“WASHINGTON — A key federal advisory committee voted unanimously Friday to recommend Johnson & Johnson booster shots, most likely clearing the way for all 15 million people who got the company’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine to receive a second shot.
If the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accept the recommendation, as expected, boosters could be offered by late next week. But many committee members made clear that they believed Johnson & Johnson recipients might benefit from the option of a booster of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, something a top FDA official said the agency was considering.
With a series of votes over the past month to recommend boosters for all three coronavirus vaccines used in the United States, the panel set aside significant divisions and skepticism about whether extra shots are needed and edged ever closer to the goal that President Joe Biden laid out in August when he called for boosters for all adults.
Well more than 100 million fully vaccinated people will be eligible for boosters if the FDA and CDC endorse the committee’s latest recommendations, even though some scientists say that the evidence supporting boosters remains weak and that it would have been wiser to focus on reaching the unvaccinated, including abroad.” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice said Friday that it will ask the Supreme Court for an emergency halt to the Texas law that has restricted access to abortion in the nation’s second largest state to an extent not seen in 50 years.
The announcement followed a decision by a federal appeals court Thursday night that allowed the law to remain in effect. A lower court judge last week said the law was unconstitutional.
The department’s announcement meant the high court for the second time will be asked to put the law on hold while legal challenges to it continue. In a divisive 5 to 4 decision last month, the court allowed the law to take effect as the case goes forward, even though the majority said it raised constitutional concerns.” Read more at Boston Globe
“FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The former student who was accused of shooting and killing 17 people at his high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 plans to plead guilty to 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, one of his lawyers said Friday.
The rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, killed 14 students and three faculty members, one of the deadliest shootings in American history. Seventeen other people were wounded.
The former student, Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time and had a history of mental health and behavior problems, used a semi-automatic rifle that he had legally bought to carry out the assault, according to police.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The killing of the Conservative MP David Amess, who died after being stabbed several times at an open advice surgery for his constituents in Essex, has been declared as a terrorist incident.
The death of the 69-year-old veteran backbencher brought heartfelt tributes from all parties. Just five years after the murder of Jo Cox, it also prompted renewed worries about the security risks for MPs in an increasingly rancorous and polarised political era.
A 25-year-old man, believed to be a Briton with Somali heritage, is in custody and has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Sources have told the Guardian he has the same details as someone who had previously been referred to the Prevent scheme, the official programme for those thought at risk of radicalisation.
In a statement, the Metropolitan police said the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, had formally declared the incident as terrorism. The early investigation has revealed ‘a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism’, the force said.
As part of the investigation, officers are searching two addresses in the London area, the Met said. The force believe the man acted alone and are not seeking anyone else at the moment.
Essex police had briefed counter-terrorism policing headquarters about details of the attack and suspect throughout Friday afternoon. MI5, the domestic Security Service, was also monitoring the investigation.” Read more at The Guardian
“President Joe Biden’s commission for Supreme Court reform cautioned against adding more seats to the Court, a tactic Democrats had floated as the Senate blocked Attorney General Merrick Garland’s confirmation and as Trump-nominated justices pushed the Court to the right.” [Vox] Read more at CBS / Bo Erickson, Melissa Quinn, and Ed O’Keefe
“The Biden administration will revive Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. The practice of returning migrants to Mexico while their requests for U.S. asylum are considered will be resumed in mid-November to comply with a federal court order. The program effectively hasn’t been in use during the pandemic, as a CDC order requires migrants to be turned back without being able to request asylum.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“WASHINGTON — The most powerful part of President Biden’s climate agenda — a program to rapidly replace the nation’s coal- and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear energy — will likely be dropped from the massive budget bill pending in Congress, according to congressional staffers and lobbyists familiar with the matter.
Senator Joe Manchin III, the Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia whose vote is crucial to passage of the bill, has told the White House that he strongly opposes the clean electricity program, according to three of those people. As a result, White House staffers are now rewriting the legislation without that climate provision, and are trying to cobble together a mix of other policies that could also cut emissions.
A White House spokesman, Vedant Patel, declined to comment on the specifics of the bill, saying, ‘the White House is laser focused on advancing the president’s climate goals and positioning the United States to meet its emission targets in a way that grows domestic industries and good jobs.’
A spokeswoman for Mr. Manchin, Sam Runyon, wrote in an email, ‘Senator Manchin has clearly expressed his concerns about using taxpayer dollars to pay private companies to do things they’re already doing. He continues to support efforts to combat climate change while protecting American energy independence and ensuring our energy reliability.’” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON — A U.S. Capitol Police officer was arrested Friday on charges that he obstructed justice by telling a man who had entered the Capitol illegally during the Jan. 6 riot to delete evidence of his actions that day from his social media accounts.
Michael A. Riley, 50, a member of the agency’s K-9 unit with more than 25 years on the force, is the first officer charged with a crime in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, when scores of his fellow officers were beaten, bloodied and injured by a pro-Trump mob spurred on by the lie of widespread election fraud.
He was released pending an Oct. 26 hearing.
According to an indictment from a federal grand jury in Washington, on Jan. 7 Officer Riley contacted an acquaintance who had posted images on Facebook of himself inside the Capitol during the attack to encourage him to take down the evidence that he had been in the building. Officer Riley did not know the man personally, the indictment said, but had recently become acquainted with him through an online group for fishing enthusiasts.
‘I’m a Capitol Police officer who agrees with your political stance,’ the officer wrote to the man, according the indictment. ‘Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to charged. Just looking out!’
Officer Riley and the man then exchanged dozens of messages.
‘I’m glad you got out of there unscathed,’ Officer Riley wrote at one point. ‘We had over 50 officers hurt, some pretty bad.’
Officer Riley responded to reports of an explosive device near the Capitol on Jan. 6, but was not defending the building when the mob stormed in, disrupting Congress’s official count of electoral votes to confirm President Biden’s victory.
On Jan. 20, the unidentified man turned himself in to police and told them he had been talking with Officer Riley, then warned the officer that federal law enforcement officials were aware they had been communicating.
‘The F.B.I. was very curious that I had been speaking to you if they haven’t already asked you about me they are gonna,’ the man wrote to Officer Riley, according to the indictment. ‘They took my phone and downloaded everything.’
After receiving that message, Officer Riley deleted all his Facebook messages with the man, and the next day, sent him a final Facebook message, according to the indictment.” Read more at New York Times
Andreas Solara/AFP via Getty Images
“The Biden administration announced Friday that international travelers who are fully vaccinated and show proof of a negative Covid-19 test within three days of travel will be able to fly into the US starting November 8.” [Vox] Read more at NYT / Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Heather Murphy
“The US has barred travelers coming from China since January 2020, and from several European countries, India, Mexico, Brazil, and elsewhere starting just a few weeks later. However, the US allowed travelers from 150 other countries during the pandemic and never gave clear metrics or deadlines as to when the harsher travel restrictions would be eased.” [Vox] Read more at Reuters / David Shepardson
“Travelers with any of the vaccines approved for use in the US, as well as those approved for emergency use by the WHO, will be cleared to fly. India’s Bharat Biotech shot isn’t on the list, and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is still under consideration by the WHO.” [Vox] Read more at BuzzFeed / Julia Reinstein
“The Biden administration made the announcement last month that it would ease up on pandemic-related travel restrictions from those countries facing the total ban but didn’t announce a firm date when the restrictions would be rolled back. White House spokesperson Kevin Munoz tweeted the confirmed date Friday, adding that the new policy is ‘guided by public health, stringent, and consistent.’” [Vox] Read more at NBC / Rebecca Shabad
“International travelers arriving by land or via passenger ferry will have to be vaccinated and show proof of inoculation upon request but are exempt from the Covid-19 test requirement. There will be limited exceptions to the vaccine requirements, but those have not yet been announced.” [Vox] Read more at NPR / Brian Naylor
“The new requirements will replace the less consistent rules put in place since the start of the pandemic and will open up the country for international tourism, paving a path forward for the beleaguered airline, hotel, and tourism industries.” [Vox] Read more at CNN / Betsy Klein and Kate Sullivan
“Canada has also recently opened up to foreign tourists, and Australia — with some of the strictest lockdown policies in place during the pandemic — will allow its citizens to leave the country or return after being stranded abroad starting in November.” [Vox] Read more at BBC
“WASHINGTON — Government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington accused White House press secretary Jen Psaki Friday of violating the Hatch Act after her comments on the Virginia gubernatorial race.
When asked about the governor's race during a Thursday press briefing, Psaki said Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe has the backing of President Joe Biden.
‘I think the President, of course, wants former Governor McAuliffe to be the future governor of Virginia,’ Psaki said only weeks before the Nov. 2 election. ‘We’re going to do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he’s representing.’
CREW addressed a letter to the White House Office of Special Counsel requesting an investigation into whether Psaki violated the Hatch Act — a federal law prohibiting executive branch employees from ‘activity directed toward the success or failure of a political party, partisan political candidate, or partisan political group.’
‘By mixing official government business with support of a candidate for partisan political office in the weeks before the election and engaging in political activity while on duty, Ms. Psaki appears to have used her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election, political activity that is prohibited by law,’ the letter states.” Read more at USA Today
“The public dispute between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of a multi-trillion dollar spending package escalated on Friday, after Sanders published an opinion article in Manchin’s homestate newspaper urging him to support the landmark Democratic proposal.
Sanders, writing in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, attacked opponents of the legislation — ‘every Republican in Congress as well as the drug companies, the insurance companies, the fossil fuel industry and the billionaire class’ — as defenders of a status quo ‘in which the very rich get richer while ordinary Americans continue to struggle to make ends meet.’
The article triggered a sharp response from Manchin. ‘This isn’t the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell West Virginians what is best for them despite having no relationship to our state,’ he said a tweet.” Read more at Washington Post