National News - Page 158

Symone Sanders to Exit Role as VP Harris’ Chief Spokesperson

By Jasmine Wright and Maegan Vazquez, Symone Sanders, Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief spokesperson and senior adviser, is leaving the Biden administration at the end of the year, according to a source familiar with the decision. “Symone has served honorably for three years,” the source told CNN. “The President and vice president are grateful for Symone’s service and advocacy for this White House. She is a valued member, a team player, and she will be missed. We are grateful to have her working through the end of the year.” Sanders acknowledged her exit in a Wednesday letter to her colleagues, shared

Federal Vaccine Firings Delayed Until After Holidays

By Kaitlan Collins and Maegan Vazquez, The Office of Management and Budget is telling some federal agencies they can delay firing their employees who refuse to get vaccinated until after the holidays, an official confirmed to CNN, as an “education and counseling period” for non-compliant workers continues in December. An OMB spokesman said that period is the first step in their enforcement of the vaccine mandate implemented by President Joe Biden. “Nothing has changed with respect to our deadline or our approach to the federal employee vaccination requirement,” the spokesman told CNN in a statement. “The deadline was November 22, and we already have

UM Nursing Students Graduate Early to Fight Shortage

By Rachael Cardin As a workforce shortage plagues hospitals across the country, many local nursing programs are sending students to help beef up the workforce. More than 100 nursing students from the University of Maryland School of Nursing are graduating a few weeks early. These students are in a position to help local hospitals and medical offices. Many of them are in clinical rotations right now and have just an exam standing between them and the professional world. Jessica Smith, a soon-to-be graduate from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, said “the patients need it, the nurses need it,

Baltimore’s Monument Lighting Returns for 50th Year

By Rachel Menitoff The Monument Lighting is making a comeback after taking a year-long hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual event is a tradition in Baltimore, which marks the unofficial start of the holiday season. This year marks the lighting’s 50th anniversary. It involves hanging thousands of Christmas lights – 8,400 to be exact – from the Washington Monument in the historic Mount Vernon neighborhood, starting at the monument’s base and going all the way up. “Other cities can light a tree, but Baltimore has to do things its own way,” said Mike Evitts, senior vice president of

Delta Surges as U.S. Prepares for Omicron Variant Spread

By Travis Caldwell, While researchers gather more information on the Omicron variant detected in at least 20 countries and territories, the present reality is that the Delta variant is still spreading across the US and putting a strain on already over-taxed health care systems. In Michigan, Covid-19 hospitalizations are matching highs last seen in April 2020, shortly after the onset of the pandemic. At least nine hospitals are reporting 100% patient capacity as of Monday, according to state health data. Michigan is currently one of several Midwest states that are seeing the highest rates of infection in the US, including Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to data

Trailblazing Rep. Carrie Meek Dies at 95 in Miami Home

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By Paul LeBlanc and Sarah Fortinsky, Former Rep. Carrie Meek, who broke barriers throughout her winding political career as the daughter of a sharecropper and granddaughter of a slave, died Sunday in her Miami home. She was 95. Meek’s death came after a “long illness,” family spokesperson Adam Sharon said in a statement describing the late Florida Democrat’s “trailblazing” life and legacy. Her children Lucia Davis-Raiford, Sheila Davis Kinui, and retired Rep. Kendrick B. Meek of Florida provided a statement about her legacy to CNN. It read: “Carrie Meek was our family matriarch who fulfilled this role for the entire

Judge Blocks Biden Vaccine Mandate in 10 U.S. States

By Tierney Sneed A federal judge in Missouri issued an order Monday partially blocking the Biden administration from implementing a vaccine mandate for certain health care workers. The judge’s order, which covers the 10 states that brought the case, played down the effectiveness of the vaccines and said that the “public would suffer little, if any, harm from maintaining the ‘status quo’ through the litigation of this case.” The mandate came out of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It covers certain health care staff at providers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, and

Racist Tropes Resurface in Ahmaud Arbery Murder Trial

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By Jill Filipovic Even after the rise and resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the elections of a Black president and Vice President and several years of racial reckoning over state violence against Black men and women, if you want it’s still plain to see how far some parts of the US haven’t come on race. Just look at the trial of Travis McMichael, William “Roddie” Bryan and Travis’s father Gregory McMichael for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. The details of the case are themselves stunning. According to his family, Arbery — a runner — was out for a jog. Two

New Covid Variant B.1.1.529 Sparks Global Travel Bans

By David McKenzie, Ghazi Balkiz and Ivana Kottasová, The discovery of a new and potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant by South African health authorities has sparked a forceful reaction across the world with a number of countries banning travelers from several southern African countries. The newly identified variant, currently known as B.1.1.529, appears to be spreading rapidly in parts of South Africa and scientists are concerned that its unusually high number of mutations could make it more transmissible and result in immune evasion. It has so far been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Belgium. “Initially it looked like some cluster outbreaks,

Thanksgiving Air Travel Hits Record Since Pandemic Began

By Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace, Thanksgiving travelers have set a new pandemic-era air travel record in the United States. The Transportation Security Administration says it screened 2.3 million people (2,311,978) at airports across the country on Wednesday, making it the busiest day at security checkpoints since March 2020. The number is 88% of the traffic (2,624,250) on the equivalent Wednesday in 2019, before the pandemic. And it is more than twice the number of people (1,070,967) TSA screened on this day last year. Wednesday is the seventh consecutive day the TSA screened more than 2 million passengers.   Goal:

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