National News - Page 79

Critical race theory fight boils over at defense bill markup

By Sarah Fortinsky and Daniella Diaz, Members of the House Armed Services Committee forcefully debated the role of teaching critical race theory at military educational institutions for more than an hour late Wednesday night, with Democrats sharply pushing back against Republican efforts to include a ban on the concept as part of an annual defense spending bill. GOP lawmakers — including Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks of Indiana and Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee — backed amendments to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, a sweeping defense bill that authorizes spending levels and outlines priorities for the US military. Critical race theory recognizes

FDA calls meeting of its advisers to discuss Covid vaccine boosters

By Maggie Fox, The US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has called a meeting of its vaccine advisers for September 17 to discuss booster doses of coronavirus vaccine. That’s three days before the September 20 target date to start offering booster doses announced by the White House last month. “The administration recently announced a plan to prepare for additional COVID-19 vaccine doses, or ‘boosters,’ this fall, and a key part of that plan is FDA completing an independent evaluation and determination of the safety and effectiveness of these additional vaccine doses,” Dr. Peter Marks, who heads FDA’s vaccine division, said in a

New York declares a state of emergency as the Northeast is slammed by flooding from Ida’s remnants

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By Jennifer Gray, Brandon Miller and Taylor Ward, New York declared a state of emergency early Thursday morning as the Northeast region was slammed by torrential rain from the remnants of Ida, causing heavy flooding and reports of numerous water rescues. In New York City, a travel ban was implemented until 5 a.m., according to an emergency alert sent by Notify NYC. All non-emergency vehicles must stay off the road, the alert said. Almost all the city subway lines were suspended due to the flooding. The Metropolitan Transit Authority website said that only the “7” line and the Staten Island

The Harlem Hellfighters, Black soldiers who fought in World War I, will receive a Congressional Gold Medal

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By Scottie Andrew The “Harlem Hellfighters” helped the US win World War I. The Black infantry unit was one of the most decorated regiments at the time, even as most of its members were met with racism and disregard upon their return home. Now, more than 100 years after the regiment’s surviving members came home to a country that largely ignored their contributions to the war effort, the Hellfighters will receive some national recognition. President Joe Biden earlier this month signed the Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act, which will posthumously award Congress’ most vaunted symbol of appreciation to the World

7 Black men were executed for an alleged rape in 1951. Decades later, they’ve been pardoned

By Kristina Sgueglia, A group of young Black men executed after being convicted by all-White juries of allegedly raping a White woman have been pardoned in Virginia 70 years after their deaths. On Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons to the”Martinsville Seven.” “While these pardons do not address the guilt of the seven, they serve as recognition from the Commonwealth that these men were tried without adequate due process and received a racially biased death sentence not similarly applied to white defendants,” Northam’s office said Tuesday. “We all deserve a criminal justice system that is fair, equal, and gets

Social Security won’t be able to pay full benefits by 2034, a year earlier than expected due to the pandemic

By Katie Lobosco, Social Security will have to cut benefits by 2034 if Congress does nothing to address the program’s long-term funding shortfall, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the Social Security and Medicare trustees. That’s one year earlier than reported last year. By that time, the combined trust funds for Social Security will be depleted and will be able to pay only 78% in promised benefits to retirees and disabled beneficiaries. The Covid-19 pandemic and economic recession are to blame for moving up the depletion rate by a year, driven by the big drop in employment and resulting decline in revenue from payroll

CDC asks the unvaccinated not to travel this weekend and says even vaccinated need to weigh the risk

By Madeline Holcombe, Due to the surge of Covid-19 cases, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend. The US is surpassing an average of 160,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. With the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant and many students returning to the classroom for a new academic year, the rise is concerning officials and health experts. “First and foremost, if you are unvaccinated, we would recommend not traveling,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at

Two senior FDA vaccine leaders step down as agency faces decision on boosters

By Nadia Kounang, Virginia Langmaid and Amanda Sealy, Two senior leaders in the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine review office are stepping down, even as the agency works toward high-profile decisions around Covid-19 vaccine approvals, authorizations for younger children and booster shots. The retirements of Dr. Marion Gruber, director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Dr. Philip Krause, deputy director of the office, were announced in an internal agency email sent on Tuesday and shared with CNN by the FDA. In the email, CBER Director Dr. Peter Marks

Lessons from the March on Washington on the value of allyship

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Opinion by Keith Magee This past weekend was the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. As many Americans reflected on the significance of the day, particularly as voting rights across the country are under attack, they likely thought about the legacy and image of the mighty Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., standing at a lectern in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the huge crowd stretched before him captivated by his vision of a society without racism. If required to list the other leaders of this historic protest, Americans might be able to name one, maybe

A bust of Marsha P. Johnson went up near the Stonewall Inn as a tribute to the transgender activist

By Scottie Andrew Visitors to New York’s Christopher Park this week were greeted by the bust of Marsha P. Johnson, stoic yet softly smiling. She’s wearing a tiara on her head, designed to loop live flowers through. It evokes a famous photograph of Johnson, beaming with a crown of brilliant blooms strewn through her hair. The bust was erected on what would have been Jonhson’s 76th birthday — and more than two years after city officials announced they were going to create a monument to Johnson and fellow transgender activist Sylvia Rivera. But this statue of Johnson, a Black transgender woman who devoted much

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