Biden Will Endorse Changing Senate Rules to Pass Voting Rights Legislation – The New York Times
Biden Will Endorse Changing Senate Rules to Pass Voting Rights Legislation – The New York Times

One bill introduced by Democrats, the Freedom to Vote Act, would, among other provisions, take the teeth out of state-led efforts to restrict mail-in or absentee voting, make Election Day a holiday, and stop state legislators from redrawing districts in a way that advocates say denies representation to minority voters. Another, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would restore crucial anti-discrimination components of the Voting Rights Act that were stripped away by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, acknowledged that expectations around the speech were high: “He wouldn’t be going to Georgia tomorrow if he wasn’t ready and prepared to elevate this issue and continue to fight for it,” she told reporters on Monday.

But the president’s advisers have been far less specific about what solutions he might offer, and a bipartisan path forward is all but impossible. Mr. Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate and sees himself as a consensus builder, has faced resistance from Republicans on voting rights legislation.

Last week, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said Republicans could have until Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to drop their opposition to debate and votes on the issue, or face the prospect of overhauling filibuster rules.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, promised a scorched-earth response should Democrats go that route: “Since Senator Schumer is hellbent on trying to break the Senate, Republicans will show how this reckless action would have immediate consequences,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement on Monday.

Republicans have argued that Democrats are using the voting rights legislation to try to gain partisan advantage by seeking to impose their preferred rules on states that have long regulated their own elections. But activists say that critique ignores glaring examples of voter suppression. Voting rights groups in Georgia have already filed a federal lawsuit that accuses legislators of redrawing a congressional district to benefit Republican candidates and deny representation to Black voters.

On Tuesday, Mr. Biden will lean on the power of symbolism when he travels to Georgia. He and Ms. Harris will visit the crypt of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. They will visit the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where both Dr. King and Mr. Lewis, the Georgia congressman and civil rights icon for whom the legislation is named, were eulogized. Senator Raphael Warnock, the state’s first Black senator and a Democrat who is seeking a full term this year after a runoff victory, is a senior pastor there.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/us/politics/biden-filibuster-voting-rights.html

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EXPLAINER: Why are Chicago schools, teachers union fighting? – Associated Press
EXPLAINER: Why are Chicago schools, teachers union fighting? – Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago scrapped classes for five days days in a confusing standoff that ended late Monday with the teachers’ union over COVID-19 safety measures in the nation’s third-largest school district.

From remote instruction to testing, both sides have been negotiating nearly a dozen complex points of a safety plan that loomed over students’ return from winter break. The fight came as other districts have had to increasingly shift online amid soaring COVID-19 cases.

Leaders on both sides described the tentative agreement, which requires a full union vote, in general terms, but did not offer specific details.

Here is a closer look:

REMOTE LEARNING

The issue that caused the most chaos in the roughly 350,000-student district was when and how to revert to remote learning.

The Chicago Teachers Union wanted the ability to switch to districtwide remote instruction and offered a lower bar for closing individual schools. Initially, they proposed metrics similar to last year’s safety agreement, which expired before the school year and remained under negotiation.

School leaders flat out opposed any districtwide return online, so much that they opted to cancel classes rather than allow it temporarily as the union argued was necessary amid the spike. Chicago Public Schools leaders said the pandemic is different now compared to a year ago with availability of vaccines and roughly 91% of staff vaccinated. School officials also said remote learning is detrimental to students.

Two days after students returned from winter break, the union voted to return to remote instruction on its own and most union members stayed out of schools, saying they would return when there’s a deal or the latest surge of infections subsided. The district responded by locking them out of teaching platforms allowing them to teach remotely and canceling class.

During this year, individual classes have temporarily gone remote during smaller outbreaks.

The tentative agreement did not include a provision for districtwide closures, but both sides agreed to metrics to shut down individual schools, depending on many students and staff were absent related to COVID-19.

___

COVID-19 TESTING

The union wanted to expand COVID testing districtwide, requiring tests unless families opt out with the goal of randomly testing at least 10% of the student and staff population weekly. The union has blasted the district for being slow to roll out school testing and botching a holiday testing program, in which issues with mailing tests back to the district ultimately made thousands of samples invalid.

Under the tentative agreement, the district will expand testing, but rejected the opt-out system. Earlier on, Mayor Lori Lightfoot had said testing was a “quasi-medical procedure” and cited liability issues.

Families have been hesitant to enroll in the existing district program, which requires consent for guided weekly nasal swabs. In October, only about 7% of students had signed up. The number has slowly increased, but under the proposal the district and union committed to increasing participation.

Over the weekend, the district did secure about 350,000 antigen tests from the state of Illinois, but district leaders haven’t spelled out how they will be used.

___

LABOR DISPUTE

The COVID-19 safety fight in union-friendly Chicago is the latest extension of the contentious relationship between Lightfoot and the union. The CTU backed Lightfoot’s opponent in the 2019 election and went on an 11-day strike later that year.

Both sides have filed complaints with a state labor board over unfair practices and the rhetoric outside of the bargaining table became increasingly sharp.

Union President Jesse Sharkey called Lightfoot “relentlessly stupid” in her response to school closures, while the mayor accused teachers of an “illegal walkout,” saying they’ve “abandoned kids.”

The district has refused to pay teachers who don’t show up.

During negotiations, the union asked that no members be disciplined or docked pay and wanted an outside party to resolve disputes. The district did not offer any assurances that pay would be restored.

___

OTHER ISSUES

Over the past two weeks, both sides publicized areas of agreement.

The district purchased KN95 masks for students and teachers, agreed to bring back daily COVID-19 screening questions for anyone entering schools, and added more incentives to increase the number of substitute teachers. Also, teachers will be able to take unpaid leave related to the pandemic, either for their own illness or increased risk.

___

Follow Sophia Tareen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiatareen

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-education-chicago-1d985e371edae7fc436bad81f8494d31

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New York Bronx fire a ‘shock in our country’ Gambia ambassador says – CNN
New York Bronx fire a ‘shock in our country’ Gambia ambassador says – CNN

(CNN)The Bronx apartment building that was devastated by a deadly fire Sunday had been a beloved home for many immigrants from The Gambia for years, the West African country’s ambassador to the US told CNN.

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/africa/gambian-ambassador-bronx-fire-intl/index.html

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How the proposed California budget could help small businesses – KCRA Sacramento
How the proposed California budget could help small businesses – KCRA Sacramento
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Small businesses still reeling from impacts caused by the pandemic may have some relief with the proposed California budget for 2022-2023.

The plan proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom includes waiving fees and providing hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and tax breaks for small businesses.

While businesses across the country and state have unfortunately had to close their doors for good, some like the Dumpling House in midtown Sacramento have managed to get by with the help of family members.

Owner Linda Liu said the restaurant is being run with family members who at the moment have no choice but to help because they need income from the Dumpling House to get by. While surviving the last two years hasn’t been too bad with family on staff, it sometimes still feels like a daily struggle.

“The minimum wage went up. The food costs are going up and we can’t raise prices too much because we can’t benefit,” Liu said.

Some business owners in Sacramento hope that Newsom’s budget plan is helpful in more than one way.

“I’m sure that it’s going to be helpful to some that need it and can’t get enough staff when we need the extra help,” said Carolyn Salmon from Relles Florist.

Salmon said maintaining business and retaining most of their employees hasn’t been the issue for the flower shop. Instead, it’s been trying to hire new ones.

Jot Condie with the California Restaurant Association expressed approval that the budget proposal also allows federal restaurant relief funds to be tax-deductible since the assistance was specifically for the most vulnerable.

“These are funds that were appropriated to restaurants that met a test suggesting that they were basically at-risk of going out of business, so those funds were a huge relief lifeline to the restaurant industry,” Condie said.

The plan also includes $3 billion to go toward paying the debt for unemployment insurance funds through the next two years, which would help employers across different industries.

Source Article from https://www.kcra.com/article/small-businesses-hopeful-newsom-proposed-california-budget/38729197

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‘We have gone backwards’: Covid confusion snarls Biden White House – NBC News
‘We have gone backwards’: Covid confusion snarls Biden White House – NBC News
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North Korea launches another suspected missile amid stalled talks with the U.S. – NPR
North Korea launches another suspected missile amid stalled talks with the U.S. – NPR

People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Ahn Young-joon/AP


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People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Ahn Young-joon/AP

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Tuesday fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into its eastern sea, its second launch in a week, following leader Kim Jong Un’s calls to expand its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international opposition.

The launches follow a series of weapons tests in 2021 that underscored how North Korea is continuing to expand its military capabilities during a self-imposed pandemic lockdown and deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired what likely was a ballistic missile from the area of its northern Jagang province. It said the weapon flew 700 kilometers (434 miles) at a maximum speed of around Mach 10 before landing in waters off its eastern coast.

It said the launch was a “clear violation” of U.N. Security Council resolutions and demonstrated a more advanced capability than North Korea’s previous launch last week. The North’s state media described that launch as a successful test of a hypersonic missile, a type of weaponry it claimed to have first tested in September.

South Korean officials didn’t provide a specific assessment of the missile type, but some experts said North Korea may have tested its purported hypersonic missile again in response to the South Korean military playing down its previous test.

North Korea didn’t immediately comment on Tuesday’s test.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said the suspected ballistic missile landed outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were checking the safety of ships and aircraft around Japan, but there were no immediate reports of disruptions or damage.

“It is extremely regrettable that North Korea has continued to fire” missiles so soon after the U.N. Security Council discussed its response to the North’s earlier launch, Kishida said.

The Security Council held closed-door consultations on Monday on last week’s launch, but took no action. Ahead of the talks, the U.S. and five allies issued a statement urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

South Korea’s presidential office said Tuesday’s launch was discussed at an emergency National Security Council meeting, which expressed “strong regret” over North Korea’s continuing tests and urged it to return to talks.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launch did not pose an “immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies” but underlined the destabilizing impact of North Korea’s weapons programs.

Still, the launch corresponded with an order issued to ground some flights on the West Coast of the United States.

KCRA, a television station in Sacramento, California, quoted officials at both its local airport and San Francisco International Airport as saying flights stopped for around five minutes at 2:30 p.m. local time, which was just minutes after the launch. They attributed the stop to an order by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air-traffic controllers in other areas of the West Coast similarly ordered aircraft down, according to recordings shared online. A San Francisco air traffic controller ordered flights to avoid its airspace and not take off or land around the time without explaining why, according to a recording by the website LiveATC.net at the time.

“Things are changing really quick,” the air traffic controller said in the recording, adding later: “I just heard something about ground-stopping all aircraft, so I don’t know anything, just hold tight there.”

Air traffic controllers at Los Angeles International Airport also acknowledged receiving an order to stop departures at the same time, without explanation, according to another recording.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ground stop.

The launch came six days after North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea in what it later described as a successful test of a hypersonic missile.

South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers prepare to move in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea on Tuesday.

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South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers prepare to move in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea on Tuesday.

Ahn Young-joon/AP

Seoul’s Defense Ministry said after that test that North Korea had exaggerated its capabilities and had tested a conventional ballistic missile the South was capable of intercepting. The ministry said it doubts that North Korea has acquired the technologies needed for a hypersonic weapon.

Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said the North’s leadership would have been “enraged” by South Korea’s assessment of last week’s launch and may have planned a series of tests in a push to make its threat credible.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose a crucial challenge to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. Such weapons were on a wish-list of sophisticated military assets Kim unveiled early last year along with multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fueled long-range missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.

Experts say North Korea is likely years away from acquiring a credible hypersonic system.

North Korea’s previous test on Jan. 5 came days after Kim vowed during a key political conference to bolster his military forces, even as the nation grapples with pandemic-related difficulties that have further strained its economy, crippled by U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear program.

The economic setbacks have left Kim with little to show for his diplomacy with former U.S. President Donald Trump, which derailed after their second meeting in 2019 when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

The Biden administration, whose policies have reflected a broader shift in U.S. focus from counterterrorism and so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran to confronting a near-peer adversary in China, has said it’s willing to resume talks with North Korea “anywhere and at any time” without preconditions.

But North Korea has so far rejected the idea of open-ended talks, saying the U.S. must first withdraw its “hostile policy,” a term the North mainly uses to describe the sanctions and joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

“Even with North Korea’s pandemic border lockdowns restricting trade and diplomacy, Pyongyang is determined to run an arms race against Seoul and deny Washington the luxury of focusing on Russia and China,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

North Korea’s advancing nuclear arsenal is at the core of Kim’s rule and what he clearly considers his strongest guarantee of survival.

During his 10-year rule, he has conducted a large number of weapons tests in a push to acquire the ability to launch nuclear strikes on the American mainland.

But his country’s economy has faltered severely in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sanctions imposed over his nuclear ambitions and his government’s own mismanagement.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/01/11/1072018967/north-korea-launches-another-suspected-missile-amid-stalled-talks-with-the-u-s

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Too soon to treat COVID-19 like flu as Omicron spreads – WHO – Reuters
Too soon to treat COVID-19 like flu as Omicron spreads – WHO – Reuters

COPENHAGEN, Jan 11 (Reuters) – The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is on track to infect more than half of Europeans, but it should not yet be seen as a flu-like endemic illness, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Europe saw more than 7 million newly-reported cases in the first week of 2022, more than doubling over a two-week period, WHO’s Europe director Hans Kluge told a news briefing.

“At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that more than 50% of the population in the region will be infected with Omicron in the next 6-8 weeks,” Kluge said, referring to a research centre at the University of Washington.

Fifty out of 53 countries in Europe and central Asia have logged cases of the more infectious variant, Kluge said.

Evidence, however, is emerging that Omicron is affecting the upper respiratory tract more than the lungs, causing milder symptoms than previous variants.

But the WHO has cautioned more studies are still needed to prove this. read more

On Monday, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it may be time to change how it tracks COVID-19’s evolution to instead use a method similar to flu, because its lethality has fallen. read more

That would imply treating the virus as an endemic illness, rather than a pandemic, without recording every case and without testing all people presenting symptoms.

But that is “a way off”, WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, said at the briefing, adding that endemicity requires a stable and predictable transmission.

“We still have a huge amount of uncertainty and a virus that is evolving quite quickly, imposing new challenges. We are certainly not at the point where we are able to call it endemic,” Smallwood said.

“It may become endemic in due course, but pinning that down to 2022 is a little bit difficult at this stage.”

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/omicron-infect-more-than-half-europes-population-6-8-weeks-who-2022-01-11/

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Chicago Reaches Deal With Teachers’ Union to Return to Classrooms – The New York Times
Chicago Reaches Deal With Teachers’ Union to Return to Classrooms – The New York Times

“This agreement is the only modicum of safety that is available for anyone that steps foot in the Chicago Public Schools, especially in the places in the city where testing is low and where vaccination rates are low,” said Stacy Davis Gates, the union’s vice president.

School leaders across the United States have scrambled to adjust to the highly infectious Omicron variant, which has pushed the country’s daily case totals to record levels and led to record hospitalizations. Most school districts have forged ahead with in-person instruction, as the Biden administration has urged, sometimes quarantining individual students or classrooms as outbreaks emerge. Some large districts, including in Milwaukee and Cleveland, have moved class online.

But the debate in Chicago proved uniquely bitter and unpredictable, with hundreds of thousands of children pulled out of class two days after winter break when teachers voted to stop reporting to their classrooms. Rather than teach online, as the union proposed, the school district canceled class altogether.

Chicago Public Schools leaders have insisted that virus precautions were in place and that pausing in-person instruction would unfairly burden parents and harm students’ academic and social progress. Union members said that the schools were not safe, that more testing was needed and that classes should be temporarily moved online.

The Chicago area, like much of the country, is averaging far more new cases each day than at any previous point in the pandemic. The Omicron variant is believed to cause less severe illness than prior forms of the virus, with vaccinated people unlikely to face severe outcomes. Still, coronavirus hospitalizations in Illinois have exceeded their peak levels from last winter and continue to rise sharply.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/us/chicago-schools-deal-covid.html

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16 Ivy League and elite universities sued for alleged financial aid conspiracy – NBC News
16 Ivy League and elite universities sued for alleged financial aid conspiracy – NBC News
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Trump attorneys cite immunity, want Jan. 6 lawsuits tossed – ABC News
Trump attorneys cite immunity, want Jan. 6 lawsuits tossed – ABC News

WASHINGTON — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump and his associates argued Monday that incendiary statements by Trump and others last Jan. 6 prior to the Capitol riot were protected speech and in line with their official duties.

In response to civil suits running parallel to Congress’ own Jan. 6 inquiry, Trump’s lawyers claimed he was acting within his official rights and had no intention to spark violence when he called on thousands of supporters to “march to the Capitol” and “fight like hell” to disrupt the Senate’s certification of the 2020 election results.

“There has never been an example of someone successfully being able to sue a president for something that happened during his term of office,” said Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall. “That absolute immunity of the presidency is very important.”

The five-hour hearing in Washington before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta concerned Trump’s attempts to have the civil suits dismissed. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California brought one of the suits against Trump and a host of others, including Donald Trump Jr., Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks and right-wing group the Oath Keepers, charging responsibility for the violent breach of the Capitol building by Trump supporters.

The other lawsuits, brought by Democratic representatives and two Capitol Police officers, claim that statements by Trump and Brooks on and before Jan. 6 essentially qualify as part of a political campaign, and are therefore fair game for litigation. Plaintiffs are seeking damages for the physical and emotional injuries they sustained during the insurrection.

“What he spoke about was a campaign issue, seeking to secure an election,” said Joseph Sellers, one of the attorney’s representing Swalwell’s suit. “This was a purely private act.”

Sellers said Trump’s statements were an overt and unambiguous call for political violence.

“It’s hard to conceive of a scenario other than the president traveling down to the Capitol himself and busting through the doors … but of course he did that through 3rd-party agents, through the crowd,” he said.

Binnall argued that Trump’s calls to derail the Senate vote certification process were in line with any executive’s right to comment or criticize a co-equal government branch.

“A president always has the authority to speak on whether or not any of the other branches, frankly, can or should take action,” he said, refencing cases where former President Barack Obama publicly commented on Supreme Court decisions.

Binnall argued that Trump has already been subject to a trial over Jan. 6 — his second impeachment trial, where he was acquitted by the then-Republican-majority Senate.

“That was their remedy and they failed,” he said. “They don’t get another bite of the apple here.”

Mehta repeatedly cut off lawyers on both sides with questions and challenges.

Giuliani lawyer Joseph Sibley at one point stated, “There’s simply no way you can construe the statements that were made by any of the speakers to be an invitation to join a conspiracy to go to the Capitol and commit crimes.”

Mehta immediately asked, “Why not?”

The judge then refenced Trump’s own Jan. 6 speech in detail.

“His last words were ‘go to the Capitol’ and before that it was ‘show strength’ and ‘fight.’ Why isn’t that a plausible invitation to do exactly what the rioters ended up doing?” Mehta asked. ”Those words are hard to walk back.”

Mehta at one point focused on the hours-long silence from Trump as his supporters battled Capitol Police and D.C. police officers and rampaged through the building. He questioned Binnall at length about whether that failure or refusal to condemn the assault as it was happening could be interpreted as approval.

Binnall responded, “You can not have a situation where the president is obligated to take certain actions or say certain things or else be subject to litigation.”

Brooks has invoked the Westfall Act, a statue that protects federal employees from being sued over actions taken while performing their official duties. However, Justice Department lawyer Brian Boynton told the court that Brooks should be denied such protection.

The fact that Brooks was “advocating for the election of President Trump with these remarks at a Trump rally does make this a campaign activity,” Boynton said.

Brooks, who represented himself in Monday’s proceedings, told the court that a House of Representatives ethics committee declined to pursue charges against him. He added that there was no ongoing campaign to participate in on Jan. 6.

“The campaign for election ended on November 3,” Brooks said. “Everything after that was a legal proceeding.”

Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-attorneys-cite-immunity-jan-lawsuits-tossed-82189324

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Mourners gather for Valentina Orellana Peralta funeral – Los Angeles Times
Mourners gather for Valentina Orellana Peralta funeral – Los Angeles Times

The gray casket of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana Peralta stood between a pair of photos of the teen and funeral wreaths made up of white roses and purple flowers.

More than 100 people who came to mourn the death of the Chilean girl stood up from their chairs as they watched her parents — Soledad Peralta and Juan Pablo Orellana — walk in, arm-in-arm, amid the sound of gospel music, with civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The parents wore black shirts and masks that read “Justice for Valentina” as they slowly made their way to the open casket of their daughter, who wore a pink dress and glasses.

Monday’s funeral service for Valentina came two weeks after she was killed by an LAPD police officer while shopping for clothes with her mother in North Hollywood. It also comes a day before the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners is scheduled to have its first meeting of the year and discuss the case.

The funeral service drew people from across L.A. Metta Pacheco, 46, placed her hand on the casket and wept before the ceremony began.

California

Column: The pain and rage over the 14-year-old girl killed by the LAPD? To them, it’s ‘like deja vu’

Among the attendees at the funeral for Valentina Orellana Peralta were relatives of others killed by police. It’s the club to which no one wants to belong.

An activist, Pacheco said she wanted to pay her final respects to the slain girl.

“My heart breaks for the family, for their daughter,” Pacheco said. “This killing was so unnecessary, there were other ways the police could have handled this.”

Sitting across the room was Rosa Miller. She said Valentina’s shooting hit close to home. Miller said her friend, 49-year-old Vanessa Marquez, an actress, was shot and killed by South Pasadena police in 2018.

“The shooting triggered a lot of emotions, considering how young [Valentina] was and how senseless her death was,” Miller said as her eyes welled up. “People should be outraged.”

Most of those sitting inside the church were family members and mostly Black activists and residents, including members of the church. Miller was one of few Latinos present at the funeral. She said she was disappointed by the relatively small Latino presence.

“People need to wake up, especially the Latino community,” she said. “She was a Latina.”

“If a 14-year-old dying in her mother’s arms doesn’t enrage you then what will?” she added.

Covering the issues, politics, culture and lifestyle of the Latino community in L.A., California and beyond.

Others present at the funeral service included Refuge Senior Pastor Bishop Noel Jones and attorneys Ben Crump and Rahul Ravipudi, who are representing the family.

Crump has represented numerous families of people killed by police, including George Floyd, whose May 2020 slaying by a Minneapolis police officer triggered protests around the world.

As he stood on the stage with a large screen showing an image of Valentina, Crump looked over at the family and vowed he and others would seek justice for their daughter.

“Justice represents the protection of the innocent,” Crump said. “And who is more innocent than your 14-year-old angel, Valentina.”

Ravipudi took the stage next and told Valentina’s parents that as a son of immigrants, he understood how hard it was for them to sacrifice so much and work so hard to provide a better life for their daughter.

“In the short time Valentina was here, her light shined bright,” Ravipudi said. “She was excelling in school. She had friends, she had the love and support of her family. And on Dec. 23, Valentina’s life was needlessness taken away with an AR-15 by the very people who were charged with protecting her.”

California

‘That baby is all of our babies’: Viewing for girl killed by LAPD strikes deep chord

Funeral for Valentina Orellana Peralta, 14, will be held Monday at City of Refuge Church in Gardena.

Ravipudi told the parents that their daughter did not die in vain. He and others would hold those responsible for her death accountable and most importantly, make sure LAPD changed how it responded to incidents like the one that left their daughter dead, he said.

“As Gandhi said, ‘The truth never damages a cause that’s just,’” he said. “It is our job that the truth and only the truth is revealed.”

The shooting of Valentina occurred on Dec. 23, 2021. She and her mother were in the changing room of a Burlington store when one of three rounds fired by Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. penetrated the wall and struck the girl. Valentina died in the arms of her mother, whose screams were captured on police body camera videos of the incident.

Jones was firing at a man, later identified as Daniel Elena-Lopez, who had attacked customers with a bicycle lock and was holding the lock at the time of the shooting, according to the video footage and police.

Police dispatchers that night received multiple, conflicting 911 calls about the assaults, some saying — incorrectly — that Elena-Lopez had a gun.

Valentina was pronounced dead at the scene, as was Elena-Lopez.

Miller, Pacheco and others said they believe police could have deescalated the incident.

At around noon a gospel choir took the stage. People rose from their seats, clapped, danced and sang, “No matter the problem, put it in God’s hands.” In front, feet from their daughter’s casket, Orellana and Peralta clapped and moved side to side to the music.

Sharpton then took the stage to deliver his eulogy. Crump said the family requested Sharpton’s presence. In recent years, he has addressed grieving families of victims who have been killed, including relatives of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner, Michael Brown and Ahmaud Arbery.

From the stage, tapping his index finger on the wooden podium, Sharpton said it didn’t matter that the police officer who killed Valentina was Black, or that Valentina was an immigrant in the United States.

“This is not only a tragedy, it is a travesty,” Sharpton said, while some in the crowd answered, “amen.” “There is nothing normal about shooting so recklessly that a young teenage girl looking to live the American dream, that was shopping with her dear mother, Soledad, possibly getting a Christmas dress that ends up being the dress for her funeral “

“This could have been my daughter, this could have been your daughter,” he added.

California

Garcetti, Moore say tactics will be examined after LAPD killing of 14-year-old girl

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and LAPD Chief Michel Moore pledge transparent probes into the fatal shooting of Valentina Orellana Peralta by an officer.

Family of the girl said Valentina brought them joy and love. They described her as a kind person who cared for the well-being of others, especially animals. Her father said she was a strong advocate of animal rights. He said his daughter wanted to become a U.S. citizen like her older sister, attend college and become an engineer.

“She had many dreams and aspirations, like any 14-year-old had,” Juan Pablo Peralta said.

He said in the short amount of time she was in the country, she had learned the English language and excelled at school, getting good grades in math and physics.

Her parents said their daughter was interested in robotics.

“She wanted to build me a robot that would help me clean,” Soledad Orellana said, speaking softly.

Both parents said it has been a painful time for them but they hope that they can secure justice for their daughter and will also help advocate for others who may need their help and support.

“I’m starting to understand,” Orellana said while standing behind the podium “that my daughter was an angel whose mission was to bring peace and love.”

There was a moment of silence at the end of the service before pallbearers carried Valentina’s casket outside to the hearse that would take her to her final resting place, amid a flurry of released white doves.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-10/funeral-service-held-for-valentina-orellana-peralta

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U.S. issues ‘Do Not Travel’ warning for Canada – Reuters
U.S. issues ‘Do Not Travel’ warning for Canada – Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. State Department on Monday advised against travel to neighboring Canada because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spreads.

The CDC elevated its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High” for Canada, telling Americans they should avoid travel, while the State Department also on Monday issued its “Level Four: Do Not Travel” advisory for Canada citing COVID-19 cases.

The CDC, which lists about 80 destinations worldwide at Level Four, also raised the island of Curacao to Level Four.

In November, the United States lifted restrictions at its land borders with Canada and Mexico for fully vaccinated foreign nationals, ending historic curbs on non-essential travelers put in place in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada remains a top foreign destination for Americans.

“We are aware of the latest CDC advice,” said a spokeswoman for Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, noting that last month Ottawa had urged residents against non-essential travel.

Canada first issued the advisory in March 2020 but withdrew itlast October – before the first Omicron cases were reported – citing the success of vaccination campaigns.

This month, Canada broke its one-day record for the highest number of people hospitalized with COVID-19. Last Friday, officials said new daily cases had soared by 65% in the previous week, threatening healthcare systems. read more

The CDC on Monday also lowered travel recommendations from Level Four to “Level 3: High” to Armenia, Belarus, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. It also rate Singapore as “Level 3,” after it previously was listed as unknown.

The CDC says Americans should be fully vaccinated before traveling to Level 3 destinations.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a record high of 132,646, according to a Reuters tally on Monday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant pushed hospitalizations past the record 132,051 set in January last year. read more

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-cdc-tells-americans-avoid-travel-canada-2022-01-10/

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In pivot to voting rights, Biden risks falling short on a second big goal – The Washington Post
In pivot to voting rights, Biden risks falling short on a second big goal – The Washington Post

“He wouldn‘t be going to Georgia tomorrow — a place where there is enormous history of civil rights leaders, of his friend, John Lewis, advocating for fundamental rights, including voting rights — if he wasn’t ready and prepared to elevate this issue and continue to fight for it,” Psaki said.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-pivot-to-voting-rights-biden-risks-falling-short-on-a-second-big-goal/2022/01/10/cf5169e0-722a-11ec-b202-b9b92330d4fa_story.html

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New York mayor revises death toll to 17 in Bronx apartment fire, calls tragedy ‘unspeakable’ – USA TODAY
New York mayor revises death toll to 17 in Bronx apartment fire, calls tragedy ‘unspeakable’ – USA TODAY
  • Several survivors were in critical condition and authorities warned the death toll could rise.
  • A malfunctioning space heater apparently sparked the 5-alarm fire.

NEW YORK – Cleanup crews in white suits cleared debris Monday from the high-rise Bronx apartment building where choking smoke from an accidental blaze a day earlier killed 17 people, including eight children.

Authorities had initially put the death toll at 19. But Mayor Eric Adams, calling the tragedy at the Twin Parks North West complex an “evolving crisis,” updated the numbers at a news conference Monday.

“There was a bit of a double count,” Fire Department of New York Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. 

Dozens of people remained hospitalized from the nation’s most deadly apartment fire in almost 40 years. Thirteen survivors were in critical condition, and Nigro warned that the death toll could rise. The dead included children as young as 4, City Council Member Oswald Feliz said.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/10/bronx-new-york-city-fire-updates-space-heater-death-toll/9155061002/

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Chicago public school students will return to classroom Wednesday after teachers union suspends work action, mayor says – CNN
Chicago public school students will return to classroom Wednesday after teachers union suspends work action, mayor says – CNN

By Amir Vera, Brad Parks and Holly Yan, CNN

Updated 11:43 PM ET, Mon January 10, 2022

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/10/us/chicago-schools-teacher-union-mayor-monday/index.html

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In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig – The New York Times
In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig – The New York Times

“It was either die or do this transplant,” Mr. Bennett said before the surgery, according to officials at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”

Dr. Griffith said he first broached the experimental treatment in mid-December, a “memorable” and “pretty strange” conversation.

“I said, ‘We can’t give you a human heart; you don’t qualify. But maybe we can use one from an animal, a pig,” Dr. Griffith recalled. “It’s never been done before, but we think we can do it.’”

“I wasn’t sure he was understanding me,” Dr. Griffith added. “Then he said, ‘Well, will I oink?’”

Xenotransplantation, the process of grafting or transplanting organs or tissues from animals to humans, has a long history. Efforts to use the blood and skin of animals go back hundreds of years.

In the 1960s, chimpanzee kidneys were transplanted into some human patients, but the longest a recipient lived was nine months. In 1983, a baboon heart was transplanted into an infant known as Baby Fae, but she died 20 days later.

Pigs offer advantages over primates for organ procurements, because they are easier to raise and achieve adult human size in six months. Pig heart valves are routinely transplanted into humans, and some patients with diabetes have received porcine pancreas cells. Pig skin has also been used as a temporary graft for burn patients.

Two newer technologies — gene editing and cloning — have yielded genetically altered pig organs less likely to be rejected by humans. Pig hearts have been transplanted successfully into baboons by Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, a professor of surgery at University of Maryland School of Medicine who established the cardiac xenotransplantation program with Dr. Griffith and is its scientific director. But safety concerns and fear of setting off a dangerous immune response that can be life-threatening precluded their use in humans until recently.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/health/heart-transplant-pig-bennett.html

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New York mayor revises death toll to 17 in Bronx apartment fire, calls tragedy ‘unspeakable’ – USA TODAY
New York mayor revises death toll to 17 in Bronx apartment fire, calls tragedy ‘unspeakable’ – USA TODAY
  • Several survivors were in critical condition and authorities warned the death toll could rise.
  • A malfunctioning space heater apparently sparked the 5-alarm fire.

NEW YORK – Cleanup crews in white suits cleared debris Monday from the high-rise Bronx apartment building where choking smoke from an accidental blaze a day earlier killed 17 people, including eight children.

Authorities had initially put the death toll at 19. But Mayor Eric Adams, calling the tragedy at the Twin Parks North West complex an “evolving crisis,” updated the numbers at a news conference Monday.

“There was a bit of a double count,” Fire Department of New York Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. 

Dozens of people remained hospitalized from the nation’s most deadly apartment fire in almost 40 years. Thirteen survivors were in critical condition, and Nigro warned that the death toll could rise. The dead included children as young as 4, City Council Member Oswald Feliz said.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/10/bronx-new-york-city-fire-updates-space-heater-death-toll/9155061002/

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Trump’s potential liability for Capitol riot faces major test in court – CNN
Trump’s potential liability for Capitol riot faces major test in court – CNN

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/10/politics/trump-civil-liability-insurrection-court-hearing/index.html

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IRS warns of ‘frustrating’ tax filing season over backlog of returns – New York Post
IRS warns of ‘frustrating’ tax filing season over backlog of returns – New York Post

The Internal Revenue Service warned Monday of a “frustrating” tax filing season in the coming weeks as the agency contends with a backlog of returns, staffing shortages and a massive increase in phone calls from taxpayers.

The IRS cautioned it is still working on “prior-year individual tax returns that have not been fully processed.”

“In many areas, we are unable to deliver the amount of service and enforcement that our taxpayers and tax system deserves and needs. This is frustrating for taxpayers, for IRS employees and for me,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement. “IRS employees want to do more, and we will continue in 2022 to do everything possible with the resources available to us.”

The agency said it will accept individual tax returns for 2021 on Jan. 24, with a filing deadline of April 18 for most taxpayers.

The IRS regularly enters filing season with a backlog of approximately 1 million tax returns from the prior year, but the logjam appears to be significantly worse this year. Treasury Department officials warned the agency faces “enormous challenges,” with a backlog “several times” higher than normal.

The IRS claimed that it was still working through “prior-year individual tax returns.”
AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File

The exact number of tax returns waiting to be processed is unclear, but the IRS had 6 million unprocessed individual returns as of late December, according to its website.

Pandemic-era stimulus payments have complicated processing efforts for the IRS. The agency is also contending with a surge in phone calls during the pandemic. Last year, the IRS received more than 145 million calls from January 1 through May 17, or more than four times its normal call volume.

Despite the warning, the IRS said it expects most taxpayers to receive their refund within three weeks, provided they file electronically and set up direct deposit.

President Biden called for an additional $80 billion in funding for the IRS in his social spending bill.
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

This year’s filing deadline is slightly later than the usual date of April 15. Officials said the change was made to account for the observation of the Emancipation Day holiday in Washington, DC.

The Internal Revenue Service warned that this year’s tax season may be “frustrating.”
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

As part of his social spending bill, President Biden has called for an additional $80 billion in IRS funding to support a hiring spree, increased audits and better technology. Biden argues the funds will help crack down on tax cheats and close the “tax gap,” or the difference between what Americans owe and what the IRS collects.

Republicans oppose the effort to expand the IRS, arguing the initiative would be too invasive and harmful to ordinary Americans.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/01/10/irs-warns-of-frustrating-tax-filing-season-amid-backlog-of-returns/

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U.S., Russia Talks Yield Little Overall Progress Amid Ukraine Crisis – The Wall Street Journal
U.S., Russia Talks Yield Little Overall Progress Amid Ukraine Crisis – The Wall Street Journal

U.S. and Russian negotiators held their first security talks since Russia’s deployment of tens of thousands of troops to the Ukrainian border sparked fears of an invasion, but they left the Monday talks saying they failed to narrow their differences.

Although both sides described the discussions as businesslike, they remain at odds over Moscow’s demands that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the postwar military alliance of Western powers, halt its expansion in Europe, and the U.S.’s insistence that Russia remove more than 100,000 Russian troops arrayed near Ukraine’s border.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-russia-talks-begin-to-avert-one-of-the-biggest-geopolitical-crises-since-the-cold-war-11641815752

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At-home COVID tests will be covered by insurance starting Saturday : Coronavirus Updates – NPR
At-home COVID tests will be covered by insurance starting Saturday : Coronavirus Updates – NPR

A health worker grabs at-home COVID-19 test kits to be handed out last month in Youngstown, Ohio. Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for those on their plans, the Biden administration announced Monday.

David Dermer/AP


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David Dermer/AP

A health worker grabs at-home COVID-19 test kits to be handed out last month in Youngstown, Ohio. Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for those on their plans, the Biden administration announced Monday.

David Dermer/AP

The Biden Administration announced Monday new details on how Americans can get free COVID-19 tests – or get reimbursements from their private insurance. This is following up on an announcement the White House made last month.

Under the new policy announced by the White House, individuals covered by a health insurance plan who purchase an over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic test that has been authorized, cleared, or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be able to have those test costs covered by their insurance beginning this Saturday.

Insurance companies and health plans will be required to cover eight free over-the-counter at-home tests per covered individual per month, according to White House officials. For instance, a family of four all on the same plan would be able to get up to 32 of these tests covered by their health plan per month.

“We are requiring insurers and group health plans to make tests free for millions of Americans. This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a news release Monday.

During Monday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the administration will start to have free COVID tests “out the door in the coming weeks.”

“The contracts (for testing companies) are structured in a way to require that significant amounts are delivered on an aggressive timeline, the first of which should be arriving early next week,” Psaki said.

“We also expect to have details on the website as well as a hotline later this week,” Psaki added.

The Biden administration says it is “incentivizing” insurers and group health plans to set up programs that will allow Americans to get the over-the-counter tests (PCR and rapid tests) directly through preferred pharmacies, retailers or other entities with no out-of-pocket costs.

For people whose health care provider has ordered a COVID-19 test, the Biden administration said there will not be a limit on the number of tests that are covered — including at-home tests.

Currently, State Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs must cover FDA-authorized at-home COVID-19 tests without cost-sharing.

Americans who are covered by Medicare already have their COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed by a laboratory, such as PCR and antigen tests, “with no beneficiary cost-sharing when the test is ordered by either a physician, non-physician practitioner, pharmacist, or other authorized health care professional,” the Biden administration says.

Last year, the Biden administration issued guidance saying that both State Medicaid and CHIP programs must cover all types of FDA-authorized COVID-19 tests without cost-sharing.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2022/01/10/1071899471/insurance-at-home-covid-tests-white-house

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