One America News Network reporter Chanel Rion asks a question at a briefing for reporters at the White House on May 22, 2020.
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Alex Brandon/AP
One America News Network reporter Chanel Rion asks a question at a briefing for reporters at the White House on May 22, 2020.
Alex Brandon/AP
Dominion Voting Systems has filed billion-dollar lawsuits against two conservative television networks for their alleged spread of misinformation during the 2020 election, the company’s latest move in an ongoing legal battle.
In a series of lawsuits filed Tuesday, the voting tech company accused right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News Network of spreading misinformation about the 2020 election by accusing Dominion of rigging the ballots in President Biden’s favor via their voting machines. These lies have harmed the company, its employees, and its customers; workers have been threatened, their offices vandalized, and the company has had to spend upwards of $600,000 on security for employees, the suit alleges.
Among other claims, OAN and Newsmax alleged that the Dominion voting machines, which were used in 28 states, deleted millions of votes for Donald Trump – a claim that has “no basis in fact or reality,” the suits state.
Newsmax and OAN “knowingly and continuously sold the false story of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election with Dominion cast as the villain,” a representative for Dominion told reporters this week.
The suits also name OAN CEO Robert Herring as well as his son, OAN president Charles Herring, the Chief White House Correspondent for OAN, Chanel Rion, and a network personality, Christina Bobb. Dominion has also sued Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock; he appeared often on OAN and was interviewed as an “expert,” but similarly spread misinformation about Dominion and the 2020 election, the suits allege.
Dominion is suing Newsmax, OAN, and Byrne for a minimum of $1.6 billion each. OAN did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement issued to NPR, a representative for Newsmax said that they have not yet reviewed the lawsuits but defended their reporting. While covering the 2020 election, Newsmax “simply reported on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the President, his advisors and members of Congress,” their statement reads.
“Dominion’s action today is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press,” they continued.
Tuesday’s suit is one of several Dominion has filed since the election. In March, the company sued Fox Network for defamation to the tune of $1.6 million. Dominion has also taken legal action against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, as well as former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani.
CHICAGO – Two brothers have been charged in a shooting Saturday that left one police officer dead and another seriously wounded.
Emonte Morgan, 21, was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Officer Ella French, 29, along with attempted murder and other charges, according to a statement Monday from the Cook County State’s Attorney Office. Eric Morgan, 22, faces charges including aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Both men were scheduled to appear at a bail hearing Tuesday.
The incident began as a routine traffic stop before the men began shooting at the officers, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference Sunday. The officers returned fire, striking one person in the vehicle, who was hospitalized and is in stable condition, Brown said.
The shooting left French’s partner critically wounded, authorities said. The Chicago Police Department tweeted Sunday asking for prayers as he remained in the hospital “fighting for his life.”
“It’s just another example of how the Chicago police department and these officers (risk) their lives … to protect this city day in, day out,” First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she had spent time with the family of the slain officer. She described Frenchthe officer as “very young on the job but incredibly enthusiastic.”
“Our hearts ache for the loss of life,” Lightfoot said Sunday. “This is a very tragic and sad day for our city.”
French was the first female officer shot to death in the line of duty since Irma Ruiz, who was killed inside an elementary school in 1988.
The last Chicago officer shot to death in the line of duty was 28-year-old Samuel Jimenez, who was killed after responding to a shooting at a hospital on Nov. 19, 2018.
Two officers, Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo, died when they were struck by a train while pursuing a suspect on Dec. 17, 2018.
A Bexar County Civil District Court Judge granted the city and Bexar County’s request for a temporary restraining order against Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates in schools.
Effectively, the ruling allows Bexar County and San Antonio officials to issue a mask mandate in public schools and other guidance like quarantine protocol — for now. Officials say they plan to have an order issued by the end of Tuesday. No details have been released yet on the guidance but officials will hold a live press conference at 6:10 p.m.
The order was granted after an hour-long hearing by 57th Civil District Court with Judge Toni Arteaga.
Arteaga said an affidavit from Metro Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Junda Woo weighed heavily in her decision, as did the vulnerability of children who are returning to school amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
“I don’t do this lightly,” Arteaga said.
The temporary restraining order will remain in effect until another court hearing slated for Monday.
With the ruling, the city and county will “immediately issue an order requiring masks in public schools and requiring quarantine if an unvaccinated student is determined to be in close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual,” according to a news release. According to documents presented in court, they will also require face masks for employees of Bexar County and San Antonio and visitors to city and county facilities.
The ruling is the first court loss for Abbott’s ban on coronavirus mandates, which have been challenged across the state in recent days.
“We can get back to managing what is a very dangerous surge of this delta variant in schools and otherwise,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said shortly after the ruling.
“This is a big day for the children of Bexar County and the citizens of our community,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Woff said.
Abbott’s press secretary Renae Eze issued this response:
“Governor Abbott’s resolve to protect the rights and freedoms of all Texans has not wavered. There have been dozens of legal challenges to the Governor’s executive orders—all of which have been upheld in the end. We expect a similar outcome when the San Antonio trial court’s decision is reviewed by the appellate courts.”
Press conference 8/10/21
On July 29, Abbott issued an executive order that further removed tools from local governments to enact policies that public health experts say would help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including mask requirements, capacity limits and vaccine mandates. Abbott said the executive order “emphasizes that the path forward relies on personal responsibility rather than government mandates.”
Abbott’s executive order relied on the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, which he said gives him the authority to bar governments from imposing any coronavirus-related mandates.
Attorney Bill Christian, who represents the City of San Antonio, argued that Abbott’s interpretation is an overreach.
“We do not believe that this statute is broad enough to encompass the decisions of cities and counties in their local jurisdictions drawing on their authority under the local public health acts,” Christian said.
As the city and county’s chief medical officer, the attorneys for San Antonio and Bexar County argue that Woo has the authority to impose a mask mandate under the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Kimberly Gdula, an Assistant Texas Attorney General, said that a temporary restraining order would effectively undo state law.
“Not only are (they) asking this court to overthrow an executive order that carries the force and effect of state law, they are asking this court to throw out parts of the Texas Disaster Act that were passed by the Legislature,” Gdula said.
Gdula also said that a recent ruling from the Eighth Court of Appeals reaffirmed the governor’s power under the Texas Disaster Act.
In San Antonio, the 7-day average of new coronavirus cases is more than 1,200. Hospitalizations have also soared to 1,197. By comparison, an average of 140 patients were hospitalized with the virus in early July.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The number of pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida is higher than anywhere else in the country, and it’s as high as any other time since the pandemic began, data shows.
Baptist Health said 10 children with COVID-19 were admitted Sunday and four children with COVID-19 were admitted Monday. As of Tuesday, according to Baptist Health, 16 COVID-19 patients were in Wolfson Children’s Hospital, four of whom were in the intensive care unit.
Dr. Mobeen Rathore, chief of pediatric infectious disease at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, said both children with underlying health conditions and generally healthy children are being hospitalized.
Tonight at 6 we’re looking into the details of a spike in pediatric Covid cases
“Many of them are generally healthy kids, but there are also kids that have underlying health conditions. Of course, they are the ones that get the sickest and have the high chance of morbidity. But there are children that are otherwise healthy also,” Rathore said.
Looking at Florida as a whole, in the last two days of data reported to the federal government, 118 pediatric patients were admitted to a hospital with COVID-19.
Dr. Adriana Cantville, a pediatric hospitalist at UF Health Jacksonville, said children can have a variety of symptoms from congestion and diarrhea to needing oxygen and IV fluids.
“Unfortunately, the entire family is affected, and it’s not just the child who is sick, but we have sick parents, grandparents. Often time the whole household is affected,” Cantville said.
News4Jax also spoke with both Rathore and Cantville about the start of the new school year. They said the incubation period of COVID-19 is days or weeks, meaning if there are outbreaks in schools, there could be more hospitalizations in the coming weeks.
As for the ages of the pediatric patients, the doctors said they’re all ages — from infants to teenagers.
They also said the majority of children age 12 and up in hospitals — who are eligible to be vaccinated — are not vaccinated.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, here in March, has announced he is stepping down. It’s a remarkable turn of events from last year when Cuomo was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Seth Wenig/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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Seth Wenig/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, here in March, has announced he is stepping down. It’s a remarkable turn of events from last year when Cuomo was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Seth Wenig/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he will resign following a scathing report from the state’s attorney general concluding the third-term Democrat sexually harassed 11 women, and in one instance, sought to retaliate against one of his accusers who went public with her allegations.
“Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing, and I cannot be the cause of that,” Cuomo, 63, said in remarks Tuesday from the state capital of Albany.
“I think that, given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing,” he added.
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is next in line and will become the state’s first female governor.
“This transition must be seamless,” Cuomo said, calling Hochul smart and competent. “She can come up to speed quickly.”
Hochul, who served one term in Congress before Cuomo tapped her to be his running mate in 2014, said in a statement she agreed with the governor’s decision to step down.
“It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers,” she said. “As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York state’s 57th governor.”
Cuomo will leave office on Aug. 24
Cuomo’s departure from office, which will take effect in 14 days,represents a remarkable turn of events from just over a year ago when the governor was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party for his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet even that performance is now under a cloud of scrutiny as a separate investigation by the attorney general found that the number of nursing home deaths in the state was far worse than officials disclosed.
But it was the allegations of harassment that precipitated the once unthinkable prospect of Cuomo’s resignation. The 165-page report released last week followed a months-long investigation into Cuomo’s actions and outlined what New York Attorney General Letitia James called violations of both state and federal law. Prosecutors said their findings substantiated allegations from several women — which included unwanted and nonconsensual touching, groping, kissing and sexual comments.
“This is a sad day for New York because independent investigators have concluded that Governor Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and, in doing so, broke the law,” James said upon the report’s release. “No man – no matter how powerful – can be allowed to harass women or violate our human rights.”
It’s a stunning fall for Cuomo, a political scion whose last name is like royalty in New York. His father, Mario, a former three-term governor, is revered in the state. The governor’s resignation marks an end to a nearly half-century political dynasty. There has been a Cuomo in statewide or federal office for 40 of the last 46 years.
In his remarks Tuesday, Andrew Cuomo repeatedly denied the allegations against him and called the report “false.” The most serious allegations, he said, “had no credible factional basis.”
He then apologized for offending the women who were included in the report and said he took “full responsibility” for his actions.
“I have been too familiar with people. My sense of humor can be insensitive and off-putting. I do hug and kiss people casually, women and men. I have done it all my life,” Cuomo said.
“In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn.”
Multiple women spoke out publicly against Cuomo
Since February, at least seven women have come forward to recount unwelcome interactions with Cuomo, including several former aides.
Among them is Jessica Bakeman, who said in a New York magazine essay published in March that the governor touched her inappropriately while she was a statehouse reporter several years ago. Bakeman now works at an NPR member station in Florida.
Her account followed accusations from a Cuomo aide who said the governor had groped her late last year. In interviews last week with CBS and the Times Union of Albany, the aide, Brittany Commisso, said she was called to Cuomo’s office in the Executive Mansion to help with a technical problem with his mobile phone. Once she arrived, he began groping her, she alleged.
Commisso’s allegations were originally published by the Times Union in April under the condition that she remain anonymous.
An attorney for the governor, Beth Garvey, said the state had an obligation to report those allegations and did so when the complainant declined to do it.
Following the Times Union revelation, the speaker of the New York State Assembly, Carl Heastie, authorized the assembly’s Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment investigation into the misconduct allegations against Cuomo.
Another woman, Anna Ruch, shared her story with The New York Times.Ruch told the Times in March that she met Cuomo during a wedding reception in September 2019. Ruch said that Cuomo put his hand on her bare lower back and that after she removed his hand, he then placed both hands on her cheeks and asked if he could kiss her. A friend nearby photographed the interaction, and Ruch shared the photos with the newspaper.
Calls to resign have been growing from within his own party
Following publication of Ruch’s story, U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice called for Cuomo to quit. She was the first Democrat in New York’s congressional delegation to do so.
In the months since, every member of the state’s congressional delegation has followed suit, including Reps. Jerry Nadler and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. So too did the state’s two U.S. senators — Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
President Biden also said Cuomo should resign if the investigation confirmed the women’s allegations.
“I think he’ll probably end up being prosecuted, too,” Biden told ABC News in March.
After the attorney general’s report was released Aug. 3, Biden confirmed that he believed Cuomo should step down. “I think he should resign,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
Ruch’s allegations followed statements in February from two former aides: Lindsey Boylan, a onetime economic adviser to Cuomo, and Charlotte Bennett, who was an executive assistant and health policy adviser for the governor.
Boylan described an unwanted kiss and touching from the governor amid “a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected.”
Bennett toldThe New York Times that the governor had asked her a series of personal questions when she was alone with him in his office, including whether she ever had sex with older men.
Cuomo also faced backlash over nursing home deaths
On top of the harassment accusations, Cuomo has also faced pressure over not publicly disclosing the full number of people who died of COVID-19 in nursing homes in the state.
The state attorney general issued a report in late January that found Cuomo’s administration undercounted the nursing home deaths by 50% because it didn’t include many residents who became sick with COVID-19, were transferred to a hospital and died there.
Cuomo has had a long history in politics
Cuomo has been involved in politics for most of his life. Arguably, politics has been more a part of his life than even his father’s.
He got his start in politics as a volunteer on his father’s campaign for lieutenant governor when he was 16. In 1982, at 24, he was campaign manager for his father’s first successful run for governor.
When his father was governor, Cuomo then started a nonprofit in the 1980s to help build housing for the homeless, which drew the attention of national political figures.
By the 1990s, Cuomo was secretary of housing and urban development in Bill Clinton’s administration. And he was married to Kerry Kennedy in a marriage the New York tabloids dubbed “Cuomolot,” a play on Camelot, which the Kennedy dynasty is sometimes called.
Cuomo returned to New York in 2000 and soon launched a campaign against Republican Gov. George Pataki, the man who unseated his father and denied Mario Cuomo a fourth term.
The campaign, though, was a bust. He lost in the Democratic primary, and Pataki won reelection. After the loss, Cuomo’s marriage fell apart, too. It was a time he called the low point of his life.
But by 2006, he was back. He ran and won as state attorney general, mapping out his arc to the governorship. He was elected governor in 2010, and was serving his third term, seeking his fourth, at the time of his resignation.
Only one person has won four terms as New York state governor — Nelson Rockefeller, who went on to serve as Gerald Ford’s vice president in 1974.
It now heads to the House of Representatives, where it faces an uncertain future, before it can be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bipartisan infrastructure deal on Tuesday. They are:
The legislation, which includes $550 billion in new funding for transportation, broadband and utilities, is expected to get through with Democratic and Republican votes. After its passage, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to turn to a budget resolution that would allow Democrats to approve what they see as a complementary $3.5 trillion spending plan without Republican votes.
“After all the long, hard negotiating, the stops and starts, we’re here and it’s a good thing, a very good thing for America,” Schumer said Monday night ahead of the final vote.
The chamber is expected to vote on the bill’s passage at about 11 a.m. ET.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has stressed she will not take up the infrastructure bill or Democrats’ separate proposal to expand the social safety net until the Senate passes both of them. The House does not return from recess until Sept. 20.
The bill’s passage will cap a months-long slog for the White House and both parties in Congress to forge a plan to refresh American roads, railways, public transit, water systems, power grids and broadband. Congress for years failed to agree on a comprehensive infrastructure plan, which supporters in both parties say will boost the economy and create jobs.
“It’s long-term spending to repair and replace and build assets that will last for decades. In doing so, it does make life better for people,” Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican and the bill’s lead GOP negotiator, said Monday.
Democrats’ push to pass their economic agenda could still fall apart. The infrastructure bill on its own appears to have enough Democratic and Republican support to coast through the House.
But to win over both centrists wary of a $3.5 trillion bill and progressives who want additional spending on child care, paid leave and climate policy, Pelosi has said she will not pass one bill without the other. In order to approve their plan through budget reconciliation without Republicans, Democrats cannot lose a single member of their 50-person Senate caucus, or more than a handful of representatives.
The Senate will next vote on a budget resolution in coming days to unlock the reconciliation process. Schumer said Monday that the chamber will “immediately” vote on proceeding to the budget measure after finishing the infrastructure bill.
He expects to start a so-called vote-a-rama — where the Senate considers an indefinite number of amendments to the resolution — “shortly thereafter.” The chamber plans to start its own recess once it passes the budget measure.
Schumer has given committees a Sept. 15 target to finish writing their portions of the final legislation. The bill would then have to work its way through both chambers of Congress.
Centrists including Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have signaled they will vote for the budget resolution but try to trim the $3.5 trillion proposal. Republicans have started to hammer Democrats for the proposed spending and individual tax increases they hope to use to offset it.
Biden and Democrats want a signature policy they can promote on the midterm campaign trail next year as they try to hold both chambers of Congress. Their plan is set to extend household tax credits and health-care subsidies passed during the coronavirus pandemic, lower the Medicare eligibility age and expand benefits and use tax credits, rebates and polluter fees to encourage the adoption of green energy.
The bipartisan bill is the first step. It puts $110 billion into roads, bridges and other major projects, $66 billion into passenger and freight rail, $65 billion into broadband, $55 billion into water systems and $39 billion into public transit, among other spending.
The Biden administration has pushed for its swift passage.
“My department is ready the moment this bill becomes law to start deploying these resources and getting them out to communities,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNBC’s “The News With Shepard Smith” on Monday.
Funding for the bill will come from repurposed coronavirus relief money, unused federal unemployment insurance aid and spectrum auctions, among other sources. Republicans resisted Biden’s proposal to hike the corporate tax rate to offset costs.
While senators have said the bill will be paid for, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday that it would increase budget deficits by $256 billion over a decade. The report did not include the potential revenue boost from economic growth.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
From flood to fire, 2021 has been a summer of extraordinary extremes across the globe — a sign that the impacts of climate change are already widespread and accelerating. Such extremes, and their connection to human-caused climate change, are just one main theme in a landmark climate report released Monday by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Written by more than 230 leading scientists from countries around the world, it is part of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report — the most significant climate report published in years by the international science community.
The report is a synthesis of work from over 14,000 research citations. It is, in effect, a climate science encyclopedia — a summary of the latest scientific consensus on climate change and what the future portends, through the use of sophisticated climate models and knowledge of past conditions. It is an update on how the Earth’s climate and our understanding of it have changed since the last such report in 2013.
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land,” the report states. Many of the changes inflicted on the planet — especially our oceans — will be “irreversible for centuries to millennia,” and continued warming will lead to an acceleration of “extreme events unprecedented in the observational record,” it warns.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the report a “code red for humanity.” Guterres said, “the alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk,” CBS News’ Pamela Falk reports.
But also conveyed in the report is the knowledge that there’s still time to take action on the climate crisis. The report makes clear that every increment of temperature rise matters, so less warming will help lessen disaster. That will require steps like rapidly reducing methaneemissions in the short term and greenhouse gases overall. The science shows that if society is able to follow a low-carbon path into the future, it will “yield rapid and sustained effects to limit human-caused climate change,” the report says.
One of the report’s lead authors, Professor Ed Hawkins, from the University of Reading in the U.K., says the main messages he hopes readers will take away from the report are that “climate change is indisputably caused by human activities (primarily fossil fuel burning and deforestation), and that this is already affecting every region, including making extreme weather events worse.”
“Immediate, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are required to limit global temperature rise,” he said.
Unprecedented changes
Scientists have known since the 1800s that gases like carbon dioxide warm the planet by trapping heat. By the 1960s it was clear to scientists, and even Big Oil companies, that increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels carried with it harmful consequences for the planet.
As the telltale signs of climate change became more apparent, the international community agreed to come together to address the issue. In 1988, the IPCC was formed by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environmental Program. As an intergovernmental body, it is comprised of scientists and political representatives tasked with providing the world with objective science on climate change and outlining the risks, consequences and possible responses. The IPCC has produced comprehensive assessment reports every few years beginning in 1990, with other special reports in between.
Like the 2013 assessment, this year’s report leaves no wiggle room for skeptics, stating that it is “unequivocal” that human actions have warmed the planet. “Widespread and rapid changes” have already occurred, and the impact is increasingly being felt around the world.
“Large-scale indicators of climate change in the atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere [frozen areas] are reaching levels, and changing at rates unseen in centuries to many thousands of years” due to human-caused warming, the authors say.
Some of the key findings include:
C02 levels
Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere are higher today than at any time in the last 2 million years. For methane it’s at least 800,000 years. And the rate of increase of greenhouse gases exceeds all natural changes during that same time period.
Rising temperatures
As a result, temperatures over the last 50 years have increased at a rate faster than any time over the last 2,000 years. Average global surface temperature was 1.1° Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) higher in 2011–2020 than in the period from 1850–1900 (before human industry started warming the planet), with stronger warming over land (1.6°C) than over the ocean (0.9°C). It is likely that the most recent decade is as warm as any period since the last interlude between Ice Ages — 125,000 years ago.
IPCC
Ice melt
Warming temperatures are melting ice at unprecedented rates for modern times. Late summer Arctic sea ice coverage is less than any time in the last 1,000 years. Glacier retreat is unprecedented in the last 2,000 years, with almost all of the world’s glaciers retreating synchronously since the 1950s.
Sea level rise
Greenhouse gases, warming and ice melt from land are leading to huge change in the oceans. The rate of sea level rise is the highest it has been in at least 3,000 years. Global mean sea level increased by about 8 inches between 1901 and 2018. And the pace is accelerating: The rate of increase was 1.3 mm per year between 1901 and 1971, but increased to 3.7 mm per year between 2006 and 2018.
Some 90% of the excess heat trapped in the Earth system is stored in our oceans. As a result, the ocean is gaining heat faster than at any time since the end of the last Ice Age.
Ocean acidification
Carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater and makes the ocean more acidic, which poses a threat to coral and other sea life. Ocean acidification is now at levels that are “unusual in the past 2 million years,” the report says.
Climate change and extreme weather
Discussion of extreme weather is a big part of this year’s report, which states, “Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.”
And the report warns there is worse to come. With 1.5°C of global warming — a level we will likely hit in the 2030s — it says we should expect to see “extreme events unprecedented in the observational record.”
Heat waves
Heat waves have the most obvious connection to global warming. They have become “more frequent and more intense across most land areas since the 1950s,” the report says. Recent extremes would have been “extremely unlikely to occur without human influence on the climate system.” It also notes that marine heat waves — unusually high temperatures in ocean waters — have nearly doubled since the 1980s, with human fingerprints on most of them.
Precipitation
As air temperatures increase, the atmosphere can hold more moisture and thus produce heavier rainfall. As a result, heavy precipitation events have increased in both frequency and intensity since 1950.
Drought
Climate change is contributing to droughts as well, often because of warming leading to increased evaporation from soils and vegetation.
Tropical cyclones
With warmer ocean temperatures and more atmospheric moisture available, tropical cyclones and hurricanes are undergoing changes. The global proportion of major storms (Category 3–5) has increased over the last four decades, and climate change also increases the heavy precipitation associated with them.
For each IPCC assessment cycle, a suite of climate models are run to help project our changing climate into the future. As the years have progressed, these models have become more sophisticated and higher resolution. The effort is called the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) made up of around 100 climate models from 50 different international modeling groups.
One big advance made for this year’s report is the narrowing of the range of warming projected from the doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere — a concept called the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS). In the previous report, the ECS ranged between 1.5°C and 4.5°C — a very large uncertainty which would yield completely different climate outcomes.
Now, through analysis of improved model output, scientists were able to reduce the ECS uncertainty to a best estimate of 3°C of warming, with a likely range of 2.5°C to 4°C.
For this report cycle, the modelers ran a set of five emissions scenarios to explore how the climate is likely to respond to various levels of greenhouse gasses, differences in land use and air pollution. The models also account for the potential impact of solar activity and volcanoes. These scenarios are meant to offer a window into how our choices help shape the planet’s future.
Although the IPCC does not weigh in on the plausibility of any one scenario, it’s generally understood that the lowest and highest emissions scenarios are unlikely and act as a lower and upper bound on possible climate futures. It all hinges on what humanity does, or does not do, to combat climate change.
Based on these models, the report concludes that global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the middle of this century under all emissions scenarios. Global warming targets of no more than 1.5°C or 2°C above the pre-industrial average — the goal of the Paris Agreement — will be exceeded during the 21st century unless there are “deep reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.”
There is a wide range in possible warming (seen in the chart below) depending on which scenario comes closest to reality. In a scenario where CO2 emissions are dramatically and swiftly reduced, warming may stay near the goal of 1.5°C. But for a very high emissions scenario, warming as high as a catastrophic 5.7°C is possible.
Experts agree that both of those scenarios are very unlikely. The more likely outcome is an intermediate scenario of closer to 3°C of warming.
IPCC
In any case, global warming of 1.5°C, relative to 1850-1900 levels, is likely to be met or exceeded in all five scenarios and that is likely to happen before 2040. In the highest emissions scenarios, temperatures blow right past the 1.5°C goal. But in the lowest emissions scenario there is only a temporary overshoot of the goal.
In regards to the 2°C warming threshold, the three higher emissions scenarios all result in breaching that upper-end target. The two lowest emissions scenarios are very likely to limit warming below 2°C.
These different scenarios make it clear that humanity has the power to limit the worst impacts of climate change if we collectively choose to.
Uneven impacts: Hotter, wetter, drier
In the maps below you can see how different regions of the Earth are projected to warm under different levels of global warming. The Arctic, which is already warming at three times the average rate, will continue to lead the way. And land areas — where people live — will continue to warm faster than the ocean, with regions affected in different ways.
IPCC
Overall the Earth will get wetter, but some areas will experience greater dryness. These wet and dry trends have generally been consistent through decades of climate modeling. This is due to an intensification of the water cycle and prevailing weather patterns. It’s clear that high latitudes and monsoon areas of Africa and India will get wetter, meaning flooding in areas less prepared for these extremes.
Meanwhile, areas vulnerable to water stress and fire will continue to plunge deeper into drought. These areas include the Southwest U.S., Central America, the Amazon, southern Africa, the Mediterranean and Middle East. All of these areas have faced both water shortages and out of control wildfires and that trend will continue.
IPCC
One thing that has become abundantly clear the past few years is that as temperatures rise, extreme conditions become more likely, in some cases at an accelerating rate. This is especially true for hot weather extremes. Both the frequency and intensity of heat waves will continue to noticeably increase, even with seemingly modest increases in global warming.
Extreme heat events like the kind that a region would expect to experience once every 50 years in the world before climate change have already increased by about 5 times. These types of deadly conditions will multiply as warming continues.
IPCC
Rainfall also has a direct connection to how warm the atmosphere is, and the report indicates that heavy precipitation events will continue to increase in both intensity and frequency. In the Northeast U.S., heavy rain events have already increased by roughly 50%.
Because a warmer climate intensifies the water cycle, it’s not just heavy precipitation events that will increase; drought will as well. Though average precipitation will increase in most places, more will fall in heavy events, not moderate rainfall spread out over time.
The bigger impact on drought occurs because more heat energy in the system means enhanced evaporation, drying out vegetation and soils. We see the result of that across the West, where since 2000 a naturally dry long-term pattern has teamed up with climate change to fuel the worst two decades of drought in over a millennium.
With greater warming, heavy precipitation and drought events that would only be expected once every 10 years in a given region will also happen more frequently. There is a steady increase as temperatures warm, but it is worth noting that the heaviest precipitation events, like the devastating floods in Western Europe this summer, will increase at an even faster rate, overwhelming existing infrastructure.
As we now approach the peak of hurricane season, and given the monster storms of the past few hurricane seasons, the report’s warning about storm trends is also concerning.
“The proportion of intense tropical cyclones (categories 4-5) and peak wind speeds of the most intense tropical cyclones are projected to increase at the global scale with increasing global warming,” it says, though it notes the science is still not clear on whether the number of tropical systems will increase or decrease.
In the colder regions, additional warming will obviously mean amplified permafrost thawing and loss of seasonal snow cover, land ice and sea ice. Under all of the emissions scenarios, the Arctic is likely to be practically free of sea ice in September (when it reaches its annual minimum) at least once before 2050.
Compounding the impact of ice melt is the fact that ice reflects the sun’s rays back into space and helps keep warmer air and water from reaching the Arctic, so the loss of ice acts as a self-reinforcing feedback loop, accelerating warming. Thawing permafrost releases long-trapped greenhouse gases, another feedback which will increase.
While limiting warming will be necessary to preserve Earth’s ability to support life in the future, there are certain changes already baked into the system which are irreversible on century time scales. Even if we were to stop warming today, the seas will keep rising and the ice will keep melting because the ocean stores, circulates and releases heat over much longer periods.
“Sea level is committed to rise for centuries to millennia due to continuing deep ocean warming and ice sheet melt, and will remain elevated for thousands of years,” the report says.
For instance, we know from the science of paleoclimatology, which uses evidence in the fossil record like ice cores, tree rings and ocean sediments, that 125,000 years ago, in between Ice Ages, sea levels were much higher than today — but temperatures were roughly the same as today. This leads to the conclusion that, through continued ice melt, seas will continue to rise for hundreds of years, eventually reaching levels last seen during that time period.
Under the intermediate emissions scenario considered in the report, global sea level is projected to rise by up to 2.5 feet by 2100 and over 4 feet by 2150. That’s without factoring in any potential collapse of ice sheets in Greenland or Antarctica, which with more warming becomes more probable.
Over the next 2,000 years, the report projects that global mean sea level will rise up to 10 feet if warming is limited to 1.5°C, or up to 20 feet if warming tops out at 2°C.
But it gets even worse if we warm past the Paris Agreement climate targets. Then our comparable climate is millions of years ago, when sea levels may have been more than 70 feet higher than today.
Darrell S. Kaufman, a paleoclimatologist at Northern Arizona University who studies past climate stretching back millions of years, told CBS News, “As a paleoclimate scientist, I see lots of evidence that climate can change dramatically when it’s pushed. Humans are pushing the climate. There’s no going back, but we could limit the worst effects if we make major rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”
Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the report comes in its look at so-called low-likelihood but high-impact events, such as ice sheet collapse or an abrupt alteration in ocean circulation. Although the probability or timing of these can not be forecast with any degree of accuracy, the report says such occurrences cannot be ruled out and must be part of our risk assessment.
One example of such an event is a potential tipping point in the Atlantic Ocean current system known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, which has been weakening or possibly even heading for collapse. The system, which circulates warmer waters northward from the tropics and sends cooler water south in deeper currents, has far-reaching effects on weather patterns across large portions of the globe.
IPCC
The concern over this has been growing. Just a few years ago the IPCC felt that a collapse in this very important ocean circulation was not likely for hundreds of years, but now they are not so sure. Now the authors say the AMOC is “very likely to weaken over the 21st century for all emission scenarios,” and they are only able to say that “there is medium confidence that there will not be an abrupt collapse before 2100.”
If such a collapse were to occur, it would very likely cause drastic shifts in regional weather patterns and the water cycle, causing widespread and significant impacts on rainfall and drought.
“It’s a solvable problem” — but there’s no time to waste
The portion of the report called the Summary for Policy Makers was finalized last week in a marathon session in which delegates from 195 member countries weighed in and agreed upon the final language.
“The government delegations discuss the wording of every single sentence in extraordinary detail,” Hawkins explained. “There is often some compromise between the different delegations on the precise choice of words — it is their summary for policymakers, so needs to include the information that is relevant for the governments — but the scientists always have the final word. If the wording is not consistent with the underlying scientific assessment then the discussions continue until it is consistent.”
While some of the final wording may not be as bold as many in the science community would have liked, Hawkins notes, “The language is pretty stark for an IPCC report.”
Andrew Dessler, a climate professor at Texas A&M University, told CBS News that there’s a good reason countries have to unanimously agree on every sentence of the Summary for Policy Makers.
“These documents serve as the starting point for climate negotiations,” explains Dessler. “Given the process the SPM goes through, no country can later say they don’t agree with the science. They’ve already agreed to it.”
While there’s a lot of doom and gloom in our climate reality, the report makes clear that we still have a limited amount of time to avert the worst outcomes.
To do so “requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching at least net zero CO2 emissions, along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions,” the authors write.
The greenhouse gas which can make the biggest impact in the short term is methane, which has about 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years. Methane has been rising rapidly in recent years due to emissions from natural gas and livestock. So the report specifically calls for “[s]trong, rapid and sustained reductions in CH4 [methane] emissions.”
The chart below helps put the scale of the task in perspective. Since we first started burning fossil fuels, humanity has emitted around 2,600 gigatons of carbon. To keep warming below 1.5°C, we can only emit another 400 gigatons, which on the present course we will do in 9 years or less. It’s a near impossible task. To avoid 2°C of warming, we have another 1,150 gigatons left — approximately 26 years at current rates. Most experts agree that is doable, but will require collective willpower and hard work.
IPCC
Breaching either one of these Paris Agreement targets will not result in falling off a climate cliff, but as warming continues, the impacts will increasingly overwhelm the planet’s human life-support systems — especially as they happen concurrently. So every increment of a degree matters.
The report says that taking the low emissions scenario, as opposed to the high emissions scenario, would result in a “discernible difference” in temperature trends in about 20 years. Scenarios with low emissions “would have rapid and sustained effects to limit human-caused climate change.”
Some reassuring news reaffirmed in this report is that warming increases in a linear fashion with increases in greenhouse gases. This means if we stop pumping carbon emissions into the atmosphere, Earth’s temperature will also stop warming very quickly.
Yet despite decades of warnings, emissions and warming continue at breakneck pace.
“It’s like we’re on a speeding train barreling towards a brick wall. It matters if we hit that wall at 200 miles per hour or if we hit that wall at 20 miles an hour,” says Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate journalist working on the climate solutions podcast “How to Save a Planet.” Pierre-Louis believes that while national politicians bear a lot of the responsibility for climate action, each person can work at the local level to make change.
“Perfect is the enemy of good. The best climate issue to tackle is the one you can tackle provided you link it to systemic changes,” she said, offering as an example: “It is good to ride a bicycle. You can feel virtuous. But it’s better to push for the infrastructure to get say half your town out of cars, and onto a bike or walking or on transit.”
CBS News asked Pierre-Louis what message she hopes people will take from the IPCC report. She replied, “I want people to understand that it’s a solvable problem.”
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres sounded a similar note in his call for action: “If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today’s report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.”
Two brothers have been charged over the shooting murder of Chicago police officer Ella French as the city’s police clash with its mayor over the horrific killing.
Emonte Morgan, 21, is charged with first-degree murder of a peace officer, attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
His brother, Eric Morgan, 22, is charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and obstruction of justice.
The charges were announced by the Chicago Police Department on Monday evening with the Morgans due in court for a bail hearing on Tuesday afternoon.
They were arrested over French’s murder as it emerged police at the University of Chicago Medical Center where the dead cop’s partner was being treated turned their backs on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after she paid a visit Saturday.
Lightfoot was also verbally attacked by the father of French’s partner, who remains critically-ill in hospital. She is said to have been left ‘shaken’ by the incident, which came after Chicago cops accused her of failing ‘to have their back’, with Lightfoot calling for an $80 million cut to her city’s police budget in October 2020.
Alderman Anthony Napolitano – himself a former cop – said that while he did not see Lightfoot as anti-police, she needed to shoulder blame for encouraging defund the police activists which he says left the city’s cops badly demoralized.
Emonte Morgan, 21, is charged with first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Eric Morgan, 22, is charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and obstruction of justice
Napolitano told the Chicago Sun Times: ‘I never saw her as an anti-police advocate. But I will put this 550 percent on these socialists and these progressives in the City Council. This blood is on their hands, without a doubt.
‘They’re the ones who created this whole anti-police movement that has made these brazen acts of violence against police officers [possible] — 39 this year alone. This is created by them. This whole defund and disrespect movement that they have started.
‘These pieces of s**t are the ones that created this and talk anti-police. And they’re the ones begging for more police in their communities. They’re the biggest hypocrites. They disgust me.’
He spoke as it was also revealed that a woman who was in the car with the Morgan brothers has not been charged due to lack of evidence.
Federal prosecutors Monday charged an Indiana man with purchasing and then illegally supplying the semi-automatic handgun used in the shooting.
Officer French, 29, was killed during the shooting at a traffic stop on Saturday night. The Morgan brothers were said to have been driving with expired license plates, prompting police to pull them over.
Her death was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since Lightfoot took office and the first female officer fatally shot on the job there in 33 years.
Ella French’s death was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office
Officer Ella French as killed during the shooting at a traffic stop
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown takes a moment as he provides an update on the shooting of two police officers in West Englewood during a news conference at the Chicago Police Headquarters
Mayor Lori Lightfoot listens to Chicago Police Supt. David Brown give an update during a news conference at the Chicago Police Headquarters in Bronzeville
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown announced the murder charges against two brothers on Monday
In the exchange of gunfire, one of the brothers was shot and wounded.
They are due in court on Tuesday.
At the time of the shooting, both brothers were on probation for separate cases.
Emonte Morgan pleaded guilty to robbery in Cook County court last year.
He also has other criminal charges on his record, including minor traffic offenses such as leaving the scene of an accident, operating a vehicle without a license and driving uninsured.
He was also charged with battery and theft in 2019.
Eric Morgan pleaded guilty to theft in Dane County, Wisconsin, according to public records.
Jamal Danzy, 29, of Hammond, is accused of buying the weapon from a license gun dealer in Hammond, Indiana, in March and then providing it to an Illinois resident who Danzy knew could neither buy nor possess guns because of a felony conviction.
The person who received it was in a vehicle from which someone shot the officers Saturday night during a traffic stop and that the same gun was recovered from the person by arresting officers, a statement from the US attorney’s office in Chicago said.
Danzy, of Hammond, made an initial appearance Monday afternoon in US District Court in Chicago on conspiracy to violate federal firearm laws, including knowingly transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident and knowingly disposing of a firearm to a convicted felon.
‘We will never forget the true bravery she exemplified as she laid her life down to protect others,’ the department said of French on Facebook, adding that fellow officers will ‘grieve the loss of this hero.’
The conspiracy conviction carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.
US Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert ordered Danzy be held at least until a Wednesday detention hearing.
Chicago has for years sought to stem the inflow of guns that has helped fueled persistently high homicide rates in the city, especially from nearby states like Indiana, where guns rules aren’t as stringent.
City, state and federal authorities have made illegal gun trafficking a high priority.
‘We will never forget the true bravery she exemplified as she laid her life down to protect others,’ the department said of French on Facebook, adding that fellow officers will ‘grieve the loss of this hero.’
The department also requested support for French’s ‘wounded partner, who is in the hospital fighting for his life.’
Officer French’s brother also shed some more light on who his sister was.
“She’s my sister, she’s my little sister. And as much as I was there for her when we were growing up, she was there for me. And I was proud of her, I’m still proud of her…God took the wrong kid,’ he told the Chicago Tribune.
The officers had stopped a vehicle with two men and a woman inside just after 9pm Saturday on Chicago’s South Side, when a male passenger opened fire, said Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown.
Investigators said the officers had demanded one of the suspects get out of the car.
There was a physical altercation and the suspect then opened fire, shooting both officers.
Officers returned fire, striking the passenger who appeared to fire back at them, said Brown. He did not release the condition of that man.
When asked about the condition of the injured officer, Brown responded, ‘Critical. We need your prayers.’
The superintendent said it was too soon to say why the vehicle was stopped and what might have happened just before the shooting began. He said available evidence included police body camera footage. A gun was also recovered at the scene.
A large crowd of officers gathered outside the hospital’s ambulance entrance overnight, some hugging and praying, as Lightfoot first addressed the shooting to reporters nearby.
Lightfoot said the officer who died ‘was very young on the job, but incredibly enthusiastic to do the work.’
More than a dozen Chicago police officers have turned their backs on Mayor Lori Lightfoot after one of their own was shot dead and another gravely wounded
As she spoke, more than a dozen police officers turned their backs on the Mayor.
‘A mother lost her daughter last night,’ Mayor Lightfoot said. ‘A brother, his sister. A family, forever shattered. Another continues to keep vigil at a hospital bed, sending up powerful prayers but no doubt fearing the worst.’
The brazen display unfolded around midnight on Saturday at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where cops were holding vigil for the officer injured in the shooting, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
French’s partner, an injured male officer, who has not been publicly identified, was shot twice in the head and is still fighting for his life.
On Saturday night, Lightfoot approached a group of grieving officers on the 7th floor of the hospital, where they anxiously awaited any news on their colleague’s condition, but the cops suddenly spun on their heels to face away from her, two sources who were present told the Sun-Times.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for Lightfoot acknowledged that ’emotions run high’ in a time of tragedy, but added ‘now is not the time for divisive and toxic rhetoric or reporting.’
CPD officers pay their respects outside the hospital where the wounded officer is being treated. There are no known images of cops turning their backs on Lightfoot
Moments before the back-turning incident, Lightfoot had approached the father of the injured officer, himself a retired Chicago cop, who yelled at her and blamed her for the shooting, the sources said.
One of the sources told the newspaper that Lightfoot remained calm in the face of the father’s outrage and listened to him with respect.
‘The mayor was present at the emergency room to offer support and condolences to the families involved and the hundreds of line officers and exempts who were there, which she did,’ a spokesman for Lightfoot told DailyMail.com in a statement.
‘In a time of tragedy, emotions run high and that is to be expected. The Mayor spoke to a range of officers that tragic night and sensed the overwhelming sentiment was about concern for their fallen colleagues,’ he added.
‘As the mayor stated yesterday, now is not the time for divisive and toxic rhetoric or reporting. This is a time for us to come together as a city,’ the statement said.
No photos or video have emerged of the scene in Chicago, which was reminiscent of a 2014 incident in New York City, where hundreds of cops turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio after two officers were shot and killed in a cold-blooded ambush.
At a press conference moments after leaving the hospital,’ Lightfoot told reporters: ‘It’s very sad. We must remind ourselves every day, our officers are fearless in the face of danger. They run to danger, to protect us.’
‘It’s a very sad and tragic day for our city,’ added the Democrat, who proposed cutting $80 million from the CPD budget amid ‘defund the police’ demonstrations last year.
The proposal was later scaled back and Lightfoot has denounced the ‘defund’ movement, but Chicago’s police union still issued a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the mayor earlier this year.
‘The police are not our enemies,’ Lightfoot said later on Sunday. ‘We must come together… We have a common enemy: It’s the guns and the gangs.’
Chicago police officers salute as a procession for a police officer who was shot and killed drives by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office on Sunday
Chicago Firefighters hang an American flag from firetruck ladders, outside the Cook County Medical Examiners Office on Sunday to honor French as her remains pass by
Chicago police officers stand at attention as a procession for a police officer who was shot and killed earlier during a traffic stop at 63rd and Bell drives by
Lightfoot urged Chicagoans to end the acrimony between police supporters who believe cops are hamstrung by bureaucracy, and opponents who want to see police departments defunded or abolished.
‘Stop. Just stop,’ she said. ‘This constant strife is not what we need in this moment.’
John Catanzara, the president of the Chicago police union, told the Sun-Times that the officers’ decision to turn their backs on Lightfoot was ‘significant.’
‘Turning their backs on the mayor was an excellent example of how the hundreds of police officers felt waiting outside the hospital,’ Catanzara said, adding that officers no longer support Lightfoot’s leadership.
‘They have had enough and are no longer going to remain silent anymore,’ said the union boss.
The shooting of the officers occurred on another violent summer weekend in the nation’s third largest city, with at least 64 people shot, 10 fatally, by Sunday afternoon.
Chicago police work the scene where two police officers where shot during a traffic stop in the 6300 block of South Bell in the West Englewood neighborhood on Saturday
Officers had stopped a vehicle with two men and a woman inside just after 9pm Saturday on Chicago’s South Side, when a male passenger opened fire
The last Chicago officer shot to death in the line of duty was 28-year-old Samuel Jimenez, who was killed after responding to a shooting at a hospital on November 19, 2018.
Two officers, Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo, died when they were struck by a train while pursuing a suspect on December 17, 2018. The department also considers the COVID-19 deaths of four officers last year line-of-duty deaths.
The last female officer shot to death in the line of duty was Irma Ruiz, who was shot inside an elementary school in 1988.
Full statement from Lightfoot’s office on back-turning incident
A spokesperson for Mayor Lightfoot provided the following statement to DailyMail.com regarding the shooting and the mayor’s interaction with police at the hospital:
‘This is an extremely difficult and heartbreaking time for the Chicago Police Department, and for our entire city. The Mayor was present at the emergency room to offer support and condolences to the families involved and the hundreds of line officers and exempts who were there, which she did.
‘In a time of tragedy, emotions run high and that is to be expected. The Mayor spoke to a range of officers that tragic night and sensed the overwhelming sentiment was about concern for their fallen colleagues. As the Mayor stated yesterday, now is not the time for divisive and toxic rhetoric or reporting. This is a time for us to come together as a city. We have a common enemy and it is the conditions that breed the violence and the manifestations of violence, namely illegal guns, and gangs.
‘The Mayor is focused on healing the wounds and will reject any and all that try to use this moment to drive further divisions in our city. The Mayor remains committed to continuing supports for our dedicated and heroic police officers who risk their lives every day to keep all our neighborhoods safe from senseless violence.
‘As the Mayor stated yesterday morning, we must come together as a city and wrap our arms around all those who knew and loved Officer French and pray for the health and recovery of her partner who continues to fight for his life today.’
BEIRUT, Lebanon — After grueling years of watching United States forces fight and die in a faraway land, the president appealed to growing war weariness among voters and brought the troops home.
Not long after, an extremist group stormed through areas the Americans had left, killing civilians, seizing power and sweeping away billions of dollars’ worth of American efforts to leave behind a stable nation.
That’s what happened after President Barack Obama withdrew American forces from Iraq in 2011: the jihadists of the Islamic State established an extremist emirate, prompting the United States to dispatch its military, yet again, to flush them out.
It is also now a possible scenario in Afghanistan, where President Biden’s order to shut down America’s longest war has led to swift advances by the Taliban, the same extremist group the United States invaded Afghanistan to topple after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Orlando (CNN)As Terry Greear looked at his selfie — showing him with an oxygen mask on his first night at the hospital with Covid-19 — he relived the fear he felt that day.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state board of education may “narrowly tailor any financial consequences” for those who violate the law. It adds that the governor, who has opposed all face covering mandates since the start of the pandemic, is intent on protecting parents’ rights.
Rick Bowmer/AP
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Rick Bowmer/AP
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state board of education may “narrowly tailor any financial consequences” for those who violate the law. It adds that the governor, who has opposed all face covering mandates since the start of the pandemic, is intent on protecting parents’ rights.
Rick Bowmer/AP
As the majority of Florida’s K-12 schools prepare to reopen campuses at full capacity this week — many of them on Tuesday — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the State Board of Education could withhold pay from school leaders who implement mask mandates for students.
The move to potentially punish educators follows days of controversy during which school district superintendents and school board members seeking to comply with CDC guidelines ignored an executive order from DeSantis banning school districts from requiring students to wear face masks.
In a statement to CBS4, the governor’s office said the State Board of Education may “narrowly tailor any financial consequences” for those who violate the law. It adds that the governor, who has opposed all face covering mandates since the start of the pandemic, is intent on protecting parents’ rights.
“Ultimately — Education funding is for the students. The kids didn’t make the decision to encroach upon parents’ rights. So any financial penalties for breaking the rule would be targeted to those officials who made that decision,” the governor’s spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said in a tweet.
Teachers and other employees would not have their pay withheld.
“Only the salaries of those superintendents and school board members who intentionally defy the EO and the subsequent rules protecting parents’ rights” could be affected by the latest directive, she explained.
Florida is ensnared in an alarming COVID-19 spike fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, making many pockets of the state dangerous hot spots. Case numbers are soaring and hospitals are filling up with COVID patients, including children.
As of Sunday, at least 135 children were hospitalized with the coronavirus.
Children 12 and older are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines, but Dr. Marcos Mestre, who works at the Niklaus Children’s Foundation Hospital in Miami, told NPR all of the patients he has seen within that age range have not been inoculated.
Due to the highly contagious nature of the delta variant, the CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all students ages 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status. The agency also says students should maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance within the classroom to reduce transmission risk and recommends screening tests.
Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho responded to DeSantis’ ominous threat on Monday afternoon. He said the fourth largest school district in the nation has established a plan made in consultation with health experts.
“At no point shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck; a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and well-being of our students and dedicated employees,” Carvalho said.
He added: “I want to thank the Governor for recognizing that our students should not be penalized.”
Washington — Lawmakers are facing the prospect of a bitter battle over increasing the nation’s debt limit in the fall, with Democrats seeking to pressure Republicans to go along with a hike as GOP leaders vow to resist it.
Senate Democrats did not include an increase to the federal debt ceiling in their newly unveiled $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which can pass without Republican support. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated Monday that GOP senators would not support an increase, citing “reckless” spending by Democrats.
“Our friends across the aisle should not expect traditional bipartisan borrowing to finance their nontraditional reckless taxing and spending spree,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday. “That’s not how this works.”
In 2019, Congress suspended the debt limit until July 31 of this year, and the ceiling was reinstated at about $28.5 trillion on August 1. The debt ceiling is the total amount the federal government is authorized to borrow to pay its bills, and Congress decides whether and when the limit will be increased.
The Treasury Department has already begun deploying “extraordinary measures” to fund the government’s obligations. The Congressional Budget Office has said the government could run out of cash by October or November without an increase or suspension of the debt limit.
Democrats could still ultimately decide to include an increase in the debt limit in their budget proposal. But if they don’t, a standalone increase would require the support of 60 senators, including 10 Republicans. The Senate is in the final phases of approving a separate bipartisan proposal on “hard infrastructure” — things like roads, bridges and airports — this week.
The White House has pointed to the many times Congress has previously increased the debt ceiling, including under former President Donald Trump, in encouraging lawmakers of both parties to increase the limit.
“The president believes that Democrats and Republicans should move forward, as they did three times during the last administration, to raise the debt ceiling — something that they did even in the wake of the former president putting in place a $2 trillion tax cut that certainly did not do anything to reduce the deficit,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing last week. “So, that’s his view. He believes they should move forward and do that. That’s responsible — responsible step for our country.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also urged Congress to increase or suspend the debt ceiling “on a bipartisan basis.”
“In recent years Congress has addressed the debt limit through regular order, with broad bipartisan support,” Yellen said in a statement Monday. “In fact, during the last administration, Democrats and Republicans came together to do their duty three times. Congress should do so again now by increasing or suspending the debt limit on a bipartisan basis.”
The national debt, which was already soaring before the COVID-19 pandemic, lurched upwards faster under both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden in 2020 and 2021. According to nonprofit Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the national debt currently stands at $28.43 trillion, or $86,049 per person.
A major union representing New York State Police officers demanded that Gov. Andrew Cuomo immediately resign Monday, after a state probe found he sexually harassed a female trooper assigned to his protective detail.
“As law enforcement professionals charged with investigating serious crimes in New York State, some of NYSPIA’s members are also responsible for providing protective detail for the Governor,” the New York State Police Investigators Association said in a statement.
“Having to continue to protect the Governor under the current circumstances puts our members in an extremely difficult position,” the union said.
“We request that management of the Governor’s detail be immediately transferred to the Division of State Police. This situation clearly demonstrates that the Governor’s control of all aspects of who serves on his protective detail leads to opportunities for impropriety,” it said.
Last week, a probe by state Attorney General Letitia James concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, including the female trooper assigned to his security detail.
It’s been six days since AG Letitia James found that Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women.
The officer, identified only as “Trooper #1” in the report, told investigators the governor ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and her back, kissed her on the cheek, asked for her help in finding a girlfriend and asked why she didn’t wear a dress.
She also said he ran his open hand over her abdomen as she held a door open for him — an incident that left her feeling “completely violated.”
The NYSPIA initially criticized Cuomo’s actions as “completely unacceptable and utterly disgraceful” but stopped short of joining the chorus of lawmakers and allies calling on him to resign.
Then over the weekend, Rita Glavin, a lawyer for Cuomo, conceded during a CNN interview that the governor “may have very well touched the state trooper’s back” but added “she may have understood it one way and he understood it another way.”
In the NYSPIA’s statement Monday, some of the union’s ire was specifically directed at the governor’s “legal team,” which “has made it clear that it seeks to vilify and attack the brave women who have come forward to expose his reprehensible behavior.
The New York State Police Investigators Association demanded that Gov. Andrew Cuomo resign.Office of the NY Governor via AP
“The legal team is an extension of the bullying and aggressive behavior that has been a hallmark of the Cuomo administration,” the NYSPIA wrote.
“Victims deserve to have their privacy protected from members of the Executive Chamber, their legal team, and media, while the Legislature and legal system consider how to address the allegations in court.”
The NYSPIA represents 1,200 active members, including investigators within the state police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. It would not confirm whether the trooper accusing Cuomo of wrongdoing is a member of its union.
Fox News ‘Outnumbered’ on Chicago police mourning loss of officer Ella French.
A Chicago man and his brother have been charged in a weekend shooting that left one police officer dead and another seriously wounded, the Chicago Police Department confirmed Monday.
Emonte Morgan, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in Saturday’s fatal shooting of 29-year-old officer Ella French, as well as attempted murder and other charges.
His brother, 22-year-old Eric Morgan, faces charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and obstruction of justice.
Officers had stopped a vehicle Saturday with two men and a woman inside just after 9 p.m., when a male passenger opened fire, police said Sunday. Officers reportedly returned fire, striking the passenger who appeared to fire at them.
Officer Ella French, left, and Emonte Morgan. (Facebook/AP)
Earlier Monday, federal prosecutors charged a 29-year-old Indiana man, Jamel Danzy, with purchasing and then illegally supplying the semi-automatic handgun used in the shooting.
Danzy is accused of buying the weapon from a licensed gun dealer in Hammond, Ind. in March and providing it to an Illinois resident who Danzy knew could neither buy nor possess guns because of a felony conviction.
Eric Morgan (Chicago Police Department)
The person who received the gun was in the vehicle from which someone shot the officers Saturday night during a traffic stop and that the same gun was recovered from the person by arresting officers, the Chicago’s U.S. attorney’s office said.
French’s death was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since 2018 and the first female officer fatally shot on the job in 33 years.
French’s wounded partner, meanwhile, remains hospitalized at the University of Chicago Medical Center “fighting for his life,” CPD said.
“It’s past time to stop this, you know, imbalanced treatment of police officers here in Chicago and everywhere in this country,” police Superintendent David Brown said during a Monday press conference. “We’re flawed. Just the like the media gallery is flawed. Just like every profession in our country is flawed … But they go down dark alleys none of you would go down to protect you.”
The 3,000-page report was described by the IPCC as a “code red for humanity.”
Here’s a selection of quotes from the report’s co-authors, leading climate scientists, officials and others:
Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate advisor, on Twitter
The IPCC report “confirms what we already know: climate change is an urgent threat that requires bold action. That’s why we’ve launched a whole-of-government response to the climate crisis. And we’re going to create good paying jobs along the way. There’s no time to waste.
Michael R. Bloomberg, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, founder of Bloomberg LP
“To respond to the climate crisis with the urgency that is required, it’s clear what we need to do: Drive down carbon emissions and transition to a clean energy economy – and quickly. We’ve made some great progress recently, but this report is sounding an alarm about how much more we need to do, and how tight time is getting. If more governments and businesses take bold action, we can still avoid the worst impacts of climate change and build a better future for our children and grandchildren.”
Heather Zichal, CEO of the American Clean Power Association
“Climate change is a global threat that requires international collaboration and the findings released today by the IPCC note there are policies and government action that can be enacted to drastically reduce carbon emissions.
As Congress debates infrastructure legislation and prepares for the budget reconciliation process, this report shows that our leaders need to realize the immediate national security threat climate change poses to our country and future generations. As wildfires and hurricanes occur more frequently, the human and economic devastation they cause will only intensify if we do not take immediate action now.
Al Gore, former vice president, on Twitter
“We need climate action NOW. We cannot rely on vague pledges with distant deadlines. We need concrete plans to phase out fossil fuels in the near term. As the scientists at the (IPCC) make clear: there is no time left to waste.
But importantly, the (IPCC) report shows that we still have a path forward to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C—though that path is narrowing by the day.
That’s why this is our moment to heed the warnings of the world’s scientists. We have the solutions we need to rapidly transition to a net-zero economy and I am optimistic that we will meet this moment.”
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Global Environment Facility CEO and chairperson
I feel both alarmed and emboldened by the latest IPCC report, which shows that climate change is occurring much more quickly and with more extreme effects than we previously anticipated. … The tragedy of forest fires burning all over the world this year has shown us just how damaging rising temperatures can be for human life and nature. Changing this story for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren is the most important thing we can do.”
Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund president
“The report makes clear that if we don’t move aggressively to cut the pollution heating our atmosphere, we are guaranteeing a less stable, less habitable and less prosperous world now and in the future.
“This report also provides a road map for slowing the rate of warming and protecting our communities from even more instability. For the first time, the IPCC highlights the importance of short-lived, highly potent pollutants such as methane, which alone accounts for at least 25% of the warming we are currently experiencing. The report quashes any remaining debate about the urgent need to slash methane pollution, especially from sectors such as oil and gas, where the available reductions are fastest and cheapest. When it comes to our overheating planet, every fraction of a degree matters – and there is no faster, more achievable way to slow the rate of warming than by cutting human-caused methane emissions.
Lori Lodes, Climate Power, executive director
“Congress can’t kick the can down the road any longer, they must prepare for what’s in front of us, stop the worst of climate change and build a stronger, clean energy economy. If lawmakers put aside differences to act, it means jobs, sustainable neighborhoods, healthier communities, cheaper energy costs, and ultimately, if done right, a more just and equitable world. But Congress must act now. Not in two months, not next year or next decade. Now.”
Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam climate policy lead
“Amid a world in parts burning, in parts drowning and in parts starving, the IPCC today tables the most compelling wake-up call yet for global industry to switch from oil, gas and coal to renewables. Governments must use law to compel this urgent change. Citizens must use their own political power and behaviors to push big polluting corporations and governments in the right direction. There is no Plan B.”
Miya Yoshitani, Asian Pacific Environmental Network executive director, Climate Justice Alliance board member
“The latest IPCC report confirms what communities on the frontlines of fighting big polluters already know. We need bold, community-led solutions that meet the scale of the climate crisis, not failed market-based schemes that allow big polluters to pump more poison into our communities and further destabilize our climate.”
Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Climate Justice Alliance board member
Scientists in the latest IPCC physical science report provide undeniable proof of faster rates of global warming than earlier predictions indicated. The gravity of the climate emergency has been tirelessly called out by Indigenous and frontline communities for decades. We must pressure the IPCC before the mitigation report comes out early next year to listen to the voices of the traditional knowledge holders of Indigenous peoples and end carbon pricing, carbon capture and solar radiation management mitigation strategies that keep fossil fuels coming out of the ground.”
Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, Co-Chair, Climate Justice Alliance board member
“The frontlines are already way ahead of the politicians. We are leading with solutions – from community-owned solar energy systems that create safe, good paying jobs to just recovery efforts that ensure those communities most impacted by the crisis are built back in sustainable and safe ways based on community needs. To truly address the climate crisis, we need policymakers to enact bold and transformative policies like the THRIVE Act, which were crafted in deep consultation and partnership with Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander, poor, and marginalized communities.”
Kayly Ober, Refugees International, climate displacement program manager
“The latest IPCC report shows us that we are already in the midst of a climate crisis—and that without swift action, climate-related hazards will only get worse. This trajectory will mean more disruptive and deadly events, such as extreme heatwaves and precipitation, which may force more people from their homes around the world.
This future reality means that we need—now more than ever—to extend more robust and humane protection for families and communities that will be forced to move in the face of these ever-increasing events.”
Collin O’Mara, National Wildlife Federation, president and CEO
“We are living through exactly what the climate models predicted: more frequent and more intense extreme storms, floods, wildfires, drought, and heat waves that threaten lives, livelihoods, and communities. This report drives home the reality that there is absolutely no time to waste. We desperately need to invest in zero-emission 21st-century infrastructure, while bolstering the resilience of communities across the country.
“As Congress finalizes its infrastructure plans, we urge bold investments in clean energy, advanced transportation, natural climate solutions, restoration and resilience, and sustainable agriculture.”
Kristina Dahl, Union of Concerned Scientists, senior climate scientist
“Climate change is here, it’s dangerous, even deadly, and yet a giant gulf remains between what the science shows is needed to address this crisis and the actions taken by policymakers. The continued dithering is no longer about the lack of scientific evidence, but rather directly tied to a lack of political will and the overwhelming influence of the fossil fuel industry. The scientists keep showing up time and time again; now it’s time for policymakers to do the same.”
Rachel Cleetus, Union of Concerned Scientists, policy director and lead economist for the Climate and Energy Program
“In the United States, Congress has a unique and powerful moment to move forward legislation that could be a big down payment on climate action. When considering the enormity of the climate impacts the nation is already experiencing, as well as the tremendous health and economic benefits of a clean energy economy, the choice for policymakers should be obvious.
Kim Cobb, co-author, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
“There’s really one key message that emerges from this report: We are out of time. And this report really provides compelling, scientific linkages between the headlines that we see today and what we know about the physics of the climate system and how it’s being impacted by rising greenhouse gases.”
Baylor Fox-Kemper, co-author, professor of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences, Brown University
“The biggest, most important aspects of climate change are not changing from report to report. And so things like the fact that the earth—were we to double the amount of carbon in the atmosphere—would warm by about 5 degrees Fahrenheit doesn’t change in this report. But the precision with which we can say that has improved, and in particular regional information, and information about extremes is provided in this report at a level of detail that exceeds any of the previous reports.”
…
“So we keep hearing more and more in the news about these extreme events, and the takeaway message from this new report is that these events are just going to occur more and more often as global temperatures rise. And they may get more and more intense. And so in the Western U.S., for example, we need to think hard about issues like water conservation and water storage in order to sort of weather through these increasingly extreme events.”
Jessica Tierney, co-author, associate professor of geosciences, University of Arizona
“Snowpack in the Western United States is almost certain to decline in the future. And that has implications for water availability, because a lot of the stream flow in the Western United States, for example the Colorado River, depends on snow. So we have increased confidence that we’re going to see less flow through our river systems in the Western U.S., which means that we’re going to be even more prone to drought. And in fact, if emissions continue, then there is a very good chance that we’re going to see a level of drought and aridity that we haven’t seen in at least a thousand years.”
Mathew Barlow, co-author, professor of climate science, University of Massachusetts Lowell
“For the future, we expect a continued increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme events, with larger increases for higher greenhouse gas emissions. The increases observed so far have occurred with around 1 degree C of warming. …
“The changes that we have seen so far are associated with around 1 degree C of warming. Limiting warming to the 1.5 degree C target of the Paris Agreement would require immediate, rapid, and large-scale reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, regardless of any specific temperature target, every degree matters: Reducing emissions will reduce impacts.”
Kelly Kryc, Center for American Progress, senior fellow for Climate Science and Ocean Policy
“The warnings have been blinking red for a long time, and this IPCC report is the latest blaring alarm. Through the efforts of an incredible number of scientists around the world, the report details the utter devastation that the climate crisis is wreaking on every environment and community on Earth. Critically, this report shows that climate catastrophes that were projected in previous IPCC reports are now actually happening, which is both chilling and underscores the need to trust the science and further invest in solutions. This crisis demands immediate climate leadership at every level, coupled with investments in science and technology from our own U.S. Congress – to start – to stave off the worst impacts.”
Wendy Bredhold, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Indiana
“This IPCC report is a call to action to all of us, and needs to be heard especially by those in the most powerful positions to respond: the decision-makers at Indiana’s monopoly electric utilities and in the government that regulates them. … “Some of Indiana’s investor-owned utilities are making progress away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, but almost all of the benefit has been for the utilities. This moment requires Gov. Holcomb and the legislature to stop passing laws that further enrich and entrench monopoly utilities at the expense of everyday Hoosiers struggling through a pandemic to stay afloat. They must craft policies that support an equitable energy transition – one that benefits the Indiana communities that have been most harmed by fossil fuel plants and infrastructure. It’s time to get to work for the people.”
William Ripple, Oregon State University professor of ecology
“The scientific community has shared a very clear picture of a planet in crisis, but the world’s governments continue to drag their feet on the defining issue of our time. This report underscores the need for action. Look at the data. Listen to the story that the earth is telling us. Unless we fundamentally and immediately transform our society –banning fossil fuels, capping carbon emissions, and reconfiguring our relationship with nature – then the 21st Century will yield untold human suffering. We’re in the final act before the window is permanently closed.”
Jonty Whittleton, global campaign head for World Animal Protection
“The IPCC study is sending out a clear and urgent signal about what will happen if we don’t act now to curb runaway greenhouse gas emissions. Our broken food system is fueling the climate crisis. Global meat production is five times higher than it was 50 years ago and food production has fundamentally changed to prioritize quantity over quality. …
“Our future depends on us rethinking how we treat all animals. We must all work together now to transform the global food system and end cruel factory farming. This is an urgent action for animals, for people and for our planet.”
Moira Mcdonald, director of the Walton Family Foundation’s Environment Program
“This report is a wake-up call – there are practical reasons to both take action and still be hopeful.”
Contributing: Kyle Bagenstose, Sarah Bowman, Beth Harvilla, Debra Krol and Janet Wilson, USA TODAY Network
Earlier this summer, OPS said they planned to start the new year with masks as an option, but in a letter to parents on Friday, they said they were reconsidering, citing the rising number of cases across the Omaha-metro and a priority to keep students safe — especially since many of them are too young for a COVID-19 vaccination.
Other school districts also planned discussions on the upcoming school year, some specifically noting masking policies on their agendas for Monday night meetings:
Bellevue Public Schoolsmet tonight to discuss their back-to-school plan but no vote was taken.
No action was taken atBennington Public Schools Monday night’s meeting, but most officials appeared against masking.
No changes were announced at Papillion-La Vista Community Schools Monday night’s meeting. The superintendent stated that he supports masking and if infections go up, they’d have to revisit the policy.
Ralston Public Schools updated its COVID-19 plan Thursday saying masks will be required indoors for elementary schools, with staff having the option to mask, regardless of vaccination status, but staff will have the option to mask or not when they’re not around students. All students of any grade level, however, will have to wear masks while riding on school district transportation, and middle and high school teachers will have to track which students are wearing masks in case of a reported exposure down the road.
Elkhorn and Bennington school districts have said previously that they plan to begin the school year without requiring students to wear masks, but recent spikes in the area could prompt them to revisit those decisions.
Douglas County Health Director Dr. Lindsay Huse said in a statement Friday she is encouraging widespread mask use as the Douglas County Health Department works to contain the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant in the Omaha area.
Dr. Huse said Friday that the health department is working with school districts on how to “best implement recommendations in their districts, based on their own deep knowledge of the people they serve.” She said that may include mask policies or use of masks once transmission occurs, noting that “when cases arise, we will handle them on a case-by-case basis.”
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