New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering at home – just over a week since she was spotted partying without a mask in Florida, her office said on Sunday.

“Representative Ocasio-Cortez has received a positive test result for COVID-19. She is experiencing symptoms and recovering at home,” the statement said.

“The Congresswoman received her booster shot this fall, and encourages everyone to get their booster and follow all CDC guidance.”

The lefty Dem’s positive test result comes just over a week after she was spotted maskless enjoying drinks with her boyfriend while on vacation in Miami as omicron cases soared across the nation.

The progressive “Squad” member was photographed with boyfriend Riley Roberts sitting outside at the Doraku Izakaya and Sushi restaurant on Dec. 30, sipping a cocktail and checking her phone.

AOC’s maskless winter getaway was criticized on social media by supporters of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has taken a strong stance against mask mandates.

“Welcome to Florida, AOC! We hope you’re enjoying a taste of freedom here in the Sunshine State thanks to @RonDeSantisFL’s leadership,” read a post from the Team DeSantis Twitter account in response to the photo.

AOC embraces Billy Porter with a hug maskless.
jacob_lanoux/Instagram

The Sunshine State’s lieutenant governor Jeanette Núñez also chimed in, writing, “@AOC’s New York state of mind clearly doesn’t mind being in the free state of Florida…mask free of course.”

Former White House press secretary and Florida native Kayleigh McEnany tweeted that AOC’s travel choice was “interesting.”

“I guess she enjoys the freedom-loving utopia of Florida over her mandate-ridden New York!” added McEnany, now a co-host on the Fox News midday show “Outnumbered.”

Ocasio-Cortez shot back at the Team DeSantis tweet the following day, writing: “Hasn’t Gov. DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like 2 weeks? If he’s around, I would be happy to say hello. His social media team seems to have been posting old photos for weeks. In the meantime, perhaps I could help with local organizing. Folks are quite receptive here :)”

AOC dances maskless at Miami Drag Queen bar.
Brendon Leslie/FCV

“I’d also be happy to share some notes from @GovKathyHochul’s work in NY since he seems to be in need of tips!” she added in another tweet.

She also fired back at former Donald Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes, who called out Roberts for “showing his gross pale male feet in public (not at a pool/beach) with hideous sandals,” as seen in the photo.

“If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet,” AOC wrote. “Ya creepy weirdos.”

The far-left lawmaker was spotted maskless again in Florida last week at a packed Miami drag bar amid a record-high number of COVID-19 cases in New York City

In a video posted by a reporter for the Sunshine State’s Conservative Voice on Sunday,  she was seen waving to the large crowd of mostly unmasked drag bar-goers.

The Congresswomen reproached Texas Senator Ted Cruz in February after he took a family vacation to Cancun while his state experienced a deadly winter storm that knocked out power to millions and left 23 dead.

“If Sen. Cruz had resigned back in January after helping gin up a violent insurrection that killed several people, he could’ve taken his vacation in peace,” she tweeted at the time. “Texans should continue to demand his resignation.”  

DeSantis taunted AOC in a press conference last week when he was asked about her trip.

“If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man, let me tell ya,” DeSantis, 43, said.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/01/09/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tests-positive-for-covid-19/

A Ukrainian soldier walks in a trench at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Sunday.

Andriy Dubchak/AP


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Andriy Dubchak/AP

A Ukrainian soldier walks in a trench at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Sunday.

Andriy Dubchak/AP

As 100,000 Russian troops surround Ukraine on three sides, raising the specter of a Russian invasion, officials on both sides were pessimistic Sunday about the possibility that upcoming U.S.-Russia talks in Geneva would lead to any real breakthroughs.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands that the U.S. pull troops out of Eastern Europe, or rule out expanding NATO to include Ukraine.

“Neither of those is on the table,” Blinken told CNN’s State of the Union.

Blinken didn’t rule out moving heavy U.S. weaponry out of Poland, moving missiles, or limiting the scope of U.S. military exercises. If Russia enters into these talks “in good faith,” Blinken said, it’s possible that the two sides can address concerns and reduce tensions. But prospects are dim while Russia continues to amass troops on Ukraine’s border.

“It’s hard to see making actual progress as opposed to talking in an atmosphere of escalation with a gun to Ukraine’s head,” Blinken said. “So if we’re actually going to make progress, we’re going to have to see de-escalation, Russia pulling back from the threat that it currently poses to Ukraine.”

Russia has spent the past few months building up its forces on the border. U.S. officials have warned the number of troops could soon double.

The U.S. believes that Putin is driven by a desire to restore Russia’s sphere of influence over former Soviet countries and that he fears Ukraine becoming more aligned with the West and joining NATO.

Russia already invaded and seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and has supported separatists in eastern Ukraine.

“We can’t go back to a world of spheres of influence. That was a recipe for instability, a recipe for conflict, a recipe that led to world wars,” Blinken said Sunday.

The U.S. is threatening Russia with sanctions if it invades Ukraine

In collaboration with European partners, the U.S. is planning “massive” financial and economic consequences if Putin renews aggression, Blinken said on ABC’s This Week. NATO would “almost certainly” have to “reinforce its positions on its Eastern flank near Russia as well as continuing to provide defensive assistance to Ukraine,” he said.

Russia has said that its military build-up along the border is a response to Ukrainian aggression; which Blinken has characterized as “gaslighting.”

U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, met with their Russian counterparts Sunday evening, including Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, for a working dinner to discuss the topics for Monday’s talks, dubbed the “Strategic Stability Dialogue.”

The two sides seem far apart. Ryabkov told the state media agency TASS Sunday that the U.S. requirement that Russia de-escalate is a “non-starter.” Nor would Russia discuss changing its position on Crimea, he said. The two sides have “dramatic, fundamental” differences on those positions, Ryabkov said.

NATO officials also plan to meet with Russian officials on Wednesday in Brussels, and the U.S. will join the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Vienna for talks with Russia on Thursday.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/01/09/1071703878/us-russia-ukraine-talks-geneva

In negotiating with CTU, Lightfoot faces several challenges and has relatively little leverage. Her administration has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the union, which seeks to have the work action stopped, though that could take significant time to resolve (the union also filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the district). Lightfoot also has called on teachers to return to their classrooms, despite the union’s vote, which is unlikely to sway the opinion of a significant number of educators. About 13% of CTU teachers showed up to buildings late last week, the district said.

Source Article from https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-public-schools-teachers-union-monday-classes-20220109-ljal2v564jc2jmqfqy4oumvgbq-story.html

Republicans firmed up their Senate lineup to try to win back control of the 50-50 chamber this fall after both Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and John Thune of South Dakota said they would run for re-election.

The two men, who were the final GOP incumbents to announce their intentions, face different challenges in November. Mr. Johnson is from one of the nation’s most politically competitive states and is a strong supporter of Donald Trump, while Mr. Thune represents a reliably Republican constituency and has clashed with the former president.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/ron-johnson-republican-senator-to-seek-third-term-in-wisconsin-11641737583

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/09/bronx-fire-five-alarm/9150657002/

“Today we are suffering the tragedy of a loss in our state that resulted from strong rain,” Romeu Zema, the state’s governor, said in a statement.

Michel Leite Neves, a 31-year-old Brazilian tourist who was on a boat in the lake when the cliff collapsed, told the G1 news outlet that he had alerted the craft’s skipper to the rocks tumbling down. At first the boat operator said the phenomenon was normal, but as the rockfall intensified, he gunned the engine with seconds to spare, Mr. Leite said.

“He turned the boat around because he said it was better for us to get out of there,” Mr. Leite said. “But at that moment the cliff was already falling.”

Lake Furnas, which is near the city of Capitólio, is among a cluster of picturesque destinations popular with tourists during the summertime in Minas Gerais. Visitors take boats to watch waterfalls that pour into emerald-colored water.

Lt. Pedro Aihara, a spokesman for the Minas Gerais Fire Department, said at least 24 people survived on the two boats that were directly hit. The search concluded on Sunday with all victims and survivors accounted for.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/world/americas/brazil-cliff-collapses.html

Los Angeles County reached another daily record of coronavirus cases as health officials on Sunday reported more than 45,000 new infections.

The county recorded 45,584 new cases amid the surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, according to figures released Sunday by the county’s Department of Public Health. The department also reported 13 new deaths, bringing the county’s total number of deaths to 27,785 since the start of the pandemic.

The updated numbers from the county underscored anew how the spread of the virus has exploded with the arrival of the Omicron variant. With an average of nearly 115,000 people being tested each day over the last seven days, more than 20% of people are testing positive for the virus, the county said. On Saturday, officials said the county had tallied more than 200,000 new cases over the previous seven days — the highest one-week total of the pandemic.

And as L.A. County enters its third year living with COVID-19, it is nearing another unwelcomed milestone: Nearly 2 million people have been infected with the virus since the pandemic’s start.

The public health department on Sunday also reported 3,364 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Friday. Experts have stressed that although caseloads are higher than during last winter’s peak, when L.A. County was recording about 16,000 new cases a day, fewer people are becoming severely ill from the Omicron variant.

“Our hearts remain with those families experiencing the sorrow of losing those they love to COVID,” county Public Health Director said in a statement Saturday. “As the surge continues, we ask residents and businesses to continue following the public health safety measures that we know reduce spread and keep people safe. This includes wearing a medical grade mask that is more protective against the Omicron variant and not spending time around others who are unmasked. These upgraded masks can be a surgical mask or an N95 or KN95 respirator mask.”

And the rise of Omicron has led to other stress points. Long lines have become the norm at swamped testing site around the county, while the hunt for home testing kits has sent people driving fruitlessly from one pharmacy to another.

The increased demand for testing prompted L.A. County health officials to pause its home testing program as they deal with a “backlog in the logistics of processing these kits.”

Some at-home antigen tests are reselling for triple the retail price. To help curb price gougers, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Saturday to protect buyers.

Under the order, sellers cannot increase prices on at-home coronavirus test kits by more than 10% of the highest price initially charged by the seller on Dec. 1, 2021. The order also prohibits sellers who haven’t previously sold at-home test kits to set a price greater than 50% of what they paid for the test kit.

It also provides additional tools for agencies such as the California Department of Justice and local law enforcement to take action against price gougers. A violation of this order can result in a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to six months, or both. The violation could also trigger an infringement of the Unfair Competition Law, which could lead to more penalties.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced those who’ve been a victim of price gouging should file a complaint to his office at oag.ca.gov/report or contact their local law enforcement agency.

“Californians are doing their part to confront this challenge — whether by caring for loved ones, getting vaccinated, or working on the front lines — and they shouldn’t have to worry about being cheated while dealing with the effects of coronavirus,” Bonta said in a statement.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-09/los-angeles-county-daily-record-45000-coronavirus-cases

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Sunday ripped the teachers union for staging an “illegal walkout,” saying it abandoned the city’s school children by voting last week to return to online instruction.

Lightfoot said she’s “doing everything I can to make sure” students return to the classroom. 

“What the Chicago Teachers Union did was an illegal walkout. They abandoned their posts and they abandoned kids and their families​,” she said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”​

Negotiations between city school officials and the Chicago Teachers Union continued during the weekend over coronavirus safety procedures with the union’s latest proposal keeping children out of the classroom until Jan. 18.

​In the interview, Lightfoot urged the union to come to an agreement and allow the city’s 350,000 students to return to school. ​

“​Our team has been working every single day, they’re at – back at it again here Sunday. They were at it yesterday. And we can get a deal done if there’s goodwill on both sides. But fundamentally what we cannot do is abandon the science​,” she said. 

“We know that the safest place for kids to be is in-person learning in schools, and we’ve spent millions – hundreds of millions of dollars to make our schools safe. They are safe. We’ve got the data to demonstrate that. We’ve got to get the teachers union to get real and get serious about getting back into in-person learning,” Lightfoot continued.

“[Teachers] abandoned their posts and they abandoned kids and their families​,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said about the walkout.
NBC/Meet The Press

The union has proposed resuming remote instruction on Wednesday and in-person instruction on Jan. 18.

It also supports a random screening program that students could opt out of.

“We’d like to see the mayor make a compromise as well,” union President Jesse Sharkey told the Associated Press on Saturday. “I mean what the mayor is essentially offering instead is no instruction in schools at all, no services.”​

Lightfoot said the sticking point in the talks is the insistence on remote learning, which she said “we categorically reject.”​

Chicago Public Schools reported 2,416 adults and 8,336 students in quarantine as of Saturday.
Ashlee Rezin /Chicago Sun-Times via AP

“We haven’t sat idly by and let C​OVID rage through our schools. When there’s been a necessity to shut down a classroom or shut down a school, to go to remote learning, we’ve done that​,” she said.

Lightfoot also said the statistics show that schools are not a major source of transmissions.

“We’re following the science. And what I won’t do is allow the teachers union to politicize this surge or the pandemic in general. People are nervous. They are scared. We get that, but the thing to do is to lean into the facts and the science and not abandon them in a panic​,” she said. 

According to the Chicago Public Schools, ​as of Saturday, 2,416 adults and 8,336 students were in quarantine. 

It said more than 90 percent of staff have been fully vaccinated. 

Lightfoot said the three-day walkout has “had cascading negative ripple effects not only on the students in their learning, their social and emotional welfare, but also on the families themselves.”

“​It is making them have tenuous financial status because they have to work, but they also have to take care of their kids.​ ​This is an untenable situation and completely, utterly avoidable. So I’m going to be on the side of the parents fighting every single day to get our kids back in school​,” she said. ​

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/01/09/chicago-mayor-lightfoot-blasts-teachers-union-for-walkout/

Johnson is considered one of the most vulnerable Senate incumbents this year. Among the Democrats seeking the seat are Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, and Steven Olikara, founder of the Millennial Action Project.

“Ron Johnson has spent years in the Senate looking out for himself at the expense of Wisconsinites and failing to do the job he was elected to do, and it’s time to face the consequences,“ Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler tweeted Sunday morning.

Johnson said he expects the 2022 campaign to be a nasty one.

“Tens of millions of dollars will be spent trying to destroy and defeat me. The mainstream media and Big Tech will contribute their powerful and corrupt voices as the unofficial but reliable communication apparatus of the Democrats,” he wrote.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/09/ron-johnson-reelection-senate-wisconsin-526804

BANNER ELK, N.C. — Several people were hurt at a North Carolina ski resort when a damaged hydrant sprayed a blast of water onto skiers riding above on a lift, prompting several skiers to jump.

Management at Beech Mountain Resort told WBTV-TV that a guest skied into the water and air hydrant Friday while snowmaking operations were underway. Video circulating on social media shows skiers on the chair lift getting hit by blasts of water.

The resort said in a statement that two people were taken to an area hospital by Avery County emergency medical workers with what appeared to be injuries that were not life-threatening. The person who skied into the hydrant was not injured.

“As soon as we became aware of the problem, our operations and safety team took action as quickly as possible to drain the system safely and assist the remaining skiers in disembarking at the top of the lift,” resort management said in a statement.

WSOC-TV spoke to two women who said they jumped 25 feet from the ski lift when the water hit them.

Emma Lopinto said she was at the ski resort celebrating her 19th birthday Friday when she and her best friend were doused in water as they rode above on the chair lift.

“We just grabbed each other and ducked our head and all I remember is the metal bar flying up and then me flying up. I don’t remember anything and I remember opening my eyes belly first on the ground,” Lopinto said.

“I have bruises from head to toe, some big, some small, like all over my body,” she said.

Lopinto said her friend also was hurt.

WSOC reported that Lopinto was one of two people who were transported to the hospital by ambulance. A third woman was taken to the hospital by her family.

Ivy-Elise Ivey told WSOC that she and her boyfriend could see what was happening and decided to jump along with several others.

“Everyone was in shock. You’re not going to jump from 25 feet, if you don’t think you have to,” Ivey said.

She said she broke her arm, fracturing it around her elbow.

Ivey said she is disappointed in how the resort handled the problem. Resort officials said that Ivey was not instructed to jump by resort staff.

“This was a very difficult situation for both our guests and our staff. We very much regret that the incident occurred and we again offer our apologies to the guests that were adversely affected,” the resort said in a statement.

Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/skiers-hurt-nc-ski-resort-hydrant-struck-82165574

In negotiating with CTU, Lightfoot faces several challenges and has relatively little leverage. She has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the district, though that could take significant time to resolve. She also has called on teachers to return to their classrooms, despite the union’s vote, which is unlikely to sway the opinion of a significant number of educators.

Source Article from https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-public-schools-teachers-union-monday-classes-20220109-ljal2v564jc2jmqfqy4oumvgbq-story.html

The Russians were incensed this fall when the United States and allied NATO forces conducted exercises in the Black Sea, near the Ukrainian and Russian coasts.

Privately, American officials have little hope that Mr. Putin would be satisfied with agreements that restore the status quo of a few years ago. And their concern is that the Russians will emerge from the Geneva talks, and others this week in Brussels and Vienna, declaring that diplomacy has failed — and that Mr. Putin will attempt to seize more of Eastern Ukraine, or carry out cyber or other attacks to cripple the government in Kyiv.

Still, Mr. Blinken’s statements appeared intended to create an opening, leaving the possibility of moving some heavy weaponry out of Poland, or limiting the scope of military exercises in Europe, in return for reciprocal actions by Russia — which presumably would have to include pulling troops back from Ukraine’s border.

Russia is seeking what it calls “security guarantees” from the United States and the NATO alliance that would essentially grant the country the kind of sphere of influence it has not enjoyed for more than 30 years, including Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin has been backing up those demands by massing tens of thousands of troops and equipment near its border with Ukraine, signaling that it is prepared to use force if diplomacy fails.

While Mr. Blinken attempted to focus the discussion on missile basing and military exercises in the region, Mr. Ryabkov said that Russia’s aims in the talks would go well beyond arms-control issues. Signals sent by American officials ahead of the talks, he said, “reflect a lack of understanding of what we need,” according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Mr. Ryabkov said that Russia would seek to revise the relationship with the West that was put in place with the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997. That agreement was followed by countries in the former Soviet sphere of influence joining the Western alliance, and many in Moscow see it as having disregarded Russia’s security interests in Europe.

“We need to assure the curtailing of the destructive NATO activities that have been taking place for decades and bring NATO back to positions that are essentially equivalent to what was the case in 1997,” Mr. Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “But it is precisely on these issues that we hear least of all any readiness on the part of the American side and NATO to come to an agreement.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/world/europe/russia-ukraine-us-geneva.html

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/09/missing-skier-california-resort/9149402002/

Mr. Johnson wrote that he was seeking a new term because “I believe America is in peril,” adding: “Much as I’d like to ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should.”

This year, Mr. Johnson has been at the forefront of the two strongest strains of misinformation coursing through the Republican Party — false claims about election administration and public health.

In the days after the 2020 election, he challenged Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. During a Senate hearing in February, he read into the record a report that falsely suggested the Trump-inspired Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol had been instigated by “fake Trump supporters.” In November, he began urging Wisconsin’s Republican state legislators to seize control of federal elections in the state, arguing that they could do so without the governor’s approval, despite decades-old rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Supreme Court that say otherwise.

Aside from Mr. Trump, there is perhaps no major Republican official who has made more false claims about the coronavirus and its vaccines than Mr. Johnson. He has said he will not get vaccinated, and has promoted discredited Covid-19 treatments and declined to encourage others to seek out the vaccines. In December, he falsely claimed that gargling with mouthwash could help stop transmission of the virus, an assertion that drew a rebuke from the manufacturer of Listerine.

While Mr. Johnson’s false claims have picked up pace recently, they go back years. During his 2010 campaign, he said that climate change was caused by “sun spots” and that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere “helps the trees grow.”

For Wisconsin Democrats, Mr. Johnson is both their strongest fund-raising boogeyman and a figure many of them view as an embarrassment to the state along the lines of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

“He’s an active menace to American democracy, a threat to public health and an economic saboteur of the middle class,” said Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “His sole redeeming quality in public life is that in 2022, he’s going to inspire Democrats to organize and turn out.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/us/politics/ron-johnson-senate-wisconsin.html

In the capital, Nursultan, there are obvious signs that security has been tightened, says the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg, with the entrance to the city’s Presidential Palace blocked.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59927267

Negotiations between Chicago school officials and the city’s teachers union over COVID-19 safety protocols resumed behind closed doors Saturday, but hope for a quick resolution remained bleak.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot ripped the Chicago Teachers Union’s latest proposal, which backtracked on an earlier demand for mandatory testing — but wouldn’t put kids back in classrooms until Jan. 18.

“CTU leadership, you’re not listening,” Lightfoot said. “The best, safest place for kids to be is in school.”

Her response came less than an hour after the union unveiled its latest proposal, which included resuming remote instruction Wednesday. The union also supported a random screening program that students could opt out of, rather than mandatory testing.

“We’d like to see the mayor make a compromise as well,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told the Associated Press. “I mean what the mayor is essentially offering instead is no instruction in schools at all, no services.”

Classes have been canceled since Wednesday, after the union voted to return to online instruction and asked teachers not to show up to work.

Many school districts nationwide have confronted the same issues, with most opting to stay open.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has refused requests by lawmakers and the United Federation of Teachers to temporary revert to remote learning.

The CTU has proposed starting remote learning on Wednesday.
AP
CTU President Jesse Sharkey says that Mayor Lori Lightfoot is basically offering the students “no services.”
AP

However, attendance remains low in New York City, and across the country, with many teachers and students in quarantine or opting to remain home to avoid exposure.

With Post wire services.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/01/08/lori-lightfoot-chicago-teachers-union-remain-at-odds-over-remote-learning/

The collapse at 11:00 local time (14:00 GMT) followed days of rain in Minas Gerais state, which had made the cliffs more susceptible to collapse, local fire officials told reporters.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59923900