A Los Angeles mall earlier this month. PHOTO: ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
“The CDC is reversing parts of its mask guidance.
Citing the highly transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new recommendations that vaccinated people in some parts of the U.S. begin wearing masks again. The agency also asked K-12 schools to adopt universal masking for teachers, staff, students and visitors regardless of vaccination status. Some public-health experts said the CDC's move made sense. ‘If you pop into a grocery store for 10 minutes in Vermont, or if you’re at a large indoor 300-person reception for a wedding in Louisiana—those are not equivalent,’ said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. The move is a reversal from the CDC's May guidance, which said vaccinated people didn’t need to wear masks or physically distance in most settings. Nearly half of U.S. counties are considered high-transmission areas, and local governments had already started to reinstate mask guidelines in recent days. The vaccines are still effective at preventing serious illness and hospitalizations, and the vast majority of severe Covid-19 cases in recent weeks have been among the unvaccinated.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Across the globe, the Australian capital of Sydney has extended a lockdown by four weeks after an already protracted stay-at-home order failed to douse a Covid-19 outbreak. In Thailand, citizens seeking treatment for Covid-19 are being sent home by train to alleviate pressure on the country’s medical system from mounting cases and deaths.” Read more at CNN
“Four police officers offered harrowing testimony yesterday during the first hearing held by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack. The officers described being beaten and dragged, having racial slurs hurled at them, or screaming in agony as they were crushed by rioters. One officer who served in Iraq said he was more afraid during the insurrection than he was at any point in a war zone. After the hearing, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney rebuked GOP leadership for, in her estimation, failing to take the investigation and the fallout from the January 6 attack seriously. Many Republicans are looking to downplay the political motivations and effects of the attack, while Democrats are preparing to drill down on former President Donald Trump’s role in it all.” Read more at CNN
“House Republicans began Tuesday morning by calling the upcoming inaugural hearing of the chamber’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol a ‘sham’ and a ‘political charade.’ After it concluded in the early afternoon, they provided myriad reasons for why they did not tune in to the harrowing testimony provided by four police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol that day against a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he was ‘booked in all these different meetings.’
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters he was tied up with a committee hearing.
Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who rose to her position after her predecessor was sacked for criticizing Trump’s role in the attack, declined to say whether she watched.” Read more at Washington Post
“A Republican congressman's Jan. 6 speech at a rally ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol is not covered by protections for members of Congress and federal employees, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday — drawing a legal line over attempts to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) had argued that he is effectively immune from a lawsuit filed by his colleague Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) that accused Brooks, then-President Donald Trump, and others of fomenting the failed attack on Congress.
Past court opinions and Justice Department legal interpretations have given broad safeguards to protect elected officials who are sued over their public statements. But in the case of Brooks, the Justice Department decided he went too far.
The agency ‘cannot conclude that Brooks was acting within the scope of his office or employment as a Member of Congress at the time of the incident out of which the claims in this case arose,’ the court filing said. ‘Inciting or conspiring to foment a violent attack on the United States Congress is not within the scope of employment of a Representative — or any federal employee.’
Jan. 6 hearings open with visceral accounts of Trump supporters’ assaults on police
The department’s legal argument concluded that Brooks’s appearance at the rally outside the White House that preceded the riot ‘was campaign activity, and it is no part of the business of the United States to pick sides among candidates in federal elections.’ The issue will ultimately be decided by a judge or an appeals court.” Read more at Washington Post
“CANTON, Ga. — The man accused of killing eight people at a string of Atlanta-area spas pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four counts of murder in suburban Cherokee County and will serve four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 35 years in prison. But the man, Robert Aaron Long, still faces four other murder charges in nearby Fulton County, where the prosecutor is seeking the death penalty.
Mr. Long, 22, had already admitted to investigators that he was responsible for the March 16 shooting spree. On Tuesday morning he appeared in public for the first time since his arrest, in a tense courtroom packed with victims’ family members and one man, Elcias Hernandez Ortiz, whom Mr. Long shot in the face but did not kill.
Shackled, bespectacled and sporting a haircut shaved around the sides and long at the top, Mr. Long spoke, at the judge’s prompting, of his addiction to pornography and prostitution, and how he wanted to ‘punish the people’ who were the objects of his obsession.
Mr. Long’s main goal now, it appears, is to avoid execution.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s latest leap into the Senate’s up-and-down efforts to clinch a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure deal comes with even more at stake than his coveted plans for boosting road, rail and other public works projects.
The outcome of the infrastructure bargaining, which for weeks has encountered one snag after another, will impact what could be the crown jewel of his legacy. That would be his hopes for a subsequent $3.5 trillion federal infusion for families’ education and health care costs, a Medicare expansion and efforts to curb climate change.
Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will need support from every Democratic moderate and progressive to push the $3.5 trillion bill through the 50-50 Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. If the infrastructure talks implode, it may be harder for moderates — who rank its projects as their top priority — to back the follow-up $3.5 trillion plan, which is already making them wince because of its price tag and likely tax boosts on the wealthy and corporations.” Read more at AP News
“TOKYO (AP) — Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic title.
The American gymnastics superstar withdrew from Thursday’s all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Wednesday that the 24-year-old is opting to not compete. The decision comes a day after Biles removed herself from the team final following one rotation because she felt she wasn’t mentally ready.
Jade Carey, who finished ninth in qualifying, will take Biles’ place in the all-around. Carey initially did not qualify because she was the third-ranking American behind Biles and Sunisa Lee. International Gymnastics Federation rules limit countries to two athletes per event in the finals.
The organization said Biles will be evaluated daily before deciding if she will participate in next week’s individual events. Biles qualified for the finals on all four apparatuses, something she didn’t even do during her five-medal haul in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The 24-year-old came to Tokyo as arguably the face of the Games following the retirement of swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt. She topped qualifying on Sunday despite piling up mandatory deductions on vault, floor and beam following shaky dismounts.
She posted on social media on Monday that she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. The weight became too heavy after vaulting during team finals. She lost herself in mid-air and completed 1 1/2 twists instead of 2 1/2. She consulted with U.S. team doctor Marcia Faustin before walking off the field of play.
When she returned, she took off her bar grips, hugged teammates Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum and Jordan Chiles and turned into the team’s head cheerleader as the U.S. claimed silver behind the Russian Olympic Committee.
‘Once I came out here (to compete), I was like, ‘No mental is, not there so I just need to let the girls do it and focus on myself,’ Biles said following the medal ceremony.
The decision opens the door wide open for the all-around, a title that was long considered a foregone conclusion. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil finished second to Biles during qualifying, followed by Lee and Russians Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova. The four were separated by three-tenths of a point on Sunday.
Carey now finds herself in the final, capping a remarkable journey for the 21-year-old from Phoenix. She spent two years traveling the globe in an effort to pile up enough points on the World Cup circuit to earn an individual nominative spot, meaning she would be in the Olympics but technically not be part of the four-woman U.S. team.
Carey posted the second-best score on vault and the third-best on floor during qualifying, earning trips to the event finals in the process. Now she finds herself competing for an all-around medal while replacing the athlete considered the greatest of all-time in the sport.” Read more at AP News
Pauline Schaefer-Betz of Germany competes on the balance beam. Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
“Female Olympians in Tokyo are rejecting uniforms that have long defined their sports, highlighting a double standard in how women dress in competition vs. men, Axios' Ivana Saric and Ina Fried write.
During their qualifying round, Germany's women's gymnastics team wore full-length unitards, eschewing the conventional leg-baring leotards worn by most female gymnasts.
Norway's women's beach handball team was fined for wearing shorts instead of the required bikini bottoms during a match.
The International Handball Federation permits male beach handball players to wear shorts as long as four inches above their knees, but requires women to wear bikini bottoms ‘with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg.’” Read more at Axios
“Japan beat the U.S. in the softball final. Team USA’s Katie Ledecky won gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle.” Read more at New York Times
“In Iran, protests over water scarcity are testing its leaders.
When incoming president Ebrahim Raisi takes office next week, he'll need to address a grinding economic crisis caused by U.S. sanctions and stalled nuclear negotiations with the West. He'll also have to contend with weekslong protests over a lack of water in hundreds of villages in Khuzestan, an oil-rich southwestern province. Residents there accuse the government of ignoring years of warnings that development projects related to oil drilling and hydroelectric dams would lead to water shortages. Farmers have recently seen their livestock die of thirst, according to a local lawmaker, and the province lacks drinking water, conditions which have added to the existing unrest across the country. Oil and petrochemical workers from dozens of companies have been on strike over low wages and employment conditions. Iran has also been regularly cutting electricity over the past month, which the government blames on the heat.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“China appears to be expanding its nuclear capabilities by building a second field of missile silos in its western deserts, US researchers say in a new report. The report says China’s recent proliferation of missile silos -- more than 120 are being built in another province -- is the ‘most extensive silo construction since the US and Soviet missile silo construction during the Cold War.’ Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had decisive words for China’s recent aggressive actions in the South China Sea region and beyond. Speaking in Singapore yesterday, Austin said the US does not want military conflict with China, but ‘will not flinch when our interests are threatened.’” Read more at CNN
“A swastika was found etched into the wall of a State Department elevator near the office of its special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Axios' Hans Nichols and Jonathan Swan scoop.See a photo.” Read more at Axios
“U.S. arts and crafts retail chain Hobby Lobby has once again fallen afoul of U.S. authorities after a federal court ordered it to forfeit a 3,500-year-old tablet featuring text from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The tablet was purchased by Hobby Lobby for $1.67 million from an auction house and was intended as an exhibit at the Museum of the Bible, a venture funded by Hobby Lobby’s president Steve Green. The court found the artifact had initially been imported illegally, and Hobby Lobby consented to its forfeiture. The Sumerian tablet will eventually be returned to Iraq, its country of origin.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was stripped of his Ecuadorian citizenship after an administrative court in Quito found his naturalization process was full of irregularities.” Read more at Bloomberg
“A federal judge sentenced Daniel Hale, a former intelligence contractor who leaked details of the U.S. drone program, to nearly four years in prison.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: Sally Miller Gearhart was a lesbian activist who fought anti-gay policies, wrote influential books and founded a women-only refuge in the California woods. She died at 90.” Read more at New York Times
“Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, announced it'll pay 100% of employees' college tuition and books at a group of schools, as part of a $1 billion, five-year investment in career-driven training, per USA Today.
Why it matters: It's part of the escalating efforts by employers to stand out by increasing wages and benefits amid a shortage of workers, particularly in retail and restaurants, Reuters notes.” Read more at Axios
“Jake Ellzey wins Texas special election. The GOP state Rep. unexpectedly defeated Susan Wright, the widow of the Republican lawmaker that Ellzey will replace in the U.S. House. Ellzey’s victory was seen as a repudiation of the power of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Wright.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Historically Black colleges and universities are using pandemic funds to forgive student debt. More than 20 HBCUs are using federal funds to spring students from the academic version of debtor’s prison, clearing their account balances so they can continue on with, or complete, school.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“$2 billion — The amount, in fees, that Jeff Bezos offered to waive to help his space company Blue Origin become part of a contract awarded by NASA to Elon Musk's SpaceX. The contract is part of a program aiming to return astronauts to the moon sometime this decade.
30 million — The approximate population of Saudi Arabia. The government there said that, beginning Sunday, residents who want to enter a range of public and private institutions will need to show proof via a mobile app that they've received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose. The sites include schools, shops, malls, markets, restaurants, cafes, concert venues and public transportation. Two doses will be required to travel abroad.
$2 million — The price that Martin Shkreli, the infamous former pharmaceutical executive, paid for a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album in 2015. That album was seized by the federal government as part of Shkreli's securities fraud conviction, and was recently sold to an unknown buyer to finish paying the $7.4 million in forfeiture that a judge in 2018 ordered Mr. Shkreli to pay.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“NEW YORK (AP) — A chemical cousin of pot’s main intoxicating ingredient has rocketed to popularity over the last year, and the cannabis industry and state governments are scrambling to reckon with it amid debate over whether it’s legal.
The chemical, called delta-8 THC, is billed as producing a milder high than the better known delta-9 THC, and delta-8 is often marketed as being legal even where marijuana is not. That argument stems from the fact that most delta-8 is synthesized from CBD, a popular non-intoxicating chemical that’s prevalent in hemp, a form of cannabis that Congress legalized in 2018.
Delta-8′s rise is a’ phenomenon that has taken the industry quite by storm,’ says John Kagia of cannabis industry analysis firm New Frontier Data, and it offers ‘fascinating insight into some of the growth and growing pains.’
There are no hard-and-fast statistics on sales of delta-8, which is available in vapes, gummies and other forms. It has been the fastest-growing segment of the market for hemp chemicals for roughly the last year, after wholesale CBD prices plummeted amid oversupply and other issues, says Ian Laird of data analytics company Hemp Benchmarks.” Read more at AP News
“Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk collapsed on the show’s New Mexico set on Tuesday and had to be hospitalised.
Crew members called an ambulance that took the 58-year-old actor to a hospital, where he remained Tuesday night, a person close to Odenkirk who was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter told the Associated Press. It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse or how long the actor might be in hospital.
Better Call Saul, the spin-off prequel to Breaking Bad, has been shooting its sixth and final season, which is set to air on AMC and Netflix next year.
An email sent to a representative of AMC seeking more information or comment was not immediately returned.” Read more at The Guardian
Chef Frederick Schoen-Kiewert serves Crème de la Crème Pomme Frites at Serendipity3 in Manhattan last week. Photo: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
“Guinness World Records has proclaimed the world's most expensive french fries Crème de la Crème Pomme Frites, which run $200 at Serendipity3 in Manhattan (must be ordered in advance).
Among the ingredients: Dom Perignon ... pure cage-free goose fat from France ... truffle oil ... shaved black summer truffles from Italy ... truffle butter ... 23k edible gold dust. Read the recipe.” Read more at Axios