National News - Page 94

The spike in gun violence continues, with 2021 on pace to be the worst year in decades

By Holmes Lybrand, So far, 2021 is on pace to be the worst year for gun violence in decades, surpassing even the high levels last year. According to the Gun Violence Archive, from January 1 to September 15, a total of 14,516 people died from gun violence in the US. That’s 1,300 more than during the same period in 2020, a 9% increase. Mass shootings are also on the rise. Through September 15, there have been 498 mass shootings across the US, or an average of about 1.92 per day. That’s 15% higher than last year, when there were a total

‘Hotlanta’ is even more sweltering in these neighborhoods due to a racist 20th-century policy

By Derek Van Dam and Haley Brink, On a warm September afternoon, Mona Scott sat on the front porch while her home baked like an oven. As she ran a frozen water bottle across her forehead and arms, Scott told CNN her air conditioning broke 10 days earlier and had not yet been fixed. “The windows are painted shut,” Scott said. “We come outside at night to sleep because it’s too hot inside.” Like Scott, residents in the low-income communities across south and southwest Atlanta are struggling to cope with the hottest summer since the Dust Bowl period of the 1930s. “It’s

FDA advisers first rejected Pfizer’s booster application — but then voted to recommend a third shot for certain Americans

By Maggie Fox and Madeline Holcombe, Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted unanimously to recommend emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s booster shot six months after full vaccination in Americans 65 and older as well as those at high risk of severe Covid-19. That vote came after the group had first voted and rejected a broader application: to approve the third shot in all Americans 16 and older six months after they were fully vaccinated. Dr. Steven Pergam, medical director for infection prevention at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, expressed concern that the recommendation the advisers approved

Parents defend Atlanta principal after mom claims that Black students were assigned classes by race

By Nicquel Terry Ellis, A mother’s claim that her children’s school was assigning Black students to certain classes has shaken up one Atlanta school community with some parents insisting the principal would never group students based on race. It’s also fueled a debate about whether the practice would even be considered legal or productive for the children. Kila Posey filed a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights last month. She alleges that during the 2020-2021 school year Mary Lin Elementary School Principal Sharyn Briscoe designated only two second-grade classes for Black students without the consent of

The FDA’s meeting on Covid-19 boosters may not provide an answer to all the questions, experts say

By Madeline Holcombe, The US Food and Drug Administration is meeting Friday about Covid-19 vaccine boosters, but the long-awaited discussion may not yield an answer as to whether all vaccinated Americans will get a third dose, experts said. “What I think we’re going to hear from the FDA advisory committee is a go-ahead to boost people over the age probably of 60 because that’s where the data is most solid,” CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said. “The question is what does this mean for people who are younger, and do we need to start boosting them now?” Three reports published Wednesday supporting the argument

The Supreme Court’s actions on abortion and voting rights would have stunned RBG

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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

Bans on chokeholds for federal officers latest in nationwide push to hold police to a ‘higher standard’

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.

Students fight back against a book ban that has a Pennsylvania community divided

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 repeats as nation’s highest ranked public HBCU by U.S. News & World Report

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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

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