bennett told the newspaper she decided not to push for any further action by the administration. She said she liked her new job and “wanted to move on.” Jones, who would oversee the investigation, was appointed to the bench by President Clinton, a Democrat, in 1995. As a judge, she struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act denying federal recognition of same-sex marriage in a ruling later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. After retiring, she joined the law firm Bracewell LLP, where her work focuses on corporate compliance and investigations. Her arbitration work included a 2014 decision throwing out Ray Rice’s suspension by the NFL for punching his fiancee in an elevator in an attack recorded on video. It remained uncertain whether lawmakers would accept her appointment. Asked if Jones’ review is “truly independent,” Mike Murphy, a spokesman for Stewart-Cousins, said, “No, it is not, and it should be done by the attorney general’s office.” State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a Republican, said state Atty. Gen. Letitia James should appoint a special prosecutor. “The review suggested by someone handpicked by the governor himself, is an outrageous, completely unacceptable idea. We need a truly independent investigation,” Ortt said in a statement. Boylan said in Twitter postings Saturday night that she was proud of Bennett and alleged that Cuomo “tried to destroy many, including me, in the press.” “You are not going to derail or destroy any more lives,” she tweeted.

10 death row inmates in Oklahoma could get new trials

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-27/10-death-row-inmates-in-oklahoma-could-get-new-trials

As many as 10 death row inmates in Oklahoma, more than one-fifth of the state’s prisoners condemned to die, could escape execution because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling concerning criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country. The inmates have challenged their convictions in state court following the high court’s ruling last year, dubbed the McGirt decision, that determined a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation. The decision means that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal charges in cases in which the defendants, or the victims, are tribal citizens. Among the inmates likely to get a new trial in federal court is Shaun Michael Bosse, 38, who was convicted and sentenced to death in the 2010 killing of Katrina Griffin and her two young children. The victims were all found inside a burning mobile home near Dibble, about 35 miles south of Oklahoma City. Dozens of other inmates convicted in non-death-penalty cases also are seeking to have their convictions tossed, which is expected to result in a dramatic increase in the workload of federal prosecutors. Although Bosse is not a tribal citizen, the court determined that Griffin and her children were Native Americans and that the crime occurred on land inside the Chickasaw Nation’s historic reservation. The decision is particularly frustrating to Dist. Atty. Greg Mashburn, whose office prosecuted Bosse. “He’s benefiting from the people he killed,” Mashburn said. “It would be a travesty of justice if he got anything less than death.” California A group opposed to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón plans to file a notice of intent to begin the recall process in March. Feb. 27, 2021 Mashburn said another trial would also revictimize Griffin’s family, who were pleased with the outcome of the state trial. “Unfortunately, the law doesn’t ask their opinion,” Mashburn said. Stephen Greetham, an attorney for the Chickasaw Nation, said Griffin’s family has reached out to the tribe with concerns that Bosse could escape his death sentence. But he says the tribe has no say in that case because Bosse is not Native American. “He’s not subject to our jurisdiction, so it’s entirely at the discretion of the federal prosecutor,” Greetham said. The cases of Bosse and nine other death row inmates are being reexamined in district court to determine if the defendant or victims are enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe and if the crime occurred on a tribal reservation, according to the attorney general’s office. If those conditions are met, it’s likely the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals will toss the convictions and force the cases to be retried in federal court, where obtaining a death sentence is much more difficult. Although federal prosecutors have the authority to pursue the death penalty under certain circumstances, if the killing is determined to have occurred on tribal lands, the tribal nation must also agree to allow the death penalty. While some Oklahoma-based tribes have indicated that they’re considering that option, only one tribe — the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma — has explicitly authorized the death penalty in federal cases. “The Sac and Fox Nation has always been a law-and-order tribe,” said Truman Carter, a Native American law expert and former prosecutor with the Sac and Fox Nation. “Our position was, if one of the most serious federal crimes was committed and you had a dangerous individual defendant accused of committing that crime, the death penalty should be an option.” But none of the crimes committed by the death row inmates seeking to have their convictions thrown out took place on Sac and Fox land. U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said having to retry these cases, particularly some that are decades old, could pose unique challenges because of fading witness memories or stale evidence. “In theory, a blueprint is there for how to present this case and how to successfully convict this individual, but it’s not without inherent problems because of the time that has passed since the original crime,” Shores said. Maria Kolar, an Oklahoma City University professor with expertise in capital punishment as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, agreed retrying cases in federal court will be a challenge for federal prosecutors. “I think it’s going to be a tall order for a lot of these cases, and the older the case, the bigger the challenge,” Kolar said. “They’ll get into issues like witness availability, witness memory.”

Sacramento doctor appears in court via video call while performing surgery

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-01/doctor-appears-in-court-video-call-while-performing-surgery

A Sacramento surgeon who made a court appearance for part of a traffic trial via Zoom while dressed in scrubs from an operating room is now the subject of a medical board investigation, officials said. Dr. Scott Green appeared Thursday for his Sacramento County Superior Court trial, held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, from an operating room. He was dressed in surgical scrubs with a patient undergoing the procedure just out of view, according to a report from the Sacramento Bee; the beeps of medical machinery can be heard in the background. “Hello, Mr. Green? Hi. Are you available for trial?” asked a courtroom clerk. “It kind of looks like you’re in an operating room right now?” “I am, sir,” Green replied. “Yes, I’m in an operating room right now. Yes, I’m available for trial. Go right ahead.” The clerk reminded Green the proceedings were being livestreamed because traffic trials are required by law to be open to the public, and Green said he understood. He appeared to continue working with his head down while waiting for Court Commissioner Gary Link to enter the chamber. When Link appeared and saw the doctor on the screen, the judge hesitated to proceed with the trial out of concern for the welfare of the patient. “I have another surgeon right here who’s doing the surgery with me, so I can stand here and allow them to do the surgery also,” Green said. The judge said he didn’t think it was appropriate to conduct the trial under the circumstances. He told Green he’d rather set a new date for trial “when you’re not actively involved or participating and attending to the needs of a patient.” Green apologized. “Sometimes, surgery doesn’t always go as...,” he said before the judge interrupted him. “It happens. We want to keep people healthy, we want to keep them alive. That’s important,” Link said. The board said it would look into the incident, saying it “expects physicians to follow the standard of care when treating their patients.” A call seeking comment from Green was not returned.

Justice Department to appeal judge’s order on eviction moratorium

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-27/justice-dept-to-appeal-judges-order-on-eviction-moratorium

The Justice Department said Saturday it will appeal a judge’s ruling that found the federal government’s eviction moratorium to be unconstitutional. Prosecutors filed a notice in the case Saturday evening, saying they were appealing the matter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker on Thursday ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had overstepped its authority and that the moratorium was unlawful. “Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, so does the Constitution,” the judge wrote. The CDC eviction moratorium was signed in September by President Trump and extended by President Biden until March 31. Barker, who was nominated by Trump in 2018 to serve in the Eastern District of Texas, stopped short of issuing an injunction in the case. Several property owners had brought the litigation, arguing that the federal government didn’t have the legal authority to stop evictions. “The federal government cannot say that it has ever before invoked its power over interstate commerce to impose a residential eviction moratorium,” Barker wrote. “It did not do so during the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic. Nor did it invoke such a power during the exigencies of the Great Depression. The federal government has not claimed such a power at any point during our Nation’s history until last year.” State and local governments had approved eviction moratoriums early in the pandemic for many renters, but many of those protections have expired. To be eligible for protection, renters must have income of $99,000 or less ($198,000 or less for couples filing jointly); demonstrate that they’ve sought government help to pay rent; declare that they can’t pay because of COVID-19 hardships; and affirm that they are likely to become homeless if evicted.

Hong Kong detains 47 activists on subversion charges

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-27/hong-kong-detains-47-activists-on-subversion-charges

Hong Kong police on Sunday detained 47 pro-democracy activists on charges of conspiracy to commit subversion under the city’s national security law, in the largest mass charge against the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s opposition camp since the law came into effect last June. The former lawmakers and democracy advocates were previously arrested in a sweeping police operation in January but were released. They have been detained again and will appear in court on Monday, police said in a statement. They allegedly violated the national security law that was imposed by Beijing for participating in unofficial election primaries for Hong Kong’s legislature last year. The defendants, ages 23 to 64, include 39 men and eight women, police said. The move is part of a continuing crackdown on the city’s democracy movement, with a string of arrests and prosecutions of Hong Kong’s democracy proponents — including outspoken activists Joshua Wong and Jimmy Lai — following months of anti-government protests in 2019. World & Nation More than 10,000 were arrested after pro-democracy protests in 2019. While the world deals with COVID, they’ve languished in a grueling trial process. The pro-democracy camp had held the primaries to determine the best candidates to field to win a majority in the legislature and had plans to vote down major bills that would eventually force Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to resign. In January, activists and former lawmakers were arrested for their roles in the primaries. Authorities said the activists’ participation was part of a plan to paralyze the city’s legislature and subvert state power. The legislative election that would have followed the unofficial primaries was postponed by a year by Lam, who cited public health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mass resignations and disqualifications of pro-democracy lawmakers have left the legislature largely a pro-Beijing body. Among those arrested on Sunday was former lawmaker Eddie Chu. A post on his official Twitter account confirmed that he was being charged for conspiracy to commit subversion and that he was denied bail. “Thank you to the people of Hong Kong for giving me the opportunity to contribute to society in the past 15 years,” Chu said in a post on his Facebook page. Another candidate in the primaries, Winnie Yu, also was charged and was set to appear in court on Monday, according to a post on her official Facebook page. American lawyer John Clancey, a member of the now-defunct political rights group “Power for Democracy” who was arrested in January for his involvement in the primary, was not among those detained Sunday. “I will give full support to those who have been charged and will be facing trial,” Clancey told reporters, “because from my perspective, they have done nothing wrong.” The security law criminalizes acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers to intervene in Hong Kong’s affairs. Serious offenders could face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. Nearly 100 people have been arrested since the law was implemented.

Biden hails House passage of $1.9-trillion COVID relief bill, which now moves to Senate

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-27/biden-hails-house-passage-of-1-9t-virus-bill-now-to-senate

The House approved a $1.9-trillion pandemic relief bill that was championed by President Biden, the first step in providing another dose of aid to a weary nation as the measure now moves to a tense Senate. “We have no time to waste,” Biden said at the White House after the House passage early Saturday. “We act now — decisively, quickly and boldly — we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again. People in this country have suffered far too much for too long.” The new president’s vision for sending cash across a struggling economy to individuals, businesses, schools, states and cities battered by COVID-19 passed on a near party-line 219-212 vote. That ships the bill to the Senate, where Democrats seem bent on resuscitating their minimum wage push, and fights could erupt over state aid and other issues. Democrats said that mass unemployment and the half-million American lives lost are causes to act despite nearly $4 trillion in aid already spent fighting the fallout from the disease. GOP lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that polling finds largely views the bill favorably. Business Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is still throwing sand in the gears of good government. The result risks bankrupt states and localities. Feb. 26, 2021 “I am a happy camper tonight,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said Friday. “This is what America needs. Republicans, you ought to be a part of this. But if you’re not, we’re going without you.” Republicans said the bill was too expensive and said too few education dollars would be spent quickly to immediately reopen schools. They said it was laden with gifts to Democratic constituencies like labor unions and funneled money to Democratic-run states they suggested didn’t need it because their budgets had bounced back. “To my colleagues who say this bill is bold, I say it’s bloated,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield). “To those who say it’s urgent, I say it’s unfocused. To those who say it’s popular, I say it is entirely partisan.” The overall relief bill would provide $1,400 payments to individuals, extend emergency unemployment benefits through August and increase tax credits for children and federal subsidies for health insurance. It also provides billions for schools and colleges, state and local governments, COVID-19 vaccines and testing, renters, food producers and struggling industries such as airlines, restaurants, bars and concert venues. Moderate Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon were the only two lawmakers to cross party lines. That sharp partisan divide is making the fight a showdown over whom voters will reward for heaping more federal spending to combat the coronavirus and revive the economy atop the $4 trillion approved last year. The battle is also emerging as an early test of Biden’s ability to hold together his party’s fragile congressional majorities — just 10 votes in the House and an evenly divided 50-50 Senate. At the same time, Democrats were trying to figure out how to assuage liberals who lost their top priority in a jarring Senate setback Thursday. That chamber’s nonpartisan parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, said Senate rules require that a federal minimum wage increase would have to be dropped from the COVID-19 bill, leaving the proposal on life support. The measure would gradually lift that minimum to $15 hourly by 2025, doubling the current $7.25 floor in effect since 2009. Hoping to revive the effort in some form, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is considering adding a provision to the Senate version of the COVID-19 relief bill that would penalize large companies that don’t pay workers at least $15 an hour, said a senior Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. That was in line with ideas floated Thursday night by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a chief sponsor of the $15 plan, and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to boost taxes on corporations that don’t hit certain minimum wage targets. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) offered encouragement too, calling a minimum wage increase “a financial necessity for our families, a great stimulus for our economy and a moral imperative for our country.” She said the House would “absolutely” approve a final version of the relief bill because of its widespread benefits, even if it lacked progressives’ treasured goal. Although Democratic leaders were eager to signal to rank-and-file progressives and liberal voters that they would not yield on the minimum wage fight, their pathway was unclear because of GOP opposition and questions over whether they had enough Democratic support. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) sidestepped a question on taxing companies that don’t boost pay, saying of Senate Democrats, “I hesitate to say anything until they decide on a strategy.” Progressives were demanding that the Senate press ahead anyway on the minimum wage increase, even if it meant changing that chamber’s rules and eliminating the filibuster, a tactic that requires 60 votes for a bill to move forward. “We’re going to have to reform the filibuster because we have to be able to deliver,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another high-profile progressive, also said Senate rules must be changed, telling reporters that when Democrats meet with their constituents, “we can’t tell them that this didn’t get done because of an unelected parliamentarian.” Traditionalists of both parties — including Biden, who served as a senator for 36 years — have opposed eliminating filibusters because they protect parties’ interests when they are in the Senate minority. Biden said weeks ago that he didn’t expect the minimum wage increase to survive the Senate’s rules. Democrats narrowly hold Senate control. Pelosi, too, seemed to shy away from dismantling Senate procedures, saying, “We will seek a solution consistent with Senate rules, and we will do so soon.” The House COVID-19 bill includes the minimum wage increase, so the real battle over its fate will occur when the Senate debates its version over the next two weeks. Democrats are pushing the relief measure through Congress under special rules that will let them avoid a Senate GOP filibuster, meaning that if they are united they won’t need any Republican votes. It also lets the bill move faster, a priority for Democrats who want the bill on Biden’s desk before the most recent emergency jobless benefits end on March 14. But those same Senate rules prohibit provisions with only an “incidental” impact on the budget because they are chiefly driven by other policy purposes. MacDonough decided that the minimum wage provision failed that test. Republicans oppose the $15 minimum wage target as an expense they say would hurt businesses and cost jobs.

FBI pinpoints suspect in Capitol Police officer's riot death

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-27/ap-sources-feds-pinpoint-suspect-in-officers-riot-death

Federal investigators probing the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer killed in the Jan. 6 riot have zeroed in on a suspect seen on video appearing to spray a chemical substance on the officer before he later collapsed and died, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The FBI has obtained video that shows the person spraying Brian Sicknick and other law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 riot, the people said. But they cautioned that federal agents haven’t yet identified the suspect by name and the act hasn’t been directly tied to Sicknick’s death. The idea that Sicknick died after being sprayed by a chemical irritant has emerged in recent weeks as a new theory in the case. Investigators initially believed that Sicknick was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher, based on statements collected early in the investigation, according to one of the people and another law enforcement official briefed on the case. But as they’ve collected more evidence, the theory of the case has evolved and investigators now believe Sicknick may have ingested a chemical substance — possibly bear spray — during the riot that may have contributed to his death, the officials said. Politics The House has passed a $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief package, but a minimum wage boost is unlikely to be in the version that lands on Biden’s desk. Feb. 26, 2021 The people could not publicly discuss the details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Sicknick died after defending the Capitol against the mob that stormed the building as Congress was voting to certify Joe Biden’s electoral win over Donald Trump. It came after Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat. The circumstances surrounding Sicknick’s death remain unclear and a final cause of death has not yet been determined. Capitol Police have said he died after he was injured “while physically engaging with protesters” and this week, the agency’s acting chief said officials consider it a line-of-duty death. Sicknick collapsed after the attack, was hospitalized and died. The Justice Department opened a federal murder investigation into his death, but prosecutors are still evaluating what specific charges could be brought in the case, the people said. In a statement late Friday, Capitol Police said the medical examiner’s report on Sicknick’s death is not yet complete. “We are awaiting toxicology results and continue to work with other government agencies regarding the death investigation,” the statement said. The New York Times first reported investigators were zeroing in on one suspect in the case; CNN previously reported that authorities had collected video evidence to identify a handful of potential suspects. The FBI has already released about 250 photos of people being sought for assaulting federal law enforcement officers during the riot. Some have already been arrested and the Justice Department said about 300 people have been charged with federal offenses related to the riot.

Plunging demand for coronavirus tests may leave U.S. exposed

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/plunging-demand-for-covid-19-tests-may-leave-us-exposed

Just five weeks ago, Los Angeles County was conducting more than 350,000 weekly coronavirus tests as health workers raced to contain the worst COVID-19 hotspot in the United States. Now testing has nearly collapsed, county officials say. More than 180 government-supported sites are operating at only a third of their capacity. “It’s shocking how quickly we’ve gone from moving at 100 miles an hour to about 25,” said Dr. Clemens Hong, who leads the county’s testing operations. After a year of struggling to boost testing, communities across the country are seeing plummeting demand, shuttering testing sites and even trying to return supplies. The drop in screening comes at a significant moment in the outbreak: Experts are cautiously optimistic that COVID-19 is receding after killing more than 500,000 people in the U.S. But concerns remain that emerging variants could prolong the epidemic. “Everyone is hopeful for rapid, widespread vaccinations, but I don’t think we’re at a point where we can drop our guard just yet,” Hong said. “We just don’t have enough people who are immune to rule out another surge.” U.S. testing hit a peak Jan. 15, when the country was averaging more than 2 million tests per day. Since then, the average number of daily tests has fallen more than 28%. The drop mirrors declines across all major coronavirus measures since January, including new cases, hospitalizations and deaths. California In L.A., so many people now have immunity to the coronavirus from past infections and vaccination that transmission is slowing and inching toward herd immunity. Feb. 20, 2021 Officials say those encouraging trends, together with harsh winter weather, the end of the holiday travel season, pandemic fatigue and a growing focus on vaccinations, are sapping interest in testing. “When you combine all those together you see this decrease,” said Dr. Richard Pescatore of the public health department in Delaware, where daily testing has fallen more than 40% since the January peak. “People just aren’t going to go out to testing sites.” But testing remains important for tracking and containing the outbreak. L.A. County is opening more testing options near public transportation, schools and offices to make it more convenient. And officials in Santa Clara County are urging residents to “continue getting tested regularly,” highlighting new mobile testing buses and pop-up sites. President Biden has promised to revamp the nation’s testing system by investing billions in supplies and government coordination. But with demand falling fast, the country may soon have a glut of unused supplies. The U.S. will be able to conduct nearly 1 billion monthly tests by June, according to projections from researchers at Arizona State University. That’s more than 25 times the current rate of about 40 million tests reported per month. With more than 150 million new vaccine doses due for delivery by late March, testing is likely to fall further as local governments shift staff and resources to giving shots. “You have to pick your battles here,” said Dr. Jeffrey Engel of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “Everyone would agree that if you have one public health nurse, you’re going to use that person for vaccination, not testing.” Some experts say the country must double down on testing to avoid flare-ups from coronavirus variants that have taken hold in the U.K., South Africa and elsewhere. “We need to use testing to continue the downward trend,” said Dr. Jonathan Quick of the Rockefeller Foundation, which has been advising Biden officials. “We need to have it there to catch surges from the variants.” Science & Medicine The Biden administration is boosting efforts to identify and track coronavirus variants to help scientists see where the pandemic is heading next. Feb. 7, 2021 Last week, Minnesota began urging families to get tested every two weeks through the end of the school year as more students return to the classroom. “To protect this progress, we need to use all the tools at our disposal,” said Dan Huff, an assistant commissioner for the state’s health department. But some of the most vocal testing proponents are less worried about the declines in screening. From a public health viewpoint, testing is effective if it helps to quickly find the infected, trace their contacts and isolate them to stop the spread. In most parts of the U.S., that never happened. Over the holiday season, many Americans had to wait days to receive test results, rendering them largely useless. That led to testing fatigue and dwindling interest, said Dr. Michael Mina of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It doesn’t exactly give you a lot of gratifying, immediate feedback,” Mina said. “So people’s willingness or interest in getting tested starts to go down.” Science & Medicine The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief says it’s ‘premature’ and ‘unrealistic’ to think that the pandemic might be over by year’s end. March 1, 2021 Still, U.S. test manufacturers continue to ramp up production, with another 110 million rapid and home-based tests expected to hit the market next month. Government officials long assumed that this growing arsenal of cheap, 15-minute tests would be used to regularly screen millions of students and teachers as in-person classes resume. But recent guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don’t emphasize testing, describing it as an “additional layer” of protection, behind basic measures like masking and social distancing. Even without strong federal backing, testing programs will be important for marshaling the public confidence needed to fully reopen schools, education leaders say, including in the fall, when cases are expected to rise again. “Schools have asked themselves, justifiably, ‘Is the juice worth the squeeze to set up a big testing effort?’” said Mike Magee, chief executive of Chiefs for Change, a nonprofit that advises districts in more than 25 states. “Our message to the school systems we work with is: ‘Yes, you need to stand up comprehensive testing, because you’re going to need it.’”

The blame-Trump defense looks like a longshot for those charged in Capitol siege

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-27/blame-trump-defense-in-capitol-riot-looks-like-a-long-shot

The “Trump made me do it” defense is already looking like a longshot. Facing damning evidence in the deadly Capitol siege last month — including social media posts flaunting their actions — rioters are arguing in court they were following then-President Trump’s instructions on Jan. 6. But the legal strategy has already been shot down by at least one judge and experts believe the argument is not likely to get anyone off the hook for the insurrection in which five people died, including a police officer. “This purported defense, if recognized, would undermine the rule of law because then, just like a king or a dictator, the president could dictate what’s illegal and what isn’t in this country,” U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said recently in ordering pretrial detention of William Chrestman, a suspected member of the Kansas City-area chapter of the Proud Boys. “And that is not how we operate here.” Chrestman’s attorneys argued in court papers that Trump gave the mob “explicit permission and encouragement” to do what they did, providing those who obeyed him with “a viable defense against criminal liability.” “It is an astounding thing to imagine storming the United States Capitol with sticks and flags and bear spray, arrayed against armed and highly trained law enforcement. Only someone who thought they had an official endorsement would even attempt such a thing. And a Proud Boy who had been paying attention would very much believe he did,” Chrestman’s lawyers wrote. California A Riverside man identified as a QAnon believer was fired and arrested after a coworker saw him in Capitol riot photos In Trump’s second impeachment trial in the Senate, House Democrats made some of the same arguments defense attorneys are making in criminal court. Most senators agreed Trump was guilty, but not enough to convict him. Prosecutors have brought charges against more than 250 people so far in the attack, including conspiracy, assault, civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Authorities have suggested that sedition charges — a rarity — could be coming against some. Hundreds of Trump supporters were photographed and videotaped storming the Capitol, and scores posted selfies inside the building on social media, so they can’t exactly argue in court they weren’t there. Blaming Trump may be the best defense they have. “What’s the better argument when you’re on videotape prancing around the Capitol with a coat rack in your hand?” said Sam Shamansky, who’s representing Dustin Thompson, an Ohio man accused of stealing a coat rack during the riot. Shamansky said his client would never have been at the Capitol on Jan. 6 if Trump hadn’t “summoned him there.” Trump, he added, engaged in a “devious yet effective plot to brainwash” supporters into believing the election was stolen, putting them in the position where they “felt the the need to defend their country at the request of the commander in chief.” “I think it fits perfectly,” he said of the defense. “The more nuanced question is: Who is going to buy it? What kind of jury panel do you need to understand that?” Although experts say blaming Trump may not get their clients off the hook, it may help at sentencing when they ask the judge for leniency. “It could likely be considered a mitigating factor that this person genuinely believed they were simply following the instructions of the leader of the United States,” said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in Michigan who’s now a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. It could also bolster any potential cases against the former president, experts say. Politics Former security officials testified before Congress on Tuesday, saying they didn’t know extremists planned to storm the Capitol building on Jan. 6. “That defense is dead on arrival,” said Bradley Simon, a New York City white-collar criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. “But I do think that these statements by defendants saying that they were led on by Trump causes a problem for him if the Justice Department or the attorney general in D.C. were to start looking at charges against him for incitement of the insurrection.” Although the legal bar is high for prosecuting Trump in the Capitol siege, the former president is already facing a lawsuit from Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) that accuses him of conspiring with extremist groups to prevent Congress from certifying the election results. And more lawsuits could come. Trump spread baseless claims about the election for months and addressed thousands of supporters at a rally near the White House before the Capitol riot, telling them that they had gathered in Washington “to save our democracy.” Later, Trump said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” A lawyer for Jacob Chansley, the shirtless man who wore face paint and a hat with horns inside the Capitol, attached a highlighted transcript of the Trump’s speech before the riot to a court filing seeking Chansley’s release from custody. The defense lawyer, Albert Watkins, said the federal government is sending a “disturbingly chilling message” that Americans will be prosecuted “if they do that which the President asks them to do.” Defense lawyers have employed other strategies without any more success. In one case, the judge called a defense attorney’s portrayal of the riots as mere trespassing or civil disobedience both “unpersuasive and detached from reality.” In another, a judge rejected a man’s claim that he was “duped” into joining the anti-government Oath Keepers group and participating in the attack on the Capitol. Other defendants linked to militant groups also have tried to shift blame to Trump in seeking their pretrial release from jail. An attorney for Jessica Watkins said the Oath Keepers member believed local militias would be called into action if Trump invoked the Insurrection Act to stay in office. Watkins disavowed the Oath Keepers during a court hearing Friday, saying she has been “appalled” by fellow members of the far-right militia. “However misguided, her intentions were not in any way related to an intention to overthrow the government, but to support what she believed to be the lawful government,” her lawyer wrote. Meanwhile, a lawyer for Dominic Pezzola, another suspected Proud Boys member, said his client “acted out of the delusional belief that he was a ‘patriot’ protecting his country.” Defense attorney Jonathan Zucker described Pezzola as “one of millions of Americans who were misled by the President’s deception.” “Many of those who heeded his call will be spending substantial portions if not the remainder of their lives in prison as a consequence,” he wrote. “Meanwhile Donald Trump resumes his life of luxury and privilege.”

Supreme Court tells Santa Clara County it can't bar in-person worship

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-26/high-court-tells-santa-clara-it-cant-bar-in-person-worship

The U.S. Supreme Court told Santa Clara County on Friday that it can’t enforce a ban on indoor religious worship services put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The high court issued an order in a case brought by a handful of churches. Politics In a rebuke to Newsom, Supreme Court says California’s ban on indoor worship violates the Constitution’s protection of the free exercise of religion. Feb. 6, 2021 The justices, in early February, ruled that California that it can’t bar indoor church services because of the pandemic. The justices said at the time that the state could cap indoor services at 25% of a building’s capacity and continue to bar singing and chanting. But Santa Clara had argued that its temporary ban on indoor gatherings of any kind including worship services should be allowed to stand. The county, which includes San Jose, said that it was treating houses of worship no differently from other indoor spaces where it prohibits gatherings and caps attendance. The county said people could go into houses of worship to pray or go to confession, among other things, but couldn’t gather with groups of others. The county said the same was true of retail establishments, where shoppers can go but not gather for an event such as a book reading. The justices’ unsigned order Friday said that their action was “clearly dictated” by their order from earlier this month. The court’s three liberal justices dissented. Santa Clara had told the court in a letter Thursday that coronavirus cases in the county have recently continued to decline and that it was already close to lifting its ban on indoor gatherings. If the data continued the positive trend, the letter said, the county expected to allow all indoor gatherings, subject to restrictions, as soon as Wednesday.

A wax Don Draper welcomes New York diners as COVID-19 restrictions ease

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-26/nyc-steakhouse-stunt-a-wax-don-draper-hanging-at-the-bar

It’s a promotion that could be straight out of the “Mad Men” Don Draper playbook. Brooklyn’s famed Peter Luger Steak House has teamed with Madame Tussauds to have celebrity wax figures mingle with patrons, promoting the easing of pandemic restrictions on indoor dining in New York City. A wax Jon Hamm — known for his portrayal of ad executive Draper in the hit TV series — could be found at the restaurant’s bar Friday with a cocktail in hand. Other figures on loan from Madame Tussauds include Michael Strahan, Jimmy Fallon, Al Roker and Audrey Hepburn decked out as Holly Golightly from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Peter Luger “thought this would be a fun, safe way to fill some of the seats that need to remain empty as we continue to fight the pandemic,” said restaurant Vice President Daniel Turtel. As of Friday, restaurants in the city were allowed to fill 35% of their indoor seats, up from 25% previously. Luger, in business for more than 130 years, will keep the mannequins until Monday. After that, they’ll return to the recently reopened Madame Tussauds in Midtown Manhattan.

Former US. Sen. Kelly Loeffler no longer owns Atlanta Dream after WNBA approves sale

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-26/wnba-approves-sale-of-dream-following-pressure-on-loeffler

Real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener was approved Friday as lead owner of the Atlanta Dream after former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler was pressured to sell her share of the WNBA team. The three-member investor group also includes former Dream guard Renee Montgomery and Suzanne Abair, president of Northland Investment Corp. in Massachusetts, the firm Gottesdiener founded. Montgomery becomes the first former player to become both an owner and executive of a WNBA team. She sat out the 2020 season to focus on social justice issues and recently announced her retirement from the league after 11 seasons. The approval by the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors was expected and unanimous. It means co-owner Mary Brock also sold her share of the team, which will remain in Atlanta. The WNBA announced on Jan. 20 the ownership change was close to being completed. Players around the league called for Loeffler to sell her 49% stake in the Dream after she wrote a letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert over the summer objecting to the league’s initiatives to advocate for racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement. Sports WNBA players are urging people to vote against Kelly Loeffler, an Atlanta Dream co-owner and Republican U.S. senator running to keep her seat in Georgia. Aug. 5, 2020 “With the unanimous WNBA and NBA votes, today marks a new beginning for the Atlanta Dream organization and we are very pleased to welcome Larry Gottesdiener and Suzanne Abair to the WNBA,” Engelbert said in a statement. “I admire their passion for women’s basketball, but more importantly, have been impressed with their values. I am also thrilled that former WNBA star Renee Montgomery will be joining the ownership group as an investor and executive for the team. Renee is a trailblazer who has made a major impact both in the game and beyond.” Montgomery said her new role can set a tone. “Breaking barriers for minorities and women by being the first former WNBA player to have both a stake in ownership and a leadership role with the team is an opportunity that I take very seriously,” Montgomery said. “I invite you to join me as the Dream builds momentum in Atlanta!” Montgomery is in her first season as a studio analyst on Atlanta Hawks broadcasts for Fox Sports Southeast. Montgomery won titles with the Minnesota Lynx in 2015 and 2017. She was an all-star with the Connecticut Sun in 2011, when she set a career high with her average of 14.6 points per game. She was the WNBA’s sixth woman of the year in 2012. Gottesdiener said he considers it “a privilege to join a team of inspiring women who strive for excellence on the court and equity off the court.”

Dutch poet declines to translate Amanda Gorman after outcry

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/dutch-poet-declines-assignment-to-translate-gormans-works

A writer who was chosen to translate American poet Amanda Gorman‘s work into Dutch has handed back the assignment following criticism that a white author was selected to translate the words of a Black woman who is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, who last year became the youngest writer to win the International Booker Prize with her novel “The Discomfort of Evening,” announced the decision in a Twitter post Friday. A Dutch translation of “The Hill We Climb,” the poem Gorman recited to wide acclaim at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, was scheduled to be released at the end of March by publisher Meulenhoff. Books She became the national youth poet laureate at age 16; six years later, she read her poem at Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ historic swearing-in. Jan. 20, 2021 “I am shocked by the uproar around my involvement in the dissemination of Amanda Gorman’s message, and I understand people who feel hurt by the choice of Meulenhoff to ask me,” said Rijneveld, who writes poetry as well as novels. Meulenhoff General Director Maaike le Noble said in a statement that the publisher wants to learn from the experience. “We are going to look for a team to cooperate with to translate Amanda’s words and message of hope and inspiration as well as possible and in her spirit,” Le Noble said. The publisher said earlier this week that Rijneveld was the translator it had dreamed of and said that “Amanda Gorman herself was also immediately enthusiastic about the choice for the young poet.” Books Amanda Gorman captivated the world with her poem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Jan. 25, 2021 One of the critics of the choice of Rijneveld was Janice Deul, an activist and journalist who wrote an opinion piece in the Netherlands’ national daily newspaper de Volkskrant about the topic. “Not to take anything away from Rijneveld’s qualities, but why not choose a writer who is — just like Gorman — spoken word artist, young, female and unapologetically Black.” On Friday, Deul tweeted: “Thanks for this decision” and tagged Rijneveld and Meulenhoff.

Carbon-cutting pledges by countries aren't nearly enough to halt warming, U.N. warns

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-26/un-carbon-cutting-pledges-by-countries-nowhere-near-enough

The newest pledges by countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions are falling far short of what’s needed to limit global warming to what the Paris climate accord seeks, a new United Nations report finds. So the U.N.’s climate chief is telling nations to go back and try harder. The world’s pledges so far are only enough to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to less than 1% below 2010 levels by 2030. Most countries — especially top carbon polluters China, the United States and India — missed the Dec. 31 deadline for submitting official emission-cutting targets for climate negotiations coming up in Scotland in November. The world will have to cut carbon pollution to 45% below 2010 levels in order to achieve the more stringent official Paris goal of limiting future warming to another half a degree (0.3 degrees Celsius) from now, U.N. officials said. Toward a more sustainable California Get Boiling Point, our newsletter exploring climate change, energy and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. “We are very, very far from where we need to be,” U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa said. “What we need to put on the table is much more radical and much more transformative than we have been doing until now.” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report “a red alert for our planet.” U.N. officials applauded the more than 120 nations, including the U.S. and China, that have made longer-term goals of net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury. But those same nations must translate long-term talk into the immediate action “that people and the planet so desperately need,” Guterres said. Instead of limiting the world to only 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since pre-industrial times — the more stringent of two Paris accord goals — the data shows that the world “is headed to close to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) and a global catastrophe if this is not curtailed quickly,” said Bill Hare, director of Climate Analytics, a private group that tracks countries’ emissions targets. Business Sempra Energy is seeking federal approval for a new proposal to ship fossil fuel overseas. Feb. 24, 2021 The 2015 Paris climate agreement had nations submit voluntary targets for how much heat-trapping gases they would spew by 2025 and update those targets every five years. With the big pandemic-delayed climate negotiations in Glasgow set for later this year, nations are supposed to submit updated and tougher goals for 2030. The U.S., the second-biggest carbon polluter behind China, promises its goal will be announced before a special Earth Day summit in April. Fewer than half of the world’s countries, accounting for 30% of the world’s carbon emissions, submitted targets by the deadline. Only seven of the top 15 carbon polluting nations had done so. At least 10 countries that submitted goals last year did not provide tougher goals, Hare said. And because of changes to emissions in its base year calculations, Brazil essentially weakened its target from its 2015 version, said Taryn Fransen, a senior fellow at the think tank World Resources Institute. Espinosa said that even countries that already have given new targets need to go back and do better because “we are simply out of time.” Her predecessor and prime engineer of the Paris agreement, Christiana Figueres, said she thinks the U.S., China and Japan can change the picture when they announce their goals: “I have high hopes they will deliver.” Politics Environmental justice groups in California and elsewhere are muscling for influence in Washington, unleashing long-simmering tensions in the broader movement. Jan. 30, 2021 China and the United States, with 35% of the world’s carbon emissions, can make a huge difference with their targets, Fransen said, noting that the U.S. can pledge to cut emissions in half from 2005 baseline levels by 2030 and can achieve that with concerted action. The goal the Obama administration submitted in 2015 was to cut emissions 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025. When he was president, Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement, but President Biden put the country back in. After dramatic decreases in carbon pollution in early 2020 because of the pandemic lockdown, initial data shows that by the end of the year, emissions were back up to 2019 levels, pushed by China’s industrial production, said Corinne LeQuere, who tracks emissions at the University of East Anglia. The world adopted the more stringent 1.5-degree Celsius temperature goal in 2015 at the urging of small island nations, which fear being swamped by a climate-related rise in sea levels if temperatures pass that mark. “We are flirting dangerously” with the warming limit, said U.N. Ambassador Aubrey Webson of Antigua and Barbuda, chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States. “It is small island developing states like ours that will pay the ultimate price if we do not.”

Islamic State bride loses bid to return to U.K. to fight for citizenship

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-26/is-bride-loses-bid-to-return-to-uk-to-fight-for-citizenship

A woman who ran away from London as a teenager to join the Islamic State group lost her bid Friday to return to the U.K. to fight for the restoration of her citizenship, which was revoked on national security grounds. Shamima Begum was one of three east London schoolgirls who traveled to Syria in 2015 to marry Islamic State fighters. She resurfaced at a refugee camp in Syria and told reporters she wanted to come home but was denied the chance after former Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship. Begum’s lawyers appealed, saying her right to a fair hearing was harmed by the obstacles of pursuing her case from the camp. The U.K. Supreme Court disagreed, ruling Friday that the right to a fair hearing does not trump all other considerations, such as public safety. “The appropriate response to the problem in the present case is for the deprivation hearing to be stayed — or postponed — until Ms. Begum is in a position to play an effective part in it without the safety of the public being compromised,” said Justice Robert Reed, the president of the Supreme Court. “That is not a perfect solution, as it is not known how long it may be before that is possible. But there is no perfect solution to a dilemma of the present kind.” Javid argued that Begum was Bangladeshi by descent and could go there. She challenged the decision, arguing she is not a citizen of another country and that Javid’s decision left her stateless. The human rights group Liberty said the court’s ruling sets “an extremely dangerous precedent.” “The right to a fair trial is not something democratic governments should take away on a whim, and nor is someone’s British citizenship,” said Rosie Brighouse, a lawyer with Liberty. “If a government is allowed to wield extreme powers like banishment without the basic safeguards of a fair trial, it sets an extremely dangerous precedent.”

Boeing 777 reportedly makes emergency landing in Moscow

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-26/boeing-777-makes-emergency-landing-in-moscow-reports

Russian media reported that a Boeing 777 plane made an emergency landing in Moscow early Friday after the pilot reported a problem with the engine. The Interfax news agency cited an anonymous source saying that the pilot on the flight from Hong Kong to Madrid reported a failure of one of the left engine control channels and requested an emergency landing at the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. The plane landed safely and no one was injured, the report said. It was carrying out a “cargo-passenger” flight, Interfax said. The flight tracking website Flightradar24 confirms that the plane operated by Russia’s state-funded Rossiya airline landed early Friday at the Moscow airport. Earlier this month, a Boeing 777 operated by United Airlines had to make an emergency landing in Denver after one of its engines blew apart, spewing huge chunks of wreckage that landed in neighborhoods and sports fields. Business Engine failures on commercial planes happen with some frequency. Modern jets are designed to fly safely for a while even after one engine quits. The investigation is focusing on a fan blade that appeared to be weakened by wear and tear, a development reminiscent of a fatal failure on board another plane in 2018. The event caused authorities to ground Boeing 777 models that use that engine, the Pratt & Whitney 4000-112. Flightradar24 identified the plane that landed in Sheremetyevo on Friday as a Boeing 777-31H model, which does not use the Pratt & Whitney engines. Instead, that model uses the General Electric GE90-115B engines, according to fleet tracking site Airfleets.net.

Senate confirms former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as Energy secretary

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-25/former-michigan-gov-granholm-confirmed-as-energy-secretary

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm won Senate confirmation Thursday to be President Biden’s Energy secretary. The vote was 64-35. Granholm, who served two terms as governor in a state dominated by the auto industry, will be a key player in Biden’s vision for a green economy as the United States fights to slow climate change. Michigan was devastated by the 2008 recession, and Granholm has promoted emerging clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles and battery manufacturing as an answer for jobs that will be lost as the U.S. transitions away from oil, coal and other fossil fuels. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he appreciates Granholm’s pledge to “innovate, not eliminate” fossil fuels in the transition to a clean-energy economy. “She understands when markets shift, and basically leaving people behind that had good jobs and now have a hard time just surviving, let alone living any quality of life they lived before,” Manchin said. “She understands that.” Business Sempra Energy is seeking federal approval for a new proposal to ship fossil fuel overseas. Feb. 24, 2021 During her confirmation hearing last month, Granholm pushed her plans to embrace new wind and solar technologies. But her position caused tension with some Republicans who fear for the future of fossil fuels. “We can buy electric car batteries from Asia or we can make them in America,” Granholm, 62, told senators. “We can install wind turbines from Denmark or we can make them in America.” Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate committee, said the Obama administration “went on a regulatory rampage to slow or stop energy production.” Barrasso and other Republicans have complained that a freeze imposed by Biden on oil and gas leases on federal lands is taking a “sledgehammer” to Western states’ economies. The moratorium could cost cost tens of thousands of jobs unless rescinded, Barrasso said. He and other Republicans also bemoaned Biden’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, saying thousands of jobs will be lost and a friendly source of oil left untapped. Climate & Environment President Biden announced new actions to combat climate change and take the first step toward a ban on oil leasing on federal land. Jan. 27, 2021 Granholm assured lawmakers that creating jobs was her top priority — and Biden’s. “We cannot leave our people behind. In West Virginia, and in other fossil fuel states, there is an opportunity for us to specialize in the technologies that reduce carbon emissions, to make those technologies here, to put people to work here, and to look at other ways to diversify,” she told Manchin at her Jan. 27 hearing. Manchin replied that the Energy Department has millions of dollars available for research and development, manufacturing tax credits incentives and other incentives for job creation. “Would you be supportive of prioritizing that money to be used in the states that lost traditional jobs,” he asked. “One thousand percent, yes,” Granholm said. During her introduction as Biden’s Energy secretary nominee, Granholm described arriving in the U.S. at age 4, brought from Canada by a family “seeking opportunity.” She said her father found work as a bank teller and retired as head of the bank. “It’s because of my family’s journey and my experience in fighting for hardworking Michigan families that I have become obsessed, obsessed with gaining good-paying jobs in America in a global economy,” she said.

Jews split over storied charity's support for settlements

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/jews-split-over-storied-charitys-support-for-settlements

Generations of Jews have dropped spare change into the iconic blue boxes of the Jewish National Fund, a 120-year-old Zionist organization that acquires land, plants trees and carries out development projects in the Holy Land. But the Israeli group, known by its Hebrew acronym KKL, is considering formally expanding its activities into the occupied West Bank. That has sparked fierce opposition from left-leaning Jewish groups in the United States, deepening a rift with the increasingly right-wing Israeli government. The debate has drawn attention to the fact that the KKL, which owns more than a tenth of all land in Israel, has been quietly operating in the West Bank for decades, building and expanding settlements that most of the world considers a violation of international law. A separate New York-based organization, also known as the Jewish National Fund, does not take a position on the settlements and mostly operates within Israel. The controversy erupted last month when the Axios news website reported that the KKL was considering a proposal to openly fund land purchases from Palestinians in the West Bank. The move could potentially channel hundreds of millions of dollars into the expansion of settlements, some of them deep inside the occupied territory. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of a future state. They view the settlements — which house nearly 500,000 Israelis — as the main obstacle to a two-state solution to the conflict. Israel views the West Bank as the biblical heartland of the Jewish people and says any partition should be negotiated in peace talks, which have been largely moribund for more than a decade. The proposal would need to be approved by the KKL’s board of directors, which includes representatives from several Jewish organizations and is not expected to decide before the country holds nationwide elections March 23. “Throughout the years and till this very day, KKL-JNF has been operating in all parts of the Land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria,” it said, using the biblical name of the West Bank. “At this stage, there is no intention of opening up a new area in Judea and Samaria.” It added that all projects are confirmed with donors in advance, suggesting that funds intended for projects inside Israel would not be diverted to occupied territory. But Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, says the KKL has been quietly operating in the West Bank for decades, acquiring at least 16,000 acres of land for settlements, mainly through a subsidiary. “This has happened before and so this isn’t a sea change,” Peace Now spokesman Brian Reeves said. “But this would be the first time that they are officially endorsing this in the open, the idea of purchasing land in the West Bank, and essentially saying, ‘We don’t agree with international law, or that there’s occupation, or that the two-state solution matters.’” Palestinians view the sale of land to settlers as a betrayal of their national cause, so such transactions are usually carried out in secret or through middlemen, opening them up to allegations of fraud. In some cases, they result in the eviction of Palestinian families who say they never sold their property. Though the settlements enjoy broad support within Israel, they have come to be seen as an obstacle to peace by many Jews in the West, who are also at odds with the Israeli government on religious matters. Most American Jews belong to the more liberal streams of Judaism and feel alienated by Israel’s ultra-Orthodox authorities, who question their faith and practices. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the head of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish movement in North America, says the KKL’s shift stems from recent elections at the World Zionist Congress that brought to power right-wing leaders more closely aligned with the Israeli government. His group and others that are opposed to settlements denounced the KKL’s proposal and have vowed to oppose it when the board meets, but it’s unclear whether they have enough votes. Jacobs is concerned the move could tar the KKL for many in the West or spark tensions with the new U.S. administration, which is also opposed to settlement expansion. He acknowledged the KKL has operated in the West Bank in the past but said its activities dramatically dropped off over the last two decades before resuming and accelerating in secret in recent years, prompting opposition from the Union for Reform Judaism and other groups. “We basically blew the whistle and said wait a minute, there’s a whole lot of land purchasing going on under the table, under the radar without oversight, and frankly, without even the formal permission to do so,” he said. “Here in North America, the majority of Jews are opposed to the proliferation of the settlement enterprise,” he added. “That’s something that American Jews feel very strongly about.” The U.S.-based JNF is a separate entity with its own board and its own offices in New York and Jerusalem. Chief Executive Russell Robinson said it doesn’t involve itself in politics and focuses on projects in the Negev and Galilee regions of Israel. “Politics is not where the majority of people want to be involved in,” he said. “They want to be involved in making the world a better place, and we give them that opportunity.” The U.S. JNF contracts out forestry and reservoir-building to the KKL, in what Robinson refers to as a “vendor service.” It has also funded some small projects in the occupied territories, including a heritage museum in the Gush Etzion settlement block. Robinson dismisses the infighting within the major Zionist organizations and says it’s had no effect on his group’s fundraising. But Jacobs says Israelis should be concerned about the fraying relations between their hawkish government and their allies abroad. “American Jews are very involved in the political life of the United States,” he said. “We are working overtime to bridge the differences and to establish more commonality, but we’re not going to forsake our core commitments to do so.”

Capitol Police were warned of violence before riot, says acting Chief Yogananda Pittman

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/chief-capitol-police-were-warned-of-violence-before-riot

Capitol Police knew armed extremists were primed for violence at the iconic building on Jan. 6 and even provided officers with assault rifles to protect lawmakers, the acting chief acknowledged Wednesday. But the wild invasion of the Capitol was far worse than police expected, leaving them unprepared to fight it off. A day earlier, her predecessor as chief testified that police expected an enraged but more typical protest crowd of Donald Trump supporters. But Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman said intelligence collected ahead of the riot prompted the agency to take extraordinary measures, including the special arming of officers, intercepting radio frequencies used by the invaders and deploying spies at the Ellipse rally where President Trump was sending his supporters marching to the Capitol to “fight like hell.” Pittman’s testimony, submitted ahead of a House hearing on Thursday, provides the most detailed account yet of the intelligence and preparations by U.S. Capitol Police ahead of the insurrection when thousands of pro-Trump rioters invaded the Capitol aiming to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. Three days earlier, Capitol Police distributed an internal intelligence assessment warning that militia members, white supremacists and other extremist groups were likely to participate, that demonstrators would be armed and that it was possible they would come to the Capitol to try to disrupt the vote, Pittman says. “Based on the assessment, the Department understood that this demonstration would be unlike the previous demonstrations held by protesters with similar ideologies in November and December 2020,” Pittman says in her prepared remarks. Politics Former security officials testified before Congress on Tuesday, saying they didn’t know extremists planned to storm the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Feb. 23, 2021 At the same time, she argues police didn’t have enough intelligence to predict the violent insurrection that resulted in five deaths, including that of a Capitol Police officer. They prepared for trouble but not an invasion. “Although the Department’s January 3rd Special Assessment foretold of a significant likelihood for violence on Capitol grounds by extremists groups, it did not identify a specific credible threat indicating that thousands of American citizens would descend upon the U.S. Capitol attacking police officers with the goal of breaking into the U.S. Capitol Building to harm Members and prevent the certification of Electoral College votes,” Pittman says in her testimony. Steven Sund, the police force’s former chief who resigned after the riot, testified Tuesday that the intelligence assessment warned white supremacists, members of the far-right Proud Boys and leftist antifa were expected to be in the crowd and might become violent. “We had planned for the possibility of violence, the possibility of some people being armed, not the possibility of a coordinated military style attack involving thousands against the Capitol,” Sund said. The FBI also forwarded a warning to local law enforcement officials about online postings that a “war” was coming. But Pittman said it still wasn’t enough to prepare for the mob that attacked the Capitol. Officers were vastly outnumbered as thousands of rioters descended on the building, some of them wielding planks of wood, stun guns, bear spray and metal pipes as they broke through windows and doors and stormed through the Capitol. Officers were hit with barricades, shoved to the ground, trapped between doors, beaten and bloodied as members of Congress were evacuated and congressional staffers cowered in offices. California Christian Secor, who was charged with federal crimes for his alleged role in the Capitol riot, had stirred up tensions over free speech. Feb. 21, 2021 Should police have been better prepared? With the amount of information available to the Capitol Police, it’s surprising that they didn’t take additional steps to reinforce security and protect their officers, said Tom Warrick, a former counter-terrorism official who served in the Obama administration. “On Jan. 6, the one strategic location in the entire U.S. national capital region that had to be defended was the U.S. Capitol,” said Warrick, now with the Atlantic Council. “So it was really disappointing you have people testifying that ‘we didn’t know there would be violence.’ When you are the target, you assume that things like that can happen even if you don’t have the intel.” Even without access to secure intelligence, there were months of warning signs in public view that rioters would try to do what they did, said Bruce Hoffman, a former commissioner on the 9/11 Review Commission and a senior fellow for counter-terrorism and homeland security for the Council on Foreign Relations. A plot uncovered by federal law enforcement to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was a major red flag, and many of the rioters went on social media to echo Trump’s calls to “stop the steal” and speculate about violence. “Historically, the default is always to blame it on an intelligence failure when often there may well be other reasons,” Hoffman said. “I think it was very obvious to anyone ... that a confrontation was going to occur.” World & Nation House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection at U.S. Capitol. Feb. 15, 2021 Pittman also says the department faced “internal challenges” as it responded to the riot. Officers didn’t properly lock down the Capitol complex, even after an order had been given over the radio to do so. She also says that officers didn’t understand when they were allowed to use deadly force, and that less-than-lethal weapons that officers had were not as successful as they expected. While Pittman says in her testimony that that sergeants and lieutenants were supposed to pass on intelligence to the department’s rank and file, many officers have said they were given little or no information or training for what they would face. Four officers said shortly after the riot that they heard nothing from Sund, Pittman, or other top commanders as the building was breached. Officers were left in many cases to improvise or try to save colleagues facing peril. Pittman also faces internal pressure from her rank and file, particularly after the Capitol Police union issued a vote of no confidence against her last week. She must also lead the department through the start of several investigations into how law enforcement failed to protect the building. Capitol Police are investigating the actions of 35 police officers on the day of the riot; six of those officers have been suspended with pay, a police spokesman said. Merchant reported from Houston. Associated Press writers Ben Fox and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

Biden lifts Trump-era ban blocking most legal immigration to the U.S.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/biden-lifts-trump-era-ban-blocking-legal-immigration-to-us

President Biden on Wednesday lifted a freeze on green cards issued by his predecessor during the pandemic that lawyers said was blocking most legal immigration to the United States. Former President Trump last spring halted the issuance of green cards until the end of 2020 in the name of protecting the coronavirus-wracked job market — a reason that Trump gave to achieve many of the cuts to legal immigration that had eluded him before the pandemic. Trump on Dec. 31 extended those orders until the end of March. Trump had deemed immigrants a “risk to the U.S. labor market” and blocked their entry to the United States in issuing Proclamation 10014 and Proclamation 10052. Biden stated in his proclamation Wednesday that shutting the door on legal immigrants “does not advance the interests of the United States.” “To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here. It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world,” Biden stated in his proclamation. Politics With its long-term facilities for migrant children nearly full, the U.S. authorized facilities to pay for some of their travel to sponsors’ homes. Feb. 24, 2021 Most immigrant visas were blocked by the orders, according to immigration lawyers. As many as 120,000 family-based preference visas were lost largely because of the pandemic-related freeze in the 2020 budget year, according to the American Immigrant Lawyers Assn. Immigrants could not bring over family members unless they were U.S. citizens applying for visas for their spouses or children under the age of 21. It also barred entry to immigrants with employment-based visas unless they were considered beneficial to the national interest, such as healthcare professionals. And it slammed the door on thousands of visa lottery winners who were randomly chosen from a pool of about 14 million applicants to be given green cards that would let them live permanently in the United States. The blocked visas add to a growing backlog that has reached 437,000 for family-based visas alone, said California immigration lawyer Curtis Morrison, who represented thousands of people blocked by the freeze. “I’m thrilled for my clients who are now in a position that they can now enter the U.S.,” he said. “But that backlog will take years if the administration does not take ambitious measures.” A federal judge last year issued a ruling that all but lifted Proclamation 10052 by allowing temporary foreign workers to enter the United States if their employers are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or several other large organizations that represent much of the U.S. economy. But Proclamation 10014 continued to block thousands of immigrants. Immigration lawyers said they were surprised Biden did not immediately lift the freeze like he did with Trump’s travel ban imposed against people from mostly Muslim-majority countries. As a result, some immigrants blocked by the travel ban found they still could not come to the United States because of the freeze. Politics President Biden wants to review supply chains for semiconductors, advanced batteries, medical supplies and rare earth metals amid concerns the U.S. is too reliant on China. Feb. 24, 2021 Biden’s actions come only days after thousands of visa lottery winners at risk of having their visas expire won a court order that put their visas on hold by the judge in the case. Now they will be allowed to use their visas to enter the country. The United States makes available up to 55,000 visas a year for immigrants whose nationalities are underrepresented in the U.S. population. The visas must be used within six months of being obtained. Meanwhile, Biden has proposed legislation that would limit presidential authority to issue future bans against immigrants. The president has not said whether there will be any redress for visa lottery winners who lost out because of the pandemic-era policies. But he is calling for the U.S. to increase the number of diversity visas available via the lottery each year from 55,000 to 80,000.

Gang clashes result in Ecuador's deadliest prison riots ever

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/gang-clashes-result-in-ecuadors-deadliest-prison-riots-ever

Ecuador experienced its deadliest prison riots ever this week when seemingly coordinated fights broke out in facilities in three different cities, leaving 79 inmates dead as of Wednesday and exposing the limited control that authorities have over people behind bars. Hundreds of police officers and military personnel converged on the prisons after the unrest began Monday night in the maximum-security wings as rival gangs fought for leadership. President Lenín Moreno, whose term ends in May, said Wednesday that he will ask other South American countries for help to tackle the crisis in Ecuador’s prisons and acknowledged that the system is deficient and lacks financial resources. Inmates in two prisons attempted to keep fighting Wednesday despite a heavy police response. Television footage showed smoke billowing from one of the facilities. Some 70% of the country’s prison population lives in the centers where the unrest occurred. The national agency responsible for the prisons said 37 inmates died in the Pacific coast city of Guayaquil, 34 in the southern city of Cuenca and eight in the central city of Latacunga. “Ecuadorian prisons are overpopulated, as they always have been, as are prisons in nearly every country,” said Mark Ungar, a professor of political science at Brooklyn College in the U.S., who has researched prisons in Latin America. In addition “is this amazingly repetitive practice of putting members of different gangs within the same facility, which is kind of cardinal rule No. 1 not to do because their practices continue within the prisons,” he added. “So, the very fact of putting them together is a recipe for violence.” Ungar said inadequate staffing in Latin American prisons limits the ability of authorities to patrol inmate interactions and makes it practically impossible to separate prisoners sufficiently to prevent violence. Ecuador’s prisons were designed for some 27,000 inmates but house about 38,000. Their maximum-security areas tend to house inmates linked to killings, drug trafficking, extortion and other major crimes. Authorities have said this week’s clashes were precipitated by authorities’ search for weapons. Television footage Tuesday showed some prisoners jumping from high walls and others trying to force open prison doors. Prisons Director Edmundo Moncayo said then that two groups were trying to gain “criminal leadership within the detention centers” and 800 police officers were working to regain control of the facilities. Ricardo Camacho, a security analyst and former prisons undersecretary, said the clashes are a purely domestic issue. “They are disputes between national gangs that seek to monopolize the power that was left vacant in the prisons by the death of a criminal leader in December, and that has given way to this massacre with violence never before seen,” Camacho said. “There are prisoners beheaded, dismembered, their hearts removed. “The prisoners had several hours to do what they wanted, and when the police arrived, they did not put up much resistance,” he added. Over the last three decades, Latin American prisons have seen fires, riots, massacres and other forms of violence. Ungar said conditions have not improved because there is no political incentive to improve the facilities. “There is such a strong anti-crime … political momentum to arrest people and have them sit in prison, whether … they’re guilty or not,” Ungar said. “So, no politician, no official has an interest or incentive to improve that because it doesn’t benefit the political game.” Moreno said in a speech to the nation that he had ordered the Ministry of Finance to allocate resources needed to address the issue and said the military will help control arms, explosives and ammunition around the prisons for as long as it is necessary. “There are dark forces that threaten our coexistence. That cannot be allowed,” Moreno said. He promised “to fight the battle against drug trafficking until the last day of my administration.”

With long-term facilities nearly full, U.S. tries to expedite release of migrant children

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/amid-surge-us-tries-to-expedite-release-of-migrant-children

With its long-term facilities for immigrant children nearly full, the Biden administration is working to expedite the release of children to their relatives in the United States. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department on Wednesday authorized operators of long-term facilities to pay for some of the children’s flights and transportation to the homes of their sponsors. Under the agency’s current guidelines, sponsors can be charged for those flights and required to pay before the government will release children, even if the sponsors have been vetted by the government. Those costs can sometimes exceed $1,000 per child. An internal memo sent Wednesday and obtained by the Associated Press authorizes facility operators to use government funding for transport fees “in the event that a sponsor is not able to pay fees associated with commercial airfare, and a child’s physical release would be otherwise delayed.” The Health and Human Services Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. World & Nation Extending a temporary order, a federal judge indefinitely bans the Biden administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. Feb. 24, 2021 The federal agency has drastically cut its capacity because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly all of the department’s 7,100 beds for immigrant children are full. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents are apprehending an average of more than 200 children crossing the border without a parent per day. Most Border Patrol facilities aren’t equipped for long-term detention, with children forced to sleep on mats in cells where the lights stay on around the clock. To take children from the Border Patrol, Health and Human Services reopened a surge facility at Carrizo Springs, Texas, that can hold up to 700 teenagers, and may soon reopen another site in Homestead, Fla. While they have beds, classrooms and dining areas, surge facilities cost an estimated $775 per child daily and are not subject to the same licensing requirements as regular facilities. Democrats sharply criticized them during the Trump administration, and news of Carrizo Springs’ reopening has drawn criticism from some Democrats, as well as Republicans who argue former President Trump was unfairly blamed. Some have accused President Biden of moving to detain children in “cages.” No children are detained in cells or behind chain-link fencing at Carrizo Springs, which has long trailers that serve as dormitories and a large tent as a dining hall. “We had to expand and open additional facilities because there was not enough space in the existing facilities if we were to abide by COVID protocols,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. Psaki noted that Biden halted a Trump-era practice of expelling unaccompanied immigrant children under public health law, though the U.S. still expels immigrant families and single adults who cross the border without permission. “Our objective is to move these kids quickly from there to vetted, sponsored families and to places where they can safely be,” she said. But experts on the detention of immigrant children say the Health agency needs to change how it works to relieve pressure on the overall system. Politics While Biden’s deportation pause is challenged in court, he directs ICE to focus on ‘significant threats,’ such as suspected terrorists and felons. Feb. 18, 2021 Leecia Welch, senior director of child welfare at the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law, said the federal agency could have made several policy changes months ago that would alleviate what she called “a government-created crisis.” She applauded the move to pay for flights and called on U.S. officials to explore other ways to release children from Health and Human Services faster, including by raising the capacity of regular facilities while ensuring that protocols are followed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. “While we recognize the Biden administration’s efforts to process unaccompanied children in a responsible way that addresses public health needs and prioritizes children’s safety, it is critical that it not repeat the mistakes of the Trump administration,” Naureen Shah, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. One long-standing requirement that has delayed some releases is forcing sponsors to pay for airfares. “Facilities have told families that they will not release a child unless they specifically go to a specific travel agency and purchase tickets,” said Dr. Amy Cohen, executive director of the advocacy group Every Last One. In one case this week, Cohen said, staff at a facility told a woman that she would have to bring a certified check to the airport in order to collect her child, who has been in a Health and Human Services facility for three weeks.

Biden's CIA nominee vows to keep politics out of the job, provide 'unvarnished' intelligence

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/cia-nominee-pledges-to-provide-unvarnished-intelligence

President Biden’s nominee to run the CIA told lawmakers Wednesday that he would keep politics out of the job and deliver “unvarnished” intelligence to politicians and policymakers even if they didn’t want to hear it. “I’ve learned that politics must stop where intelligence works begin,” William Burns told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “That is exactly what President Biden expects” of the CIA. Burns said the first thing Biden told him when he asked Burns to take the post was that he wanted the agency to “give it to him straight, and I pledged to do just that and to defend those who do the same.” The comments from Burns appeared aimed at drawing a contrast with the prior administration, when President Trump faced repeated accusations of politicizing intelligence while also publicly disputing the assessments of his own intelligence agencies, most notably about Russian election interference. Burns, a former ambassador to Russia and Jordan who served at the State Department for more than 30 years under both Democratic and Republican presidents, is well-known in diplomatic circles and appears headed for a smooth confirmation. World & Nation William Burns, chosen by Biden to head the CIA, built a 33-year career at the State Department under both Republican and Democratic presidents. Jan. 11, 2021 He acknowledged that the diverse array of international threats — including from an “aggressive” Russia and “predatory Chinese leadership” — was different from what he encountered when he first entered government service and even from the years immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Burns said the “biggest geopolitical test” the country faced was coming from China, which in recent years has staged elaborate influence operations inside the U.S. and carried out hacks with the purpose of stealing American intellectual property. Still, he said, there may be room for cooperation with Beijing in areas such as climate change and nuclear nonproliferation. He said that though Russia was in many ways a declining world power, the country remains a disruptive and potent threat. “As long as Vladimir Putin is the leader of Russia,” he said, “we’re going to be operating within a pretty narrow band of possibilities, from the very sharply competitive to the very nastily adversarial.” A recent hack of corporations and U.S. government agencies believed to have been the work of that country laid bare the perils of underestimating the Kremlin and served as a “very harsh wake-up” call about the vulnerabilities of supply chains and critical infrastructure, he said. The Biden administration has said it plans to respond to those intrusions in weeks rather than months. “I think it’s essential for the CIA in particular to work even harder to develop our capabilities to help detect these kind of attacks when they come from external players, from foreign players.” On Iran, another persistent U.S. adversary, Burns said Tehran could never be trusted with a nuclear weapon. Under questioning from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Burns said he believed waterboarding, a technique that was part of the CIA’s interrogation and detention program for suspected terrorists captured after Sept. 11, 2001, was “torture.” He said the practice would “never again be used” by the CIA but also said he did not believe the agency should take action against employees who had used the tactic under Justice Department guidelines.

Biden aims to distribute masks to millions in 'equity' push

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/biden-aims-to-distribute-masks-to-millions-in-equity-push

President Biden plans to distribute millions of face masks to Americans in communities hard hit by the coronavirus as part of his efforts to ensure “equity” in the government’s response to the pandemic. Biden had considered sending masks to all Americans, but is instead adopting a more conservative approach, aiming to reach underserved communities and those bearing the brunt of the outbreak. The Trump administration also considered such plans but shelved them entirely. Biden’s plan will distribute masks through Federally Qualified Community Health Centers and the nation’s food bank and food pantry systems, the White House announced Wednesday. The departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture will be involved in the distribution of more than 25 million American-made cloth masks in both adult and children’s sizes, according to the announcement. The White House estimates they will reach 12 million to 15 million people. “Not all Americans are wearing masks regularly, not all have access, and not all masks are equal,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients. Biden hinted at the move Tuesday during a virtual roundtable discussion Tuesday with four essential workers who are Black, saying he expected his administration to send millions of masks to people around the country “very shortly.” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki suggested earlier this month that logistical concerns underpinned the decision to scale back the plans to send masks to all Americans. “I think there are some underlying questions about how you target them — the masks — where they go to first; obviously, it couldn’t happen immediately,” she said. Biden has asked everyone to wear face masks for the first 100 days of his term. He also required mask wearing in federal buildings and on public transportation.

2 hard-hit cities, 2 diverging fates in vaccine rollout

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/2-hard-hit-cities-2-diverging-fates-in-vaccine-rollout

Mario Valdez, his wife and their 18-year-old son were fully vaccinated for COVID-19 this month as part of a special effort to inoculate every resident of Central Falls, the Rhode Island community hit hardest by the pandemic. “I feel happy,” the 62-year-old school bus driver said shortly after receiving his second and final dose. “Too many people here have COVID. It’s better to be safe.” Roughly 50 miles across the state line is Chelsea, a Massachusetts city that was an early epicenter of the virus. Like Central Falls, it’s a tiny former industrial city that is overwhelmingly Latino. Residents of both cities live in dense rows of triple-decker homes and apartment complexes, providing the workforce for their respective state capitals of Providence and Boston. But the two cities’ fortunes could not be more different during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Chelsea high school sophomore Mannix Resto fears that Massachusetts’ slow pace of vaccinations will continue to prevent students from attending classes in person. The 15-year-old says no one in his family has been vaccinated yet as the state focuses on front-line workers and residents who are older or have serious health conditions. “I just want to know how much longer it’s going to last,” Resto said earlier this month while walking with a friend on Broadway, Chelsea’s busy main street. “It’s been a year already. We can’t keep living like this.” Rhode Island began offering vaccinations to elderly Central Falls residents in late December and gradually expanded it so that anyone 18 or older who lives or works in the city is now eligible. Nearly a third of adults in the city have received at least one dose of vaccine and about 16% are fully vaccinated, according to state data. Health officials say the city of about 20,000 has seen a marked drop in COVID-19 cases as a result. In Massachusetts, meanwhile, public health experts, civil rights groups and immigrant activists have been complaining for months that the state isn’t doing nearly enough to make sure Black and Latino residents are inoculated. Under mounting pressure, Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced outreach and public awareness efforts targeted to hard-hit, minority communities, but critics say bolder action is needed to make up for lost ground. White residents have so far received 66% of all doses in the state while Black residents have received about 5% and Latino residents 4%, according to state data. Meanwhile, Black and Latino residents are dying from the virus at three times the rate of whites in the state by some measures, and Chelsea remains one of the state’s hardest hit communities, with a COVID-19 positivity rate higher than the state’s. “It’s frustrating,” said Gladys Vega, executive director of La Colaborativa, a community nonprofit in Chelsea that’s part of a new statewide coalition calling for greater vaccine equity. “Chelsea has demonstrated over and over again that we support the economy. But we’ve been neglected for decades.” Some states and counties have taken different approaches to ensuring vaccines are fairly distributed to communities of color, but too many government leaders are reluctant to fully embrace the strategies as a necessity, says Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala, dean of the public health program at UC Irvine. Until hard-hit communities are properly addressed, their residents will continue to spread the infection, ensuring the virus persists, she and other experts say. “If the pandemic is a fire, the vaccination is the water,” Boden-Albala said. “You need to bring it to where the fire is burning the most, or you’ll never put it out.” To be sure, Rhode Island and Massachusetts leaders have both faced withering criticism about the slow pace of vaccinations overall in their states. And the vaccine rollout hasn’t been all smooth sailing in Central Falls. Mayor Maria Rivera, who took office in January, says the state hasn’t provided additional resources or manpower for the rollout in Central Falls, which went bankrupt during the 2008 recession and emerged from state receivership in 2013. The city’s main vaccination site, held every Saturday at the high school gymnasium, is an almost entirely volunteer operation. Rivera says city volunteers have been going door-to-door registering residents unwilling or unable to sign up for appointments online or by phone. They’ve also had to reassure residents living in the country illegally that they won’t be targeted by immigrant enforcement officials for seeking a shot, she says. “We just want them to show up,” Rivera says. “We’re not going to turn anyone away.” According to data provided by Rivera’s office this week, nearly 40% of doses have gone to Latinos and 27% to whites at three of the city’s main vaccination sites. Another 23% of vaccine recipients didn’t provide their race or ethnicity, and demographic data wasn’t available for other vaccine locations, the office said. Across the state line in Chelsea, Vega’s organization has partnered with a community health center to launch a public vaccination site at its office on Broadway. Vega says bringing the site to the city was a hard-fought achievement by local advocates. The only mass vaccination site the state has so far opened in a Boston-area community of color is about 10 miles from Chelsea, in Boston’s historically Black Roxbury neighborhood, she and other advocates say. And unlike vaccination sites in Central Falls, Chelsea’s sites are limited by Massachusetts’ eligibility rules, which only last week expanded to persons 65 or older, as well as people with two or more serious medical conditions. The clinic has vaccinated more than 900 since opening Feb. 4, but the numbers are expected to rise this week as more people in the state now qualify, according to the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, which operates the site. Earlier this month, David Evans was surprised to find he had the clinic mostly to himself as he received his first dose. “That went pretty smoothly,” the 82-year-old Chelsea resident said. “I was preparing for this to be an ordeal after hearing about places where people couldn’t get appointments or they didn’t have shots.” Out on Broadway that same day, the opening of the clinic was largely met with shrugs and indifference, suggesting officials have a long road ahead to win over skeptical residents. “If the government told me I must take the vaccine, then I’d take it. But at the moment, I don’t want it,” said Cesar Osorio, a 30-year-old construction worker washing his clothes at a self-service laundry down the block. “Spanish people, we have our own medicines. We don’t want vaccines.” Central Falls’ Rivera is already dreaming of the return of beloved community events, like the city’s summertime salsa nights. She says the city is on pace to inoculate most residents by the summer. “I’m looking forward to the day we don’t have to wear face masks,” Rivera said while volunteering recently at the high school site. Resident Mario Valdez has equally modest hopes. Now that he and his family are fully inoculated, they’re making plans to fly to his native Guatemala in July, a trip they make nearly every year to visit relatives. “It’s going to be great,” he said. “We love it down there.”

Southern Baptists oust 2 churches over LGBTQ inclusion

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/southern-baptists-oust-2-churches-over-lgbtq-inclusion

The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee voted Tuesday to oust four of its churches, two over policies deemed to be too inclusive of LGBTQ people and two more for employing pastors convicted of sex offenses. The actions were announced at a meeting marked by warnings from two top leaders that the SBC, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, was damaging itself with divisions over several critical issues including race. “We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color,” said the SBC’s president, J.D. Greear, in his opening speech. The two churches expelled for LGBTQ inclusion were St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and Towne View Baptist Church, in Kennesaw, Ga. Towne View’s pastor, the Rev. Jim Conrad, said last week that he would not appeal the ouster and plans to affiliate his church, at least temporarily, with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which lets churches set their own LGBTQ policies. Towne View began admitting LGBTQ worshipers as members in October 2019 after a same-sex couple with three adopted children asked Conrad if they could attend, a decision he defends as the right thing to do. “The alternative would have been to say, ‘We’re probably not ready for this,’ but I couldn’t do that,” said Conrad, pastor there since 1994. St. Matthews Baptist was among more than 12 churches that lost their affiliation with the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 2018 because they made financial contributions to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which had recently lifted a ban on hiring LGBTQ employees. SBC officials said West Side Baptist Church in Sharpsville, Pa., was ousted because it “knowingly employs as pastor a registered sex offender,” while Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville, Tenn., has a pastor who was convicted of statutory rape. Baptist Press, the SBC’s official news agency, identified the Antioch Baptist pastor as John Randy Leming Jr., and said he had pleaded guilty in 1998 to two counts of statutory rape for oral sex with a 16-year-old congregant when he pastored at nearby Shiloh Baptist Church in Sevier County in 1994. The Associated Press was unable to find a working phone number for Leming’s church and there was no immediate reply to a message sent via its Facebook page. West Side Baptist had made clear on its website that its pastor, David Pearson, has a troubled past. “Over 29 years ago Pastor David lived as a great sinner and rebel,” the site says. “But Christ Jesus is a great Savior! Today Pastor David has gone from disgrace to amazing grace and now has served the Lord Jesus Christ at West Side for 18 years.” Pearson is listed on Florida’s sex-offender registry as having been convicted of sexual assault of a child in Texas in 1993. Also on Tuesday’s agenda was a report by an executive committee task force about the SBC’s public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and its president, the Rev. Russell Moore. Moore has dismayed some SBC conservatives with various stances — including criticism of former President Trump and support for a more welcoming immigration policy. But the executive committee took no action on the report, declining to embrace some recommendations aimed at reining in Moore’s outspokenness. The two-day meeting opened Monday in Nashville with a schedule featuring speeches by Greear and executive committee president Ronnie Floyd bemoaning the multiple acrimonious divisions within the denomination. “This sound of war in the camp of Southern Baptists is concerning to me, and I know it is also concerning to many of you,” Floyd said. “While we hear and see how the American culture is so out of control, my friends, our own culture within the Southern Baptist family is also out of control.” Floyd noted that the divisions mirror ideological, political and racial differences nationwide. “In this fever-pitch environment, each of us needs to be very careful with the words we write, speak, tweet or post,” he said. “As SBC leaders and followers of Jesus, our public behavior matters.” Greear addressed racial tensions in the SBC, a long-standing problem that has recently been rekindled. Some Black pastors have left the SBC and others are voicing dismay over pronouncements by the SBC’s six seminary presidents — all of them white — restricting how the subject of systemic racism can be taught at their schools. Going forward, Greear said, Black Southern Baptists should be included in discussions on this topic, including the SBC’s stance toward the concept of “critical race theory,” which the seminary presidents repudiated. “The reality is that if we in the SBC had shown as much sorrow for the painful legacy that racism and discrimination has left in our country as we have passion to decry CRT, we probably wouldn’t be in this mess,” Greear said “Do we want to be a Gospel people, or a Southern culture people? Which is the more important part of our name — Southern or Baptist?” After the two speeches, the executive committee unanimously adopted an expansion plan called Vision 2025. It would increase full-time Southern Baptist international missionaries from 3,700 to 4,200, boost the number of congregations by 5,000 and seek to reverse the decline in baptizing 12- to 17-year-olds. Floyd said SBC churches are baptizing 38% fewer teenagers than in 2000.

Federal judge says California can enforce net neutrality law

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-02-23/federal-judge-says-california-can-enforce-net-neutrality-law

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that California can for the first time enforce its tough net neutrality law, clearing the way for the state to ban internet providers from slowing down or blocking access to websites and applications that don’t pay for premium service. Former Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill in 2018, making California the first state to pass a net neutrality law. Open internet advocates hoped the law would spur Congress and other states to follow suit. The Trump administration quickly sued to block the law, which prevented it from taking effect for years while the case was tied up in court. The Biden administration dropped that lawsuit this month. But in a separate lawsuit, the telecom industry asked a federal judge to keep blocking the law. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez denied the request, allowing California to begin enforcing the law. State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who wrote the law, called the ruling “a huge victory for open access to the internet, our democracy and our economy.” Opinion California, Oregon and Washington shouldn’t be the only states where broadband providers aren’t allowed to meddle with customer choice. Feb. 11, 2021 “The internet is at the heart of modern life. We all should be able to decide for ourselves where we go on the internet and how we access information,” Wiener said. “We cannot allow big corporations to make those decisions for us.” In a joint statement, multiple telecom industry associations said they will review the judge’s decision “before deciding on next steps.” They urged Congress to set net-neutrality rules for the country rather than relying on states to come up with regulations on their own. “A state-by-state approach to internet regulation will confuse consumers and deter innovation, just as the importance of broadband for all has never been more apparent,” read the statement from the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn., ACA Connects, the National Cable and Telecommunications Assn. and USTelecom. California’s law was spurred by the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 decision to repeal net-neutrality rules that applied nationwide. The telecom industry fought hard against the bill, arguing it would discourage companies from investing in faster internet speeds. But advocates say without the rules, it would make it easy for internet providers to favor their own services by making it harder for customers to access their competitors’ websites and apps. The law seeks to ban internet providers from slowing down customers’ data streams based on the content they are viewing. It also bars providers from speeding up access to websites willing to pay extra for special treatment. “The ability of an internet service provider to block, slow down or speed up content based on a user’s ability to pay for service degrades the very idea of a competitive marketplace and the open transfer of information at the core of our increasingly digital and connected world,” California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said.

Family says Navy vet died after Bay Area police knelt on his neck

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/family-navy-vet-died-after-police-knelt-on-his-neck

A Navy veteran who was going through an episode of paranoia died after a Northern California police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, his family said Tuesday. The family of Angelo Quinto called police on Dec. 23 because the 30-year-old was suffering a mental health crisis and needed help. His family says a responding officer knelt on Quinto’s neck for nearly five minutes while another officer restrained his legs. Quinto lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died three days later. “He said ‘Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me,’ as they were putting him on the ground. They handcuffed him, and one officer put his knee on the back of his neck the whole time I was in the room,” said Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins. Quinto-Collins said she had been hugging her son and he was calm when officers arrived at their home in Antioch, 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of San Francisco. “I trusted the police because I thought they knew what they were doing,” she said, “but he was actually passive and visibly not dangerous or a threat so it was absolutely unnecessary what they did to him.” California The George Floyd protests have brought forward discussion about having the police step back from mental health calls. The LAPD had already been moving in that direction. June 24, 2020 A video recorded by Quinto-Collins shows her son listless, with a bloodied face and his hands cuffed behind his back. She said she began recording after seeing her son’s eyes were rolled up in his head. The family filed a legal claim against the Antioch Police Department last week, which gives the department 45 days to respond. After that time has elapsed, the family will file a federal lawsuit, said John Burris, the Quintos’ attorney. “I refer to it as the George Floyd technique, that’s what snuffed the life out of him, and that cannot be a lawful technique,” Burris said. “We see not only violations of his civil rights but also violations against the rights of his mother and sister’s, who saw what happened to him.” Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 in Minneapolis after a police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed. Burris said there were other issues with the officers’ response, including how they didn’t try to deescalate and first talk to Quinto, and how they failed to turn on their body cameras and the camera in their patrol car. A cause of death has not been released by authorities, and an independent autopsy is pending, Burris said. California Vanessa Marquez was shot and killed by police at her home during a 2018 wellness check after she brandished what appeared to be a gun, police said. Feb. 22, 2021 The Antioch Police Department didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment from the Associated Press. The department didn’t inform the public of Quinto’s death until Jan. 25 when it answered inquiries made by the East Bay Times. After the legal claim was filed Thursday, Antioch Police Lt. Tarra Mendes told the newspaper that “the investigation is still ongoing. We want it to be completed. As soon as it is completed, we will be able to provide the public with more information.” Quinto, who was born in the Philippines, was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2019 because of a food allergy, said his sister, Bella Collins. He suffered from depression most of his life, but his behavior changed after an apparent assault in early 2020, when he woke up in a hospital not remembering what had happened and with stitches and serious injuries. After that, he began having episodes of paranoia and anxiety, she said. Collins, 18, said she now regrets calling the police after worrying her brother, who before police arrived was tightly hugging her and their mom, could hurt their mother. “I asked the detectives if there [was] another number I should have called, and they told me that there wasn’t and that I did the right thing. But right now I can tell you that the right thing would not have killed my brother,” she said.

A year on, India's riot victims say justice still unserved

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/a-year-on-indias-riot-victims-say-justice-still-unserved

The shooter shouted “Victory to Lord Rama,” the Hindu god, before pulling the trigger that sent a bullet into Muhammad Nasir Khan’s left eye. Khan placed his trembling hand on his bloody eye socket and his fingers slipped deep into the wound. At that moment, he was sure he would die. Khan ended up surviving the violence that killed 53 others, mostly fellow Muslims, when it engulfed his neighborhood in the Indian capital 12 months ago. But a year after India’s worst communal riots in decades, the 35-year-old is still shaken and his attacker still unpunished. Khan says he’s been unable to get justice because of a lack of police interest in his case. “My only crime is that my name identifies my religion,” Khan said at his home in New Delhi’s North Ghonda neighborhood. Many of the Muslim victims of last year’s bloody violence say they have run repeatedly into a refusal by police to investigate complaints against Hindu rioters. Some hope the courts will still come to their help. But others now believe the justice system under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has become stacked against them. Adding to the sense of injustice is that accounts from Muslim victims as well as reports from rights groups have indicated that leaders of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the New Delhi police force tacitly supported the Hindu mobs during the violence. New Delhi police did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but they insisted last year that their investigation had been fair and that nearly 1,750 people had been booked in relation to the riots — half of them Hindus. Junior Home Minister G. Kishan Reddy has likewise told Parliament that police acted swiftly and impartially. But a letter one senior police officer sent to investigators five months after the riots appeared to suggest to them that they go easy on Hindus suspected of violence, prompting criticism from the Delhi High Court. Communal clashes in India are not new, with periodic violence breaking out ever since the British partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. But in the last seven years, observers say, religious polarization fueled by the Hindu nationalist base of Modi’s party has further deepened the fault lines and raised tensions. Many believe the catalyst for last year’s riots was a fiery speech by Kapil Mishra, a leader from Modi’s party. On Feb. 23, 2020, he gave police an ultimatum, warning them to break up a sit-in by demonstrators protesting against a new citizenship law that Muslims say is discriminatory, or he and his supporters would do it themselves. When his supporters moved in, it triggered street battles that quickly turned into riots. For the next three days, Hindu mobs rampaged through streets hunting down Muslims — in some cases burning them alive in their homes — and torching entire neighborhoods, including shops and mosques. Mishra rejects the idea that he’s responsible for the riots, calling the claims “propaganda” to cover up the “preplanned genocide of Hindus by Muslims.” On Monday, he said his party had no links to the violence but added, “what I did last year I will do it again if needed,” referring to his speech hours before the riots started. Many in the area’s Hindu community accuse Muslims of starting the violence in a bid to make India look bad. A year on, many Muslim victims of the riots are still cowering in fear of further bloodletting. Hundreds have abandoned their gutted homes and moved elsewhere. Those who chose to stay have fortified their neighborhoods with metal gates in case of more mob attacks. Many say they fear those responsible will never be held to account. “Everything has changed since the riots,” Khan said. “I think I am slowly losing all my hopes of justice.” Khan spent 20 days recovering in the hospital after being shot. Since then, he has been on a search for justice that he says has been impeded by police at every turn. Khan’s official police complaint, seen by the Associated Press, named at least six Hindus from his neighborhood who he said participated in the violence. “The accused still come to my home and threaten me with killing my entire family,” Khan said in the complaint, adding that he was willing to identify them in court. His complaint was never officially accepted. Police, however, filed a complaint on their own. It gave a different version of events and places Khan at least half a mile from where he was shot, suggesting he was injured in the crossfire between the two clashing groups. It didn’t identify his attackers. The stories of many other Muslim victims follow a similar pattern. Police and investigators have dismissed hundreds of complaints against Hindu rioters, citing a lack of evidence despite multiple witness accounts. They include a man who saw his brother fatally shot, a father of a 4-month-old baby who witnessed his home being torched and a young boy who lost his arms after Hindu mobs threw a crude bomb at him. Now, many make weekly trips to lawyer Mehmood Pracha’s office, hoping for justice. Very few have seen their attackers put behind bars. Many others are still waiting for their cases to be heard in court. Pracha, a Muslim, is representing at least 100 riot victims for free. He said there were multiple instances in which police were provided videos of Hindu mobs, many with links to Modi’s party, “but it seems that police were eager to implicate Muslims” in the riots. He said in many cases Muslims were also “threatened to withdraw their complaints.” “The police have acted as partners in crime,” Pracha said. Multiple videos of the riots seen by the AP show police egging on Hindu mobs to throw stones at Muslims, destroying surveillance cameras and beating a group of Muslim men — one of whom later died. Multiple independent fact-finding missions and rights groups have documented the role of police in the riots. In June, Human Rights Watch said “police failed to respond adequately” during the riots and were at times “complicit” in attacks against Muslims. It said authorities “failed to conduct impartial and transparent investigations.” On a recent night, Haroon, who goes by one name, said he was “still scared of going out in the evening.” He saw his brother Maroof fatally shot by his Hindu neighbors during the riots. The police never identified the accused in his complaint despite multiple witnesses. In turn, Haroon said, police and the accused threatened him to compel him to withdraw his complaint. “We were alone then and we are alone now,” he said, nearly in tears as his late brother’s two children sat beside him. Haroon looked at them and said: “I don’t know what to do.”

Mars rover's giant parachute carried secret message

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/mars-rovers-giant-parachute-carried-secret-message

The parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message, thanks to a puzzle lover on the spacecraft team. Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange-and-white strips of the 70-foot parachute. He also included the GPS coordinates for the mission’s headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Clark, a crossword hobbyist, came up with the idea two years ago. Engineers wanted an unusual pattern in the nylon fabric to know how the parachute was oriented during descent. Turning it into a secret message was “super fun,” he said Tuesday. Only about six people knew about the encoded message before Thursday’s landing, according to Clark. They waited until the parachute images came back before putting out a teaser during a televised news conference Monday. Science & Medicine NASA has released the first high-quality video of a spacecraft landing on Mars. The footage is 3 minutes long. Feb. 22, 2021 It took just a few hours for space fans to figure it out, Clark said. Next time, he noted, “I’ll have to be a little bit more creative.” “Dare Mighty Things” — a line from President Theodore Roosevelt — is a mantra at JPL and adorns many of the center’s walls. The trick was “trying to come up with a way of encoding it but not making it too obvious,” Clark said. As for the GPS coordinates, they indicate a spot 10 feet from the entrance to JPL’s visitor center. Another added touch not widely known until touchdown: Perseverance bears a plaque depicting all five of NASA’s Mars rovers in increasing size over the years — similar to the family car decals seen on Earth. Matt Wallace, deputy project manager, promises more Easter eggs, which should be visible once Perseverance’s 7-foot arm is deployed in a few days and starts photographing under the vehicle, and again when the rover is driving in a couple weeks. “Definitely, definitely should keep a good lookout,” he urged.

No charges against Rochester, N.Y., officers involved in Daniel Prude's death

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/no-charges-against-officers-involved-in-daniel-prudes-death

Police officers shown on body-camera video holding Daniel Prude down, naked and handcuffed, on a city street last winter until he stopped breathing will not face criminal charges, according to a grand jury decision announced Tuesday. The 41-year-old Black man’s death last March sparked nightly protests in Rochester, N.Y., after the video was released nearly six months later, with demonstrators demanding a reckoning for police and city officials. State Atty. Gen. Letitia James, whose office took over the prosecution and impaneled a grand jury, said she was “extremely disappointed” and would meet with Prude’s brother, criminal justice advocates and faith leaders in Rochester to devise a plan to fight for a more just system. “While I know that the Prude family, the Rochester community, and communities across the country will rightfully be devastated and disappointed, we have to respect this decision,” James said in a prepared release. “Serious reform is needed, not only at the Rochester Police Department, but to our criminal justice system as a whole.” Lawyers for the seven police officers suspended over Prude’s death had said the officers were strictly following their training that night, employing a restraining technique known as “segmenting.” They claimed Prude’s use of PCP, which caused irrational behavior, was “the root cause” of his death. The video made public on Sept. 4 shows Prude handcuffed and naked with a spit hood over his head as an officer pushes his face against the ground, while another officer presses a knee to his back. The officers held him down for about two minutes until he stopped breathing. He was hospitalized and, a week later, taken off life support. The county medical examiner listed the manner of death as homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint” and cited PCP as a contributing factor. Prude’s family filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Rochester Police Department sought to cover up the true nature of his death. Officers Troy Taladay, Paul Ricotta, Francisco Santiago, Andrew Specksgoor, Josiah Harris and Mark Vaughn, along with Sgt. Michael Magri, were suspended after Prude’s death became public. Democratic Mayor Lovely Warren fired Police Chief La’Ron Singletary shortly after the video’s release, while rejecting calls from demonstrators that she resign. Singletary has said in legal papers that Warren told him to lie to support her assertion that she hadn’t learned of Prude’s death until months later, and fired him for his refusal to do so. A city spokesperson said his version of events confirmed Warren never saw the video until August. Warren announced a run for a third term in January and pleaded not guilty in October to an unrelated indictment alleging she broke campaign finance rules and committed fraud. The city’s public integrity office found no ethical lapses by the mayor in a narrow review of Prude’s death. The city halted its investigation into Prude’s death when James’ office began its own investigation in April. Under New York law, deaths of unarmed people in police custody are typically turned over to the attorney general’s office, rather than handled by local officials.

Drug executives: Big jump in vaccine supply is coming soon

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/drug-executives-big-jump-in-vaccine-supply-is-coming-soon

COVID-19 vaccine makers told Congress on Tuesday to expect a big jump in the delivery of doses over the coming month, and the companies insist they will be able to provide enough for most Americans to get inoculated by summer. By the end of March, Pfizer and Moderna expect to have provided the U.S. government with a total of 220 million doses of COVID-19, up sharply from the roughly 75 million doses shipped so far. “We do believe we’re on track,” said Moderna President Stephen Hoge, outlining ways the company has ramped up production. “We think we’re at a very good spot.” A third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Biotech unit, is expected to get a green light from regulators soon. The Biden administration said Tuesday that it expects about 2 million doses of that single-shot vaccine to be shipped in the first week, and the company told lawmakers it should provide enough doses for 20 million people by the end of March. Looking ahead to summer, Pfizer and Moderna expect to complete delivery of 300 million doses each, and J&J aims to provide an additional 100 million doses. That would be more than enough to vaccinate every American adult, the goal set by the Biden administration. Two other manufacturers, Novavax and AstraZeneca, also have COVID-19 vaccines in the pipeline and expect to add to those totals eventually. Asked pointedly whether they face shortages of raw materials, equipment or funding that would throw off those schedules, all of the manufacturers expressed confidence that they had enough supplies and had already addressed some of the early bottlenecks in production. “At this point I can confirm we are not seeing any shortages of raw materials,” said John Young, Pfizer’s chief business officer. California The lack of information is complicating efforts by city and county officials to create appointments and to plan for the administration of second doses. Feb. 23, 2021 The hearing by a House subcommittee came as U.S. vaccinations continue to accelerate after a sluggish start and recent disruptions caused by winter weather. More than 44 million Americans have received at least one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and about 1.4 million per day got a first or second dose over the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But state health officials say demand for inoculations still vastly outstrips the limited weekly shipments provided by the federal government. “The most pressing challenge now is the lack of supply of vaccine doses,” Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, said as she opened the hearing. “Some of the companies here today are still short of the number of doses they promised to initially deliver when they last testified before this subcommittee in July.” Both Pfizer and Moderna failed to meet delivery quotas for the initial doses of their vaccines late last year. That’s prompted Congress to scrutinize the companies’ plans for vaccine development and delivery, which benefited from $16 billion in federal funding. “A significant amount of American tax dollars were invested to be able to produce the vaccine immediately upon approval,” said Rep. David McKinley, a West Virginia Republican, who questioned executives on why they were still unable to meet demand for the vaccines. Nearly 14% of Americans have received at least an initial dose of the two-shot-regimen vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. World & Nation The J&J vaccine didn’t appear to perform as well as others in clinical trials. But scientists say it is impossible to know whether any one vaccine is better. Feb. 5, 2021 The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed focused most of its efforts on racing vaccines through research, development and manufacturing. But little planning or funding went to coordinating vaccination campaigns at the state and local levels. That effort is now picking up speed with plans for mass vaccination sites and an increasing supply distributed to chain pharmacies. Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, questioned J&J Vice President Richard Nettles on why the company has fallen behind on the schedule outlined in its federal contract, which included delivering 12 million doses by late February. Nettles said only that the company has faced “significant challenges” due to its “highly complex” manufacturing process. But he noted the company is partnering with drugmaker Sanofi to further expand production. “This has been an unprecedented effort to scale up manufacturing for a vaccine against a disease that didn’t even exist more than a year ago,” Nettles told lawmakers. Even with no manufacturing or supply interruptions, other issues could delay or block the U.S. from vaccinating enough Americans to achieve herd immunity, which is when so many people have protection from a virus that it runs out of potential hosts and stops spreading and the entire community is protected. In the case of the coronavirus, experts say the threshold for reaching herd immunity could be as high as 90%. About 1 in 3 Americans say they definitely or probably will not get the vaccine, according to a recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Concerns about safety were the reason most frequently cited for vaccine hesitancy, despite few serious side effects reported with the currently available vaccines.

Indian Country gripped by Debra Haaland's Interior secretary hearings

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/indian-country-gripped-by-haaland-hearing-for-top-us-post

For Native Americans, Debra Haaland is more than an elected official on track to become the first Indigenous secretary of the Interior Department. She is a sister, an auntie and a fierce Pueblo woman whose political stances have been molded by her upbringing. News of her historic nomination electrified Indian Country. Tribal leaders and organizations for weeks have urged people to write and call U.S. senators who will decide if she’ll lead the agency that has broad oversight over Native American affairs and energy development. Haaland’s confirmation hearing this week was closely watched in tribal communities, with some virtual parties drawing hundreds of people. The hearing started Tuesday and continued Wednesday. World & Nation Deb Haaland would be first Indigenous Cabinet member, running the agency that oversees federal land and American Indian affairs. Dec. 17, 2020 To mark the event, supporters projected a picture of the New Mexico congresswoman on the side of the Interior Department building with text that read “Our ancestors’ dreams come true.” A mobile billboard with Haaland’s image also made its way around Washington, D.C. Many Native Americans see Haaland as a reflection of themselves, someone who will elevate their voices and protect the environment and tribes’ rights. Here are stories of her impact: ________ Aleta ‘Tweety’ Suazo, 66, Laguna and Acoma Pueblos in New Mexico Suazo first met Haaland when they were campaigning for Barack Obama, walking door to door in New Mexico’s pueblos. When Haaland was chosen to represent New Mexico as one of the first two Native American women ever elected to Congress, she asked Suazo and the state’s Native American Democratic Caucus to make treats for a reception. They prepared hundreds of pueblo pies, or pastelitos, and cookies, froze them and took them to Washington. Wearing traditional black dresses, they handed out the goodies with thank-you notes from Haaland. Suazo said she admires Haaland because she is eloquent and smart — “no beating around the bush” — and she is a Laguna Pueblo member who has returned there to dance as a form of prayer. When she heard Haaland was nominated as Interior secretary shortly after winning a second term in Congress, Suazo wasn’t overjoyed. “Oh, my gosh, she is going to go there, and who is going to represent us?” said Suazo, who lives in Rio Rancho, N.M. “There goes our one and only Indian representative.” She wanted to be assured that Haaland would be replaced by someone just as dynamic, who would work hard to protect the environment, address an epidemic of missing and slain Indigenous women and expand broadband internet access, she said. “I was happy, but I was afraid. I didn’t want to lose her,” Suazo said. But she sees the importance, she said, in having a Native American oversee an agency that touches nearly every aspect of Native American life. Suazo sent a message to Haaland ahead of the hearing to say “be a strong woman,” or “gumeh.” She went back and forth watching it on television and in a virtual party. “It kind of reminds me of people having prayer groups — that kind of collective sending [of] good thoughts and prayers and support — and to have that many people doing it at one time was just so great,” Suazo said. ____ Brandi Liberty, 42, Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska When Liberty saw a picture of Haaland in a traditional ribbon skirt and moccasins for Joe Biden’s inauguration, she cried. She thought about her grandmother Ethil Simmonds Liberty, who didn’t become a U.S. citizen until she was 9 despite being born on her tribe’s reservation, which straddles Kansas and Nebraska. Her grandmother was a powerful advocate for her people, petitioning to turn a pigpen into a playground, writing letters to U.S. presidents and leading efforts to get a road to the reservation paved, she said. Brandi Liberty thought about her own daughter, who she hopes will carry on her legacy in working with tribes and embracing their heritage. She thought about her time earning a master’s degree and seeing single mothers bringing their children to class, each understanding it wasn’t a burden but a necessity. She later became a single mother like Haaland, who often speaks about her experience working through college and amassing debt. Liberty also thought about how Haaland could move other tribes in the right direction and connect them to Washington. Essentially, Liberty’s grandmother on a larger scale. “This is no different than when Obama became the first Black president and what that signified,” said Liberty, who lives in New Orleans. “This is a historical mark for Indian Country as a whole.” Liberty caught most of Tuesday’s hearing while updating her parents and others through texts and social posts. She found herself in tears again as Haaland made her opening statement and touched on personal struggles. “I could relate to so much of it,” Liberty said. ____ Zachariah Rides At The Door, 21, Blackfeet Tribe of Montana Rides At The Door is studying environmental sciences and sustainability as well as fire science as a third-year student at the University of Montana in Missoula. He brings a perspective to his studies that Haaland has touted as unique from Indian Country — that everything is alive and should be treated with respect and that people should be stewards of the land, rather than have dominion over it. In high school, he learned about the mining industry and how it has affected sites that are part of the Blackfeet creation story. He learned about the American Indian Movement’s role in fighting for equality and recognition of tribal sovereignty. He also recently learned the United States had a Native American vice president from 1929 to 1933, Charles Curtis. Rides At The Door isn’t sure what he wants to do when he graduates. But he knows he wants to learn the Blackfeet language, and maybe become a firefighter or work on projects to route buffalo to his reservation. He was working Tuesday but planned to catch up on the hearing through social media. Already, he was seeing memes and other posts that praised Haaland. Seeing her political rise is inspiring, he said. “It’s a great way for younger Natives to say, ‘All right, our foot is in the door. There’s a chance we could get higher positions.’” ___ Debbie Nez-Manuel, 49, Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah During her recent campaign for an Arizona legislative seat, Nez-Manuel sought an endorsement from Haaland. She was looking for someone whose values aligned with hers: grounded in beliefs, connected to the land, a consistent and strong leader unchanged by politics. After layers of vetting, she got the endorsement and planned to announce it at a get-out-the-vote rally featuring Haaland at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. It also was a chance for the two women to take a picture together. Then the event was canceled because of the pandemic. Nez-Manuel was devastated. Days before she was supposed to meet Haaland, Nez-Manuel was sitting at home when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hey Debbie, this is Deb,” the voice on the phone said. “Who?” Nez-Manuel asked. The caller replied: “Deb Haaland. Good morning. I’m calling from New Mexico. I’m sitting in my kitchen.” Nez-Manuel’s heart raced, and she struggled to voice all the thoughts she had so carefully scripted for that meeting. Haaland, she said, was patient and shared stories about life on and off a reservation — something that resonated with Nez-Manuel. “It’s like talking to an auntie,” she said. “She’s very matter-of-fact.” Nez-Manuel joked about flying to Washington for Haaland’s confirmation hearing to get that elusive picture. Instead, she and her husband, Royce, connected to a virtual watch party from their home on the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Community northeast of Phoenix. Nez-Manuel said Haaland showed she was willing to learn from others, aptly answering questions and pledging to make decisions based on science. “She is about protecting what’s there, what’s good for humanity, not for pocketbooks,” Nez-Manuel said. “That’s something that stood out very clearly.”

Black pastors tapped to overcome racial divide on COVID-19 vaccine in Washington, D.C.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/washington-taps-pastors-to-overcome-racial-divide-on-vaccine

Stately and deliberate, with a distinctive white streak in his black hair, the Rev. Wallace Charles Smith started his Valentine’s Day sermon at Shiloh Baptist Church by talking about love and vaccinations. “That’s what love’s all about. When you get a vaccination, you are saying to everyone around you that you love them enough that you don’t want any hurt, harm or danger to befall them,” he said. “In the spirit of love, keep at it until you get your vaccination. That’s the only thing that’s going to erase this terrible scourge.” The church was empty except for a camera crew and a tiny choir. Thanks to COVID-19, Smith’s Sunday sermons are now virtual affairs. Still, health officials in the nation’s capital are hoping that Smith and other Black religious leaders will serve as community influencers to overcome what officials say is a persistent vaccine reluctance in the Black community. Smith and several other local ministers recently received their first vaccine shots. Black residents make up a little under half of Washington’s population, but account for nearly three-fourths of the city’s COVID-19 deaths. The District of Columbia is now offering vaccinations to residents over 65, but numbers show that seniors in the poorest neighborhoods with the highest concentration of Black residents are lagging behind. Officials partially blame historic distrust of the medical establishment, especially among Black seniors, who vividly remember medical exploitation horrors such as the Tuskegee syphilis study, where hundreds of impoverished rural Black men suffered syphilis’ effects with minimal treatment for decades as part of medical research. “We know we need to focus on Black and brown communities,” Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, the director of the district’s health department, said earlier this month. “Let’s not give up on communities of color being interested in the vaccine. Let’s continue to answer their questions. Let’s continue to be very thoughtful in how we answer their questions.” The D.C. government is giving priority for vaccine registration to predominantly Black ZIP codes and running public information campaigns, including the clergy vaccinations. The latest numbers show the gap is narrowing, but the southeastern core of the city’s Black community is still getting vaccinated at the slowest rate. “There’s distrust in our community. We can’t ignore that,” said Rev. James Coleman of All Nations Baptist Church, who was vaccinated along with Smith. “The church, and particularly the Black church, is essential. ... That’s what pastors do.” Coleman said he has worked to create a vaccine-positive atmosphere among the seniors in his church. Before a recent Sunday morning sermon, conducted via audio conference call , elderly members of Coleman’s church updated one another on their progress and congratulated those who had been vaccinated. “There was some nervousness to overcome at first,” Coleman said. “People outside the Black community sometimes can’t relate to that sensitivity.” Health departments nationwide are dealing with the same challenges, and other jurisdictions also are calling on religious leaders to help dispel vaccine fears. “Our role as clergy and as faith-based leaders is to be optimistic and hopeful. We say to our people that these vaccines are the gift of life. We believe in the science,” said Rev. HB Holmes Jr. of Bethel Missionary Church in Tallahassee, Fla. Holmes has gotten vaccinated, and his church has hosted vaccination drives. “We knew that because of hesitation and reluctance that we needed trusted voices. So we brought together persons of great influence in Black and brown communities, particularly from our community, to say, you know, I’m going to take the vaccine and roll up our sleeves and do that publicly.” he said. In Washington, Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church has been designated a “faith-based vaccination partner,” with a portable vaccination trailer set up in the church’s parking lot twice a week. The vaccinations have gone smoothly. But showing that vaccine skepticism transcends racial lines, a white D.C. resident, Kathy Boylan, crossed the city on a recent icy day to stand on the sidewalk outside the church with a sign saying, “Danger: COVID Vaccine Say No!” The city’s community influencer campaign is targeting more than just religious leaders. Prominent Black Washington figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris, local radio host Kojo Nnamdi and Doug Williams, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Washington football team, have all received their injections at southeast Washington’s United Medical Center and used their public platforms to encourage others to follow suit. “I honestly believe that more people want to take it than don’t,” said hospital official Toya Carmichael, who said several people have asked for the same nurse that vaccinated Harris. But some D.C. officials are insisting that simple cultural reluctance, while real, doesn’t fully explain Washington’s racial vaccination lag. Interviews with Black residents revealed a common set of complaints: seniors stymied by the online registration system or sitting on hold only to be informed that all appointment slots had been taken. Lisa Chapman had to overcome both personal reluctance and logistical obstacles to schedule vaccinations for her parents, Walter Coates, 82, and Rosa Coates, 80. First she had to persuade them. “I just wasn’t certain. I wanted to wait and see for a while,” said Rosa Coates. ”But [Lisa] convinced me. She just kept talking to me about it.” Then it took waiting on hold for more than 90 minutes, leaving the phone on speaker and then leaping back on when a human answered. “That’s a really long time to wait. I think a lot of people do want to get it. They just can’t get through,” Chapman said. D.C. Council Member Kenyan McDuffie laid part of the problem at the feet of the government. In an interview, McDuffie, who represents southeastern Ward 5, called the city’s vaccine rollout “overwhelmingly inequitable” and said talk of vaccine reluctance was obscuring a reality of vaccine frustration, made worse by the digital divide. “I think there is a larger percentage of people who want to receive the vaccine and have had challenges with scheduling appointments and being able to receive the vaccine,” he said. “My fear is that some of those residents have simply given up.” Smith, in his Valentine’s Day sermon, spoke not just of the fear but also of the logistical hassles of a confusing process. “I know many of you have tried to get the vaccine, but there have been so many challenges ... waiting for hours, only to find that what you thought was available is not there,” he said. Given the community reluctance, city health officials say they cannot afford to frustrate or discourage those seeking vaccination. Nesbitt said a new registration model would go into effect in March that would bring a further “equity lens” to the vaccination process. Also, officials have organized teams of “senior vaccine buddies” to go to the homes of seniors and help them navigate the online process.

French actor Gérard Depardieu charged with rape after 2018 investigation revived

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/french-actor-depardieu-charged-with-rape-old-case-revived

The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that French actor Gérard Depardieu was charged in December with rape and sexual assault after authorities revived a 2018 investigation that was initially dropped. The office told the Associated Press that the French actor was not detained when he was handed the preliminary charges Dec. 16. The Paris prosecutor’s office addressed the charges after the case was leaked to French media. French media reports stated the charges relate to allegations made by an actress in her 20s that date back to 2018. An initial inquiry against the star was dropped in 2019 because of lack of evidence but was later revived. Entertainment & Arts Fast Track: Gerard Depardieu turns a plane into a toilet Aug. 17, 2011 French newspaper Le Parisien and BFM TV said the actress and dancer alleged that Depardieu assaulted her Aug. 7 and Aug. 13, 2018 at his home in Paris. The two met when Depardieu led a master class at her school, BFM TV reported. The actress, who has not been named, first filed a complaint with details of alleged rape and assault in August 2018 in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence. The probe was taken over by Paris investigators but was soon dropped. Depardieu’s lawyer, Hervé Temime, was not available for comment, but he has previously said that the actor “absolutely denies any rape, any sexual assault, any crime.” Depardieu is among France’s most well-known and controversial stars. He has appeared in 200 films over six decades and is among a few French actors who have made a name for themselves in Hollywood. He won a Golden Globe for his performance in “Green Card,” a 1990 English-language romantic comedy costarring Andie MacDowell. World & Nation Gerard Depardieu left France for Russia, but he won’t be leaving Russia for Ukraine any time soon -- because that former Soviet nation won’t let him in. July 29, 2015 His first big hit in France was “Les Valseuses” (“Going Places”), Bertrand Blier’s 1974 farce about two wandering thugs. Before starring in “Green Card,” Depardieu played an array of roles ranging from Jean Valjean, the thief-turned-saint in “Les Miserables,” to Christopher Columbus. In 2014, he played the leading role in “Welcome to New York,” the film inspired by the life of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former director of the International Monetary Fund who was accused in 2011 of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.

Iran officially imposes curbs on UN nuclear inspections

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-23/iran-officially-imposes-curbs-on-un-nuclear-inspections

Iran officially started restricting international inspections of its nuclear facilities Tuesday, a bid to pressure European countries and President Biden’s administration to lift crippling economic sanctions and restore the 2015 nuclear deal. World powers slammed the restrictions as a “dangerous” move. It came as the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, reported in a confidential document distributed to member countries, and seen by the Associated Press, that Iran as of Feb. 16 had added to its stockpile 38.8 pounds of uranium enriched up to 20%. It was the first official confirmation of plans Iran announced in January to enrich to the greater purity, which is just a technical step away from weapons-grade levels and far past the 3.67% purity allowed under the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. Iran also increased its total enriched uranium stockpile to 6,542.9 pounds, up from the 5,385.7 pounds reported Nov. 2, the IAEA said. Iran’s violations of the JCPOA and the move Tuesday to limit international inspections underscore the daunting task Biden faces as he seeks to reverse former President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the deal in 2018. That left Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia struggling to keep the deal alive. The JCPOA was the most significant pact between Iran and major world powers since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Germany, France and Britain on Tuesday stressed their commitment to preserving the deal, urging Iran to “stop and reverse all measures that reduce transparency.” “The E3 are united in underlining the dangerous nature of this decision,” the European powers said in a statement. “It will significantly constrain the IAEA’s access to sites and to safeguards-relevant information.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a law went into effect Tuesday morning under which Iran will no longer share surveillance footage of its nuclear facilities with the U.N. agency. “We never gave them live video, but [recordings] were given daily and weekly,” Zarif said of the IAEA’s access to information recorded by camera monitors. “The tape recording of our [nuclear] program will be kept in Iran.” The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Tehran’s civilian nuclear agency, has promised to preserve the tapes for three months, then hand them over to the IAEA — but only if granted sanctions relief. Otherwise, Iran has vowed to erase the tapes, narrowing the window for a diplomatic breakthrough. Since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA, Iran has gradually been violating its restrictions to put pressure on the remaining nations to come up with economic incentives to offset crippling American sanctions. Besides surpassing the purity and stockpiles allowed, Iran has been spinning advanced centrifuges and producing uranium metal. Zarif stressed in a tweet Tuesday that Iran’s new limits on nuclear inspections and other violations of the pact are reversible, insisting that the U.S. move first to revive the deal. In a show of defiance, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei on Tuesday outlined further developments in the country’s nuclear program. Over the last three weeks, he told reporters, Iran has installed and started feeding gas into an additional 148 high-tech IR2m centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility and its fortified nuclear complex at Fordo, bringing the total number of centrifuges to 492. Another set of 492 centrifuges will be installed in the coming month, he said.

Meat-free school meals spark furor in France

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/food-fight-meat-free-school-meals-spark-furor-in-france

By taking meat off the menu at school canteens, the ecologist mayor of one of France’s most famously gastronomic cities has kicked up a storm of protest and debate as the country increasingly questions the environmental costs of its meaty dietary habits. Children in Lyon who were regularly offered such choices as beef and chicken in rich sauces found their meat option missing this week when they returned from school holidays. In its place: a meatless four-course meal that Lyon City Hall says will be quicker and easier to serve to children who, because of the coronavirus pandemic, must be kept apart during lunch to avoid infections. City Hall insists that the meatless meals are temporary and that school canteens will again offer meat options when social distancing rules are relaxed and children once again have more time to dwell on their food choices and to eat. And the meat-free menus still contain animal proteins. This week’s planned main courses include fish on Monday and Friday and eggs — either as omelets or hard-boiled with a creamy sauce — on other days. Children also get salad starters, a milk product — often cheese or yogurt — and dessert. Still, farmers saw red. Some drove farm vehicles, cows and goats in protest on Monday into Lyon, which is fiercely proud of its rich restaurant culture and signature dishes, many of them meaty. Protesters’ banners and placards extolled meat-eating, proclaiming “meat from our fields = a healthy child” and “Stopping meat is a guarantee of weakness against coronaviruses to come.” The government’s agriculture minister, Julien Denormandie, also weighed in, accusing Lyon City Hall of “putting ideology in our children’s plates.” He and other critics argued the measure would penalize children from poorer families who might not be able to eat meat outside of school. “From a nutritional point of view, it is absurd to stop serving meat,” the minister said Tuesday on RTL radio. “From a social point of view, it is shameful.” Although fueled by the quintessentially French obsession with food and the country’s powerful farming lobby, the furor has also gathered steam and taken on a political hue because of France’s electoral calendar. A wave of wins by green candidates, including the mayor of Lyon, in municipal elections last year dealt a blow to the centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron. Their success reflected growing concerns in France about the environmental damage from intensive farming and other green issues. With more local elections expected later this year, the arguing over Lyon’s school meals offered a foretaste of broader political battles to come. Lyon City Hall said serving the same meal to all children, instead of offering them their usual meat and meat-free options, would shorten the time they take for lunch. City Hall said it has just two hours to feed 29,000 children, which is a harder schedule to keep when classes have to be kept apart in canteens to minimize virus infections. City Hall said it also opted for meat-free meals because they suit all children, including those who habitually don’t eat meats for religious, dietary or other reasons. The mayor, Gregory Doucet, said he is a flexitarian, eats meat in reasonable amounts, and isn’t trying to force vegetarianism on children. “Being able to offer a seated hot meal to all the children is important,” he told broadcaster BFM-TV. “This is Lyon, the capital of gastronomy. For us, flavor is also essential.”

Wife of drug kingpin 'El Chapo' arrested in Virginia on U.S. drug charges

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-22/wife-of-drug-kingpin-el-chapo-arrested-on-us-drug-charges

The Mexican drug kingpin known as El Chapo — “Shorty” — is said to have first met the elegant teenage daughter of one of his lieutenants at a small-town dance. Smitten, he later hosted a lavish bash to support her bid to become a beauty contest queen. She was just 18 — and more than three decades his junior — when they married in 2007 in the town of La Angostura, deep in the Sierra Madre and in the heart of the so-called Golden Triangle of heroin production in Mexico. Years later, decked out in designer garb and spiked heels, she was a paparazzi-pleasing daily presence as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman faced his legal reckoning in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn as the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. On Monday, U.S. authorities arrested Emma Coronel Aispuro at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, alleging that she was more than the loyal and fashion-conscious wife of the world’s most notorious narco. Mirroring some of the allegations that felled her husband, Coronel — a citizen of both the U.S. and Mexico — faces charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana into the United States. After Guzman was imprisoned in Mexico, an FBI affidavit states, his wife acted as a “go-between and messenger,” relaying his orders to his lieutenants and his four sons, all of whom are allegedly high-ranking cartel members. U.S. authorities allege she assisted in his sensational 2015 prison escape, when Guzmán dropped into a hole scooped out beneath the shower in his Mexican cell and hopped onto a rail-mounted motorcycle, which whisked him to freedom through a mile-long tunnel. Coronel allegedly met with Guzmán’s son to discuss the plan, which had involved purchasing land and a warehouse near the prison, along with firearms and an armored truck, according to an FBI affidavit. Guzmán was captured six months later in the Pacific Coast city of Los Mochis, Mexico. The FBI said his wife later helped organize a second escape scheme for which a Guzmán confederate received about $1 million — and told a “cooperating witness” that a senior prison official had been paid $2 million to help. The prison chief was not identified. But that plan never came to fruition. Guzmán was extradited to the United States in January 2017. A U.S. District judge in New York sentenced Guzmán to life in prison in July 2019 after a jury found him guilty of drug-trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors also sought an order demanding Guzman turn over more than $12.6 billion in assets — their approximation of his drug earnings over the decades. His lawyers called the request preposterous and said he didn’t have anything close to that. With her husband n U.S. custody, Coronel has been a frequent poster on Instagram and occasional visitor to the United States. In September 2018, as Guzmán and his lawyers prepared for trial in New York, photos showed up on Instagram detailing a birthday party that Coronel threw for the couple’s twin daughters, who were born in 2011 at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster. The decadent bash featured carnival rides, hundreds of pink balloons and a set featuring gold chandeliers and a rose-hued throne. Coronel wore 4-inch heels and posed in front of a fake pink mansion and a long table covered with flowers, desserts and a towering birthday cake. The next year, as Guzmán, 64, awaited sentencing, Coronel said on Instagram that she was launching a fashion line inspired by her husband’s style. His image — square jaw, beady eyes, black mustache — is emblazoned on ball caps, T-shirts and posters in Mexico, especially in his home state of Sinaloa, where many regard him as a hero and Robin Hood figure who helped the poor. In court, Coronel was equal parts spectacle and enigma. She spent almost every day of her husband’s trial in the second row of the gallery, silent but impossible to miss. By opening statements, the pair had not had any direct contact in two years. Still, her petition to be allowed to hug him once before the trial began was denied. Guzmán would search for her from the moment he was led into the courtroom each day. The couple often waved and flirted, sometimes to the consternation of U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan. When she brought their twins to court, Guzmán couldn’t tear his eyes from them. Coronel often fussed to her husband’s lawyers about his ties, his expression, his health. Although she rarely spoke to the press, she never shied from the cameras outside of court. Her chic outfits — designer jeans, sky-high stilettos, military blazers and velvet body suits — got plenty of attention, and she was fastidious about her makeup. But suspicion hung over her. Her uncle, Ignacio Coronel — the so-called King of Crystal for his part in the smuggling of methamphetamines to the United States — was killed in a 2010 shootout with the Mexican military. He was said to be number three in the Sinaloa cartel hierarchy. Authorities allege that Coronel’s father, who is currently imprisoned in Mexico, “coordinated narcotics transports” for the Sinaloa cartel. During the trial, many speculated she was more involved in her husband’s business dealings than she let on. She was obliged to pass through the metal detector twice before a sensitive witness was brought in to testify, out of concern she might smuggle in a cellphone to take his picture. As the weeks dragged on, it was impossible for Coronel to conceal her boredom. She fidgeted in her seat and played with her long hair, and was scolded for using her lawyer’s phone in the courtroom. Her arrest reverberated across social media, especially in Mexico, where many suggested tongue-in-cheek that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador would help get her returned to Mexico — as he did in the case of a former Mexican defense chief arrested in Los Angeles last year for alleged drug trafficking. “Don’t worry Emma,” wrote ex-President Vicente Fox on Twitter. “The president will come to the rescue!!” McDonnell reported from Mexico City and Sharp from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Kate Linthicum in Mexico City, Tracy Wilkinson in Washington and special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez in Mexico City also contributed to this report.

More than 150 migrants freed in Libya in raid on human traffickers

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-22/libya-over-150-migrants-freed-in-raid-on-traffickers

Libyan authorities raided a secret prison in a southeastern city used by human traffickers and freed at last 156 African migrants, as the U.N. migration agency said Monday more than 1,300 Europe-bound migrants were returned over the past week to the conflict-stricken country. The raid in the city of Kufra took place on Sunday after a migrant managed to escape a house-turned-prison last week and reported to authorities that he and other migrants were held and tortured by traffickers there, the Kufra security bureau said. Security forces arrested at least six traffickers and referred them to prosecutors for further investigation, the bureau said. Among them were 15 women and five children, it said. The migrants, who are from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, were freed and taken to the shelter center where they were given food, clothes, and blankets. The International Organization for Migration said at least 1,315 migrants were intercepted at the Mediterranean Sea since Feb. 16 and returned to Libya’s western cities of Tripoli, Zuwara and Sabratha. At least a dozen bodies were retrieved, it said. Since the beginning of the year, some 3,600, including around 270 women and 187 children, were returned to the North African country, the IOM said. Like previous ones, those migrants were taken to squalid detention centers in and around Tripoli. Thousands of migrants have already been confined in these centers, mostly run by militias linked to authorities in Tripoli. In January, a boat carrying Europe-bound migrants capsized in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, and at least 43 people drowned. It was the first maritime disaster this year involving migrants seeking better lives in Europe. The U.N. migration and refugee agencies have repeatedly called for an “urgent and measurable shift in the approach” to the situation in the Mediterranean, including an end to migrant returns to “unsafe” Libya. Libya has become the major transit point for African and Arab migrants hoping to reach Europe after the North African country plunged into a bloody civil war following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Moammar Kadafi in 2011. Traffickers have exploited the chaos and often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber boats that stall and founder along the perilous Mediterranean route. Thousands have drowned along the way. Traffickers have been implicated in widespread abuses of migrants, including torture and abduction for ransom. The European Union has over the past years partnered with Libya to prevent migrants from making the dangerous journey by sea to Europe. Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water. An Associated Press investigation in 2019 found that militias in Libya tortured, extorted and otherwise abused migrants for ransoms in detention centers under the nose of the U.N., often in compounds that receive millions in European money, paid to Libya’s government to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

California inspectors find 'deficiencies' at new coronavirus testing lab

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-22/california-inspectors-find-deficiencies-at-virus-test-lab

Inspectors found “significant deficiencies” at California’s new coronavirus testing laboratory, problems that state officials on Monday partly blamed on the rapid ramp-up they required from the lab’s private operator under terms of a $1.4-billion contract. A fraction of 1% of the more than 1.5 million tests processed at the Valencia Branch Laboratory had problems, the state said in a preliminary report, but Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said “one incorrect test result is one too many.” The $25-million lab that opened in October north of Los Angeles was unable to test about 250 samples (0.017%) due to lab errors, the state said. It issued corrected reports for about 60 (0.0039%) samples. “California takes these findings seriously” and continues working with the contractor “to ensure Californians have the accurate, timely, high-quality test results,” Ghaly said in a statement. Massachusetts-based diagnostics company PerkinElmer, which operates the lab as part of the agreement signed with the state last fall, said it believes “the deficiencies ... have long since been resolved.” Politics Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s coronavirus czar, says it’s possible masks could be needed for another year. Feb. 22, 2021 The California Department of Public Health, which regulates laboratories, said the findings came from its initial routine inspection in early December. The company said it appeared some of the information it provided since then had not been included in that inspection report. But the department said earlier this month that it also is investigating whistleblower allegations of incompetence and mismanagement, including reports of workers sleeping on the job. Records obtained by CBS13 TV in Sacramento alleged problems including swapped samples, inconclusive tests caused by contamination, and inaccurate results sent to patients. The health department acknowledged then that at least “38 samples were reported incorrectly” because of mix-ups in samples, but said patients were promptly notified. The station said documents showed some employees handling patient specimens were unlicensed and inadequately trained. State officials said then that “a handful of individuals” were retrained or moved to assignments that fit their credentials. The reports have “unfortunately caused confusion about laboratory practices ... and sown concern about the reliability of testing,” the company said in a statement. “That concern is misplaced.” The company learned about the findings from the inspection last week and has until next Monday to formally say how it has or will correct them. Ghaly said the company and state released the initial summary “in the interest of transparency” rather than wait until the full report is final in mid-March. The state pushed for the rapid opening and ramp-up of the laboratory at a time when it was often difficult to get tests, which were sometimes delayed until the results were relatively useless because they came too late. “The deficiencies identified by Laboratory Field Services, although they are taken very seriously, do reflect that we established the laboratory on an accelerated timeframe, and we knew that there might be growing pains that would require work and process improvements,” Ghaly said. State officials still are counting on rapid testing results to help restore some normalcy amid quickly falling virus cases statewide. The lab gets samples from more than 1,500 collection sites to aid schools, churches, clinics, workplaces and community-based organizations. It has 600 employees and the capacity for 100,000 tests per day, the company said. The state initially expected the lab to reach its full capacity of 150,000 tests a day by March. However, testing volume is down statewide as California’s worst coronavirus surge eases, state health department spokeswoman Kate Folmar said. The collection sites are expected to feed the Valencia lab 502,000 specimens each week, or about 72,000 tests per day. “We uphold the highest quality and safety standards across all of our operations, and we have already addressed the issues that emerged in the early days since the Valencia testing site was established, despite just receiving the formal report from the December inspection,” Prahlad Singh, the company’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. The lab is seeking speedy accreditation through the independent College of American Pathologists, the company said, “so that Californians have no doubt about the quality of the services at the laboratory.”

After long wait, New Jersey moves ahead on recreational marijuana

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-22/after-long-wait-new-jersey-moves-ahead-on-recreational-pot

A recreational marijuana marketplace, cannabis decriminalization and looser penalties for underage possession of the drug and alcohol became law Monday in New Jersey, more than three months after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question to legalize adult use of the drug. Acknowledging that the legislation took much longer to be enacted than expected, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy cast aside critics’ attacks that the legislation was about filling the state’s coffers with tax revenue or easing penalties on underage possession to the point of making policing difficult. “The reason I signed these bills, the reason why we’ve been in this fight is for social justice,” he said Monday during a news conference. He alluded to decades-old stringent policing of marijuana laws frequently called the War on Drugs that resulted in Black residents facing disproportionate consequences. “At long last, we’ve broken through and as of today, better days are here, and lives that have been nicked or in some cases ruined we’ll be able to correct,” Murphy said. “At long last and from this moment going forward, we won’t have to see that same chapter written again in our state’s history.” Murphy signed the bills just in time. He faced a Monday deadline to enact two of three of the bills, and signed the third shortly after the Democrat-led Legislature sent it to him. Still, it could be about six months before the legalized marketplace is up and running, Murphy and industry analysts estimated. That’s because the state’s new Cannabis Regulatory Commission has to get up and running, and put in place regulations and licenses. Legislation that passed only on Monday after weeks of negotiation makes underage possession of alcohol and marijuana subject to written warnings that escalate to include parental notification and a referral to community services upon subsequent violations. Underage drinking had been punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. Part of the legislation makes it so towns will no longer have the authority to enact ordinances with civil penalties or fines concerning underage possession or consumption violations on private property, among other measures. It also increases the liability for suppliers of cannabis items to underage people by making a third or subsequent violation a petty disorderly persons offense. Some Republicans seemed aghast at reducing penalties. “There’s no consequence,” GOP Sen. Bob Singer said. “We’re now saying if you’re caught with it underage, it’s a free pass.” Murphy responded Monday saying that marijuana should be treated with “responsibility.” “The words ‘adult use’ have been associated with this from Day One,” he said. State Police superintendent Col. Pat Callahan said in a brief interview that the attorney general and his office were coming up with guidelines for all law enforcement officials across the state about how to enforce the new laws. For consumers, the marketplace legalization means the state’s 6.625% sales tax applies. Seventy percent of the proceeds will go to areas disproportionately affected by marijuana-related arrests. Black residents were likelier — up to three times as much — to face marijuana charges than white residents. Towns can levy a tax of up to 2% under the measure. Also under the bill, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission will be able to levy an excise tax, the amount of which will depend on the cost per ounce of cannabis. There will be four levels of tax under the bill, so if cannabis is $350 or more, the tax per ounce will be $10. That rises to $60 per ounce if the retail price of the product is less than $250. The number of licenses for cultivators will be set at 37 for two years. The state Senate was pushing for no limits, but the Assembly wanted the caps. The decriminalization measure is necessary because the state’s laws make possession a crime, despite the voter-approved amendment, according to lawmakers. The measure passed with broad bipartisan support. The months-long delay in enacting the legislation stemmed from Murphy’s concerns that young people, particularly those in Black and Latino communities, would continue to bear the brunt of arrests and citations. That led to the bill aimed at loosening underage penalties. Assembly Member Shavonda Sumter, a member of the Legislative Black Caucus, called the inclusion of the bill that loosened penalties a victory for the group. “We put a progressive warning system in place that does not allow for an infraction of possibly sampling a cannabis product to become a lifelong sentence,” she said in an interview. The delay sparked widespread frustration. “This process has been a debacle from the beginning. The voters did their job,” Democratic Sen. Paul Sarlo said. He had opposed marijuana legalization, though was supportive of decriminalization. He voted to pass the bill Monday because he said voters want lawmakers to move on and focus on COVID-19 relief. Edmund DeVeaux, the head of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Assn., called on lawmakers and the governor to get the legislation enacted. “Enough already. Only in New Jersey could the will of the voters be so callously ignored,” he said in a statement recently. After Murphy signed the bills, he said it was time to “get down to business.” “It took us a long time to get here, but thankfully, finally, we can move forward,” he said.

Virginia lawmakers vote to abolish the death penalty

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-22/virginia-lawmakers-vote-to-abolish-the-death-penalty

State lawmakers gave final approval Monday to legislation that will end capital punishment in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people in its long history than any other. The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who has said he will sign it into law, making Virginia the 23rd state to stop executions. “There’s a realization that it is time to end this outdated practice that tends to bring more harm to victims’ family members than providing us any comfort or solace,” said Rachel Sutphin, whose father, Cpl. Eric Sutphin, was fatally shot in 2006 while working for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. William Morva, the man convicted of killing Eric Sutphin, was executed in 2017. Two years later, Rachel Sutphin was one of 13 family members of murder victims who sent a letter to the General Assembly asking lawmakers to abolish the death penalty. “By voting for abolition, we are showing the way, that if Virginia — the state with the longest history and the most people executed — if we can do it, so can other states,” Rachel Sutphin said. Virginia’s new Democratic majority, in full control of the General Assembly for a second year, pushed the repeal effort, arguing that the death penalty has been applied disproportionately to people of color, the mentally ill and the indigent. “It is vital that our criminal justice system operates fairly and punishes people equitably. We all know the death penalty doesn’t do that. It is inequitable, ineffective, and inhumane,” Northam, House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw said in a joint statement after the votes. Republicans raised concerns about justice for victims and their family members, and said there are some crimes that are so heinous that the perpetrators deserve to be executed. Only two men remain on Virginia’s death row. Anthony Juniper was sentenced to death in the 2004 slayings of his ex-girlfriend, two of her children, and her brother. Thomas Porter was sentenced to die for the 2005 killing of a Norfolk police officer. The repeal legislation would convert their sentences to life in prison without parole. During the debate on the House floor Monday, Republican Del. Rob Bell described those killings in gruesome detail, and said Porter and Juniper would be watching the vote from prison with special interest. “We have five dead Virginians that this bill will make sure that their killers will not receive justice,” Bell said. Porter, Juniper and their families have declined to comment through their attorney, Rob Lee, executive director of the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center. “By eliminating the death penalty, governmental, political, and moral leaders have taken a long overdue action needed to make Virginia a fairer and more just Commonwealth,” Lee said in a statement. The passage of the legislation was just the latest in a long list of sweeping policy changes enacted by Democrats, who have increasingly reshaped the Old Dominion into an outlier in the South on racial, social and economic issues. Last year, lawmakers passed some of the region’s strictest gun laws, broadest LGBTQ protections, its highest minimum wage and some of its loosest abortion restrictions. This year too, lawmakers have been passing one progressive measure after another. But the death penalty bill marks a particularly stark reversal in a state where executions proceeded in the past decade under both Republican and Democratic governors. The state legislature and state officials have also acted in recent years to preserve Virginia’s ability to carry out executions and limit transparency around the process. Even last year, death penalty abolition bills in the General Assembly went nowhere. On Monday, both chambers approved separate but identical repeal bills. The Senate approved a House bill, advancing it to Northam on a 22-16 vote. Republican Sen. Jill Vogel joined with Democrats in the chamber in voting for passage. Later Monday, House Democrats and two GOP members, Del. Jeff Campbell and Del. Carrie Coyner, voted to approve the Senate version, 57-43. No date has been set yet for when the governor will sign it, according to his spokeswoman. Historically, Virginia has used the death penalty more than any other state, executing nearly 1,400 people since its days as a colony, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Virginia, with 113 executions, is second only to Texas. Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the vote to abolish capital punishment a landmark moment in the state’s history. “We hope that Virginia will set an example for other states from the old Confederacy to take this bold step toward the humane reform of our legal justice system,” Stone said.

Angry youths rattle Spain in support of jailed rapper, but there's far more to the unrest

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-22/angry-youths-rattle-spain-in-support-of-jailed-rap-artist

The imprisonment of a rap artist for his music and tweets praising terrorist violence and insulting the Spanish monarchy has set off a powder keg of pent-up rage this week in the southern European country. The arrest of Pablo Hasél has brought thousands to the streets for different reasons. Under the banner of freedom of expression, many Spaniards strongly object to putting an artist behind bars for his lyrics and social media remarks. They are clamoring for Spain’s left-wing government to fulfill its promise and roll back the Public Security Law passed by the previous conservative administration that was used to prosecute Hasél and other artists. Hasél’s imprisonment on Tuesday to begin serving a nine-month sentence has also tapped into a well of frustration among Spain’s youths, who have the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. Four in every 10 eligible workers under 25 years old are without a job. “I think that what we are experiencing now with the cases of Pablo Hasél ... and other rappers politically detained by this regime is a brutal attack against the freedom of speech,” 26-year-old student Pablo Castilla said during a protest in Barcelona. “The protests are being brutally repressed by the allegedly progressive national government and the Catalan government. “They are attacking us youngsters because we are showing our anger.” For many, including older peaceful protesters, Hasél’s case also represents what they perceive as a heavy-handed reaction by a state whose very structure is in need of deep reform. That’s even though some of his public remarks, especially in messages sent out on Twitter, expressed radical ideas, talked about attacking politicians and defended the now-defunct Grapo and ETA, two armed organizations that killed over 1,000 people in Spain. Hasél’s lyrics that strike at King Felipe VI and his father, emeritus king Juan Carlos I, have connected with a growing public debate on the future of Spain’s parliamentary monarchy. Unquestioned outside fringe circles of the left until the last decade, the royal house has been plagued by financial scandal that has reached Juan Carlos himself. Many Spaniards were aghast when the former monarch left Spain for the United Arab Emirates amid a court investigation into his alleged fiscal improprieties. As well as shouting its support for Hasél, a crowd that gathered in Madrid on Saturday chanted, “Where is the change? Where is the progress?” and “Juan Carlos de Borbón, womanizer and thief.” The debate has caused tensions inside Spain’s left-wing coalition government. Although Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Socialist Party back the parliamentary monarchy Spain has had since the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in the 1970s, their minor partner, the upstart United We Can party, wants to get rid of the monarchy and has supported this week’s protests for Hasél despite their violent turn. In the rapper’s home region of Catalonia, the unrest also comes after years of separatist politicians urging citizens to ignore or disobey court rulings unfavorable to their cause. Although this week’s protests are missing widespread calls for Catalonia’s independence or flags supporting secession of the industrial region, the head of public safety for Barcelona’s town hall said that many of the most violent offenders were also heavily involved in the 2019 riots that followed the imprisonment of several separatist leaders. “It is a varied, violent profile that we already are familiar with because it is very similar to those who played a large role in the incidents of October 2019, so we know the type,” Barcelona town council member Albert Batlle told Cadena SER radio. Some leading pro-secessionist politicians have strongly criticized the handling of the protests by Catalan police, who made more than 35 arrests on Saturday night alone. What started out as peaceful, if angry, protests by thousands in Barcelona and other nearby towns, degenerated into ugly incidents come nightfall caused by a violent minority bent on destroying property and battling with police. “I think we must differentiate between those who come here in support of Pablo Hasél’s freedom and those who do not,” 19-year-old Joana Junca said. “Street barricades to defend themselves are OK. But those who go out there just to riot don’t have my support.” The Mossos d’Esquadra police said Monday that 61 of the 75 people arrested in the Catalan capital since protests erupted on Feb. 16 were 25 or younger, including 24 minors. Three out of four had Spanish nationality and 26 of them had previous run-ins with authorities for public disorders or theft. Within that splinter groups, some are out to do some timely looting, officials said. Catalonia’s regional interior minister, Miquel Sàmper, on Sunday told the regional TV3 broadcaster that what was “a protest over freedom of expression” had evolved to “acts of pure vandalism.” Police pointed to small groups who had bashed their way into sporting goods stores and other shops while law enforcement officers were clashing with protesters and clearing barricades of burning trash containers and metal barriers erected in the streets. Police described what they called “pillaging” by “some people who take advantage of the disorder and cover provided by the large number of people.” Then there were those, mostly teenage rioters, who appeared to be motivated by an anarchist, anti-police bent and were seeking to disrupt public order by any means possible. They worked in fast-moving packs, smashing store windows and trashing bank offices. They picked their moments to stop running and target police with coordinated hurling of stones and other objects. Police used batons and fired foam bullets after pouring out of riot vans to disperse them. Eleven police officers were injured on Tuesday night when a mob attacked a police station in the Catalan town of Vic. “The attack on the station in Vic was a turning point,” Imma Viudes, spokeswoman of the SAP-Fepol union for the Catalan police told Spanish National Radio. “We don’t have the means to control this mass violence. … Someone is going to have to put their fist down.” On Sunday, on their way to hurl bottles and firecrackers at a police station in Barcelona, a group of mostly black-clad youths marched behind a banner that they defiantly planted in front of a line of police vans. It read: “You have taught us that being peaceful is useless.”

Hospitals across the South confront water shortages in winter storm's aftermath

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-21/hospitals-confront-water-shortages-in-winter-storm-aftermath

Hospitals across the South grappled with water shortages Sunday as the region carried on with recovery efforts in the wake of a devastating winter storm, and the weather offered a balmy respite — temperatures as high as the mid-60s. At the height of the storm, hospitals were scrambling to care for patients amid record cold, snow and ice that battered parts of the country more accustomed to going through winter with light jackets and short sleeves. The icy blast ruptured water mains, knocked out power to millions of utility customers and contributed to at least 76 deaths — half of which occurred in Texas. At least seven people died in Tennessee and four in Portland, Ore. A rural hospital in Anahuac, Texas, about 50 miles east of Houston, lost both water and power. William Kiefer, CEO of Chambers Health, which runs the hospital along with two clinics and a wellness center, said the facilities resorted to backup generators and water from a 275-gallon storage tank. They refilled it three times, using water from a swimming pool in the wellness center. World & Nation Higher temperatures are spreading across the southern United States, bringing some welcome relief to the winter-weary region. Feb. 20, 2021 On Monday, when temperatures were in the teens, a woman about to give birth walked into the hospital after she could not make it through the ice and snow to her hospital in suburban Houston. Emergency room staff delivered the baby safely, Kiefer said. “It would have taken her another two hours to get to [the suburban Houston hospital] if our facility wasn’t there,” he said. “We can probably assume she would have had the baby in her car and the snow. Not a good situation.” Water was restored Thursday, and operations had returned to normal by Sunday, he said. The health system plans to look into installing more sophisticated backup systems, he said. Houston Methodist Hospital spokeswoman Gale Smith said water had been restored at two of the system’s community hospitals. The system is dealing with an influx of dialysis patients after their local centers closed, she added. After temperatures plunged as much as 40 degrees below normal last week, the forecast for the Houston area called for a high of 65 degrees on Sunday. The city lifted its boil-water advisory on Sunday afternoon. Still, hundreds of cars lined up at NRG Stadium to receive food and water from the Houston Food Bank. The bank also delivered supplies to vulnerable citizens, including seniors and the disabled. Memphis, Tenn., saw 10 inches of snow last week. Memphis Light, Gas and Water issued a boil-water advisory on Thursday out of concern that low water pressure caused by problems at aging pumping stations and water main ruptures could lead to contamination. The advisory was still in place Sunday; utility officials said they did not know when they might lift it. About 260,000 homes and businesses were under the advisory. Hospitals and nursing homes have been forced to switch to bottled water. The Tennessee National Guard was supplying St. Francis Hospital with water. Nearby Baptist Memorial Hospital has taken on some of St. Francis’ patients, particularly those who need dialysis, said Dr. Jeff Wright, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Baptist. That hospital has a water purification system for dialysis and has water reserves for tasks such as cooking and bathing patients, he said. “We have gallon jugs of water that were already stocked and ready to roll on Day One,” Wright said. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare also reported problems at some of its Memphis-area facilities due to water pressure problems and the boil advisory. The system is using tanker trucks to boost water pressure and relying on help from facilities that have not been affected. City officials planned to distribute water bottles at several locations Sunday. Grocery stores struggled to keep shelves stocked with bottled water. Many restaurants remained closed. Flights resumed Saturday at Memphis International Airport after everything was grounded Friday because of water pressure problems. Some problems still lingered, but airport officials set up temporary restrooms. The White House said about a third of the COVID-19 vaccine doses delayed by the storm were delivered over the weekend. The weather created a backlog of about 6 million doses as power outages closed some vaccination centers and icy weather stranded vaccine in shipping hubs. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC’s “This Week” that about 2 million of those doses had gone out. In Nashville, local COVID-19 task force leader Dr. Alex Jahangir said more than 2,300 seniors and teachers were vaccinated Saturday as the city resumed offering shots after days of treacherous weather. Due to the wintry mess, local health officials last week vaccinated more than 500 people with doses that otherwise would have expired, including hundreds at homeless shelters and residents of a historically Black neighborhood who were mostly seniors with underlying health conditions. Nearly 230,000 customers across the South were still without power as of Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks power outages. The largest blackouts were in Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon. Each state had more than 30,000 customers without power. President Biden is eager to visit Texas, which was hit especially hard by the weather, Psaki said. Biden hopes to travel to the state this week but “doesn’t want to take away resources” from the response, she said. Biden on Saturday declared a major disaster in Texas. “He is ... very mindful of the fact that it’s not a light footprint for a president to travel to a disaster area,” Psaki said. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Biden could come anytime. “We certainly would welcome him,” Turner said. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul told CNN’s “State of the Union” that federal disaster relief could be used to repair burst pipes and flood damage and to help Texans hit with skyrocketing energy bills. Entertainment & Arts Fleeing to Mexico while his constituents are in crisis places Sen. Ted Cruz squarely in the ranks of cowardly big-screen bad guys. Feb. 18, 2021 McCaul also criticized fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s decision to take his family on vacation amid the crisis. “When a crisis hits my state, I’m there,” McCaul said. “I’m not going to go on some vacation. I know Mr. Cruz called it a mistake, and he’s owned up to that. But I think that was a big mistake.”

U.S. death toll from COVID-19 approaches 500,000

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-21/us-coronavirus-death-toll-approaches-milestone-of-500-000

The U.S. stood Sunday at the brink of a once-unthinkable tally: 500,000 people lost to COVID-19. A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 — roughly the population of Kansas City, Mo., and just shy of the size of Atlanta. The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University surpasses the number of people who died in 2019 of chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s, flu and pneumonia combined. “It’s nothing like we have ever been through in the last 102 years, since the 1918 influenza pandemic,” the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The U.S. virus death toll reached 400,000 on Jan. 19 in the waning hours in office for President Trump, whose handling of the crisis was judged by public health experts to be a singular failure. California Health officials reported 1,465 new coronavirus cases and 93 related deaths on Sunday, with the lower numbers suggesting the fall/winter surge is abating. Feb. 21, 2021 The first known deaths from the virus in the U.S. happened in early February 2020, both of them in Santa Clara County. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 dead. The toll hit 200,000 deaths in September and 300,000 in December. Then it took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000. Joyce Willis of Las Vegas is among the countless Americans who lost family members during the pandemic. Her husband, Anthony Willis, died Dec. 28, followed by her mother-in-law in early January. There were anxious calls from the ICU when her husband was hospitalized. She was unable to see him before he died because she too had the virus and could not visit. “They are gone. Your loved one is gone, but you are still alive,” Willis said. “It’s like you still have to get up every morning. You have to take care of your kids and make a living. There is no way around it. You just have to move on.” Then came a nightmare scenario of caring for her father-in-law while dealing with grief, arranging funerals, paying bills, helping her children navigate online school and figuring out how to go back to work as an occupational therapist. Her father-in-law, a Vietnam veteran, also contracted the virus. He also suffered from respiratory issues and died on Feb. 8. The family isn’t sure whether COVID-19 contributed to his death. “Some days I feel OK and other days I feel like I’m strong and I can do this,” she said. “And then other days it just hits me. My whole world is turned upside down.” The global death toll was approaching 2.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins. Although the count is based on figures supplied by government agencies around the world, the real death toll is believed to be significantly higher, in part because of inadequate testing and cases inaccurately attributed to other causes in the pandemic’s early stages. Despite efforts to administer COVID-19 vaccines, a widely cited model by the University of Washington projects the U.S. death toll will surpass 589,000 by June 1. “People will be talking about this decades and decades and decades from now,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

Funeral and more protests follow deadly shootings in Myanmar

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-21/funeral-and-more-protests-follow-deadly-shootings-in-myanmar

Crowds in Myanmar’s capital attended a funeral Sunday for the young woman who was the first person confirmed to have been killed in protests against the military’s takeover, just one day after security forces shot dead two more demonstrators. Mya Thwet Thwet Khine was shot in the head by police on Feb. 9, two days before her 20th birthday, at a protest in the capital, Naypyitaw, and died Friday. Mourners lined the entrance to a cemetery in the city as a hearse arrived before transporting her body to a crematorium where more people had gathered. They silently raised their hands in three-fingered salutes — a sign of defiance and resistance adopted from neighboring Thailand — as the black and gold vehicle rolled slowly past. Inside the crematorium hall, the lid on Mya Thwet Thwet Khine’s coffin was partially removed to allow a last glimpse of her head resting on a bed of red and white roses before she was cremated. Members of the crowd outside chanted, “Our uprising must succeed!” California Disparities are revealed in detailed data tracking the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination effort in more than 340 neighborhoods across L.A. County. Feb. 20, 2021 Protesters elsewhere in Myanmar gathered again Sunday for street demonstrations, which have been going on for more than two weeks. In Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, about 1,000 demonstrators began the day by honoring Mya Thwet Thwet Khine at a ceremony under an elevated roadway. “I want to say through the media to the dictator and his associates, we are peaceful demonstrators,” said protester Min Htet Naing. “Stop the genocide! Stop using lethal weapons!” There were also protests in Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand, and at Inle Lake, a popular scenic tourist attraction, where dozens of its famous long-tailed wooden boats were moored near shore and those aboard chanted anti-coup slogans. Demonstrators turned out in force in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, where security forces shot dead two people on Saturday near a dockyard where authorities had been trying to force workers to load a boat. The workers, like railway workers and truckers and many civil servants, have joined a civil disobedience campaign against the junta. Shooting broke out Saturday after neighborhood residents rushed to the Yadanabon dock to try to assist the workers in their resistance. One of the victims, described as a teenage boy, was shot in the head and died immediately; another was shot in the chest and died en route to a hospital. Several other serious injuries were reported. Witness accounts and photos of bullet casings indicated that security forces used live ammunition, in addition to conventional riot control equipment and slingshots, a traditional hunting weapon in Myanmar. The new deaths drew quick and strong reaction from the international community. “I am horrified at more loss of life, including a teenage boy in Mandalay, as the ruling junta escalates its brutality in Myanmar,” Tom Andrews, the U.N.’s independent investigator for human rights in the Southeast Asian country, said on Twitter. “From water cannons to rubber bullets to tear gas and now hardened troops firing point blank at peaceful protesters. This madness must end, now!” Germany’s Foreign Ministry condemned the violent crackdown and called for the immediate release of all of those arrested, in particular ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, to allow the “democratically and constitutionally legitimized institutions to resume their work.” Singapore, which together with Myanmar is part of the 10-member Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, issued a statement condemning the use of lethal force as “inexcusable.” Urging “utmost restraint” on the part of security forces, it warned that “if the situation continues to escalate, there will be serious adverse consequences for Myanmar and the region.” The authorities have continued arrests that began on the day of the Feb. 1 coup, when Suu Kyi and members of the government were detained. According to the independent Assistance Assn. for Political Prisoners, 569 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced, with 523, including Suu Kyi and Win Myint, still in detention. A live Saturday night broadcast on Facebook showed the wife of actor Lu Min describing to neighbors how her husband was arrested and taken away from their home shortly after midnight. He was one of six high-profile people in the entertainment industry charged last week with inciting civil servants to stop work and join the protest movement, which he and the others have publicly championed. On Sunday, Facebook announced that it had taken down the page run by the Myanmar military information unit “for repeated violations of our community standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm.” It had already taken down other accounts linked to the military. The junta took power after detaining Suu Kyi and preventing the country’s parliament from convening, saying elections in November were tainted by voting irregularities. The election outcome, in which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won by a landslide, was affirmed by an election commission that has since been replaced by the military. The junta says it will hold new elections in a year’s time. The coup was a major setback to Myanmar’s transition to democracy after 50 years of army rule that began with a 1962 coup. Suu Kyi came to power after her party won a 2015 election, but the generals retained substantial power under the constitution, which had been adopted under a military regime.

Deal reached in suit alleging James Franco sexual misconduct

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-02-20/deal-reached-in-suit-alleging-james-franco-sexual-misconduct

A settlement agreement has been reached in a lawsuit that alleged James Franco intimidated students at an acting and film school he founded into gratuitous and exploitative sexual situations. A status report jointly filed by the two sides in Los Angeles Superior Court said a settlement had been reached in the class-action suit brought by former students at the now-defunct school, Studio 4, though elements of the lawsuit may live on. The document was filed on Feb. 11, but the settlement has not previously been reported. Actresses and ex-students Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, who first filed the lawsuit in 2019, have agreed to drop their individual claims under the agreement, according to the court filing. Their lawsuit said Franco pushed his students into performing in increasingly explicit sex scenes on camera in an “orgy type setting” that went far beyond those acceptable on Hollywood film sets. It alleged that Franco “sought to create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education,” and that students were led to believe roles in Franco’s films would be available to those who went along. The lawsuit said the incidents occurred in a master class on sex scenes that Franco taught at Studio 4, which opened in 2014 and closed in 2017. The two sides had been in discussions on a settlement for several months, and the lawsuit’s progress had been paused while they talked. Emails to several attorneys for both sides seeking comment on the agreement and more details on the terms were not immediately returned. In a previous court filing, Franco’s attorneys, while praising the #MeToo movement that helped inspire the lawsuit, called its claims “false and inflammatory, legally baseless and brought as a class action with the obvious goal of grabbing as much publicity as possible for attention-hungry plaintiffs.” They pointed out that Tither-Kaplan had previously expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work with Franco. The lawsuit also names Franco’s production company Rabbit Bandini and his partners including Vince Jolivette and Jay Davis as defendants. The sexual exploitation allegations of other plaintiffs in the class action will be dismissed without prejudice, meaning they may be refiled, the joint status report said. Fraud allegations brought by those plaintiffs will be “subjected to limited release,” the document says, without further details or explanation. The document does not reveal how much money may be involved in the deal, which the parties say they will submit for preliminary court approval by March 15. Before filing the lawsuit, Tither-Kaplan aired her allegations of sexual misconduct against Franco along with other women in the Los Angeles Times after Franco won a Golden Globe Award for “The Disaster Artist” in early 2018, when the wave of the #MeToo movement was sweeping across Hollywood. In a subsequent interview on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Franco called the sexual misconduct stories about him inaccurate, but said, “If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to.” Franco, 42, best known for starring in comedies with Seth Rogen, has generally kept a low-profile since the allegations arose in what had been a highly productive period that culminated in the acclaimed “Disaster Artist.”

Trump to speak at CPAC in first post-White House appearance

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-20/trump-to-speak-at-cpac-in-first-post-white-house-appearance

Donald Trump will make his first post-presidential appearance at a gathering of conservatives in Florida next weekend. Ian Walters, spokesman for the American Conservative Union, confirmed that Trump will be speaking at the group’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 28. Trump is expected to use the speech to talk about the future of the Republican Party and the conservative moment, as well as to criticize President Biden’s efforts to undo his immigration policies, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans. Politics The vice president’s high profile, race and gender have made her a target of some of the worst internet smears. The problem is only getting worse. Feb. 19, 2021 CPAC is being held this year in Orlando, Fla., and will feature a slew of former Trump administration officials and others who represent his wing of the GOP, including former Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. Trump has been keeping a relatively low profile since he retired from the White House to Palm Beach, Fla., in January, but reemerged last week to conduct a series of phone-in interviews on the occasion of the death of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh. Trump has a long history with CPAC, which played a key role in his emergence as a political force.

Biden's first month was about erasing the legacy of the 'former guy'

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-20/bidens-1st-month-was-about-erasing-the-mark-of-former-guy

When Joe Biden walked into the Oval Office for the first time as president a month ago, his pens were ready. Already. Lining a fine wooden box, they bore the presidential seal and an imprint of his signature, a micro-mission accomplished in advance of his swearing-in. Four years ago, pens were just one more little drama in Donald Trump’s White House. The gold-plated signature pens he favored had to be placed on rush order in his opening days. Over time, he came to favor Sharpies. On matters far more profound than a pen, Biden is out to demonstrate that the days of a seat-of-the-pants presidency are over. He wants to show that the inflationary cycle of outrage can be contained. That things can get done by the book. That the new guy can erase the legacy of the “former guy,” as Biden has called Trump. On policy, symbolism and style, from the Earth’s climate to what’s not on his desk (Trump’s button to summon a Diet Coke), Biden has been purging Trumpism however he can in an opening stretch that is wholly unlike the turmoil and trouble of his predecessor’s first month. The test for Biden is whether his stylistic changes will be matched by policies that deliver a marked improvement from Trump, and a month is not long enough to measure that. Further, the length of Biden’s honeymoon is likely to be brief in highly polarized Washington, with Republicans already saying he has caved to the left wing of the Democratic Party. World & Nation As the Biden administration takes steps toward a renewed detente with Tehran, some of Washington’s Arab allies look on with mounting unease. Feb. 19, 2021 The first time the nation saw Biden in the Oval Office, hours after he was sworn in, he sat behind the Resolute Desk with a mask on his face. Trump, of course, shunned masks. Not only that, but he had also made their use a culture war totem and political cudgel even as thousands of Americans were dying each day from a virus that properly worn masks can ward off. Though Biden wore a mask in the campaign, seeing it on the face of the new president at the desk in the Oval Office made for a different message. Biden wished to make a sharp break with his predecessor while his administration came to own the deep and intractable crises that awaited him. The strategy had been in the works since before the election and began with Biden at the desk signing a flurry of executive orders. The intent was clear: to unwind the heart of Trump’s agenda on immigration, the pandemic and more while also rejoining international alliances and trying to assure historical allies that the United States could be relied upon once again. “The subtext under every one of the images we are seeing from the White House is the banner: ‘Under new management,’” says Robert Gibbs, who was President Obama’s press secretary. “Whether showing it overtly or subtly, the message they are trying to deliver, without engaging the former president, is to make sure everyone understands that things were going to operate differently now, and that hopefully the results would be different, too.” In a flurry of executive actions in his first weeks, Biden reversed Trump’s course on the environment and placed Obama’s Affordable Care Act at the center of the pandemic response with an extended special enrollment period for the health insurance program that Trump swore to kill. The Iran nuclear deal that Biden’s predecessor abandoned is back on the diplomatic plate. The U.S. is back in the World Health Organization as well as the Paris climate accord. But memberships and diplomatic outreach only go so far. The world wants to see how far Biden will actually go in making good on climate goals, whether he will steer more help to poorer countries in the pandemic and whether his words of renewed solidarity with NATO may only last until the next pendulum swing of U.S. politics. In addition, Biden faces the reality that over the past four years China has moved in to fill the void left by the United States on trade, and allies have learned to rely less on the U.S. during the more hostile Trump era. One month into Trump’s presidency, he had already lost his national security advisor and his choice for Labor secretary to scandal. The revolving door of burned-out, disgraced or disfavored aides was already creaking into motion. Forces in the bureaucracy were leaking information and resisting his policies. Revelations were emerging about an FBI investigation into his campaign’s contacts with Russian intelligence officials, a precursor of a special inquiry that would eventually morph into impeachment. Judges had already blocked his order to suspend the refugee program and ban visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. Biden’s first month has been comparatively drama-free, with many of his Cabinet picks approved and no evident convulsions among his staff other than the departure of a White House press officer accused of making a profane threat to a journalist. After 40 years in Washington, eight years as Obama’s vice president and two failed presidential campaigns before his successful one, Biden has had a lifetime to think about the mark he wants to make as president and how to get rolling on it. “Nobody who observed Joe Biden as a candidate should be surprised by any of this,” senior advisor Anita Dunn said. “He had no learning curve in terms of the issues but also in how to be president.” There have been challenges nonetheless: the distraction of Trump’s post-presidential impeachment trial, a more narrowly divided Senate than his predecessor faced and a nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget with a history of social media posts assailing Republicans and some on the Democratic left. Much of what Biden has set out to do has been to mark a change from Trump in both style and substance. The Democrat framed his first month as one to start to “heal the soul” of the nation, repair the presidency and restore the White House as a symbol of stability and credibility. He has acted to lower Washington’s partisan rancor, disengaging almost completely from the Trump impeachment spectacle that consumed the capital for much of the month and not watching it live on TV. Yet, his early efforts to work with Republicans on COVID-19 relief have stalled. Gone are the predawn tweets that rattled Washington with impromptu policy announcements and incendiary rhetoric. Gone are the extended, off-the-cuff, combative exchanges with the “enemy of the people,” the mainstream press. Gone are rosy projections about the virus, with ill-fated promises that the nation is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic. In contrast with his predecessor, Biden has leveled with the public about the pandemic and the resulting economic devastation, acknowledging that things would get worse before they got better. “You had the former guy saying that, well, you know, we’re just going to open things up, and that’s all we need to do,” Biden said last week at his first town hall meeting as president. “We said, no, you’ve got to deal with the disease before you deal with getting the economy going.” A pattern emerged: The president and his team would deliberately set expectations low — particularly on vaccinations and school reopening — then try to land a political win by beating that timetable. On Friday in Michigan, he held out the possibility that the country will be returning to normal no sooner than the end of the year. “God willing, this Christmas will be different than last, but I can’t make that commitment to you,” he said. Biden’s team has installed a new discipline in the West Wing. The president has held one extended question-and-answer session with reporters, and his exchanges in the Oval Office or before boarding Marine One have been brief. The messages from the White House track with the assessments Biden delivered in his inaugural address: The U.S. is being tested, and the answers will not be easy. Daily press briefings are back, this time with a sign language interpreter. Pets roam the White House lawn again. Fires crackle in the White House fireplace. Biden says he begins his day by working out, making coffee and eating yogurt or Raisin Bran. At his town hall event in Wisconsin, Biden repeatedly talked about how he doesn’t want to talk about the former guy. “I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump, don’t want to talk about him anymore,” he said. “For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people.” That’s a tall order. The ex-president maintains his hold on millions of supporters and his lock on much of the Republican Party, whether he ends up running again or not. But to the extent Biden can, he is doing what Obama foresaw during the 2020 campaign if the Democrat won. Biden and running mate, Kamala Harris, would make it possible to ignore the Washington circus again, Obama told a rally, and give Americans some predictability whether they like Biden’s course or not. “You’re not going to have to think about them every single day,” Obama said. “It just won’t be so exhausting. You’ll be able to go about your lives.”

With no crowds, Louvre gets rare chance to refurbish

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/with-no-crowds-louvre-gets-rare-chance-to-refurbish

The 518-year-old Mona Lisa has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: almost four months with no Louvre visitors. As she stares out through bulletproof glass into the silent Salle des Etats, in what was once the world’s most-visited museum, her celebrated smile could almost denote relief. A bit further on, the white marble Venus de Milo is for once free of her girdle of picture-snapping visitors. It’s uncertain when the Paris museum will reopen, after being closed on Oct. 30 in line with the French government’s virus containment measures. But those lucky enough to get in benefit from a rare private look at collections covering 9,000 years of human history — with plenty of space to breathe. That’s normally sorely lacking in a museum that’s blighted by its own success: Before the pandemic, staff members walked out complaining they couldn’t handle the overcrowding, with as many as 40,000 visitors a day. The forced closure has also granted museum officials a golden opportunity to carry out long-overdue refurbishments that were simply not possible with nearly 10 million visitors a year. Unlike the first lockdown, which brought all Louvre activities to a halt, the second has seen some 250 of the museum’s employees remain fully operational. An army of curators, restorers and workers are cleaning sculptures, reordering artifacts, checking inventories, reorganizing entrances and conducting restorations, including in the Egyptian Wing and the Grande Galerie, the museum’s largest hall that is being fully renovated. “We’re taking advantage of the museum’s closure to carry out a number of major works, speed up maintenance operations and start repair works that are difficult to schedule when the museum is operating normally,” Laurent le Guedart, the Louvre’s architectural heritage and gardens director, told the Associated Press from inside the Grande Galerie. As Le Guedart spoke, restorers were standing atop scaffolds taking scientific probes of the walls in preparation for a planned restoration, traveling back to the 18th century through layer after layer of paint. Around the corner the sound of carpenters taking up floorboards was faintly audible. They were putting in the cables for a new security system. Previously, these jobs could be done only on a Tuesday, the Louvre’s only closed day in the week. Now hammers are tapping, machines drilling and brushes scrubbing on a full-week schedule, slowed down only slightly by social distancing measures. In total, 10 large-scale projects that were on hold since last March are underway — and progressing quickly. This includes works in the Etruscan and Italian Halls, and the gilded Salon Carre. A major restoration of the ancient Egyptian tomb chapel of Akhethotep from 2400 B.C. is also underway. “When the museum reopens, everything will be perfect for its visitors — this Sleeping Beauty will have had the time to powder her nose,” said Elisabeth Antoine-Konig, artifacts department curator. “Visitors will be happy to see again these now well-lit rooms with polished floors and remodeled display cases.” Initially, only visitors with pre-booked reservations will be granted entry in line with virus safety precautions. Those who cannot wait are still able to see the Louvre’s treasure trove of art in virtual tours online.

2 Myanmar protesters killed by police fire, reports say

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-20/2-myanmar-protesters-killed-by-police-fire-reports-say

Two anti-coup protesters were shot dead by riot police who fired live rounds Saturday in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, local media reported. One of the victims was shot in the head and died at the scene, according to Frontier Myanmar, a news and business magazine based in Yangon, the country’s largest city. Another was shot in the chest and died en route to the hospital. Several other serious injuries were also reported. The shootings occurred near Mandalay’s Yadanabon dock, where tear gas and rubber bullets were used on protesters earlier in the day. The Irrawaddy news website also confirmed the deaths on social media. Security forces had been increasing their pressure against anti-coup protesters earlier Saturday, using water cannons, tear gas, slingshots and rubber bullets against demonstrators and striking dock workers in Mandalay. Politics President Biden has slapped a raft of harsh sanctions on the military commanders of Myanmar who last week overthrew the elected civilian government. At least five people were injured by rubber bullets and had to be carried away in ambulances, according to an Associated Press journalist who witnessed the violence. Some 500 police and soldiers descended on the area near Yadanabon dock after dock workers joined the national civil disobedience movement, refusing to work until the military junta that seized power in a Feb. 1 coup reinstates the democratically elected government. Protesters and residents were forced to flee the neighborhood amid the violence, as security forces chased after them. There were reports of sounds that resembled gunfire. A group of journalists was forced to flee after being hit with tear gas and slingshot projectiles. Earlier in the week in Mandalay, security forces cracked down on state railway workers in a similar fashion after they joined the civil disobedience movement. Less than an hour after the 8 p.m. curfew started Wednesday, gunshots were heard as more than two dozen police officers with shields and helmets marched past railway workers’ housing. Numerous videos posted on social media showed muzzle flashes as shots were heard, and some police shot slingshots and threw rocks at the buildings. Marching chants of “left, right, left, right” could be heard along with shouts of “shoot, shoot.” Also Saturday, anti-coup protesters in Myanmar’s two largest cities paid tribute to a young woman who died a day earlier after being shot by police during a rally against the military takeover. An impromptu memorial created under an elevated roadway in Yangon attracted around 1,000 protesters. A wreath of bright yellow flowers was hung beneath a photograph of Mya Thwet Thwet Khine, who was shot in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Feb. 9, two days before her 20th birthday. World & Nation The Myanmar military has taken control of the country under a one-year state of emergency, and detained political leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi. Her death on Friday, announced by her family, was the first confirmed fatality among thousands of protesters who have faced off against security forces since the top military commander, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, took power in the coup. Protesters at the memorial chanted and held up signs that read, “End the dictatorship in Myanmar” and “You will be remembered Mya Thwet Thwet Khine.” The supporters also laid roses and rose petals on images of the woman. Video from the day she was shot shows her sheltering from water cannons and suddenly dropping to the ground after a bullet penetrated the motorcycle helmet she was wearing. She had been on life support in a hospital for more than a week with what doctors said was no chance of recovery. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price offered his government’s condolences Friday and reiterated calls on the military to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters. In Mandalay on Saturday, a protest led by medical university students drew more than 1,000 people, many of whom also carried flowers and images of Mya Thwet Thwet Khine. Others held signs saying “CDM,” referring to the nationwide civil disobedience movement that has encouraged doctors, engineers and others to protest the coup by refusing to work. Across Myanmar, also known as Burma, protests showed no signs of slowing down despite recent crackdowns by the military government — including a sixth consecutive night in which the internet was cut for many hours. Demonstrators also gathered elsewhere in Yangon, chanting and holding placards and images of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose democratically elected government was overthrown. Aerial images taken Friday showed streets in Yangon painted with the words “The military dictatorship must fall” in Burmese, and “We want democracy” and “Free our leaders” in English. Security forces have been relatively restrained so far in confronting protesters in Yangon, also known as Rangoon, but appeared to be toughening their stance in areas where there is less media presence. Police used force for a second straight day Friday to arrest protesters in Myitkyina, the capital of the remote northern state of Kachin. The Kachin ethnic minority has long been in conflict with the central government, and there has been an intermittent armed struggle against the army there for decades. The junta seized power after detaining Suu Kyi and preventing parliament from convening, saying elections in November were tainted by voting irregularities. The election outcome, in which Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, was affirmed by an election commission that has since been replaced by the military. The junta says it will hold new elections in a year’s time. The U.S., British and Canadian governments have imposed sanctions on the new military leaders, and they and other nations have called for Suu Kyi’s administration to be restored. The coup was a major setback to Myanmar’s transition to democracy after 50 years of army rule. Suu Kyi came to power after her National League for Democracy party won a 2015 election, but the generals retained substantial power under the constitution, which was adopted under a military regime.

Back in Paris pact, U.S. faces tougher climate steps ahead

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-19/back-in-paris-pact-us-faces-tougher-climate-steps-ahead

World leaders welcomed the United States’ official return to the Paris climate accord Friday, but politically trickier steps lie just ahead for President Biden, including setting a tough national target in coming months for cutting damaging fossil fuel emissions. “We can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change,” Biden said in a video speech to European leaders on Friday, the U.S.’ first day back in the climate pact. “This is a global existential crisis, and all of us will suffer if we fail.” Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office reversing the pullout ordered by President Trump. Trump said soon after he took office that he would start the process of withdrawing from the Paris accord, but it didn’t take effect until Nov. 4, 2020, because of provisions in the agreement. Officially, the United States was only out of the worldwide global climate pact for 107 days. It was part of Trump’s withdrawal from global allegiances in general and his oft-stated but false view that global warming was a laughably mistaken take by the world’s scientists. Toward a more sustainable California Get Boiling Point, our newsletter exploring climate change, energy and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. More broadly, Trump reversed Obama-era initiatives to rein in oil, gas and coal emissions and opened new federal lands and waters to exploration and drilling. Biden is working to overturn those measures and additionally has pledged a $2-trillion remake of U.S. power grids, transportation systems and other infrastructure to sharply cut fossil fuel pollution. Although Friday’s return is heavily symbolic, world leaders say they expect America to prove its seriousness to the cause. They are particularly eager for the United States to announce its new national 2030 target for cutting fossil fuel emissions, which scientists agree are altering the Earth’s climate and worsening the extremes of drought, hurricanes, flooding and other natural disasters. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that the official American reentry “is itself very important,” as is Biden’s announcement that the U.S. will return to providing climate aid to poorer nations, as promised in 2009. “It’s not about how many days. It’s the political symbolism that the largest economy refuses to see the opportunity of addressing climate change.” said Christiana Figueres, the former United Nations climate chief. She was one of the leading forces in hammering out the mostly voluntary 2015 agreement in which nations set their own goals to reduce greenhouse gases. One fear was that other nations would follow America in abandoning the climate fight, but none did, Figueres said. She said the real issue was four years of climate inaction by the Trump administration. American cities, states and businesses still worked to reduce heat-trapping carbon dioxide but without the participation of the federal government. “We’ve lost too much time,” Figueres said. Inger Andersen, the environment program director at the United Nations, said America has to prove its leadership to the rest of the world, but she said she has no doubt it will when it submits its required emissions cutting targets. “We hope they will translate into a very meaningful reduction of emissions, and they will be an example for other countries to follow,” Guterres said. The Biden administration is working now on a target that balances meaningful cuts in emissions with political and financial realities. Settling on a U.S. emissions goal by April, when Biden plans to host world leaders for an Earth Day summit, would help the administration prod other countries for ambitious emissions cuts as well. That spring meeting should see countries start “to put the down payments on the table,” John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, said Friday. Republican leaders already are fighting it. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy panel, has criticized Biden for rejoining the Paris accord, tweeting: “Returning to the Paris climate agreement will raise Americans’ energy costs and won’t solve climate change. The Biden administration will set unworkable targets for the United States while China and Russia can continue with business as usual.” University of Maryland environment professor Nate Hultman, who worked on the Obama administration’s official Paris goal, said he expects a 2030 target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions between 40% and 50% from the 2005 baseline levels. A longtime international goal, included in the Paris accord with an even more stringent target, is to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. The world has already warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius since that time. The United States’ return to the Paris accord and an ambitious target for emissions cuts would make limiting warming “to well below 2 degrees — not just to 2 degrees but below 2 degrees — a lot more likely,” said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, energy and climate director for the Breakthrough Institute.

Guns in capitol buildings divide states after armed protests

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-19/guns-in-capitol-buildings-divide-states-after-armed-protests

In the past year, insurrectionists have breached the U.S. Capitol and armed protesters have forced their way into statehouses around the country. But the question of whether guns should be allowed in capitol buildings remains political, and states are going in opposite directions. In Montana, a law signed Thursday allows anyone with a permit to bring a concealed firearm into the Statehouse, reversing a decades-long ban and fulfilling a longtime hope of Republicans who took control of the governor’s mansion and the Legislature this year. GOP-dominated Utah passed a law this month allowing people to carry concealed weapons in its Capitol and elsewhere in the state without a permit. Guns are allowed in statehouses in some form in 21 states, according to a review by the Associated Press. Eight states allow only concealed firearms inside their capitols, while two states allow only open carry. World & Nation As the Biden administration takes steps toward a renewed detente with Tehran, some of Washington’s Arab allies look on with mounting unease. Feb. 19, 2021 Montana and Utah are two of at least 13 states that do not have metal detectors at the entrance to their capitols. The statehouses are open to the public even as many have closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Several other states, though, are moving to restrict guns inside their capitols. In Michigan, where armed protesters forced their way inside the Statehouse last year and the FBI said it uncovered a plot to kidnap the governor, a state panel banned the open carry of guns after the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C. Democratic state Sen. Dayna Polehanki said that “tensions are high” in Michigan following the assaults, and she’s disappointed that concealed weapons are still allowed in the Statehouse. “What they said is that weapons, guns, bullets are still welcome in our state Capitol as long as we can’t see them. It doesn’t make anyone safer,” she said. Vermont lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering expanding their Statehouse ban on guns to other government buildings. In Washington state, a measure that would ban open carry of guns in the Capitol and near permitted demonstrations has cleared a committee and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate. “The purpose of openly carrying a weapon is to chill other people’s voices. And it works,” said its sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Patty Kuderer. In nearby Oregon, crowds opposed to the Statehouse being closed to the public during a pandemic-related session stormed the building, including at least one person armed with an AR-15. And in Idaho, self-styled “patriots,” anti-vaccination groups and others forced their way past police at the Capitol in August, shattering a window as they pushed and shoved into a gallery. In Montana, though, Republican Rep. Seth Berglee said the U.S. Capitol riot didn’t affect his thinking about the law he sponsored. “People that have a permit are extremely law-abiding, and they are the type of people I would want to have around. I see them as being a deterrent to bad things happening,” he said. There’s a similar proposal this year in Oklahoma, where gun rights advocates are again pushing to allow people with a license to carry firearms inside the Capitol. It hasn’t yet had a hearing. “A person needs to be able to protect themselves, no matter where they are,” said Don Spencer, president of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Assn. Not everyone in Montana feels safer with the new law, however. Democratic House Minority Leader Kim Abbott said more guns could add a chilling new dimension to debates in polarized times. “If you have more guns in the building when you’re talking about things that are so personal and intense ... you do worry about things escalating,” she said.

Nonprofits step up to protect fertility for cancer patients

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-24/nonprofits-step-up-to-protect-fertility-for-cancer-patients

Roshni Kamta remembers that spring day two years ago when she left for work on her usual crowded New York City subway line, carrying precious cargo. Inside the light white bag, which she stored inside the refrigerator at work, were her egg freezing supplies — syringes and the hormone medications she would inject into her body at work to maintain her medicating schedule. Fertility preservation wasn’t something that Kamta, then just 22 years old, had ever thought about, let alone planned for. But a shocking breast cancer diagnosis a few months earlier had transformed everything. After some quick decisions, she found herself poised to undergo an egg retrieval procedure days before embarking on cancer treatments. The treatments — radiation, surgery and some types of chemotherapy — can damage fertility. Yet procedures to preserve fertility can exceed $15,000. Fertility advocates say only 10 states mandate that insurance companies cover those costs for patients whose medical treatments will probably render them infertile. The result is that many cancer patients are stuck with crushing out-of-pocket costs in the brief time they have before starting treatments. The barriers to access amount to a stressful financial burden for nearly 88,000 young adults the American Cancer Society says are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. every year. That’s where Kamta, now 24, found herself in 2019. She said her insurance company denied her coverage after her diagnosis. “Cancer wasn’t my choice,” she said. “I had no control over this, and now they were telling me they can’t help me with something for the future? Just the way they word things in their policy made me angry.” Kamta turned, as many do, to her only option for aid — a nonprofit group. She applied for and was approved for a grant by the Chick Mission, a New-York based organization that pays the full cost of fertility preservation procedures for women with cancer. The Chick Mission has plans to expand its program with 100 need-based grants in six states for women under age 40 who are newly diagnosed with cancer. All told, after negotiating lower rates with clinics, it expects to spend $650,000 on the grants. Advocates aren’t sure how many nonprofits like it exist, and they say the need far exceeds the availability of aid. Joyce Reinecke, executive director of the Alliance for Fertility Preservation, notes that some other organizations — including Team Maggie for a Cure, based in Georgia, and Fertility Within Reach in Massachusetts — also offer financial aid. But most don’t cover the full cost of treatment. In 2004, Fertile Hope became the first nonprofit to offer financial assistance to cancer patients. It was later acquired by the Livestrong Foundation, a cancer charity that now administers the program under the name Livestrong Fertility and has become one of the leading organizations that provide free or discounted services and medications. Greg Lee, Livestrong’s president, says the charity has saved 14,000 couples about $76 million in costs. While noting that these organizations can serve as a lifeline for the fortunate, advocates say that a system of dependence on a web of far-flung nonprofits is far from an ideal solution for cancer patients. “Needing to know how to apply for a grant or crowd fund for your healthcare is not what our country should be doing,” said Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the Washington-based advocacy group National Women’s Health Network. Yet “sometimes it’s important for people to step in and make a difference right away when that individual woman can’t wait for a system or policy change.” That was Amanda Rice’s reason for launching the Chick Mission in 2017 while undergoing treatment herself for breast cancer. The organization emerged from her own stress-filled frustrations with her insurer, UnitedHealthcare, which informed her, she said, that she didn’t meet its standard definition of infertility. She said she was told that to qualify for coverage, she needed to try for six months to become pregnant. At the time, Rice was on the verge of a divorce and couldn’t afford to wait that long for her cancer treatments. “I can’t stop for six months and try to have a baby,” she said. Her anger and anxiety would boil over, she said, and lead to depression. Tracey Lempner, a spokeswoman for UnitedHealthcare, didn’t comment on Rice’s specific case. But she said in a statement to the Associated Press that in states that don’t mandate coverage of fertility preservation, the insurer offers “customers the choice to include coverage for fertility preservation as part of their benefit plan.” Lempner said UnitedHealthcare regularly reviews its coverage “to ensure it is consistent with other plans in the market.” Starting in July, she added, “fertility preservation will be available as a standard benefit” on certain UnitedHealthcare plans. For now, many insurance plans in the United States don’t cover fertility preservation for young cancer patients. Because the costs are so steep, says Mindy Christianson, the medical director of the Johns Hopkins Fertility Center, that some of her patients have declined the procedures. “A lot of the studies have shown that women and girls later on regret not doing fertility preservation,” she said. For Rice, who was diagnosed with cancer three times since 2014, two insurance coverage denials that she says she received left a psychological scar. She paid to freeze her eggs, and launched the Chick Mission with her eyes fixed on grants and advocacy. The Chick Mission has received some support from foundations but is seeking an institutional donor. Most of its funding comes from grass-roots donations amounting to $5,000 or less. With that money, it has helped women freeze at least 1,000 eggs. At least one woman, Rice said, has given birth. “This is the insurance policy for them that their insurance wouldn’t cover,” she said. “We have a few more that are out of treatment, that are married and that are looking to start their families. And I think we will have more babies to come this year or early next.” The Chick Mission also works within a coalition of other organizations to advocate for state laws that would mandate that insurance companies cover such costs for cancer patients. New York enacted such a law in 2019, though advocates say it isn’t expansive enough because it applies only to large insurers’ policies. The Chick Mission seeks to help women who fall through the cracks in that state — as well as in New Jersey, California, Colorado and Illinois. It has also extended its reach to Texas, where a similar bill is in the works, said Tracy Weiss, a cancer survivor who serves as the group’s executive director. As Reinecke sees it, momentum is on their side. She has seen an increase in support since 2017, the year Connecticut became the first state to pass a coverage mandate. “People started to jump in and give support and help us,” Reinecke said. “I do think going forward as a coalition of cancer and reproductive organizations has been helpful. It does make asking for this coverage easier over time.” With that in mind, advocates are holding out hope of helping enact a federal mandate one day. “The ultimate goal of the Chick Mission,” Weiss said, “is to be out of business.”

Biden to lay out his foreign policy at G-7 and Munich summit

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-19/biden-to-lay-out-his-foreign-policy-at-g-7-munich-summit

Joe Biden will make his first big appearance on the global stage as president on Friday, offering Group of Seven allies and other foreign leaders a glimpse into his plans to dramatically reshape U.S. foreign policy even as he deals with a number of international crises that are coming to a head. In advance of Biden’s virtual appearances at a G-7 meeting and the Munich Security Conference, the White House sought to underscore that the new administration will move quickly to reorient the U.S. away from President Trump’s “America First” mantra by announcing major reversals of Trump administration policies. Biden was expected to use his address to the Munich conference to stress that the U.S. stands ready to rejoin talks about reentering the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal abandoned by the Trump administration. The Biden administration announced Thursday its desire to reengage Iran, and it took action at the United Nations aimed at restoring policy to what it was before Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. Biden was also expected to address economic and national security challenges posed by Russia and China, as well as the two-decade war in Afghanistan, where he faces a May 1 deadline to remove the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops under a Trump administration negotiated peace agreement with the Taliban. His message was to be girded by an underlying argument that democracies — not autocracies — are models of governance that can best meet the challenges of the moment, according to a senior administration official who previewed the president’s speech for reporters. Politics President Biden waited nearly a month to reach out to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, indicating a significant refocusing of policy after Trump. At the G-7, administration officials said, Biden was to focus on what lies ahead for the international community as it tries to extinguish the public health and economic crises created by the coronavirus pandemic. White House officials said Biden would announce at the G-7 that the U.S. will soon begin releasing $4 billion for an international effort to bolster the purchase and distribution of coronavirus vaccine to poor nations, a program that Trump refused to support. Both the G-7 and the annual security conference are being held virtually because of the pandemic. Biden’s turn on the world stage comes as the U.S. on Friday officially rejoins the Paris climate agreement, the largest international effort to curb global warming. Trump announced in June 2017 that he was pulling the U.S. out of the landmark accord, arguing that it would undermine the American economy. Biden announced the U.S. intention of rejoining the accord on the first day of his presidency, but he had to wait 30 days for the move to go into effect. He has said that he will incorporate considerations about climate change into every major domestic and foreign policy decision his administration faces. His first foray into international summitry will inevitably be perceived by some as simply an attempted course correction from Trump’s agenda. The new president, however, has made clear that his domestic and foreign policy agenda won’t be merely an erasure of the Trump years. “I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump,” Biden lamented earlier this week at a CNN town hall in Milwaukee. Biden on the campaign trail vowed to reassert U.S. leadership in the international community, a role that Trump often shied away from while complaining that the U.S. was too frequently taken advantage of by freeloading allies. To that end, the White House said Biden would be encouraging G-7 partners to make good on their pledges to COVAX, an initiative by the World Health Organization to improve access to vaccines, even as he reopens the U.S. spigot. Politics President Biden’s initial actions lifting Trump-era restrictions on Cuba won’t immediately restore President Obama’s warmer relations with the island. Trump had withdrawn the U.S. from the WHO and refused to join more than 190 countries in the COVAX program. The Republican president accused the WHO of covering up China’s missteps in handling the virus at the start of the public health crisis that unraveled a strong U.S. economy. It remains to be seen how G-7 allies will take Biden’s calls for greater international cooperation on vaccine distribution, given that the U.S. refused to take part in the initiative under Trump and that there are growing calls for the Democrat’s administration to distribute some U.S.-manufactured vaccine supplies overseas. French President Emmanuel Macron, in an interview Thursday with the Financial Times, called on the U.S. and European nations to allocate up to 5% of current vaccine supplies to developing countries — the kind of vaccine diplomacy that China and Russia have begun deploying. And earlier this week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sharply criticized the “wildly uneven and unfair” distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, noting 10 countries have administered 75% of all vaccinations. Biden, who announced last week that the U.S. will have enough supply of the vaccine by the end of July to inoculate 300 million people, remains focused for now on making sure every American is vaccinated, administration officials say. Allies will also be listening closely to hear what Biden has to say about a looming crisis with Iran. Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency this week that it would suspend voluntary implementation next week of a provision in the 2015 deal that allowed U.N. nuclear monitors to conduct inspections of undeclared sites in Iran at short notice unless the U.S. rolled back sanctions by Feb. 23. Politics Emergency relief is just a start. Biden is also using the COVID-19 crisis to build support for the larger economic reforms he campaigned on. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday told his counterparts from France, Germany and the U.K. that the U.S. is prepared to engage in discussions with Iran in an attempt to reach an agreement on returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, according to a joint statement by the three nations. Trump withdrew the United States from the pact negotiated by the Obama administration and renewed sanctions against Tehran, a step that Biden as a candidate said was shortsighted and dangerous. But the joint statement from Blinken and the other ministers made clear that the Biden administration continues to expect Iran to return to full compliance with the 2015 deal before the U.S. reengages. It also urged Iran to “consider the consequences of such grave action, particularly at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity.” Biden has participated in the Munich Security Conference several times as a senator, vice president and most recently as a private citizen. When Biden last addressed the conference two years ago, he sought to assure allies shell-shocked by Trump’s “America First” policies that “this, too, shall pass.” “We will be back,” Biden told attendees. “Don’t have any doubt about that.”

3 of 45 pilot whales survive mass stranding in Indonesia

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-19/3-of-45-pilot-whales-survive-mass-stranding-in-indonesia

Only three of 45 short-finned pilot whales survived a mass stranding Friday in shallow waters on Indonesia’s Madura Island off the northeastern coast of Java, officials said. The three whales were pushed back to the sea by volunteers and local authorities along the Modung beach in East Java province. East Java Gov. Khofifah Indar Parawansa said authorities are investigating the cause of the stranding while the carcasses will be buried around the coast. “The volunteers who are helping them to get back to the ocean said that some of the whales got back to the coast again as their mothers are still stranded at the beach,” Parawansa said. According to data from Whale Stranding Indonesia, there were 59 beaching incidents in the country last year, most of them dugongs and spinner dolphins.

Doctors race to find, vaccinate vulnerable homebound people

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-19/doctors-race-to-find-vaccinate-vulnerable-homebound-people

A group of healthcare workers hurried out of a Boston hospital on a recent weekday morning, clutching small red coolers filled with COVID-19 vaccines. Their challenge: Beat traffic, a looming snowstorm and the clock. They had to get shots in the arms of their homebound patients before the vaccines expired in a few hours’ time. “That clock is in the back of my mind the whole time,” said Dr. Won Lee, a home care specialist at Boston Medical Center. Millions of U.S. residents will need COVID-19 vaccines brought to them because they rarely or never leave home. Doctors and nurses who specialize in home care are leading this push and starting to get help from state and local governments around the country. But they face several challenges. Researchers say many homebound people don’t receive regular medical care, which makes it hard to identify everyone who needs a vaccine. Supplies also are limited, and both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines expire a few hours after syringes pull the vaccine from vials. That makes it tough for one doctor to see many patients when they must also stay in someone’s home for at least 15 minutes after the shot in case an allergic reaction develops. “They don’t live next door to each other,” said Dr. David Moen of Prospero Health Partners, which delivers care to patients in several states. “It’s challenging to go to multiple locations.” Science & Medicine U.S. life expectancy fell in the first half of 2020 amid the pandemic: almost three years for Black people, two for Latinos and one for white people. Feb. 18, 2021 Even so, healthcare providers report progress. Lee figures she can deliver five or six doses during an average day. That will be her main focus the next several weeks. One of her recent stops was at the second-floor apartment of a regular patient, 106-year-old Domingas Pina, who hasn’t left home in about a year. Lee sat with Pina at her dining room table, swabbed the patient’s shoulder and then swiftly administered the shot as Pina looked away. The patient then smiled beneath her surgical mask and flashed a thumbs-up. Pina, who speaks mostly Portuguese Creole, will get her second dose of the vaccine next month, right around her 107th birthday. “She misses all her grandchildren and her friends that used to come all the time,” daughter Maria Lopes said. “We don’t want to lose her.” After giving Pina the shot, Lee asked how she was doing and about her blood pressure medication. She then slipped off Pina’s Darth Vader slippers to examine her feet. Before long, the doctor had left for her next patient. California Board and care facilities that house elderly people have trouble getting the COVID-19 vaccine for residents. Feb. 18, 2021 Lee’s office sets up the appointments and explains the vaccine in advance. That helps the visit go smoothly, and Lee tries to see patients who live near one another to conserve time. She also tells them she can’t stay too long after the shots “because I have to make sure I get these vaccines to all the patients that need them today.” Dr. Karen Abrashkin hopes to take a similar approach. She will use mapping software to plan stops among clusters of patients who live near one another in the New York City area. But the director of Northwell Health’s House Calls program is still waiting for the vaccine. “We get many questions each day about when we’re going to have vaccines to give in the home,” she said. “The supply just isn’t there yet.” One of her patients, 103-year-old Ida Sobel, has no plans to leave her apartment building until she gets vaccinated. While she waits, Sobel, who is legally blind and lives with a home health aide, has food delivered. She walks the hallway outside her front door for exercise and opens a window when she wants fresh air. “I am in a very crowded area,” the Floral Park, N.Y., resident said. “People are not conscious enough to avoid you and stay far away, so I avoid them.” Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Christine Ritchie estimates that about 2 million U.S. residents are homebound. An additional 5 million have trouble leaving home or need help doing so. Many of them may need vaccines brought to them as well. This population generally includes older people with lower-than-average income levels and serious medical problems such as dementia, advanced heart conditions or arthritis. Ritchie noted that homebound people draw less attention from public health officials than those who live in group settings such as nursing homes, which are receiving vaccines from major drugstore chains. Homebound people, Ritchie said, “tend to be sort of invisible to society.” Housing & Homelessness The effort to vaccinate L.A.’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach homeless communities, which is just getting underway, is fraught with obstacles. Feb. 15, 2021 On Staten Island, James De Silva has grown frustrated because he has no good vaccine options for his 96-year-old mother, but people much younger than her can get shots if they leave home. Mary Stella De Silva is mostly bedbound and receives around-the-clock home care. That care doesn’t include the vaccine, and De Silva will need to arrange an ambulance or special transportation to take her to an appointment, if he lands one. “I think the homebound should be given a little bit more priority than someone who is just 65 and might not have an underlying illness,” he said. “It’s not being given the attention it deserves, frankly.” That appears to be changing. Fire departments around the country have started delivering vaccines. In the Gulf Coast city of Corpus Christi, Texas, the fire department has used a list of Meals on Wheels recipients to deliver more than 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine since late January. Chief Robert Rocha said they’ve also set up a hotline for anyone who still needs a vaccination. Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said his city would start sending medical personnel to the apartments of homebound people as soon as a one-shot vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson is available. Federal regulators may authorize that vaccine within weeks. Deliveries like that can’t start soon enough for De Silva and his mother. “If she was in a nursing home or a long-term care facility, she would have been vaccinated by now,” he said. “She’s really in the same situation, but she’s at home.”

Eagles trade Carson Wentz to Colts for draft picks

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-02-18/ap-source-eagles-send-carson-wentz-to-colts-for-draft-picks

The Philadelphia Eagles have agreed to trade Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts, according to a person familiar with the deal. The Eagles will receive a third-round pick in this year’s draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2022 that can turn into a first-round pick if Wentz plays 75% of the snaps this year or 70% and the Colts make the playoffs. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced. Wentz is coming off the worst season of his five-year career and was benched for rookie Jalen Hurts after 12 games. He finished third in NFL MVP voting in 2017 when he led the Eagles to an 11-2 record before a knee injury ended his season and Philadelphia went on to win its only Super Bowl title. The deal reunites Wentz with Colts coach Frank Reich, who served as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator his first two seasons in the league. The Colts are turning to their fourth starting quarterback in Reich’s four years. Andrew Luck retired abruptly before the 2019 season and Jacoby Brissett took over. Philip Rivers led the team to the playoffs in his only season in Indianapolis in 2020. After Rivers retired, Wentz became an ideal fit for the team. Wentz is entering the first season of a four-year, $128-million contract he signed in June 2019. The Eagles will absorb a significant salary cap hit of $33.8 million in dead money on their 2021 cap. The Eagles traded up twice in the 2016 NFL draft to select Wentz with the No. 2 overall pick. He started all 16 games as a rookie and had a breakout sophomore season before he tore two knee ligaments in Week 14 and watched Nick Foles lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl win over New England. Sports Oddsmakers are giving the Cleveland Browns the best chance at landing free agent defensive end J.J. Watt, followed by the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Feb. 17, 2021 A back injury ended Wentz’s season early in 2018, and Foles led the Eagles to a playoff victory. Wentz started every game in 2019 and helped the Eagles win the NFC East with an excellent four-game stretch in December. He became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards without a wide receiver having 500 yards receiving and became the first to throw 20 or more touchdowns and seven or fewer interceptions in three straight seasons. But he was knocked out of his first career playoff start after nine snaps because of a concussion. Wentz hasn’t been the same since that hit from Jadeveon Clowney. He posted a 72.8 passer rating, 16 interceptions and lost four fumbles in 12 starts in 2020. The Eagles finished 4-11-1.

U.S. jobless claims jump to 861,000 as layoffs remain high

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-18/us-jobless-claims-jump-to-861-000-as-layoffs-stay-high

The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections. Applications from laid-off workers rose 13,000 from the previous week, which was revised sharply higher, the Labor Department said Thursday. Before the virus erupted in the United States last March, weekly applications for unemployment benefits had never topped 700,000, even during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The job market has stalled, with employers having added a mere 49,000 jobs in January after cutting workers in December. Nearly 10 million jobs remain lost to the pandemic. Though the unemployment rate fell last month from 6.7%, to 6.3%, it did so in part because some people stopped looking for jobs. People who aren’t actively seeking work aren’t counted as unemployed. Fraudulent claims may be elevating the totals. Last week, Ohio reported a huge increase in applications and said it had set aside about half the increase for additional review out of concern over fraud. Politics The pandemic has triggered potentially far-reaching changes in consumer behavior and business models, disrupting the jobs of millions of workers. Thursday’s report showed that a total of 18.3 million people were receiving unemployment aid as of Jan. 30, down from 19.7 million the previous week. About three-quarters of those recipients are receiving checks from federal programs, including two extended benefit programs that provide jobless aid beyond the 26 weeks given by most states. That trend suggests that a sizable proportion of the unemployed have been out of work for more than six months, reflecting a bleak job market for many. Two federal unemployment aid programs — one that provides up to an extra 24 weeks of support and another that covers self-employed and gig workers — were extended until March 14 by a $900-billion rescue package that was enacted late last year. President Biden is proposing to extend both programs through August as part of his $1.9-trillion package now before Congress. The legislation would also provide an additional $400 a week in federal jobless aid, on top of state benefits. That money would replace a $300-a-week benefit that was included in the relief package approved last year. Some industry data suggests that hiring remains weak. UKG, a company that provides time management software, estimates that among its mostly small-business clients, the number of shifts worked nationally has risen just 0.2% in the past month. That tepid increase signals that hiring has been sluggish so far this month. Still, the economy has shown signs of picking up as states and cities have eased some business restrictions and the most recent round of $600 stimulus checks have made their way through the economy. Sales at retail stores and restaurants soared in January, jumping 5.3% from December, the government said Wednesday. Furniture and electronic and appliance stores recorded some of the strongest increases, likely a result of last year’s healthy gain in home sales. Factory output also rose last month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday, its fourth straight increase, led by greater production of steel and other metals.

2 Belarusian journalists sent to prison for covering protest

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-18/2-belarusian-journalists-sent-to-prison-for-covering-protest

A court in Belarus on Thursday sent two journalists to prison on charges of violating public order after they covered a protest against the nation’s authoritarian president. The court in the Belarusian capital of Minsk handed two-year sentences to Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, who goes by the name Andreyeva, and Daria Chultsova, 23 of the Polish-funded Belsat TV channel. They were arrested in November when police broke down the door of an apartment in Minsk from which they were doing a livestream of a protest and charged them with “organizing actions rudely violating public order,” accusations they have denied. The U.S. Embassy in Belarus has called for their release and urged Belarusian authorities to stop prosecuting journalists for doing their jobs. Addressing the court before the verdict, Bakhvalava vowed to continue working for “building a Belarus that won’t have political repressions.” “I’m not pleading. I’m demanding acquittal for me and my colleagues,” she said in a reference to other Belarusian journalists who have been put into custody. There have been more than 400 detentions of journalists in Belarus over the last six months. At least 10 of them have faced criminal charges and remain in custody. “We consider the sentence politically motivated, its goal is to scare all journalists to prevent them from fulfilling their professional duty to cover socially important events in the country,” the Belarusian Assn. of Journalists said. “That effectively amounts to a professional ban.” Belarus has been rocked by protests after official results from the Aug. 9 presidential election handed President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office by a landslide. The opposition and some poll workers have said the election was rigged. Authorities in the Eastern European nation have responded with a sweeping crackdown on the demonstrations, the biggest of which attracted up to 200,000 people. According to human rights advocates, more than 30,000 people have been detained since the protests began, and thousands were brutally beaten. The United States and the European Union have responded to the Belarus election and the crackdown by introducing sanctions against Belarusian officials.

Why the power grid failed in Texas and beyond

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-18/explainer-why-the-power-grid-failed-in-texas-and-beyond

The power outages tormenting Texas in uncharacteristically arctic temperatures are exposing weaknesses in an electricity system designed when the weather’s seasonal shifts were more consistent and predictable — conditions that most experts believe no longer exist. This isn’t just happening in Texas, of course. Utilities from Minnesota to Mississippi have imposed rolling blackouts to ease the strain on electrical grids buckling under high demand during the past few days. And power outages have become a rite of summer and autumn in California, partly to reduce the chances of deadly wildfires. But the fact more than 3 million bone-chilled Texans have lost their electricity in a state that takes pride in its energy independence underscores the gravity of a problem that is occurring in the U.S. with increasing frequency. Plunging temperatures caused Texans to turn up their heaters, including many inefficient electric ones. Demand spiked to levels normally seen only on the hottest summer days, when millions of air conditioners run at full tilt. The state has a generating capacity of about 67,000 megawatts in the winter compared with a peak capacity of about 86,000 megawatts in the summer. The gap between the winter and summer supply reflects power plants going offline for maintenance during months when demand typically is less intense and there’s not as much energy coming from wind and solar sources. World & Nation We prepared for a natural disaster in Houston. Then our electrical grid went down, taking our water with it. But planning for this winter didn’t imagine temperatures low enough to freeze natural gas supply lines and stop wind turbines from spinning. By Wednesday, 46,000 megawatts of power were offline statewide — 28,000 from natural gas, coal and nuclear plants and 18,000 from wind and solar, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state’s power grid. “Every one of our sources of power supply underperformed,” Daniel Cohan, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University in Houston, tweeted. “Every one of them is vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events in different ways. None of them were adequately weatherized or prepared for a full realm of weather and conditions.” The staggering imbalance between Texas’ energy supply and demand also caused prices to skyrocket from roughly $20 per megawatt hour to $9,000 per megawatt hour in the state’s freewheeling wholesale power market. That raised questions whether some power generators who buy in the wholesale market may have had a profit motive to avoid buying more natural gas and simply shut down instead. “We can’t speculate on people’s motivations in that way,” said Bill Magness, CEO of ERCOT. He added he had been told by generators that they were doing everything possible to provide power. Gas-fired plants and wind turbines can be protected against winter weather — it’s done routinely in colder, northern states. The issue arose in Texas after a 2011 freeze that also led to power-plant shutdowns and blackouts. A national electric-industry group developed winterization guidelines for operators to follow, but they are strictly voluntary and also require expensive investments in equipment and other necessary measures. An ERCOT official, Dan Woodfin, said there were plant upgrades after 2011 limited shutdowns during a similar cold snap in 2018, but this week’s weather was “more extreme.” Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, rejected ERCOT’s claim that this week’s freeze was unforeseeable. Climate & Environment Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe as the planet heats up. “That’s nonsense,” he said. “Every eight to 10 years we have really bad winters. This is not a surprise.” In California, regulators last week ordered the state’s three major utilities to increase their power supply and potentially make plant improvements to avoid another supply shortage like the one that cropped up in California six months ago and resulted in rolling blackouts affecting about 500,000 people for a few hours at a time. “One big difference is that leadership in California recognizes that climate change is happening, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in Texas,” said Severin Borenstein, a professor of business administration and public policy at UC Berkeley who has been studying power supply issues for more than 20 years. Grid operators say rolling blackouts are a last resort when power demand overwhelms supply and threatens to create a wider collapse of the whole power system. Usually, utilities black out certain blocks or zones before cutting off power to another area, then another. Often areas with hospitals, fire stations, water treatment plants and other key facilities are spared. With the blackouts rolling, no neighborhoods are supposed to go an unfairly long period of time without power, but that was not always the case this week in Texas. Some areas never lost power, while others were blacked out for 12 hours or longer as temperatures dipped into the single digits. Rolling blackouts are usually triggered when reserves fall below a certain level. In Texas, as in California last August, grid operators tell utilities to reduce load on the entire system, and it is up to the utilities to decide how to do that. World & Nation Another storm front is blowing through the nation’s midsection, where power grids struggle amid the wild weather swings that come with climate change. In Texas this week, grid operators and utilities knew about the dire weather forecast for at least a week. Last weekend they issued appeals for power conservation, and ERCOT tweeted that residents should “unplug the fancy new appliances you bought during the pandemic and only used once.” The lighthearted attempts at humor were lost on residents, few if any of whom were told in advance when their homes would lose power. Once the outages started, some utilities were unable to provide information about how long they might last. Start with the obvious steps: When power companies or grid operators warn about trouble coming, turn down your thermostat and avoid using major appliances. Of course, those steps are sometimes easier said than done, especially during record-breaking temperatures. Like in other places, Texans might be more willing to adjust their thermostats a few more notches if regulators imposed a system that required households to pay higher prices during periods of peak demand and lower rates at other times. “People turn up their furnaces now because there isn’t a financial incentive for them not to do it,” Borenstein said. Experts also say more fundamental — and costly — changes must be made. Generators must insulate pipelines and other equipment. Investments in electricity storage and distribution would help. Tougher building codes would make homes in places like Texas better insulated against the cold. Texas, which has a grid largely disconnected from others to avoid federal regulation, may have to rethink the go-it-alone strategy. There could be pressure for the state to require power generators to keep more plants in reserve for times of peak demand, a step it has so far resisted. “The system as we built it is not performing to the standards we would like to see,” said Joshua Rhodes, an energy researcher at the University of Texas in Austin. “We need to do a better job. If that involves paying more for energy to have more reliability, that’s a conversation we’re going to have to have.” Koenig reported from Dallas and Liedtke from San Ramon, Calif. The AP’s Paul Weber in Austin contributed to this report.

California lawmakers propose ban on fracking by 2027

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-17/california-lawmakers-propose-ban-on-fracking-by-2027

New legislation would ban all fracking in California by 2027, taking aim at the powerful oil and gas industry in a state already planning to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. California has long been a leader in fighting climate change, requiring solar panels on new homes and passing a law to make the nation’s most populous state rely entirely on renewable energy by 2045. But environmental groups say California officials — particularly governors — have long had a blind spot for the oil and gas industry, which has wielded its immense political power many times to kill or weaken legislation aimed at curtailing production. That could be changing. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced steps to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and called on lawmakers to go further by banning fracking, a technique to extract oil and gas embedded in rock deep beneath the surface that climate groups say harms the environment and threatens public health. Business Policymakers are looking to California to show it’s possible to phase out fossil fuels. But, as rolling blackouts last summer showed, challenges lie ahead. Feb. 11, 2021 Two state senators answered that call Wednesday, announcing a measure that would halt new fracking permits or renewals by Jan. 1 and ban the practice altogether by 2027. Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Monique Limon of Santa Barbara also say they will change the bill next month to halt new oil and gas permits within 2,500 feet of homes or schools by Jan. 1. “This is real. It is harming so many people, and the time to deal with it in the future is over. We need to deal with it now,” Wiener said. The oil and gas industry quickly pushed back. Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president and chief executive of the Western States Petroleum Assn., said the legislation was “so broad and ambiguous” it would “lead to a total [oil] production ban in California.” Rock Zierman, chief executive of the California Independent Petroleum Assn., called the measure “legally questionable.” “Shutting down energy production under the toughest regulations on the planet will devastate the economies of oil-producing regions,” Zierman said. California has been among the top oil-producing states in the country, reaching a peak of 394 million barrels in 1985. But by 2017, production had dropped significantly, and it now ranks behind Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Alaska, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Part of the reason: The industry has exhausted much of California’s easily extractable oil reserves. What’s left is embedded deep in rock underground that requires immense energy to extract. That includes using processes like fracking, cyclic steaming, acid well stimulation and water and steam flooding to separate the oil from the rock — all processes that would be banned by 2027 under the new legislation. “It’s some of the dirtiest oil in the world,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. Environmental groups say those methods can cause significant harm to air quality and water supplies. Research published this month by a team at Harvard University estimated that 8.7 million people worldwide died prematurely from fossil fuel pollution in 2018, including 34,000 people in California, the Desert Sun in Palm Springs reported. “We must stop doing what we know causes death and disease,” said Dr. Karina Maher, a pediatrician in Los Angeles who works with the advocacy group Climate Health Now. But critics say halting California’s oil production wouldn’t stop the state’s reliance on oil because millions of people still drive gas-powered cars. State Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican whose district includes parts of Kern County, said that if the bill becomes law, it would force the state to “rely on foreign countries with dismal human rights records that ... have little to no regard for the environment.” Assemblyman Vince Fong, a Republican who also represents Kern County, said California produces oil “in the most environmentally responsible way.” “At a time like now, when we need to be revitalizing our economy,” he said, “I don’t quite understand why we would be pushing legislation that eliminates jobs in our state.” California has more than 5,500 oil wells that have likely been abandoned and could cost more than half a billion dollars to clean up, according to an assessment by the California Council on Science and Technology. Under the legislation, the state would have to offer undefined “incentives” to cleanup companies that hire laid-off oil and gas workers to do that work. Wiener says it makes sense to start preparing for the eventual decline of the oil and gas industry and try to avoid suffering the same fate as the coal industry, whose decline has devastated communities in the nation’s Appalachian region. Oil and gas is “a declining industry,” Wiener said. “And instead of waiting for it to eventually decline and fall apart, let’s get ahead of it, facilitate the phasing out and help the workers.”

Pope presides over pandemic-aware Ash Wednesday at Vatican

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-17/pope-celebrates-pandemic-aware-ash-wednesday-at-vatican

Pope Francis presided over a pandemic-aware Ash Wednesday service, with reduced participation of the faithful and a revised rite to reduce the chance of infection as the virus and its variants continue to spread through Italy. The Vatican’s liturgy office last month issued new guidance for priests celebrating Ash Wednesday, which ushers in the Lenten season leading up to Easter. The guidelines call for the masked priest to deliver the prayer just once during the ritual and sprinkle ashes on the head of the faithful, to ensure maximum social distancing. In many places, priests smudge a cross on the forehead of the faithful, in a sign of repentance, but the Vatican guidelines indicate sprinkling instead. Francis did as instructed, though he eschewed the mask. The 84-year-old pope, who lost part of a lung due to an infection when he was in his 20s, has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, as have most Vatican employees. Business California’s vaccine rollout is missing millions who work in risky conditions, and it’s unclear when those with less visible jobs can get inoculated. Feb. 17, 2021 During his homily, Francis said Lent was a time to take stock and rediscover a path to God. “In this life, we will always have things to do and excuses to offer,” he said. “But right now, brothers and sisters, right now is the time to return to God.” Francis celebrated the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica before just a few dozen faithful rather than the Santa Sabina basilica on the nearby Aventine hill where his Ash Wednesday service is usually held. The annual event usually draws a huge crowd as Francis and his cardinals process through the neighborhood. For a year, Francis has largely refrained from leaving the Vatican amid travel restrictions and other measures to curb infections. Italian officials have imposed individual lockdowns in several towns across Italy in recent days amid new virus clusters, including of the more highly contagious variant detected in Britain. Health officials have warned that further restrictions may be necessary given a predicted rise in cases. Francis is due to visit Iraq in early March, despite new lockdown measures there forced by a new surge of infections. The Vatican has insisted plans for the trip were going ahead.

Pfizer-BioNTech to get EU 200 million more COVID-19 shots

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-17/pfizer-biontech-to-get-eu-200-million-more-covid-19-shots

As worries about vaccine delays swept across Europe, Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday they have finalized an agreement to supply the European Union with another 200 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. and German companies said in a statement that the doses come on top of the 300 million vaccine doses the bloc has initially ordered. The EU’s executive commission has an option to request a further 100 million doses. They said the 200 million doses are expected to be delivered this year, with an estimated 75 million of them in the second quarter. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first of three so far to be approved for use in the EU, which has faced strong criticism for a slow start to its vaccination campaign compared with countries such as Israel, Britain and the United States. The other two EU-approved vaccines are from Moderna and AstraZeneca. Delays to planned deliveries from all those vaccine manufacturers have helped fuel dissatisfaction among European governments. Last month, Pfizer said it was temporarily reducing deliveries to Europe and Canada while it upgraded production capacity at its plant in Belgium. The EU also had a public spat with AstraZeneca over getting fewer of its vaccine shots than anticipated. AstraZeneca’s chief blamed the lag on new factories needing to work out vaccine production issues. California Last week, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert said the U.S. could see open vaccine distribution by April. On Tuesday, he pushed that timeline back. Feb. 16, 2021 “We are working relentlessly to support the further roll-out of vaccination campaigns in Europe and worldwide by expanding manufacturing capacity,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Wednesday. BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin noted that his company will initiate production at its new plant in Marburg, Germany, this month and has strengthened its manufacturing network with further partners. “We are continuing to evaluate, together with governments, authorities and partners at all levels, how we might address an even higher future supply requirement for our vaccines,” he said. Wednesday’s statement didn’t give financial details of the latest EU-Pfizer deal. On Tuesday, the European Medicines Agency said it had received a request from Johnson & Johnson for its coronavirus vaccine to be authorized. The EU medicine regulator said it could issue an opinion by mid-March. The J&J vaccine is given in one shot, while the three other vaccines required two shots spaced weeks apart.

Biden repeats promise to reopen schools by the end of his first 100 days in office

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-17/biden-reframes-his-goal-on-reopening-of-elementary-schools

President Biden is promising a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would be considered open if they held in-person learning just one day a week. Biden’s comments, during a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, marked his clearest statement yet on school reopenings. Biden had pledged in December to reopen “the majority of our schools” in his first 100 days but has since faced increasing questions about how he would define and achieve that goal, with school districts operating under a patchwork of different virtual and in-person learning arrangements nationwide. “I said open a majority of schools in K through eighth grade, because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home,” Biden said. He said comments by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki earlier this month that one day a week of in-person learning would meet his goal were “a mistake in the communication.” Asked when the nation would see kindergarten through eighth grades back to in-person learning five days a week, Biden said, “We’ll be close to that at the end of the first 100 days.” He said he expected many schools would push to stay open through the summer, but suggested reopening would take longer for high schools due to a higher risk of contagion among older students. The town hall touched on a range of issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, from protections for small businesses to the administration’s vaccination plans. Biden said that by the end of July there would be 600 million doses of the vaccine available, enough to vaccinate every American. But with many of his answers, he sought to emphasize the need for funding to achieve his goals. The town hall was aimed at selling his $1.9-trillion coronavirus aid package directly to the American people, part of an effort designed in part to put pressure on Republican lawmakers and refocus Congress on speedy passage of the bill now that his predecessor’s impeachment trial is behind him. Biden underscored how much he wants to move beyond Donald Trump on Tuesday night, repeatedly refusing to talk about the former president and saying at one point, “I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump.” “For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump. For the next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people,” he said, to applause from the audience. During the town hall, Biden also offered a flavor of the moderate stance that helped win him purple states like Wisconsin in 2020. He resisted a questioner’s request for his administration to embrace the progressive goal of forgiving $50,000 in student loan debt, reiterating his commitment to forgiving just $10,000. He suggested one of the ways to improve policing was to provide more funding to police departments, running counter to calls from some progressives to defund the police. He also said he was optimistic about passing legislation to study police reforms. He also weighed in on the immigration bill his administration is expected to unveil this week. Biden affirmed that a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally is essential for any bill he’ll support, but also suggested he’d be open to a piecemeal approach to immigration reform rather than a comprehensive bill, if necessary. “There’s things I would do by itself, but not at the expense of saying I’m never going to do the other,” he said. Biden seemed to revel in his first opportunity for extended interaction with ordinary Americans since the inauguration. Comforting a second-grader who hasn’t been able to go school and was worried about getting the virus, Biden told the girl that children are less likely to get infected, adding, “I wouldn’t worry about it, baby, I promise you.” He also offered an intimate description of living in the White House, expressing his discomfort with being tended to by staff. With about a month of White House living under his belt, Biden joked that he wakes up in the morning, looks at his wife, Jill, and asks, “Where the hell are we?” Biden emphasized that his massive virus aid bill already has broad public support, and noted some analysts have argued in favor of significant government spending to help boost the economy. “Now is the time we should be spending,” Biden said. The House is expected to vote on the measure next week. Biden landed on a slick, snow-covered tarmac to below-freezing weather about 90 minutes before the evening program. He took questions from a small audience of Democrats, Republicans and independents invited for a small, socially distant gathering at the historic Pabst Theater. Biden’s trip to Wisconsin, a political battleground state he narrowly won last November, comes as coronavirus infection rates and deaths are falling after the nation endured the two deadliest months so far of the pandemic. The White House is also reporting an increase in the administration of vaccines throughout the country after a slow start. But Biden has emphasized that the nation still has a long road ahead as thousands of Americans die each day in the worst U.S. public health crisis in a century. The virus has killed more than 485,000, and newly emerging variants are complicating the response effort. The Biden administration is trying to get enough Americans vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” and allow life to return to a semblance of normalcy. But it’s unclear when the vaccination will be widely accessible to Americans. Biden’s team hopes funding provided in the coronavirus aid bill will help accelerate vaccination production and distribution. His team also argues that the federal government must keep open the spigot of government relief to help people who are suffering economically and to get the country back to pre-pandemic employment levels. But many GOP lawmakers continue to bristle at the price tag of a package that calls for sending $1,400 checks to most Americans as well as assistance for businesses, schools and homeowners and renters.

Fans to return to Australian Open after Melbourne lockdown relaxed

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-17/australias-second-largest-city-comes-out-of-3rd-lockdown

Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, will relax its third lockdown on Wednesday and allow spectators to return to the Australian Open tennis tournament after a five-day absence. Rod Laver Arena will be allowed 7,477 spectators — around 50% of its capacity — for the final four days of the first Grand Slam event for 2021, tournament organizers said. Up to 30,000 tennis fans a day had been allowed into three zones in the tournament venue, Melbourne Park, before the statewide Victoria lockdown. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews earlier said health authorities would decide the tennis crowd numbers. “We’ll finish up with crowds at lots of different places,” Andrews said. “We’ll finish up with people being able to move freely because this short and sharp circuit-breaker has worked.” The lockdown has been enforced across Victoria, with a population of 6.5 million people, to prevent the virus from spreading from the state capital. Sports Williams and Osaka will face off during normal waking hours in an Australian Open semifinals that’s been described as a Brady-Mahomes-like showdown. Feb. 16, 2021 Most restrictions will be lifted from 11:59 p.m. after no new infections were detected in the latest 24-hour period, Andrews said. Schools and businesses will reopen. But people will still be required to wear masks and visitors to homes will be limited to five people until Feb. 26, when the last of the state’s 25 active COVID-19 cases will no longer be infectious. All cases have been traced to a Melbourne airport hotel where travelers are quarantined for 14 days on arrival from overseas. Businesses complained that the lockdown, announced only hours before it took effect last Friday, disrupted Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day festivities. All tennis spectators were ejected from Melbourne Park at 11:30 p.m. so that they had time to get home before the stay-home order took effect. Many booed as they left. The Australian Open has continued without spectators since. Some business leaders described the latest lockdown as an overreaction. “It is clear that testing and tracing were the keys to resolving this potential outbreak, and not the lockdown which was disproportionate to the risk,” Australian Industry Group state head Tim Piper said. “We need to learn from this lockdown and adjust the responses accordingly,” Piper added. Andrews would not guarantee that there would be no further lockdowns announced at short notice. “I’m not prepared to pretend to the Victorian community that this is over,” Andrews said. Melbourne emerged from a 111-day lockdown in October following a fresh wave of infections that peaked at 725 cases a day. It was largely blamed on lax infection control procedures at two Melbourne quarantine hotels. At the time, the rest of Australia was relaxing restrictions due to low case numbers after an initial nationwide lockdown.

GameStop's saga may be over; its effect on Wall Street isn't

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-16/gamestops-saga-may-be-over-its-effect-on-wall-street-isnt

The frenzy around GameStop’s stock may have quieted down, but the outsize influence small investors had in the saga will probably stick around. No one expects another supernova like GameStop to happen again, in which a band of smaller-pocketed investors helped boost a struggling company’s stock 1,000% in two weeks. But the tools they employed can be used again and again, if those smaller investors stay connected on social media forums and if regulators don’t change the rules to hinder them. These smaller players, called “retail investors” in the industry to differentiate them from hedge funds and other big firms, are using many of the same tactics as the professionals, after all. And if retail investors continue to hold greater sway, the result may create sharper swings for some stocks than they would have had otherwise, if not to GameStop’s spectacular degree. GameStop’s wild ride is causing some professional investors to gird for more volatility in the market and politicians in Washington to ask who is getting hurt. A House committee is calling several of the GameStop saga’s players to a hearing on Thursday, titled “Game Stopped? Who wins and losses when short sellers, social media and retail investors collide.” “I don’t think we’re going to see major reforms that prevent it,” said Tony Casey, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, of the rise of social-media-driven trading. “All the parts in this will still be here in a few years, and we will likely see versions of it.” Exhibit A may have come even sooner than many expected. Just last week, stocks of several pot producers burst higher, with medical-marijuana grower Tilray more than doubling in three days, only to drop by more than half in the next two. Some of the surge stemmed from actual news, including a Tilray deal to distribute medical cannabis into the United Kingdom. But smaller investors also piled into the stocks. “Time to get on the cannabis bandwagon if you ain’t,” one user posted on the WallStreetBets forum of Reddit, a hub for smaller investors and perhaps the launch pad for the GameStop saga. The cannabis trading does, however, lack one key element of the GameStop drama: It’s decidedly not about sending a message to hedge funds. It’s more about the thrill of making bold trades that may explode in a good or bad way and the camaraderie of sharing the gains and losses with others on the internet. In the long term, a Wall Street adage says that “the fundamentals” always win out. That means a stock’s price eventually settles where it should, based in part on how much profit a company is producing. The recent plummet back to Earth for GameStop’s stock may be proof of that. What GameStop did, though, was show how a group of smaller investors banding together can dramatically push up a stock in the short term. Many market watchers believe hedge funds and other professionals also played a role in GameStop’s surge, but they were likely only accelerating the spurt sparked by retail investors. The market had seen similar events before. Last summer, Wall Street was shocked as shares of Hertz rose even though they were on the road to likely becoming canceled and worthless, because the company was in bankruptcy protection. The movements can be even more spectacular if a stock has heavy bets built up against it, bets that would profit if its share price were to fall. That can trigger what’s called a “short squeeze,” in which a rise in a stock’s price pushes skeptical traders to scramble out of their bets. To do so, traders have to buy shares of the stock, which pushes the price even higher and creates a feedback loop. GameStop was an extreme example because some of its shares had been sold short multiple times. Now, smaller investors are the ones who could be doing the squeezing. Collectively, they account for 20% of all trading volume, said Pauline Bell, analyst at CFRA Research. That’s up from 10% to 15% during 2019 and most of 2020. Giving those smaller investors even more heft is the communication they can do over social media. That’s one part of what makes the recent movement an evolution from the day-trading craze of the late 1990s. It was cool then for retail investors to ride tech stocks such as JDS Uniphase higher. Although they had access to internet chatrooms, they didn’t have a Reddit or other social media to quickly amplify their voices and persuade others to get in as well. They also didn’t have the ability to trade stocks on their phones, while sitting on a couch with little else to do amid a pandemic, all while paying zero commissions. “We believe a structural change may be afoot and that retail investors are likely to remain bigger players in the U.S. equity market going forward,” Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a recent report. Consider Bartosz Skokuń, a 27-year-old computer programmer in Wroclaw, Poland. His investments were fairly conservative until he bought GameStop shares a month ago, after a friend told him about it and Reddit’s WallStreetBets. He made a healthy profit on GameStop, and he expects to stay connected with WallStreetBets, sifting through the many stock ideas that users pitch on the forum to find opportunities he likes. Some of the ideas on what’s known as r/WSB are brilliant, he said, and others are “totally stupid.” Therein is the beauty of it, he said: “Those people share their ideas and effort for FREE because they can talk with others, discuss about it, learn in a group. If there is something like r/wsb power — it is that!” The group has more than 9 million members, many sharing due diligence on their ideas. What could curtail the influence of smaller traders? A stiffer regulatory hand from Washington, for one. Thursday’s hearing before the House Financial Services Committee will have testimony from chief executives of hedge funds, the company behind the popular Robinhood trading app and Reddit. It will also include a prominent user on Reddit’s WallStreetBets who was an early believer in GameStop’s stock. Washington could choose the paternalistic route and restrict trading for smaller investors, so they can’t push a stock’s price up so easily and get burned later if it drops, said the University of Chicago’s Casey. But that would anger retail investors who want to trade as freely as hedge funds do. Politicians could instead target short sellers, “but Wall Street is not a powerless lobby either,” Casey said. The industry says short selling helps make markets more efficient. Another deterrent may be the pain that some retail investors are nursing after buying GameStop for $450 and seeing it now closer to $50. But even there, there’s skepticism. “I’m hopeful that some of those speculators learned their lesson,” said Rich Weiss, chief investment officer of multi-asset strategies at American Century Investments. “But it seems like this is a lesson that people need to be reminded of, over and over again.” Associated Press business writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report.

Vegas can wait: ACM Awards show will be held in Nashville once again

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-16/acm-awards-show-returns-to-nashville-venues-in-april

The Academy of Country Music Awards are coming back to Nashville for a second time, with a show at three different venues. The ACM and Dick Clark Productions announced Tuesday that the show would return April 18 and air on CBS from the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Cafe. The awards show, which is normally held in Las Vegas in April, used the same Nashville locations in September after it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The show was held in Nashville for the first time last year without a live audience. Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett tied for the show’s top prize, entertainer of the year, a first-ever tie, and Taylor Swift returned to the show after seven years to perform a song from her album “Folklore.” Nominations and other details for the awards show have not been announced.

Democratic congressman sues Trump over role in Capitol riot

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-02-16/trump-insurrection-capitol-riot-congressman-lawsuit

A Democratic congressman accused former President Trump in a federal lawsuit Tuesday of inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and of conspiring with his lawyer and extremist groups to try to prevent the Senate from certifying the results of the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden. The lawsuit from Mississippi’s Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is part of an expected wave of litigation over the Jan. 6 riot and is believed to be the first filed by a member of Congress. It seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages. The case also names as defendants Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and groups including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, extremist organizations with members who were charged by the Justice Department with taking part in the siege. Lawyers for Trump have denied that he incited the riot. A Trump advisor didn’t immediately comment about the lawsuit Tuesday, and a lawyer for Giuliani did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington under a Reconstruction-era law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, comes three days after Trump was acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial that centered on an allegation that he incited the riot, in which five people died. That acquittal is likely to open the door to fresh legal scrutiny over Trump’s actions before and during the siege. Some Republicans who voted to acquit Trump on Saturday said that the more proper venue to deal with the former president was in the courts, especially now that he has left the White House and lost certain legal protections that shielded him as president. The suit traces the drawn-out effort by Trump and Giuliani to cast doubt on the election results even though courts across the country, and state election officials, repeatedly rejected their baseless allegations of fraud. Despite evidence to the contrary, the suit says, the men portrayed the election as stolen while Trump “endorsed rather than discouraged” threats of violence from his angry supporters in the weeks leading up to the assault on the Capitol. “The carefully orchestrated series of events that unfolded at the Save America rally and the storming of the Capitol was no accident or coincidence,” the suit says. “It was the intended and foreseeable culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the tally of votes cast in the Electoral College.” Presidents are historically afforded broad immunity from lawsuits for actions they take in their role as commander in chief. But the lawsuit filed Tuesday was brought against Trump in his personal, not official, capacity and alleges that none of the behavior at issue had to do with his responsibilities as president. “Inciting a riot, or attempting to interfere with the congressional efforts to ratify the results of the election that are commended by the Constitution, could not conceivably be within the scope of ordinary responsibilities of the president,” Joseph Sellers, a Washington lawyer who along with the NAACP filed the lawsuit on Thompson’s behalf, said in an interview. “In this respect, because of his conduct, he is just like any other private citizen,” Sellers said. Though the impeachment case focused squarely on accusations of incitement, the lawsuit more broadly accuses Trump of conspiring to disrupt the constitutional activities of Congress — namely, the certification of election results establishing Biden as the rightful winner — through a months-long effort to discredit the outcome and to lean on individual states and his own vice president to overturn the contest. The case against Trump was brought under a provision of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was passed in response to Klan violence and prohibits violence or intimidation meant to prevent Congress or other federal officials from carrying out their constitutional duties. “Fortunately, this hasn’t been used very much,” Sellers said. “But what we see here is so unprecedented that it’s really reminiscent of what gave rise to the enactment of this legislation right after the Civil War.” The suit cites incendiary comments that Trump and Giuliani made in the weeks leading up to the riot and on the day of it that lawyers say were designed to mobilize supporters to work to overturn the election results and to prevent the Senate’s certification process. That process was temporarily interrupted when Trump loyalists broke into the Capitol. Trump told supporters at a rally preceding the riot to “fight like hell,” but lawyers for the former president denied during the impeachment trial that he had incited the riot. They pointed often to a remark during his speech in which he told the crowd to behave “peacefully” that day. Defense lawyers are likely to revisit those assertions in the lawsuit. They may also argue, as was done during the impeachment case, that Trump’s speech was protected by the 1st Amendment.

'Hotel Rwanda' hero faces trial as family fears for his life

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-16/hotel-rwanda-hero-faces-trial-as-family-fears-for-his-life

As the terrorism trial for Paul Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” is set to start on Wednesday, his family says the critic of longtime Rwandan President Paul Kagame has no chance at a fair trial and might die from poor health behind bars. Rusesabagina, praised for saving ethnic Tutsis during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, was arrested last year in Rwanda after mysteriously disappearing during a visit to Dubai. Rwanda accuses him of supporting the armed wing of his opposition political platform, which has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks. The circumstances around the 66-year-old Rusesabagina’s arrest, his limited access to an independent legal team and his reported worsening health have drawn international concern for the Belgian citizen and U.S. resident. His family this month said they spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a conversation the State Department described as one with “families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.” “This is a charade,” one of Rusesabagina’s daughters, Carine Kanimba, told the Associated Press ahead of the trial. “They kidnapped him. It is the violation of due process and international law. He should be released immediately and unconditionally.” She alleged that Rwanda has fabricated evidence against her father. Rwanda’s president after Rusesabagina’s arrest hinted during a national address that he may have been tricked into boarding a private plane in August to Rwanda, where he was paraded in handcuffs in a country where his family said he would never voluntarily visit again. The Rwandan court has contradicted the original police account that said Rusesabagina was arrested with “international cooperation,” instead saying he was arrested at Kigali International Airport in the capital. Opinion It is beyond doubt that Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who saved more than 1,200 people from the Rwandan genocide in 1994, will not get justice in a Rwandan courtroom. Jan. 4, 2021 The family also worries about what they call Rusesabagina’s weakening condition. His outside legal team late last month asserted that his prescribed medication for a heart disorder was being withheld, and his locally provided lawyer has said Rusesabagina told him he fears he will die of a stroke. The European Parliament last week adopted a resolution calling for Rwanda to give Rusesabagina a fair trial and condemning what it called his enforced disappearance, illegal rendition to Rwanda and incommunicado detention. Rwanda’s justice minister, Johnston Busingye, described the resolution as “meddling in an ongoing judicial process in Rwanda, a sovereign state with independent courts.” Rusesabagina faces 13 charges including terrorism, complicity in murder and forming an armed rebel group. He will face trial with 20 alleged rebel fighters. Rwanda asserts that civilians in the country’s southwest died in 2018 and 2019 because of groundwork planned by Rusesabagina. It is not clear how long Rusesabagina would stay in prison if convicted. Yolande Makolo, a presidential advisor on communications, tweeted last week that victims and survivors “need justice done” and asserted that Rusesabagina and the others will have a fair trial. World & Nation Rwanda’s president says the man portrayed as a hero in the film ‘Hotel Rwanda’ will stand trial for allegedly supporting rebel violence. Sept. 6, 2020 It is a dramatic turnaround for Rusesabagina, who is credited with saving more than 1,000 people by sheltering them at the hotel he managed during the genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed. Rwanda’s government has long asserted that Rusesabagina’s role in the genocide was exaggerated. After leaving Rwanda in 1996, Rusesabagina became an outspoken opponent of the government, which he accuses of numerous human rights violations. Rusesabagina in the past has denied funding rebel groups and said he was being targeted over his criticism of Kagame’s government.

U.K.'s chief mouser celebrates 10 years on the prowl

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-15/uks-chief-mouser-celebrates-10-years-on-the-prowl

Larry the cat, a four-legged inhabitant of London’s 10 Downing St., is marking a decade as Britain’s mouse-catcher in chief on Monday. The tabby cat was recruited by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to deal with a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence, and entered Downing Street on Feb. 15, 2011. The former stray, adopted from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was given the title Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an unofficial pest control post. He was the first cat to hold the rat-catching portfolio since the retirement of Humphrey in 1997, and has loyally served three prime ministers. But it seems like yesterday that Larry was just another cat — as opposed to a media superstar — said Lindsey Quinlan, the head of cattery of Battersea. “Throughout his time at No. 10, Larry has proven himself to not only be a brilliant ambassador for Battersea but also demonstrated to millions of people around the world how incredible rescue cats are,” she said. “His rags-to-riches tale is yet more proof of why all animals deserve a second chance — one minute they may be an overlooked stray on the streets, the next they could become one of the nation’s beloved political figures, with fans around the world.” Larry, who has met a number of world leaders, has been largely unfriendly to men, but he took a liking to former President Obama. When Donald Trump visited in 2019, Larry took a nap under the former president’s car. His grip on the public imagination is clear — and political leaders know better than to ignore that popularity. The tomcat was a sentimental topic of conversation in Cameron’s final appearance in Parliament as prime minister when he said he wanted to quash a rumor that — perish the thought — he didn’t like Larry. And just to prove it, he whipped out evidence: a picture of Larry lying on his lap. “He belongs to the house, and the staff love him very much — as do I,” he said at the time, explaining why he wasn’t taking Larry with him after leaving office. After the December 2019 election, rumors swirled that Larry might be headed for retirement with the news that the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, was a dog man. However, despite the prime minister moving Jack Russell cross Dilyn into Downing Street, Larry remained in office. Reports of his rodent-killing abilities vary. Larry became known for his occasional scraps with neighboring cats — especially Palmerston, chief mouser to the Foreign Office across the street — and fondness for sleep. Palmerston has retired to the country, so things have been a bit quieter of late. These days Larry, now 14, is often seen by photographers patrolling his turf. Visitors to the building can sometimes find him napping on a ledge above a radiator or sleeping on a floor, where dignitaries occasionally have to step over him. At the heart of government, he specializes in power naps.

Obamacare sign-ups reopen as Democrats push for more aid

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-15/obamacare-sign-ups-reopen-as-democrats-push-for-more-aid

HealthCare.gov’s market for subsidized health plans reopens Monday for a special three-month sign-up window as the Democratic-led Congress pushes a boost in financial help that could cut premiums by double digits. This enrollment period during the coronavirus pandemic is an early test of President Biden’s strategy to use the Affordable Care Act as a springboard toward health coverage for all. Advancing on a parallel track, the new COVID-19 relief bill from House Democrats would offer a generous, though temporary, increase in subsidies for people covered by the law, known as Obamacare. “It is a hugely important signaling move,” said Katherine Hempstead of the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The administration is doing more than having open enrollment here; they’re saying they want to make this coverage more affordable.” Although policy experts like Hempstead are taking note, it’s unclear how uninsured Americans will respond. President Obama’s health law has been on the books over a decade, but surveys consistently show that many people lacking job-based insurance do not realize they may qualify. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 33 million people are uninsured this year. At Foundation Communities, an Austin, Texas, nonprofit that serves low-income working people, program director Kori Hattemer says she’s seeing an uptick in interest. Although her agency had not started advertising, appointments for enrollment assistance booked up quickly. Volunteer counselors are being called back. For clients, “it’s their last chance probably to enroll in health insurance for 2021,” Hattemer said. Politics The Biden administration and Democrats in Congress hope to enact the most substantial expansion of Obamacare in its history. Feb. 4, 2021 One is Jacklindy Barradez, a housekeeper and restaurant worker unemployed since the start of the pandemic. Her husband hung on to his maintenance job, but the couple and their two children are uninsured. Barradez said a friend told her about the health law, and she intends to follow through. With no health insurance as the pandemic stretches into its second year, Barradez is uneasy. “We are not exempt from having something happen to us,” she said in Spanish, her first language. “Not having the means to respond is extremely worrisome.” The Biden administration is going the extra mile to try to sign up people such as Barradez. HealthCare.gov will be accepting applications through May 15, a period about twice as long as annual open enrollment. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the program, has a $50-million advertising budget, five times what the Trump administration would spend on annual open enrollment. Under Biden, there will be a special emphasis on reaching Black and Latino communities that have borne a heavy burden from COVID-19. Across the country, people in the 36 states served by the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace will be able to apply. Additionally, most states that run their own marketplaces are matching the federal effort, giving it the feel of a national campaign. The appeal for uninsured people could become much clearer if Congress increases premium subsidies as part of its next virus relief package. “That would be a great incentive to get people in the door,” said Tara Straw, a health policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates on behalf of low-income people. More generous help would be available not just to the newly enrolled but also to all who are covered through the law’s marketplaces. By the budget center’s calculations, a family of four making $50,000 would pay $67 a month in premiums for a standard plan, instead of an average of $252 currently, while also qualifying for help with deductibles and copays. The boost in premium assistance would be available for this year and for 2022. Similarly, a single person making $30,000 a year would pay $85 a month for a standard plan instead of the current $195. Opinion The problems of ever-rising healthcare costs and large numbers of uninsured Americans will continue to fester until more dramatic steps are taken. Jan. 29, 2021 The Democratic proposal would allow more solid middle-class households to qualify for financial help. On the opposite end of the scale, those who’ve experienced unemployment would qualify for extra-generous subsidies. Republicans who tried but failed to repeal the law under President Trump were calling the Democratic plan a waste of taxpayer dollars. But many Democrats see it as merely a down payment on a more ambitious healthcare agenda. The Obama health law now covers more than 20 million people through a combination of subsidized private plans and, in most states, expanded Medicaid. Experts agree that job losses during the pandemic have led to more uninsured people, but it’s unclear how many more. Some estimates range from 5 million to 10 million, while the Congressional Budget Office suggests a lower number, more like 3 million. Chris Sloan of the consulting firm Avalere Health said it was likely that many who became unemployed in the pandemic had no job-based health insurance to begin with. That means they represent the demographic for which the health law was originally designed. “People are coming back into the workforce as the unemployment rate comes down, but they may not necessarily have the same job or as good a job,” said Sloan. “This will be a an important option for people still facing job and employment insecurity.”

Suu Kyi detention extended as protests continue in Myanmar

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-15/suu-kyi-detention-extended-as-protests-continue-in-myanmar

Myanmar’s military leaders have extended their detention of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose remand was set to expire Monday and whose freedom is a key demand of the crowds of people continuing to protest this month’s military coup. Suu Kyi will now be remanded until Wednesday, when she will likely appear in court by videoconference, according to Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer asked by Suu Kyi’s party to represent her. The Nobel laureate remains under house arrest on a minor charge of possessing unregistered imported walkie-talkies. Suu Kyi’s extended detention is likely to further inflame tensions between the military, which seized power in a Feb. 1 coup, and the protesters who have taken to the streets of cities across the Southeast Asian nation seeking the return of the government they elected. Protesters continued to gather across Myanmar on Monday following a night in which authorities cut the country’s internet access and increased the security presence in major cities seeking to curtail demonstrations. Thousands of engineers marched on the streets of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, chanting and holding signs that read: “Free our leader,” “Who stands with justice?” and “Stop arresting people illegally at midnight.” In Yangon, the country’s most populous city, fewer protesters gathered Monday due to the loss of the internet and reports of military vehicles on the streets. Nevertheless, more than 1,000 anti-coup demonstrators were outside the Central Bank of Myanmar building, where there were also military trucks full of soldiers, riot police, water-cannon trucks and armored personnel carriers. World & Nation As large numbers protest the military coup, sightings of armored personnel carriers in Yangon, Myanmar, and an internet shutdown have raised tensions. Feb. 14, 2021 Demonstrators carried placards that read “#SupportCDM #SaveMyanmar.” CDM refers to the civil disobedience movement that has seen doctors, engineers and others in Myanmar refuse to work until the military releases elected political leaders and returns the country to civilian rule. Some protesters posed for photographs in front of military vehicles while holding red signs that said “Join in CDM.” When the military seized power, it detained Suu Kyi and members of her government and prevented recently elected lawmakers from opening a new session of Parliament. The junta, led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said it stepped in because the government failed to properly investigate allegations of fraud in last year’s election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won in a landslide. The state election commission refuted that contention, saying there is no evidence to support it. The military justified its move by citing a clause in the 2008 constitution, implemented during military rule, that says in cases of national emergency, the government’s executive, legislative and judicial powers can be handed to the military commander-in-chief. It is just one of many parts of the charter that ensured the military could maintain ultimate control over the country it ruled for 50 years following a 1962 coup. The military is allowed to appoint its members to 25% of seats in Parliament and it controls several key ministries involved in security and defense. An order on Sunday that appeared to be from the Ministry of Transport and Communications told mobile phone service providers to shut down internet connections from 1 to 9 a.m. Monday. It circulated widely on social media, as did a notice said to be from service provider Oredoo Myanmar containing the same details. On Sunday, ambassadors from the United States and Canada and 12 European nations called on Myanmar’s security forces to refrain from violence against those “protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government.” They condemned the arrests of political leaders and activists as well as the military’s interference with communications. “We support the people of Myanmar in their quest for democracy, freedom, peace, and prosperity,” they said in a joint statement issued late Sunday night. “The world is watching.”

Myanmar rattled by army movements and apparent internet cutoff

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/myanmar-rattled-by-army-movements-apparent-internet-cutoff

Sightings of armored personnel carriers in Myanmar’s biggest city and an internet shutdown raised political tensions late Sunday after vast numbers of people around the country flouted orders against demonstrations to protest the military’s seizure of power. Public concern has already been heightened for the last few nights by what many charge is the military’s manipulation of criminals released from prison to carry out nighttime violence and stir up panic. Ambassadors from the United States and Canada and 12 European nations called on Myanmar’s security forces to refrain from violence against those “protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government.” They condemned the arrests of political leaders and activists as well as the military’s interference with communications. “We support the people of Myanmar in their quest for democracy, freedom, peace, and prosperity,” they said in a joint statement issued late Sunday night. “The world is watching.” Politics President Biden has slapped a raft of harsh sanctions on the military commanders of Myanmar who last week overthrew the elected civilian government. Feb. 10, 2021 The military seized power on Feb. 1, detaining the country’s elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of her government and preventing recently elected lawmakers from opening a new session of the country’s parliament. The junta, led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said it was forced to step in because the government failed to properly investigate allegations of fraud in last year’s election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won in a landslide. The state election commission refuted that contention, saying there is no evidence to support it. There was no official word about why armored personnel carriers traversed the streets of Yangon in broad daylight Sunday, making their way through busy traffic. As night fell, there were videos and other reports on social media of the movement of trucks packed with soldiers, and in the central city of Mandalay as well. An order that appeared to be from the Ministry of Transport and Communications told mobile-phone-service providers to shut down internet connections from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday. It circulated widely on social media, as did a notice said to be from service provider Oredoo Myanmar containing the same details. Several users contacted through other means confirmed that access though Myanmar’s broadband and mobile services were cut as scheduled. Monday holds the prospect of two flashpoints for the political standoff. Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, but a remand order holding her on a minor charge of possessing unregistered imported walkie-talkies expires Monday, and a court in the capital, Naypyitaw, is supposed to take action on her case. Her freedom is a major demand of the protest movement. Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer asked by Suu Kyi’s party to represent her, said he was uncertain if she would have a court appearance Monday and that it could be delayed by a day. He has not been able to make contact with Suu Kyi. There is also the possibility that a young woman shot during a demonstration last week, also in Naypyitaw, will be declared legally dead. She has been on life support in a hospital in the capital, and unofficial memorial services were held for her Sunday at protests in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities. Large demonstrations were also held in Naypyitaw and far-flung corners of the country dominated by ethnic minorities. Resistance also took place in cyberspace as a group calling itself BrotherHood of Myanmar Hackers defaced the government’s Myanmar Digital News website, replacing content on its homepage with words and pictures against the military takeover. Protesters in Yangon again rallied outside the Chinese and U.S. embassies. They accuse Beijing of propping up the military regime and applaud Washington’s actions sanctioning the military. There were scattered appeals on Twitter for armed intervention by the United States. Other protesters carried signs urging people to boycott businesses linked to the military. Eight days of street demonstrations are estimated to have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the streets despite the threat of six months’ imprisonment for violating an order banning gatherings of five or more people. The same order imposes an 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew. Sunday’s activism took place after the ruling junta issued a new order suspending several basic civil liberties. The order, issued late Saturday and published Sunday in state newspapers, suspends provisions in an existing law on security and privacy protection, allowing the authorities to carry out searches and make arrests without court warrants. It also allows the interception of electronic and other communications without a warrant and permits the detention of detainees for more than 24 hours without court permission. Civil servants have been very active in the protests, and social media postings on Sunday indicated that state railway workers had joined them, with some unconfirmed claims that they have gone on strike. The public at large had been alarmed since the government last week declared an amnesty that led to the release of more than 23,000 convicts. There are many claims on social media that some have been recruited by the authorities to carry out violent activities at night in residential areas to spread panic, especially by setting fires. Some areas have responded by setting up their own neighborhood watch groups. The truth of the allegations about government-directed thugs is difficult to verify, even with videos claiming to show their activities. There is historical precedent, as the military released convicts to carry out violence and cause chaos in 1988 during a failed popular uprising against a military dictatorship. People have also been rattled by police raids carried out during curfew hours to seize individuals seen as opposed to the coup. In several cases, nearby residents rushed to the scene in such numbers that security forces abandoned their attempts to haul in their targets. The independent Assistance Assn. for Political Prisoners says 400 people have been detained since the coup, with 375 still being held. Detainees have included political leaders, government officials, civil servants, activists and student leaders. Medical personnel have been singled out because their community initiated the civil disobedience campaign against the military takeover and remains in its vanguard.

Duchess of Sussex expecting second child, a sibling for Archie

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/duchess-of-sussex-expecting-2nd-child-a-sibling-for-archie

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their second child, their office confirmed Sunday. A spokesperson for Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, said in a statement: “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.” In a black-and-white photo, the couple sat near a tree with Harry’s hand placed under Meghan’s head as she lies on his lap with her hand resting on her bump. The baby will be eighth in line to the British throne. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Her Majesty, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales and the entire family are delighted and wish them well.” The duke told chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall in 2019 that he would have only two children for the sake of the planet. Goodall said: “Not too many,” and Harry replied: “Two, maximum.” Harry and American actor Meghan Markle married at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Their son, Archie, was born a year later. World & Nation He’s not a prince, not a lord, not a duke, not an earl. He’s Master Archie. May 10, 2019 In early 2020, Meghan and Harry announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. They recently bought a house in the Santa Barbara area. In November, Meghan revealed that she had had a miscarriage in July, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others. A few days ago, the duchess won a privacy claim against a newspaper over the publication of a personal letter to her estranged father. Entertainment & Arts In a major win for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, a judge ruled that a newspaper invaded her privacy by publishing a personal letter to her estranged father. Feb. 11, 2021

Police say Nicki Minaj's father killed by hit-and-run driver

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/police-say-nicki-minajs-father-killed-by-hit-and-run-driver

The 64-year-old father of rapper Nicki Minaj has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York, police said. Robert Maraj was walking along a road in Mineola on Long Island at 6:15 p.m. Friday when he was hit by a car that kept going, Nassau County police said. Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday. Police are asking any witnesses to the fatal crash to come forward. Minaj, 38, was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and was raised in the New York City borough of Queens. She has not made any public statement about her father’s death. An email seeking comment was sent to a representative for Minaj.

Trump looks to reassert himself after impeachment acquittal

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/trump-looks-to-reassert-himself-after-impeachment-acquittal

Donald Trump took in the win at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by friends and family. His lawyers celebrated with hugs and smiles. One joked, “We’re going to Disney World!” Now acquitted in his second Senate impeachment trial, Trump is preparing for the next phase of his post-presidency life. Feeling emboldened by the trial’s outcome, he is expected to reemerge from self-imposed hibernation at his club in Palm Beach, Fla., and is eyeing ways to reassert his power. But after being barred from Twitter, the former president lacks the social media bullhorn that fueled his political rise. And he’s confronting a Republican Party deeply divided over the legacy of his jarring final days in office, culminating in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. Searing video images of the day played on loop during his impeachment trial, which ended Saturday. Trump remains popular among the GOP base, but many Republicans in Washington have cooled to him. Never before have so many members of a president’s party — seven GOP senators, in his case — voted for his removal in a Senate trial. Politics Conflicted Republicans weigh life after Trump following seven GOP senators’ vote for conviction in the Senate impeachment trial. Feb. 14, 2021 Some may work to counter efforts by Trump to support extreme candidates in next year’s congressional primaries. Undeterred, friends and allies expect Trump to resume friendly media interviews after weeks of silence. He has met with political aides to discuss efforts to help Republicans try to take control of the House and Senate in the 2022 midterms elections. He remains fixated on exacting revenge on Republicans who supported his impeachment or resisted his efforts to overturn the results of the November election won by Democrat Joe Biden. “I imagine you’ll probably be hearing a lot more from him in the coming days,” senior advisor Jason Miller said. In a statement after the vote, Trump offered few clues but was defiant as he told supporters their movement had “only just begun.” “In the months ahead, I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he said. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spoke with Trump on Saturday night, acknowledged that Trump was “mad at some folks” but also “ready to move on and rebuild the Republican Party” and “excited about 2022.” In their conversations, Graham has stressed to Trump, who has threatened to start his own party to punish disloyal Republicans, that the GOP needs him to win. “I said, ‘Mr. President, this MAGA movement needs to continue. We need to unite the party. Trump-plus is the way back in 2022,’” Graham (R-S.C.) told “Fox News Sunday.” “My goal is to win in 2022 to stop the most radical agenda I’ve seen coming out of the Democratic presidency of Joe Biden. We can’t do that without Donald Trump, so he’s ready to hit the trail and I’m ready to work with him,” Graham said. Graham said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who votef to acquit but then delivered a scalding denunciation of Trump, “got a load off a chest, obviously.” Graham said later in the interview: “If you want to get something off your chest, fine, but I’m into winning.” At his Palm Beach club on Saturday night, Trump was in a joyous mood as he enjoyed dinner on a patio packed with people. After a mellow last several weeks, one member described a party atmosphere not felt since before the election. Still, Trump isn’t in the clear yet. No longer protected by a Justice Department opinion against the prosecution of sitting presidents, he now faces multiple, ongoing criminal investigations. In Georgia, the Fulton County district attorney has opened a criminal investigation into “attempts to influence” the election, including Trump’s call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger demanding that the official find enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory. In New York, Atty. Gen. Letitia James is investigating whether Trump and his company improperly inflated the value of his assets on annual financial statements to secure loans and obtain tax benefits. Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus Vance Jr. continues his own investigation, which has included grand jury testimony. “He didn’t get away with anything — yet,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the vote. “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.” McConnell voted to acquit Trump on the grounds the trial was unconstitutional because he was no longer in office but insisted, “There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” That sharp rebuke from his once-loyal defender underscores how dramatically Trump’s stock has fallen in Washington since his first impeachment trial just over a year ago. But the desire to be rid of Trump is not shared across the country, where Republicans who have dared to admonish him have faced swift rebuke. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was forced to defend her third-in-line leadership position after she voted in favor of impeachment. On Saturday, Louisiana’s Republican Party quickly censured Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the seven Republicans senators who voted for Trump’s conviction. In an interview Sunday with ABC’s “This Week,” Cassidy seemed at peace with his decision. “I think his force wanes,” he said of Trump. “The Republican Party is more than just one person. The Republican Party is about ideas.” But how long Trump retains his grip remains an open question, especially with a slew of likely 2024 candidates now trying to take the mantle. Although the Senate failed to bar Trump from running again for office, many believe he has done too much damage to be a credible candidate himself in 2024. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is retiring, said Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election had “very badly damaged his reputation,” eclipsing his accomplishments in office. “Instead,” Toomey said, “he’ll be remembered throughout history as the president who resorted to nonlegal steps to try to hold on to power.”

On Parkland anniversary, Biden calls for tougher gun laws

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/on-parkland-anniversary-biden-calls-for-tougher-gun-laws

President Biden joined a Florida community Sunday in remembering the 17 lives lost three years ago in the Parkland school shooting massacre, using the occasion to call on Congress to strengthen gun laws. “In seconds, the lives of dozens of families, and the life of an American community, were changed forever,” Biden said in a statement. The president said new measures should include requiring background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons. “We owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change,” he said. “The time to act is now.” Politics The end of former President Trump’s impeachment trial opens a new chapter for his successor in the White House. Feb. 14, 2021 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags be lowered to half staff from sunrise to sunset across the state to honor those who perished when a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School opened fire on campus with an AR-15 rifle on Valentine’s Day in 2018. When the gunfire ended, 14 students and three staff members were dead, and 17 others were wounded. The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, is still awaiting trial. In his proclamation for a day of remembrance, DeSantis asked fellow Floridians to pause for a moment of silence at 3 p.m. Sunday. “The Parkland community is resilient in the wake of tragedy, reminding us just how strong and united Floridians can be in the face of such devastating loss,” the governor said in his proclamation. The Republican governor also noted school safety measures enacted since the tragedy three years ago, including money to install panic alert systems at schools across the state and to strengthen programs meant to prevent violence before they occur. The panic alert measure was dubbed “Alyssa’s Law,” in honor of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, one of the students killed at the school. Parkland parents have been divided over how lawmakers should respond. Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina was 14 when she was killed in the shooting, addressed the president in a tweet Sunday. “Mr. President, thank you for remembering the loved ones taken from us 3 years ago,” he wrote. “Alaina loved this country and the freedoms it guarantees. Common sense tells us that honoring her life does not require infringement on the rights of law-abiding citizens.” In an interview Sunday, Petty said the president’s proposals wouldn’t prevent more tragedies. “It’s wrong to focus on the weapon,” said Petty, who is now a member of the state school board. “For those who understand what happened that day, there were mistakes. This was the most preventable school shooting in the history of our country. The warning signs were there. It was clear the killer had intentions to attack the school.” But critics of the governor and Republican-controlled Legislature say guns are too easily accessible and say more needs to be done to keep assault-style guns away from potentially bad actors. “The passage of time has done little to heal the heartbreak we felt upon hearing the shocking news three years ago today, nor dulled our sense of outrage at the lack of consequential legislative action from lawmakers since that horrible morning — laws that would prevent another Parkland from ever happening again,” said Manny Diaz, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Over the years, deadly violence targeting schools has shaken the nation — including the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 that claimed 32 lives and the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut in 2012. Even before the Parkland tragedy, there was already plenty of anguish in Florida over gun violence. Less than two years before, another gunman shot up the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people. None of the deadly events produced comprehensive gun laws. Mass shootings have galvanized gun control advocates, who have been met with resistance from Republican lawmakers and their 2nd Amendment allies. It remains to be seen what will be done on the federal level, despite Democratic control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. “This Administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call. We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer,” the president said in his statement. In addition to background checks and an assault-weapons ban, Biden is calling on Congress to outlaw high-capacity magazines and make gun manufacturers liable for the role their products play in violence. “For three years now, the Parkland families have spent birthdays and holidays without their loved ones,” Biden said. “Today, as we mourn with the Parkland community, we mourn for all who have lost loved ones to gun violence,” he said. “Over these three years, the Parkland families have taught all of us something profound,” the president continued. “Time and again, they have showed us how we can turn our grief into purpose — to march, organize, and build a strong, inclusive, and durable movement for change.”

Impeachment isn't the final word on Capitol riot for Trump

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/impeachment-isnt-the-final-word-on-capitol-riot-for-trump

Donald Trump’s acquittal at his second impeachment trial may not be the final word on whether he’s to blame for the deadly Capitol riot. The next step for the former president could be the courts. Now a private citizen, Trump is stripped of his protection from legal liability that the presidency gave him. That change in status is something that even Republicans who voted on Saturday to acquit of inciting the Jan. 6 attack are stressing as they urge Americans to move on from impeachment. “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after that vote. He insisted that the courts were a more appropriate venue to hold Trump accountable than a Senate trial. “He didn’t get away with anything yet,” McConnell said. “Yet.” Politics Conflicted Republicans weigh life after Trump following seven GOP senators’ vote for conviction in the Senate impeachment trial. Feb. 14, 2021 The insurrection at the Capitol, in which five people died, is just one of the legal cases shadowing Trump in the months after he was voted out of office. He also faces legal exposure in Georgia over an alleged pressure campaign on state election officials, and in Manhattan over hush-money payments and business deals. But Trump’s culpability under the law for inciting the riot is by no means clear-cut. The standard is high under court decisions reaching back 50 years. Trump could also be sued by victims, though he has some constitutional protections, including if he acted while carrying out the duties of president. Those cases would come down to his intent. Legal scholars say a proper criminal investigation takes time, and there are at least five years on the statute of limitations to bring a federal case. New evidence is emerging every day. “They’re way too early in their investigation to know,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor. “They have arrested 200 people, they’re pursuing hundreds more, all of those people could be potential witnesses because some have said ‘Trump made me do it.’” What’s not fully known, she said, is what Trump was doing during the time of the riot, and that could be the key. Impeachment didn’t produce many answers. But federal investigators in a criminal inquiry have much more power to compel evidence through grand jury subpoenas. “It’s not an easy case, but that’s only because of what we know now, and that can change,” Levenson said. The legal issue is whether Trump or any of the speakers at the rally near the White House that preceded the assault on the Capitol incited violence and whether they knew their words would have that effect. That’s the standard the Supreme Court laid out in its 1969 decision in Brandenburg vs. Ohio, which overturned the conviction of a Ku Klux Klan leader. Trump urged the crowd on Jan. 6 to march on the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to affirm Joe Biden’s presidential election. Trump even promised to go with his supporters, though he didn’t in the end. “You’ll never take our country back with weakness,” Trump said. He also had spent weeks spinning up supporters over his increasingly combative language and false election claims urging them to “stop the steal.” Trump’s impeachment lawyers said he didn’t do anything illegal. Trump, in a statement after the acquittal, did not admit to any wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors have said they are looking at all angles of the assault on the Capitol and whether the violence had been incited. The attorney general for the District of Columbia, Karl Racine, has said that district prosecutors are considering whether to charge Trump under local law that criminalizes statements that motivate people to violence. “Let it be known that the office of attorney general has a potential charge that it may utilize,” Racine told MSNBC last month. The charge would be a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of six months in jail. Trump’s top White House lawyer repeatedly warned Trump on Jan. 6 that he could be held liable. That message was delivered in part to prompt Trump to condemn the violence that was carried out in his name and acknowledge that he would leave office Jan. 20, when Biden was inaugurated. He did depart the White House that day. Since then, many of those charged in the riots say they were acting directly on Trump’s orders. Some offered to testify. A phone call between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) emerged during the impeachment trial in which McCarthy, as rioters stormed the Capitol, begged Trump to call off the mob. Trump replied: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” The McCarthy call is significant because it could point to Trump’s intent, state of mind and knowledge of the rioters’ actions. Court cases that try to prove incitement often bump up against the 1st Amendment. In recent years, federal judges have taken a hard line against the antiriot law. The federal appeals court in Virginia narrowed the Anti-Riot Act, with a maximum prison term of five years, because it swept up constitutionally protected speech. The court found invalid parts of the law that encompassed speech tending to “encourage” or “promote” a riot, as well as speech “urging” others to riot or involving mere advocacy of violence. The same court upheld the convictions of two members of a white supremacist group who admitted they punched and kicked counter-demonstrators during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. It’s possible federal prosecutors will decide not to bring charges, and if Trump were indicted in one of the many other separate investigations, federal prosecutors could decide justice would be done elsewhere. Atlanta prosecutors have recently opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn his election loss in Georgia, including a Jan. 2 phone call in which he urged that state’s secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s narrow victory. And Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus R. Vance Jr., is in the midst of an 18-month criminal grand jury investigation focusing in part on hush-money payments paid to women on Trump’s behalf, and whether Trump or his businesses manipulated the value of assets — inflating them in some cases and minimizing them in others — to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who voted to acquit along with McConnell and 41 other Republicans, argued that because Trump is no longer in office, impeachment is not the right way to hold him to account. “The ultimate accountability is through our criminal justice system, where political passions are checked and due process is constitutionally mandated,” Tillis said. “No president is above the law or immune from criminal prosecution, and that includes former President Trump.” Long writes for the Associated Press.

Indian rescuers find 11 more bodies after glacier flooding

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-14/indian-rescuers-find-11-more-bodies-after-glacier-flooding

Rescuers in northern India searching muck-filled ravines and valleys for survivors after the sudden collapse last week of a Himalayan glacier found 11 more bodies on Sunday, raising the death toll to 49. Krishan Kumar, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Response Force, said 155 people were still missing after a part of a glacier near Nanda Devi mountain broke off on Feb. 7, unleashing a devastating flood in the region in Uttarakhand state. Kumar said five bodies were found in a tunnel of a power project as rescuers cleared the debris and looked for survivors. Six other bodies were found in a village in the area. Rescuers are using excavators and shovels to clear sludge from the tunnel in an attempt to reach dozens of trapped workers as hopes for their survival fade. The floodwaters, mud and boulders roared down the mountain along the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers, breaking dams, sweeping away bridges and forcing the evacuation of many villages. The floodwaters swept away a small hydroelectric project and damaged a bigger one downstream on the Dhauliganga. Flowing out of the Himalayan mountains, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges River. Scientists are investigating what caused the glacier to break — possibly an avalanche or a release of accumulated water. Experts say climate change may be to blame since warming temperatures are shrinking glaciers and making them unstable worldwide.