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Downtown Portland, Oregon, erupted in violence yet again Thursday night, drawing tear gas and smoke bombs from federal officers who were deployed to quell the unrest, according to a report.
Rioters set fires and smashed windows in the area of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse until being driven away by federal officers, OregonLive.com reported.
Law enforcement officers deployed in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday night. (FOX 12 Oregon)
The courthouse is often defended by the Federal Protective Service but it wasn’t immediately clear if FPS personnel were the officers involved in Thursday’s action. Portland city police and Oregon state police have also been deployed during past riots in the city.
The scene in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Thursday night. (FOX 12 Oregon)
The crowd later made a return to the area, managing to break some courthouse windows and set another fire, the report said.
Whether anyone was arrested or injured was not immediately clear.
A fire burns in Portland, Ore., on Thursday night. (FOX 12 Oregon)
Earlier in the day, a crowd had gathered to protest plans to replace and expand an oil pipeline that runs between Superior, Wisconsin, and the Canadian province of Alberta, journalist Suzette Smith reported on Twitter.
Some protesters also cited the start of the Derek Chauvin trial in Minnesota as a reason for the unrest, Smith wrote. Chauvin is the former Minneapolis police officer who is facing murder charges in the May 25 police custody death of George Floyd.
Law enforcement officers deployed in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday night. (FOX 12 Oregon)
‘Hannity’ host slams president’s attempts to taking credit for predecessor’s vaccine achievements
Fox News host Sean Hannity urged President Biden Thursday to call former President Donald Trump and thank him for all that he did to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Following Biden’s address to the nation marking the anniversary of the government response to the pandemic, the “Hannity” host accused the president of trying “to take credit for everything that Donald Trump did on COVID-19.”
Hannity noted that when Biden entered office, three vaccines had been developed due to the work of Operation Warp Speed under Trump’s watch.
“There were already a million vaccines being administered into peoples’ arms every single day when Biden was sworn in, 36 million doses had already been distributed,” he continued.
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to combat the virus, Biden made no mention of his predecessor’s accomplishments in his address to the nation Thursday night.
“There you have it,” said Hannity, “Joe Biden, unity president that he is, taking credit for someone else’s work.”
“Joe, you want unity? Why don’t you just thank Donald Trump? You want us all to get along, you say. No Trump, no vaccine, Joe. Stop trying to take credit for something, frankly, you had nothing to do with. Nothing.”
Hannity credited the president for staying up past his reported bedtime, but warned: “Biden’s ability to remain lucid tonight, for 20 long minutes, shouldn’t be cause for celebration … The Biden administration knows that the biggest liability of Joe Biden, is Joe Biden himself.”
The Fox News host predicted that when Biden does hold a press conference, it will be a controlled environment, much like it was while he was on the campaign trail with aides “pre-selecting a handful of pro-Biden reporters.”
Hannity then rounded on the mainstream media for their unwillingness to ask tough questions.
“The mob cannot be bothered to do their jobs,” he said, “They’re actively, willingly, putting their heads in the sand. That would be NBC, ABC, CBS, MSDNC, fake news CNN. Do any of you guys have any news divisions at all? Do you have journalists working for you or not?”
The monologue concluded with a montage of liberal media hosts casting doubt on Trump’s aspiration to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine in the early months of the outbreak last year.
DENVER (KDVR) — We are forecasting cloudy skies today with a few breaks of sun and a 30% chance of rain and/or snow showers. Highs will be around 43 degrees.
The mountains can expect a 50% chance of snow with light accumulations. Highs will be in the 20s, 30s, and low 40s.
Light snow arrives in Denver by Saturday morning. A rain/snow mix may also affect the Front Range and certainly the Eastern Plains.
The heaviest snow arrives Saturday aftenrooon through Sunday. The snow winds down by Monday morning.
One thing to watch is the rain/snow line on Saturday. Rain could mix into the snow in Weld County and near DIA cutting down on total snow accumulation. The Eastern Plains will be primarily a mix with less snow accumulation.
One to two feet of snow accumulation up and down the I-25 Corridor. That includes Denver, Fort Collins, Loveland, Castle Rock, and Highlands Ranch.
Friday morning: Meteorologist Chris Tomer
Two to three feet of accumulation possible in the western suburbs and Foothills. Three feet or more possible in the Foothills and near the Divide. There is a bullseye in Larimer and Boulder Counties where 4-6 feet is possible.
Be sure to download the free Pinpoint Weather App to stay updated on the latest developments with this storm.
Friday- Meteorologist Chris TomerFriday: Meteorologist Chris Tomer
The New York state assembly has authorized its judiciary committee to start an “impeachment investigation” into sexual misconduct allegations brought by six women against Andrew Cuomo.
The panel’s investigation into the New York governor, which would run parallel to one being led by the state attorney general, Letitia James, would be authorized to interview witnesses, subpoena documents and evaluate evidence, said Carl Heastie, the speaker of the state assembly.
“The reports of accusations concerning the governor are serious,” Heastie, a Democrat, said in a statement. The assembly judiciary committee will oversee the investigation, which will have the power to interview witnesses and subpoena documents.
Separately, police in Albany said that they have been notified of the allegations and that these “may have risen to the level of a crime” although this does not mean they have opened a criminal investigation.
An acting counsel for Cuomo said the referral to the police was a “matter of state policy”.
Cuomo, 63, is one of the most prominent Democratic governors in the country and is facing mounting pressure to resign over the allegations, as well as claims that his office under-reported thousands of deaths in nursing homes early in the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, more than 55 Democratic New York legislators published a letter calling for Cuomo’s resignation. “In light of the governor’s admission of inappropriate behavior and the findings of altered data on nursing home Covid-19 deaths he has lost the confidence of the public and the state legislature, rendering him ineffective in this time of most urgent need,” states the letter, which was posted on Twitter by one of its signatories, the Democratic assemblywoman Amanda Septimo, of the South Bronx. “It is time for governor Cuomo to resign.”
Cuomo has denied all allegations by the women, most of whom are former aides. The most recent is an unnamed aide who told the Times-Union newspaper on Tuesday that Cuomo had groped her after calling her to the executive mansion last year under the pretext of business.
Cuomo denied the groping accusation, the Times-Union reported on Wednesday, saying “I have never done anything like this” and calling the details “gut-wrenching”. Representatives for Cuomo did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Reuters could neither independently verify the woman’s identity nor her account.
The governor issued a broad apology at a news conference last week for any behavior that made women feel uncomfortable, but he maintained that he had never touched anyone inappropriately.
Heastie, who said he decided to launch the investigation after meeting with fellow Democrats who control the assembly, said last weekend that Cuomo should “seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York”.
The list of New York politicians, including Cuomo’s fellow Democrats, calling on the governor to step down has been growing, and on Thursday included the New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, who said Cuomo “just can’t serve as governor any more”.
Cuomo has said he will not resign and has asked the public to await the results of that investigation before making judgment. Some Democrats believe that only the threat of impeachment will force out the governor, who has a history of clashing with his own party and has developed a reputation for aggressive political tactics against those who oppose him.
De Blasio, a longtime political rival of Cuomo, said on Thursday that the latest accusation was disturbing.
“The specific allegation that the governor called an employee of his, someone who he had power over, called them to a private place and then sexually assaulted her, it’s absolutely unacceptable,” De Blasio told reporters. “It is disgusting to me, and he can no longer serve as governor.”
Calls for Cuomo to step down have been mounting since late February, when Cuomo’s first accuser, Lindsey Boylan, a former aide and current Manhattan borough president candidate, published an essay accusing him of making unwanted advances.
The governor has also faced accusations in recent weeks that his administration sought to downplay the number of nursing home residents killed by Covid-19.
Last weekend, the state senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, called on the governor to resign, saying his governing style created a “toxic work environment” and the sexual misconduct allegations had undermined his ability to lead.
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that all adults in the US will be eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine by May 1. “All adult Americans will be eligible to get a vaccine no later than May 1,” Biden said. “That’s much earlier than expected.”
Biden clarified that adults won’t all be able to get a vaccine right away, but they will at least be able to get in line. Even then, he said the country will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May — a claim he’s made before.
It’s a goal that, as Biden said, would have seemed unfeasible just a couple of months ago. But there’s good reason to believe it’s absolutely possible now.
Even if that rate doesn’t improve at all, the US could fully vaccinate around 130 million to 140 million Americans by May 1. That’s more than half of the nearly 260 million adults in the US today. So even before Biden’s promised date, the majority of adults in America could be vaccinated.
There’s also very good reason to think the rate will go up. By the end of this month, the pharmaceutical companies have indicated they’ll produce and ship more than 3 million vaccines a day. If states manage to turn those doses into shots in arms as they get them, the US could vaccinate around 150 million to 160 million Americans before May — roughly two-thirds of US adults.
And the rate of vaccinations could easily rise above that as supply continues to increase in the coming month and a half.
In other words, Biden’s promise could kick in at a time that only one-third of US adults will still need to get vaccinated, while the country is likely delivering shots at a rate of 3 million doses a day, if not more. At that point, the math simply fits: The remaining 100 million adults or so in America really could be covered over the span of a month. The only obstacle, if it all goes well, will be making an appointment.
That’s not to say the US is destined to do all of this without any trouble. Maybe the drug companies won’t be able to deliver on the supply they’ve promised. Maybe cities, states, and the feds won’t clear all the logistical hurdles to get shots in arms. Maybe something else will break in a fairly complicated supply chain.
And as supply increases, it’s likely vaccine hesitancy will become a bigger issue as more adults simply refuse a vaccine. Overcoming that — to continue increasing the nationwide rate of vaccinations — will require creative education and awareness campaigns, focused on local pockets of resistance. That will pose its own logistical challenges.
But at least this all seems possible. That wasn’t the case when Biden took office, as the country’s vaccine rollout struggled and fewer than 1 million Americans got a shot a day. Back then, it was unclear if we could vaccinate all US adults by the end of the year. It now looks like America could get the job done in just a few months.
Aircraft carriers and warships participate in the second phase of Malabar naval exercise, a joint exercise by India, the U.S., Japan and Australia, in the northern Arabian Sea last November. The four countries form the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad.
Indian Navy/via AP
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Indian Navy/via AP
Aircraft carriers and warships participate in the second phase of Malabar naval exercise, a joint exercise by India, the U.S., Japan and Australia, in the northern Arabian Sea last November. The four countries form the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad.
Indian Navy/via AP
President Biden will step up his efforts to counterbalance China through coordination with like-minded countries on Friday when he takes part in a first-of-its-kind summit with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan.
The four nations have cooperated on and off since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 in an informal grouping known as the “Quad,” short for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
The group’s activity, including regional military exercises, has expanded since 2017, but Quad heads of state have never held a summit. Analysts say this week’s virtual meeting reflects mounting concerns about China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region and cohesion around the idea that joint pushback is needed.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters this week the fact that Biden — barely 50 days into the job — “made this one of his earliest multilateral engagements speaks to the importance we place on close cooperation with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.”
Reports suggest Quad leaders may announce financing agreements to boost India’s manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines, part of what some see as a Quad response to Beijing’s efforts to score diplomatic points by offering made-in-China vaccines to the developing world.
A range of other issues, including trade and climate change, are also likely to be discussed.
Senior Quad officials have met several times in recent years, and the four countries’ militaries have held joint exercises in the Indo-Pacific region. The decision to hold a leaders’ summit now is a clear “escalation” aimed squarely at Beijing, says Lavina Lee, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Australia’s Macquarie University.
“It’s a way of saying to China: OK, we started the Quad, we were hoping to send you a signal that we had concerns, and we were hoping that you would respond by stepping back from some of the worst aspects of of your expansionist kind of behavior,” she says. “And what has happened since 2017 is that there’s been no stepping back of China’s behavior. In fact, it’s escalating, not deescalating.”
Applying pressure
In recent months, relations between China and Quad countries have plummeted.
China imposed what analysts see as politically motivated sanctions on a range of Australian commodities, including barley, lobster and wine, after Australian leaders called for an open investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Japan has been alarmed in recent months by a rising number of incursions by Chinese military ships and aircraft over disputed waters in the East China Sea.
China-India tensions have simmered since last summer, when the nuclear-armed neighbors saw their first deadly clash in decades along the world’s longest unmarked border. Twenty Indian troops were killed, as were four Chinese.
“The behavior of China is forcing a more robust and intense relationship between India and the U.S. — and India and the other two countries, Australia and Japan — than any of them would have designed or planned,” says Varghese George, deputy resident editor of The Hindu newspaper in New Delhi and author of Open Embrace: India-US Ties in a Divided World.
“The current Indian political establishment is extremely, acutely aware of the Chinese threat, and is experiencing it as we speak,” George says.
As a pillar of its China policy, the Biden administration has vowed to deepen coordination with partners and reengage with multilateral organizations.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Japan and South Korea next week to “reaffirm the United States’ commitment to strengthening our alliances,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Austin will travel on to India. Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meanwhile meet with China’s top two foreign policy officials in Alaska.
Facing limits
Despite breaking new ground with this week’s leaders’ summit, there are limits to what the Quad can achieve, analysts say, and whether it can grow into a more formal security grouping along the lines of NATO.
Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, says Japanese politicians “like to talk tough on China … But in terms of institutionalizing the Quad along the lines of NATO, I just don’t see that happening. I don’t think there’s stomach in Tokyo to do that. So the Quad, I think, for the foreseeable future, is going to be an interesting concept, a vision, a strategy, but I don’t think it’s going to translate quickly into some sort of a NATO arrangement.”
In a paper published on Wednesday, Evan Feigenbaum and James Schwemlein of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argue that the Quad “has suffered from a lack of purpose and a lack of definition.”
“If other countries in Asia view the Quad as little more than a talk shop to discuss the looming risks posed by China’s rise while occasionally holding joint military exercises, it is unlikely that other countries will see its utility or view it as a model for their own choices and conduct,” they write.
“To lead, the Quad countries must demonstrate in deed, not just word, that they are making major contributions to solving the larger economic, transnational, and environmental challenges that preoccupy nearly everyone else in the Indo-Pacific.”
Lauren Frayer contributed reporting from Mumbai and Anthony Kuhn contributed reporting from Seoul.
Notably, the state is not requiring that eligible disabled and sick individuals present documentation of their condition. Instead, all will be required to self-attest that they meet the criteria.
Disability rights advocates had pressed for a process that would not create unnecessary barriers, especially for those less mobile, prompted by issues with vaccine line-jumping. The state also offered specific examples of people who would qualify for eligibility but are not explicitly listed.
Those include people who use regional centers, independent living centers, in-home supportive services, community-based adult services, Medi-Cal HIV/AIDS waivers, Medi-Cal home and community-based alternatives waivers, Medi-Cal assisted living waivers, program of all-inclusive care for the elderly, California children’s services program if the client is 16 to 21 years old, and California genetically handicapped persons program.
There was no way he could have killed Michael Adams at 2:56 p.m. on the 3400 block of Pleasant Grove in Lansing, Mich., because at that very moment he was eight miles away at the Lansing Airport, wrapping up a car rental transaction at Hertz. There was a receipt that would corroborate his story.
But despite numerous court orders and subpoenas throughout the trial and even years after he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2011 killing, Hertz never produced the time-stamped piece of paper.
Alford served nearly five years of 30- to 60-year sentence before the company came up with the document in 2018, definitively proving his innocence.
The receipt shows Alford’s transaction was completed at 3 p.m. Six minutes after the fatal shooting across town. As a result, his conviction was overturned and he was exonerated in Ingham County in 2020.
On Tuesday, Alford, now 47, filed a lawsuit against Hertz for failing to produce the evidence in a timely manner. Alford’s attorney, Jamie White, told NPR that it took years of court orders and subpoenas and eventually a separate trial against the car company to compel them locate the critical piece of evidence.
Alford is seeking financial compensation.
“They viciously disregarded his request for cooperation. For that reason Hertz is responsible financially for the harms he has suffered,” White said.
“If a business entity wants to participate in our community then they have a minimal responsibility to participate in processes that protect those people. You can’t take money from people and then ignore legitimate document requests that, in this case, could have saved someone’s life,” he added, noting that had Alford served the full sentence, it would have been tantamount to life in prison.
White told WLNS-TV that while he was locked up, Alford went to bed every night thinking he was never going to get out of the facility “and that takes an enormous toll on someone’s mental health.”
The company told NPR it is “deeply saddened” over Alford’s experience.
“While we were unable to find the historic rental record from 2011 when it was requested in 2015, we continued our good faith efforts to locate it,” spokesperson Lauren Luster said in an emailed statement.
“With advances in data search in the years following, we were able to locate the rental record in 2018 and promptly provided it.”
But White has a different explanation for the delay: “This is a global organization with an enormous amount of resources. … The only thing that makes sense to me is that they looked at this African American man, presumed he’d be convicted, and they didn’t have time for it,” White said.
As jury selection continued for a third day Thursday in the trial for ex-Minneapolispolice officer Derek Chauvin, one juror was dismissed by the court with cause after explaining that she could not “un-see” what she described as the “traumatizing” bystander video showing a knee pressed to George Floyd’s neck – and stating that the rioting that following his death was necessary to advance the BLM movement.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill dismissed the woman identified as “Juror #37,” expressing doubts that she could reasonably presume Chauvin is innocent until proven guilty. By the end of day Wednesday, five jurors – out of ultimately 14 sought – had been seated, and questioning continues Thursday.
“I’m going to focus on one issue and that’s the presumption of innocence,” Cahill said, addressing “Juror #37.” “Do you think you could do that — presume that he is innocent as you enter the courtroom?”
“I wouldn’t like that verdict,” she stated, before the judge interjected, “So if it if it was ‘not guilty.'”
Cahill thanked the woman for his honestly and dismissed her. Addressing the defense and prosecutors after she left, the judge explained, “When I finally gave her the space to say, how do you feel, do you think sitting here right now and it has to be right now, not later, do you can you presume the defendant innocent? She answered unequivocally, no.”
In an earlier line of questioning lead by Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, the woman reiterated that she wrote a lengthy paragraph on her juror questionnaire that she believed that Chauvin had a “hateful look on his face” as he pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck in the bystander video that went viral online last May.
In this image taken from video, defense attorney Eric Nelson, left, and defendant, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, right, listen to Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill during pretrial motions, prior to continuing jury selection in the trial of Chauvin, Thursday, March 11, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. Chauvin is accused in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. (Court TV/Pool via Pool)
She said in the questionnaire that she had a neutral opinion toward Floyd because she did not know him personally, but she saw media reports of family members saying he was a “good guy.” Before filling out the questionnaire, the woman said she watched police body-camera footage showing Chauvin and Floyd’s interactions on May 25, 2020 about three or four times – but she was only able to view the viral bystander video from start to finish once due to her strong emotional response.
“The one where you can hear him crying out for his mom,” she said. “I was only able to watch that one time.”
The juror wrote in the questionnaire that she cried upon watching to video. Because the bystander video is submitted as evidence in the case, Nelson pointed out that anyone who sits on the jury would need to watch the video again.
The juror wrote in the questionnaire that her community has been both negatively and positively affected.
“I mean negatively affected because there was a life taken — positively affected because it’s become a movement and the whole world knows about it” she told the court, explaining the response.
Nelson pressed as to whether she considered property damage that occurred during rioting following Floyd’s death a negative impact.
“I feel like if that was what needed to happen in order for this to be brought to the world’s attention and that’s what needed to happen,” she said.
Nelson read the next question in the questionnaire that asked: “No matter what you have seen or heard about this case and no matter what opinions you might have formed, can you put all of that aside and decide this case only on the evidence you receive in court, follow the law and decide the case in a fair and impartial manner?”
The woman wrote, “Yes, I can be fair and follow the law, but I cannot see that video.”
“This is what I’m asking you to do, is looking in your heart and looking in your mind, can you assure us unequivocally that you can set all of that aside? All of that and focus only on the evidence that’s presented in this courtroom?” Nelson asked.
“I can assure you,” she responded. “But like you mentioned earlier, the video is going to be a big part of evidence and there’s no changing my mind about that.”
In this image taken from video, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill speaks during pretrial motions, prior to continuing jury selection in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, Thursday, March 11, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. Chauvin is accused in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. (Court TV/ Pool via AP)
Following the juror’s dismissal, Special Attorney for the State Steven Schleicher objected to that fact that the court moved to dismiss her with cause, arguing that she stated that she could put her opinions aside in the case and if the defense wanted to use their peremptory challenges to remove her, they could have.
Nelson said the defense made a motion for cause over “several equivocal statements” made by the juror over her ability to be impartial in terms of how the video had impacted her emotionally. Cahill granted that motion and dismissed her with cause over the presumption of innocence question.
“I recognize that this juror said that she could set aside her opinions,” Nelson said. “However, whenever pressed even by the state, she had very difficult, a very difficult time acknowledging that she could apply the presumption of innocence because of her viewing of the video. And then it would be essentially that she was had already made up her mind.”
Cuomo’s counsel reported the incident to Albany police on Wednesday night — just hours after the Times Union published new details of a female aide’s account of what she described as sexually aggressive groping by the governor after she was called to the Executive Mansion late last year.
The referral, made by Cuomo’s office as required by state law, was confirmed by the police department’s spokesman and first reported by the New York Times.
Sheehan said that before Beth Garvey, the governor’s acting counsel, had contacted Albany police the department had been notified by State Police at the Capitol that Garvey would be calling them.
Officials with the governor’s office and the State Police did not immediately respond to questions about why the State Police did not field the complaint, or whether that agency had recused itself from the matter. The Times Union first reported this week that the woman’s allegation against Cuomo could potentially lead to a charge of misdemeanor sexual assault.
“When the police chief notified me of this notification that the police department received, I was very firm in communicating that while I understood that the department had been made aware of a potential criminal allegation, (and) that because this woman was represented, that the detectives or the police department should only contact her attorney, not her directly,” Sheehan said.
The woman’s attorney informed the city that they are not interested in pursuing a criminal complaint at this time.
The lawyer “has made it clear that she wants the attorney general’s office to have the authority to investigate this, along with the other allegations, and I am very respectful of that decision,” Sheehan said.
A spokesman for the city police force said that the referral did not mean an investigation had begun, but that the police would offer services to the alleged victim.
“As a matter of state policy, when allegations of physical contact are made, the agency informs the complainant that they should contact their local police department,” Garvey said in a statement. “If they decline, the agency has an obligation to reach out themselves and inform the department of the allegation.”
“In this case, the person is represented by counsel and when counsel confirmed the client did not want to make a report, the state notified the police department and gave them the attorney’s information,” Garvey said.
On March 1, the governor’s office issued a referral letter empowering state Attorney General Letitia James to commence an investigation of earlier allegations that the governor had sexually harassed at least two female staff members, including Boylan. That referral does not authorize the attorney general to conduct a criminal investigation or to subpoena witnesses before a grand jury.
It’s unclear, given the latest alleged victim’s accusations, whether the governor’s office will expand its referral to give James’ office jurisdiction to handle any criminal components of the harassment and sexual assault allegations. In essence, Cuomo would be authorizing the attorney general to investigate him for any potential crime.
Sheehan, an attorney who previously conducted sexual harassment investigations for a publicly traded company, said it is unusual for a victim of sexual harassment to pursue a criminal case against their alleged abuser.
“In my experience, I’ve never seen a complaint that resulted in criminal charges,” the mayor said. “In virtually every instance the women who are subjected to sexual harassment want the harassment to stop and they want to pursue their claims civilly. Often they want to pursue it as confidentially as possible.
“I think it’s really important to recognize that every time you make a victim tell her story, you’re re-victimizing her,” Sheehan said.
The governor’s administration has taken criticism for its failure to refer a complaint from Charlotte Bennett, another Cuomo aide who has made allegations against him, to the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, as required by his own 2018 executive order.
The Times Union reported Wednesday evening that the latest female aide to tell her story has alleged Cuomo aggressively groped her in a sexually charged manner after she had been called to the Executive Mansion under the apparent pretext of having her assist the governor with a minor technical issue involving his mobile phone. They were alone in Cuomo’s private residence on the second floor when he closed the door and allegedly reached under her blouse and began to fondle her, according to the source.
The allegations by the female aide, who is the sixth woman to accuse Cuomo of inappropriate behavior, were first reported Tuesday by the Times Union. The additional details describe the most egregious behavior attributed to the governor to date.
The person briefed on the case, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said the woman — who is much younger than Cuomo — told the governor to stop. Her broader allegations include that he frequently engaged in flirtatious behavior with her, and that it was not the only time that he had touched her.
The woman’s story was revealed within the governor’s Executive Chamber on March 3, as staff members watched his first news conference in the week since Lindsey Boylan published an online essay detailing her own allegations against Cuomo. In the news conference, the governor denied ever touching any women “inappropriately.”
Hearing those remarks, the female aide became emotional. At least one female supervisor came to her assistance and asked why she was upset. The female aide subsequently told the supervisor about what she said had been inappropriate encounters with Cuomo, the source said.
In response to the Times Union’s questions about the allegations, Cuomo on Wednesday evening issued a statement to the newspaper: “As I said yesterday, I have never done anything like this. The details of this report are gut-wrenching. I am not going to speak to the specifics of this or any other allegation given the ongoing review, but I am confident in the result of the attorney general’s report.”
State Attorney General Letitia James’ office is overseeing an investigation of the multiple harassment allegations against Cuomo.
The snowstorm that’ll wallop the Front Range this weekend probably won’t take the crown for the biggest ever in Denver, meteorologists say, but it will make a run for a slick bronze medal or even a silver as it threatens to dump 2 feet or more and snarl car, bus, train and air traffic for several hours.
Denver would need to record more than 31.8 inches of snow to unseat the second-place storm of March 2003, which National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Cooper gives this storm a “50/50 chance” of doing.
“The numbers are going to go higher the longer it sits over us,” Cooper said Thursday. His NWS colleague, Robert Koopmeiners, said downtown Denver is expected to get up to 19.5 inches of snow through early Monday.
Dethroning the record 1913 storm that blanketed Denver in nearly 46 inches over the first five days of December that year “is going to be hard to achieve,” Cooper said. But venture beyond the Denver city limits, especially to the north and west, and Cooper said the totals from this weekend’s storm could be monumental — up to 5 feet.
“The heaviest snowfall is going to be in the foothills of Boulder, Larimer and north Jefferson counties,” he said.
A significant winter storm will impact the central Rockies and High Plains this weekend, bringing as much as 1 to 3 feet of snow and strong winds to the region. Expect difficult to impossible travel conditions, scattered power outages, and severe impacts to newborn livestock. pic.twitter.com/BVlvBTpM3p
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) March 11, 2021
The approaching storm system brought rain and heavy snow across California and Nevada as it tracked eastward, AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said, and will tap into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to enhance precipitation in Colorado.
“We will have a chance of eclipsing the seasonal total in one storm,” Rayno said. Denver has received 34.1 inches for the season to date.
Snow is expected to start Friday morning, with the heaviest period of accumulation late Saturday into Sunday before wrapping up late that day.
Trouble on the roads
The Colorado Department of Transportation is urging drivers and travelers to stay off highways this weekend or make it to their destination before the storm hits, CDOT spokeswoman Tamara Rollison said Thursday.
Heavy snow accumulation is expected along Interstates 70 and 25, and other highway corridors in the foothills and along the Front Range. The I-70 mountain corridor to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel will likely get clobbered, so Rollison warned that people planning to ski Saturday morning “may be stuck on I-70 for a long time” due to closures.
The Colorado State Patrol is staffing additional troopers on metro-area highways this weekend as an increased safety measure.
“People tend to underestimate how bad snow conditions can be,” said Master Trooper Gary Cutler, a CSP spokesman.
“I encourage you to be in a relatively safe location from shortly after sunrise Saturday through Sunday afternoon if it’s snowing in your area,” the governor said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said the agency is prepared to handle the snow, which she said will come “at a fairly heavy rate, possibly an inch an hour, for a long period of time.”
John Lorme, director of maintenance and operations at CDOT, said his crews have spent days preparing equipment, adding that maintenance teams will work 12-hour shifts around the clock during the storm.
“This storm is a lot different than our routine High Country mountain-pass storm that typical drops 2 or 3 feet,” Lorme said. “So, instead I’m directing our resources from the High Country that I usually have there down here to the Front Range.”
Metro area prepares plows
In Denver, the city’s public works crews will be putting its 70 big plows and 36 smaller, residential plows to work starting Friday afternoon.
“As snow starts to accumulate, they will take a single pass down the center of each side
street,” city spokeswoman Heather Burke said. “Note the small plows do not bring the street to bare pavement but can be helpful in creating a path to the main streets and preventing deep ice ruts.”
A storm in late 2019 that left ruts on city streets for days prompted a rush of complaints from residents who grimaced hearing the undercarriage of their vehicles scraping against ice.
In Aurora, the city will ramp up its response to the storm starting late Saturday night to a Category III level, when it expects there to be 14 inches of snow on the ground. That means 62 plows, 11 loaders and six graders in action, city spokeswoman Julie Patterson said.
Aurora will also apply granular ice slicer and liquid deicer to the roads, depending on pavement temperatures and the rate of snowfall.
“As the storm continues, we will adjust our response as needed,” Patterson said. “We don’t anticipate any road closures at this time but will notify the public if that does happen.”
Snow totals are forecast to trend higher the further north in the state you go, so Boulder spokeswoman Julie Causa said the city will have its 19 plows out, staffed by up to two dozen employees per shift.
“City snow crews expect to work around the clock beginning Thursday night until well into next week if the storm continues as forecast,” Causa said.
Attention will go first to Boulder’s major streets and emergency routes and neighborhood streets with steep slopes. But because of the potentially record-setting nature of this storm, Causa said Boulder will likely tackle residential streets after the bulk of the storm — and “after priority routes have been completed.”
An American Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for takeoff from the main terminal of Denver International Airport Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Denver. (David Zalubowski, Associated Press)
Planes, trains and buses
At Denver International Airport, crews are anticipating wet, heavy snow and strong winds beginning late Friday night. About 500 people are ready and on standby for snow removal.
The airport has more than 200 pieces of snow-removal equipment for runways, taxiways and ramp areas, and another 120 pieces for airport parking lots and roadways.
Flight delays and cancellations are expected this weekend, DIA spokeswoman Emily Williams said, so travelers are urged to check ahead with airlines. Some are offering travel waivers, no fees and flexibility to change flight plans, she said.
“Close contact with your airline is going to help you out a lot, particularly if your flight is Saturday or Sunday,” Williams said.
Anyone going to the airport this weekend should monitor road conditions and take extra time to get there, Williams said. COVID-19 safety precautions, including wearing facial masks and social distancing, remain in effect at DIA.
“If you’re going to go out in it — and we suggest that you do not — you need be prepared to survive while you are waiting for help,” Cutler said.
The must-have list includes: a small snow shovel, water, food, blankets and extra clothing (especially waterproof clothing that’s appropriate for snow), a flashlight, a fully charged phone, jumper cables and emergency flares.
Four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles with good ground clearance and good tires will be necessary to navigate roads this weekend.
“If you do go out, make sure you are prepared and that you go slow,” Cutler said. “If you get stuck, you may be on your own for a while before help can get to you.”
RTD bus driver Chris Lippincott puts snow chains on the tires of a bus at West Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Street in Denver after the bus got stuck in the snow on Tuesday morning, Nov. 26, 2019.
The Regional Transportation District says it’s ready for the storm, be it on the roads where its 1,000-plus buses run or on the nearly 80 miles of train track.
“We are planning for overtime and higher-than-normal levels of personnel over the weekend to stay ahead of the storm as much as possible,” RTD spokeswoman Laurie Huff said. “We will be checking and staging equipment for the next couple of days.”
The agency will deploy extra staff for both dispatch and street supervision, with people in place to respond to accidents or buses stuck in the snow. But RTD cautions that riders should expect delays between 10 minutes and half an hour.
Train delays are also possible due to frozen wire and track switches. For light rail routes and commuter rail corridors, RTD will run “sweep trains” throughout the night to keep the overhead wires clear of ice and snow, as well as monitor heaters to ensure track switches and wires do not freeze up.
Expected snow totals for downtown Denver
National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Koopmeiners said Thursday downtown Denver will accumulate at least 19.5 inches of snow during this weekend’s storm. Here is a projected timeline as of 4 p.m. Thursday:
Sunrise to 11:59 p.m. Friday: No snow accumulation, rain most likely.
Midnight to sunrise Saturday: Between 0.25 inches and 0.5 inches on the ground.
SAN FRANCISCO — Eligible Americans may see their $1,400 stimulus payment as early as this weekend.
That’s according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said on Thursday the payments will appear as direct deposits.
“This is, of course, just the first wave, but some people in the country will start seeing those this weekend,” Psaki said.
The third stimulus checks are a part of the new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan that President Joe Biden just signed on Thursday.
“We want to move as fast as possible,” tweeted White House chief of staff Ron Klain. He added, “We will hold our celebration of the signing on Friday, as planned, with congressional leaders!”
The relief plan also extends $300 per week emergency unemployment benefits into early September.
U.S. residents who make less than $75,000 annually will get the full $1,400 stimulus amount, but that amount will decrease as income level rises.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and an Iraq war veteran, mocked Mr. Carlson by pointing to his 2006 performance on the television show “Dancing With the Stars,” which resulted in him being quickly eliminated from the competition.
“While he was practicing his two-step, America’s female warriors were hunting down Al Qaeda and proving the strength of America’s women,” Ms. Duckworth tweeted.
The senator, whose legs were blown off in combat in Iraq as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the Army, added, “Happy belated International Women’s Day to everyone but Tucker, who even I can dance better than.”
But immigration is a much thornier challenge for Democrats now that Biden is in the White House. This time Republicans can aim barbs at a president whose embrace of comprehensive immigration reform legislation appears to be at least partly the cause of the migration surge, as asylum seekers look for refuge from a friendlier U.S. government.
“We’ve seen that Biden’s policies created a border crisis,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Thursday alongside dozens of House Republicans. “On the very first day of his administration, there wasn’t a plan to open up American business or American schools, President Biden announced it was his priority to offer ‘citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.’ What did he think would happen?”
In public statements and private meetings, the GOP has embraced immigration as a common theme this week. McCarthy announced Thursday that he will lead a GOP delegation to the border next week to assess the situation firsthand. The conservative Republican Study Committee has also circulated talking points encouraging members to hammer Biden over the “ongoing humanitarian disaster” and tie it to the president’s immigration policies, calling it a “special messaging gift.”
Democrats dismiss the GOP’s messaging as a distraction, noting that Trump and Republicans in Congress did little to confront border emergencies during their years in power. The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of separating families at the border created a humanitarian calamity that became one of the biggest black marks of his presidency.
“Well, I guess, their Dr. Seuss approach didn’t work for them,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday, referring to the culture wars that Republicans have recently resurrected. “So now they have to change the subject.”
But Biden’s party is taking the issue seriously behind the scenes, working to address a deeply complicated issue that poses risks both political — since their own party skewered Trump on immigration for years — and personal, to the thousands of migrant teens and children who have been housed at U.S.-run shelters.
The number of migrant children detained at the border has tripled in recent weeks, with children reportedly held for longer than three days on average and being detained in facilities meant for adults. Critics blame Biden’s immigration policies for overwhelming the system and say the president should have more forcefully discouraged people from Central American countries from traveling north.
A few Democrats are sounding their own alarms about Biden’s handling of the influx, though their criticism of the administration is so far more muted than the GOP’s. That includes Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who represents a district encompassing a huge slice of the U.S.-Mexico border and has reached out to the Biden administration to help address the issue.
“The messaging has to change,” Cuellar said of the Biden team’s response so far, noting that officials have simply asked people to delay their trips to the U.S. border, rather than warning of potential consequences.
“The messaging is very, very important. They should learn from what happened in 2014,” Cuellar added. “I think, because of the pandemic, it’s going to be a humanitarian crisis very, very soon.”
One key difference from the Trump era, Democrats say, is that Biden has pledged a far more humane approach toward migrants, particularly those under the age of 18. Biden has already rolled back several of his predecessor’s policies, including the controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy that advocates say gutted the nation’s asylum system. And Biden has reinstated theCentral American Minors Program, which allows children to apply for asylum while remaining in their home countries rather than undertake a dangerous journey to the border.
“It’s clear to me that the Biden administration will address the issue at the border with compassion, as opposed to the cruelty that was central to the prior administration’s policy,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a brief interview Thursday.
A group of top Democrats has been working closely with the Biden administration on their response at the border, including committee leaders and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
That includes a CHC meeting Thursday morning on the issue with the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Cindy Huang, and a senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services, JooYeun Chang. During the meeting, the administration officials said they are working to expand capacity to house the children and are coordinating with local youth organizations and foster programs.
Democrats say they will continue seeking accountability for the government’s treatment of migrant children, regardless of which president is in charge. At least for now, many are prepared to give Biden time to tackle the issue, given that he’s only been in office eight weeks.
On Thursday, when asked about whether the migration rush should be considered a “crisis,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “we don’t see the need to put new labels.”
“It doesn’t matter what you call it. It is an enormous challenge,” Psaki said. “The president is very focused and very in the weeds on the operational details here and on pushing his team to take every step that can be taken to address … the fact that these border patrol facilities are not made for children.”
Meanwhile, some Democrats are making their own plans to visit detention centers where migrants are being held. Cuellar has planned a bipartisan trip with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to visit one of the same facilities that Biden administration officials recently toured. And Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) is planning his own trip in the next few weeks for his Democratic colleagues, as Axiosfirst reported.
“Republican politicians are fear-mongering and scapegoating children and families seeking asylum to distract from their lack of any governing agenda to help the American people,” Castro said in a statement. “This is a deep humanitarian situation that demands a dignified response, not dangerous rhetoric.”
Roberta Jacobson, Biden’s coordinator for the southern border, acknowledged on Wednesday that the administration sometimes has struggled to convey an ultimately promising message to migrants while also urging them not to travel to the U.S. until the country’s immigration system is better equipped.
Administration officials have also maintained that their response at the southern border has been complicated by Trump’s effective dismantling of cross-border immigration systems, the administration’s refusal to turn migrants away, and the coronavirus that has consumed Biden as his top priority.
The pandemic adds its own wrinkle to the current state of immigration politics. Migrants are tested for Covid before entering the U.S. and supposed to isolate if they receive a positive diagnosis. But Republicans have seized on reports that some migrants who tested positive for coronavirus were released into Texas.
“There are super-spreader caravans coming across,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said at Thursday’s news conference. “This was all done by President Biden, and President Biden can address and reverse this policy.”
A White House spokesperson countered that during their visit to the border, Republicans will see “the cruelty, chaos and confusion pushed by the prior administration.”
“We hope once these Republican members return, they come to the table ready to work with the White House and Democrats in Congress to bring our immigration system into the 21st century,” said the spokesperson.
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