National News - Page 178

RBG’s Legacy and the Supreme Court’s Rightward Shift

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Analysis by Ariane de Vogue, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died a year ago this week, had been well aware that the conservatives on the Supreme Court were poised to take a right turn in areas concerning reproductive health and voting rights. But the liberal icon would likely be stunned to see how far and how fast the court has actually moved. Over the last year, the Supreme Court has not only allowed a Texas law that bars abortion after as early as six weeks into pregnancy take effect, but it announced it will hear a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade during

DOJ Bans Chokeholds, Limits No-Knock Warrants Nationwide

By Emma Tucker, The Justice Department announcement Tuesday that federal law enforcement officers will be banned from using neck restraints during arrests and using no-knock entries while executing warrants except in rare cases is part of an ongoing focus on police accountability at local, state and federal levels. It’s a significant policy that addresses two aspects of police accountability for officers under federal jurisdiction, but state and local governments have already made these changes over the past two years. The use of neck restraints and no-knock warrants have resulted in high-profile in-custody deaths in recent years that have prompted calls for both techniques to be banned.

Pennsylvania Students Protest School Board’s Book Ban

By Evan McMorris-Santoro, Linh Tran, Sahar Akbarzai and Mirna Alsharif, Students in a southern Pennsylvania school district are battling the latest example of panic spreading over how history and race are taught in schools across the US. “I don’t think a moral compass will let you ban books about equality and loving each other,” Central York High School senior Christina Ellis told CNN. Ellis is among the students protesting a book ban in York, Pennsylvania, and questions whether the officials who decided to remove certain reading materials from the curriculum even read the resources they deem controversial. She was joined

The FBI has a responsibility to Simone Biles — and all women and girls

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 By Kara Alaimo Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman and former college champion Maggie Nichols on Wednesday offered devastating testimony, sometimes through their tears, to the Senate Judiciary Committee about how USA Gymnastics, their sport’s governing body, and the FBI, America’s principal federal law enforcement agency, mishandled investigations into convicted sexual abuser Larry Nassar. The former USA Gymnastics team doctor was accused of violating more than 200 victims and is now serving a prison sentence of 40 to 175 years. The gymnasts’ words were gut-wrenching to hear, both because of the deep suffering they described and because it was clear

FAMU Rises to 104 in National Public University Rankings

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By Byron Dobson Florida A&M University moved up 13 slots – from 117 to 104 – among the nation’s top national public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges 2022” guidebook released Monday. The landing places FAMU as the highest-ranking public historically black college or university in the country for the third consecutive year. Additionally, FAMU now stands alone as the highest-ranked public HBCU at No. 7 among the publication’s ranking of the Top 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, public or private. “Moving up 13 places is a testament to our focus on student success and

US Prepares for Covid-19 Boosters Amid FDA Review Delay

By Jacqueline Howard, It’s not clear if or when boosters doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be OK’d for fully vaccinated people in the United States, but state and local health departments across the United States are moving ahead with plans for a potential rollout next week. Last month, US health officials announced plans for booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be offered starting the week of September 20, subject to sign-off from the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those conversations are getting underway this week, including a key meeting of FDA

Miami Nurse Pleads Guilty to Threatening VP Kamala Harris

By Christina Carrega, A Miami nurse has pleaded guilty for threatening to kill Vice President Kamala Harris, the Justice Department announced. Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, pleaded guilty on Friday to a six-count indictment, including charges of threats against the vice president. Phelps is scheduled for sentencing on November 19. She faces up to five years in federal prison. Phelps admitted during a plea hearing in district court in Florida that she sent her husband, who was in prison, a 30-second video of herself threatening to kill Harris in February. Prosecutors said the videos show Phelps making threats and screaming curse words. She

DOJ Bans Neck Restraints, Limits No-Knock Warrants

By Christina Carrega and Peter Nickeas, Federal law enforcement officers will be banned from using neck restraints during arrests and using no-knock entries while executing warrants except in rare cases, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Both the neck restraints and no-knock warrants have resulted in high-profile in-custody deaths in recent years that have spurred calls for those techniques to be banned outright. The DOJ’s policy change Tuesday bans both chokeholds and “carotid restraints” except in cases where officers are authorized to use deadly force. In those cases, an agent would still be able to apply pressure to someone’s neck or carotid artery to restrict

FDA Panel Debates Covid-19 Boosters Amid Mixed Data

By Elizabeth Cohen, Last December, when advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration met to consider whether the agency should authorize Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, it was generally understood that the answer would be yes. Nine months later, those advisers are meeting to discuss booster shots, and the situation is very different. It won’t be a slam dunk. When this advisory committee meets on Friday, it will be presented with dueling data, some of it suggesting there’s a need for boosters, but other pieces of data suggesting there is no such need. The advisers will also likely debate the very

Rising Support for COVID Vaccine Mandates Amid New Concerns

By Ariel Edwards-Levy and Jennifer Agiesta, Americans have grown more supportive of coronavirus vaccine mandates for workers, students, and in everyday public life, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. The shift comes amid renewed worries about the pandemic and a continued partisan divide over the efforts to combat it. The public is split about evenly, 51% to 49%, on whether requiring proof of vaccination for everyday activities is an acceptable way to increase the vaccination rate, or an unacceptable infringement on personal rights. But there’s greater backing for requiring vaccines in many specific instances. More than half of Americans

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