National News - Page 155

One Year of Covid Vaccines: Global Impact by the Numbers

By Faith Karimi and Deidre McPhillips, On December 14, 2020, nurse Sandra Lindsay rolled up her left sleeve at a New York City hospital and became one of the first people in the US to get vaccinated against Covid-19. The vaccine was from Pfizer/BioNTech, and it had been authorized for emergency use only three days earlier by the FDA — the first counterblow against a deadly virus that had crippled the country and shut down much of the world. Authorization for Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson soon followed. A year later, millions of people in the US — and billions around

Shirley Raines Named 2021 CNN Hero for Skid Row Work

By Tricia Escobedo and Allie Torgan, Shirley Raines, who brings beauty and hope to the men and women living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, is the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year. As she received her award Sunday, Raines thanked her children including her late son, who inspired her work. “This surely hasn’t been easy. I stand before you a very broken woman,” an emotional Raines said. “I am a mother without a son and there are a lot of people in the streets without a mother — and I feel like it’s a fair exchange.” Raines was presented with

Tornado Devastation Hits Kentucky, 88 Lives Lost in Storm

By Kelly McCleary, Holly Yan and Theresa Waldrop, The destruction was instantaneous as many homes and businesses were tossed in the air after a tornado outbreak across eight states — but those who survived, many of whom are left with only the clothes on their backs, now face a daunting path toward recovery. About 75% of one town, Dawson Springs in western Kentucky, was wiped out by the tornado, said Mayor Chris Smiley. About a third of the town’s population of 2,500 lives below the poverty line and many don’t have insurance. Those whose homes are still standing probably won’t

Pfizer’s Paxlovid Cuts COVID Hospitalization Risk by 89%

By Michael Nedelman, Pfizer’s updated results for its experimental treatment for Covid-19 showed it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms, the company announced in a news release Tuesday. Pfizer hopes it can eventually offer the pills, under the name Paxlovid, for people to take at home before they get sick enough to go to the hospital. Paxlovid combines a new antiviral drug named nirmatrelvir and an older one called ritonavir. After a month of follow-up, the study found five hospitalizations and no deaths among

Susan Hutson Elected First Black Female Sheriff in Louisiana

By Kay Jones and Alaa Elassar, Voters in New Orleans elected the first female sheriff of Orleans Parish on Saturday, upsetting a four-term incumbent. Susan Hutson defeated Sheriff Marlin Gusman in Saturday’s runoff election. Returns from the Louisiana Secretary of State show Hutson won with 53% of the vote. Gusman had been sheriff since 2004, according to the sheriff’s website. Hutson has also become the first Black woman to be elected sheriff in the state of Louisiana, according to CNN affiliate WGNO. In the initial election, held in November, Gusman had a 13-point lead over Hutson, with 48% compared to her 35%. The race

Atlanta Schools Promote Gun Safety With New APS Resolution

By Jade Gordon and Alta Spells, The Board of Education for Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is taking steps to promote gun safety in homes. Less than a week after four students were shot and killed and seven additional people were injured in a high school shooting in Oxford, Michigan, the Atlanta Board of Education voted and passed a resolution to promote safe and responsible storage of firearms. APS will collaborate with non-profits, health agencies and local law enforcement agencies to promote secure gun storage of firearms in homes, which research has shown can reduce the risk of unintentional firearm injuries

Breonna Taylor Shooter Myles Cosgrove Appeals Firing

By Amir Vera, One of the Louisville detectives who fatally shot Breonna Taylor during a botched raid is appealing his termination this week. The Louisville Metro Police Department terminated Detective Myles Cosgrove in January for use of deadly force for firing 16 rounds into Taylor’s home and failing to activate his body camera, according to a copy of his termination letter. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Cosgrove fired the shot that killed Taylor — which Cameron said was justified because Taylor’s boyfriend fired at officers first. Kenneth Walker II, Taylor’s boyfriend, said he thought the officers were intruders and fired one shot when they

US Launches Fund to Defend Journalists Facing Legal Threats

By Michael Conte, The US will provide new funding to protect reporters targeted because of their work and support independent international journalism, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday at the opening of the virtual Summit for Democracy. The new “liability fund” will support “reporters and news organizations that are targeted with litigation as a result of their reporting,” said Blinken, who highlighted the case of Dayanna Monroy, an investigative journalist he said he met in Quito, Ecuador, who was threatened and faces a legal complaint for her work uncovering “a scheme by a former president and health officials to sell

Parents Still Wary of Covid-19 Vaccines for Children: KFF

By Deidre McPhillips, Most parents still have concerns about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines for children, and about three in 10 say that they will “definitely not” vaccinate their children against Covid-19, according a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Vaccine uptake has slowed among adolescents ages 12 to 17 in recent months. Only about half of parents say that their child in this age group has received at least one dose of vaccine, a share that has changed little since the fall, KFF found. And among parents of younger children ages 5 to 11, about 29% say that

TN Man Granted Retrial After Jury Room’s Confederate Decor

By Alisha Ebrahimji, A Tennessee court has decided a Black man convicted of aggravated assault deserves a new trial because evidence was improperly admitted and the jury deliberated in a room filled with tributes to the Confederacy, according to court documents. Judge James Curwood Witt Jr. said in an opinion filed last week that the room’s decorations honored a Confederacy that “not only defended slavery, but endorsed it fully using dehumanizing and racist language.” Tim Gilbert, 55, was sentenced in June 2020 to six years in prison for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, and unlawful possession of a weapon after

1 … 153 154 155 156 157 … 219
Close

Never Miss A Story

Covering HBCUS
and The African American Community