National News - Page 91

Final data on pills to treat Covid-19 holds strong against hospitalization and death, Pfizer says

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

The first female sheriff of Orleans Parish is also the first Black woman to hold the job 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 school system adopts resolution to promote gun safety in homes

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

Louisville detective who fatally shot Breonna Taylor is appealing his termination from the police department

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 announces funds to support independent journalism and reporters targeted for their work

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

Most parents still have concerns about safety of Covid-19 vaccines for children, survey finds

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

A Black man is entitled to a new trial after an all-White jury deliberated in a room filled with Confederate symbols, court says

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

A Black owned museum plans to melt down Charlottesville Robert E. Lee statue to create new art

By David Williams and Amy Simonson, A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that stood in the heart of Charlottesville, Virginia, for almost a century will be melted down into bronze ingots that will be used to create new public art. The City Council voted 4-to-0 early Tuesday to hand over the statue to a local bidder, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which is housed in what was once Charlottesville’s only high school for Black students. “I think the goal for us when we started this process was to take something that has been traumatic in our community, a

New York City to mandate Covid vaccines for all private sector workers

By Aaron Cooper, Matt Egan and Chris Isidore, All private sector employers in New York City will now be required to implement a Covid-19 vaccine mandate by December 27, the city’s mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. This new move, which de Blasio announced Monday on MSNBC, means everyone who works in the city will now be subject to a vaccine mandate. “The more universal they are, the more likely employees will say okay, it’s time. I’m going to do this. Because you can’t jump from one industry to another or one company to another,” de Blasio said. “It’s something

Supreme Court skeptical of Maine law barring state funds for religious schools

By Ariane de Vogue, The Supreme Court expressed deep skepticism Wednesday of a Maine school tuition assistance program that allows parents to use vouchers to send their children to attend public and private schools but excludes religious schools from the program. Conservative justices such as Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh suggested that if a state makes the choice to provide a public benefit, it can’t exclude schools based on the fact that they teach the curriculum through the lens of faith. “All they are asking for is equal treatment,” Kavanaugh said at one point, referring to the parents

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