“I’ve noticed a tonal shift amongst members of Congress and also within corporations,” said Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News journalist whose 2016 harassment lawsuit against network chair Roger Ailes helped a nation reawaken to sexual misconduct.
Businesses and members of Congress initially “felt like it was a passing fad and that they maybe didn’t have to be as introspective about the way in which they were handling these types of things,” Carlson added. “The movement has continued. Also, we’ve just heard more and more stories.”
The legislation’s four-year-long path to enactment highlights the winding road many bills take before being signed into law, despite the sense of urgency that both parties often use to jolt bills toward passage. While the Senate last year pulled together a bipartisan infrastructure package in a matter of months and in 2020 crafted a coronavirus relief package in the span of days, the chamber’s norm is closer to the grinding path that the #MeToo legislation has traveled over the past several years.
The Gillibrand-Graham bill gives sexual harassment and assault victims the option to take their claims to court, as opposed to going through forced arbitration, a mediation between alleged victims and perpetrators that takes place outside of the traditional judicial system. The House overwhelmingly approved the bill earlier this week, and it had broad support in the Senate, with backers ranging from progressives like Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) to conservatives like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
“This is among the largest workplace reforms certainly in our lifetime,” Gillibrand said. “The biggest change is, we are in the majority, and this is something that had the votes to pass under Sen. McConnell. But we were never given the vote.”
Gillibrand and Graham first introduced the legislation in December 2017, at the crest of a wave of sexual misconduct allegations that ended the careers of lawmakers in both parties. In a sign of the Gillibrand-Graham bill’s prospects on the Senate floor, the Senate Judiciary Committee — known for its partisan brawls — approved it unanimously in November.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said he came around to ending forced arbitration for sexual harassment and assault cases despite being a strong backer of the mediation process itself.
“There’s a lot of publicity about sexual harassment and about people not getting justice through the present process,” Grassley said, when asked why the bill was moving now. “I’m quite an arbitration supporter, but in this particular instance I think that it’s easy to cover up sexual harassment, sexual assault. … And women’s issues are a hot issue right now too, and ought to be.”
The Gillibrand-Graham bill has also attracted GOP support thanks to changes driven by concerns from Republicans such as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who introduced her own alternative proposal. During the bill’s markup, the Judiciary Committee removed collective bargaining provisions, and the House-passed legislation clarified that the term “harassment” would be defined by states and localities.
Ernst, who has partnered with Gillibrand on bipartisan military sexual assault reform, also met with Graham and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday to clarify that the legislation would only apply to sexual harassment and assault cases — not other employment issues, according to a Senate GOP aide.
“That’s the legislative process … People had legitimate concerns about the original product,” Graham said. “We listened to them, we changed, and I think we’re on the verge here of passing the thing. It’d be a big deal to me.”
Not every Republican, however, is convinced.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said this week that he was skeptical” of the bill, suggesting that it would benefit trial lawyers. Proponents of mandatory arbitration say that it offers a less costly and time-consuming option. The Chamber of Commerce supports Ernst’s alternative bill, but hasn’t publicly taken a position on the Gillibrand-Graham legislation.
Advocates of eliminating forced arbitration argue that the current process favors employers by keeping sexual misconduct allegations and investigation findings confidential and requiring employees settle their cases out of court. Making those allegations public, advocates predict, will reduce harassment and assault in the future by deterring perpetrators.
And many see the Gillibrand-Graham bill as only a start.
“I have wanted to get rid of mandatory arbitration and all consumer contracts for well over a decade,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “We’re getting action right now because it’s focused on sexual assault, but make no mistake: Mandatory arbitration is a way for giant corporations to squeeze consumers and make sure that they don’t have access to the courts, to exercise their legal rights.”
The bill’s passage also gives Democrats a legislative victory, with Biden’s social spending bill stalled and no path forward on passing their sweeping elections and ethics reform legislation. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who is co-sponsoring the Gillibrand-Graham bill, said there’s currently a “vacuum” after Democrats failed to change Senate rules last month.
“Sen. Schumer is looking around for some things to pass, and there are many things that we can pass that have bipartisan support,” Kennedy said.
Even so, senators in both parties largely agreed that there’s no single or overarching reason for the bill’s recent movement.
Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said “it’s hard to explain why certain moments” lead to the passage of legislation, but he credited the breadth of the country’s struggle to identify and combat sexual harassment.
“There’s so many things that have been in the news on this issue,” Durbin said. “It just touched every corner of American life.”
Police in Canada’s capital have warned that “Freedom Convoy” protesters may be “arrested without a warrant” if they continue their efforts – as politicians plead for an end to the ongoing demonstrations against COVID-19 restrictions.
Ottawa police issued a statement Wednesday indicating that the protesters who have paralyzed the capital city since late last month could face mass arrests as the blockades there and at two major ports of entry continue.
“The unlawful act of blocking streets in the downtown core is resulting in people being denied the lawful use, enjoyment and operation of their property,” police said. “You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you may face charges.”
“You could be arrested without a warrant for this offense if you are a party to the offense or assisting others in the direct or indirect commission in this offense,” police continued.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the demonstrations are hurting the nation’s economy.REUTERS/Carlos OsorioProtesters block the last entrance to the Ambassador Bridge as supporters continue to protest against the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.REUTERS/Carlos OsorioAbout 75 vehicles and 100 protesters remained on the main road leading on and off the bridge.Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images
The protesters’ vehicles may also be seized if they’re arrested and potentially forfeited upon conviction of mischief of property, police said.
“Charges or convictions related to the unlawful activity associated with the demonstrations may lead to denial in crossing the USA border,” Ottawa police said.
At least 23 arrests have been made in Ottawa during the protest, where cops have handed out more than 1,300 tickets. Some 85 criminal investigations are also underway, Canada’s Global News reported late Wednesday.
Toyota, Ford and Chrysler said the demonstrations had impacted their plants.Matthew Hatcher/Getty ImagesPolice block Huron Church Road, which leads to the Ambassador Bridge.REUTERS/Carlos OsorioOttawa police warned that “Freedom Convoy” protesters may face mass arrests. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
The stern warning from Ottawa police comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the demonstrations in Ottawa and at the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, are hurting the nation’s economy.
“The blockades in Windsor and Ottawa are endangering jobs, impeding trade, threatening the economy and obstructing our communities,” Trudeau tweeted Wednesday. “They must stop.”
Trudeau said he discussed the matter with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who echoed the prime minister’s take.
“We will continue working together to support our police forces as they manage these situations,” Ford tweeted. “We both agreed this must come to an end.”
The “Freedom Convoy” protests began as a movement against a vaccine requirement.Matthew Hatcher/Getty ImagesThe protesters’ vehicles may also be seized if they’re arrested.REUTERS/Carlos OsorioTrucks heading to Canada are stuck in heavy traffic after they were diverted to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Mich., Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP
Protesters have also been set up at a border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for 10 days — with about 50 trucks there as of Wednesday. More than 400 trucks have taken over downtown Ottawa during the demonstrations, which have no end in sight.
The “Freedom Convoy” protests, which started on Jan. 29, began as a movement against a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers, but has since grown into a mass revolt against Trudeau’s government and other coronavirus regulations.
Major auto manufacturers said they would suspend production as the protesters blocked inbound Canadian traffic at the Detroit supply route for a third day, while US-bound flow was still moving.
Protesters against vaccine mandates with trucks and other vehicles adorned in signs and Canadian flags gather on ON-3 near Ambassador Bridge on February 9, 2022, in Windsor, Canada.Getty ImagesProtesters have also been set up at a border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for 10 days.REUTERS/Carlos OsorioThe “Freedom Convoy” protests have grown into a mass revolt against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images
Toyota, Ford and Chrysler said the demonstrations had impacted their plants, while supply shortages also forced General Motors to cancel its second shift of the day at a factory near Lansing, Michigan.
“This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, supplies, communities and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford said in a statement. “We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the US and Canada.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars of products have been held back at the Ambassador Bridge in the last three days. About 75 vehicles and 100 protesters remained on the main road leading on and off the bridge, CBC reported Wednesday.
While President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet — and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper, Maggie Haberman scoops in her forthcoming book, “Confidence Man.”
Why it matters: The revelation by Haberman, whose coverage as a New York Times White House correspondent was followed obsessively by Trump, adds a vivid new dimension to his lapses in preserving government documents. Axios was provided an exclusive first look at some of her reporting.
Haberman reports Trump has told people that since leaving office, he has remained in contact with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — whose “love letters,” as Trump once called them, were among documents the National Archives retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.
Zoom out: The news of White House toilet-flushing comes as the National Archives has reportedly asked the Biden Justice Department to examine Trump’s handling of White House records, amid the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
The Washington Post reports that National Archives officials “suspected Trump had possibly violated laws concerning the handling of government documents.” The National Archives later retrieved 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago, The Post reported.
Archives officials found possible classified material in the returned boxes, The New York Times learned.
While in office, the former president blithely flouted the Presidential Records Act, which required him to preserve written communications concerning his official duties.
Trump routinely tore up documents and after leaving office brought substantial written materials back to Mar-a-Lago.
A Trump spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment about the plumbing matter.
Zoom in: Haberman’s “Confidence Man” — subtitled “The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” — will be published Oct. 4 by Penguin Press.
The publisher says it traces Trump’s early life in New York and “his decades of interactions with prosecutors” — then follows him through four years in the White House, and on to his post-presidential life in Palm Beach.
The intrigue: This is the book Trump fears most. Among Trump aides, Haberman’s book has been the most discussed of the bookshelf of books from reporters who covered Trump’s campaigns and White House.
Several advisers were unhappy about his decision to talk to her as part of his marathon conversations with book authors at Mar-a-Lago. But they concluded he couldn’t help himself and couldn’t be stopped.
Haberman, a lifelong New Yorker, has covered Trump extensively since 2011, when she was a Politico reporter. Earlier, she got to know his Manhattan milieu as a reporter for the New York Post and Daily News.
CHICAGO — Illinois’ mask mandate is ending Feb. 28.
The state will lift the rule — which requires people to wear masks when indoors in public — at the end of the month as long as it continues to see declines in COVID-19 metrics, Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday.
Chicago officials announced they’ll also lift the city’s mask and vaccine card requirements at the end of February if local metrics decline.
The moves go against recommendations from the leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They’re being done as key metrics — like the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Chicago and throughout Illinois — have dropped in recent weeks after peaking in late December and early January during the Omicron surge. But some metrics remain just as high, if not higher, than they were when the mandates were put in place in August.
“We’ve used masks less when spread is diminished and hospitals have enough bandwidth,” Pritzker said at a news conference. “Our approach has saved lives and kept our economy open and growing.”
People will still have to wear masks in some spots, and the state will still officially recommend mask use — it’s just won’t require it.
Businesses, cities, counties and other entities can still enforce their own mask mandates.
Where masks will still be required:
Schools.
Day cares.
Health care facilities.
Congregate care facilities.
Public transportation, including buses, trains and airplanes.
Federal buildings in areas of high of substantial risk of transmission.
Long-term care facilities when in communal areas.
In businesses that privately require mask use.
When in municipalities, like cities or counties, that have mask mandates.
The state could keep the mask mandate in place if things change, like if there is a variant that drives up hospitalizations, officials said. And they said the mask mandate could return in the future.
“It helps to have everyone mask,” Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious disease doctor at University of Chicago Medicine, said at the news conference. “But when cases are low, the likelihood of encountering someone with COVID is also low, making universal masking mandates less impactful.
“… This isn’t an end to the pandemic. And it’s not going back to normal.”
Some local governments and districts have already said masking is not required in schools after a downstate judge declared the statewide school requirement “null and void.” Chicago Public Schools still requires masking.
Pritzker has urged schools to keep up a masking requirement as the state appeals the judge’s decision. But the governor said that mandate could also be done away with within weeks.
The school rule must stay in place because schools see hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of people mingling for six hours or more, five days per week for weeks on end, which is very different than a sports game or bar, Pritzker said.
“I would like very much for it to be removed as soon as humanly possible, … but the truth is that we need to follow the advice of doctors, epidemiologists, who understand this well,” Pritzker said.
Landon said unmasked classrooms and counties without school mask mandates have been more likely to go remote or suspend classes than districts where students do wear masks. And officials said more kids need to get vaccinated and the youngest children need to become eligible for vaccines before schools can be mask-free.
Officials also urged residents to be respectful of people who continue to use masks, saying many families have members who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 or who are too young to get vaccinated.
Illinois’ latest mask mandate went into effect Aug. 30 as the Delta surge drove up cases, hospitalizations and deaths. On that day, the state reported 4,041 COVID-19 cases and 60 more Illinoisans dead from the virus.
The mandate has remained in effect even as other states pulled back their restrictions and Illinois became one of the few states left in the nation to still mandate masks in public.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged officials this week to keep masking requirements in place for schools and other public places, saying “now is not the moment” to stop, according to Reuters.
And Illinois’ numbers remain high: 5,825 confirmed cases and 87 COVID-19 deaths were reported Tuesday.
The city’s mandate was also put into effect in August as the city was seeing an average of more than 400 new confirmed cases per day. It also started requiring residents to show proof of vaccination at restaurants, bars and other venues in early January in response to the Omicron surge.
As of Tuesday evening, Chicago was reporting an average of 561 new confirmed cases per day. But local officials said recently the city’s mask mandate could be removed soon as cases drop after the Omicron surge.
After Pritzker’s announcement, the city health department released a statement saying it will also lift Chicago’s mask and vaccine card mandates at the end of February if it sees a drop in COVID-19 metrics.
The Chicago Department of Public Health is tracking four “primary community transmission and risk metrics”: COVID-19 cases diagnosed per day, test positivity, hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Once three of the four fall into the “lower transmission risk” category and stay there for at least two weeks, the city will lift restrictions, according to the health department.
As of Wednesday, one metric — the city’s test positivity — is in the “lower” category. Two metrics — hospital and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients — are in the next-highest category, while the city’s average number of cases diagnosed per day is still in the “high” category.
“When the city makes this transition, many Chicagoans may continue to wear masks in public spaces for a variety of reasons, even if they are vaccinated or as mandates and advisories fade,” according to the health department. “Someone may be immunocompromised, prefer to wear a mask or have a family member who is immunocompromised or too young to be vaccinated.
“Please be kind and conscientious of your fellow Chicagoans and the decisions they make to protect themselves.”
Vaccinations:
• In Illinois, about 7.9 million people — or 62.84 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to state data.
• Across the state, 23,504 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.
• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 20,775,048 vaccine doses of the 23,348,645 provided to them.
• City data shows more than 1.8 million Chicagoans — or 67.6 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 75.6 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.
Everyone 5 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in Chicago.
COVID-19 vaccinations are free and do not require insurance. Anyone can call the city’s coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 to get more information on how and where to get vaccinated in their community.
The numbers:
• Since Tuesday, 109 Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19.
• At least 31,679 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 3,921 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.
• The state reported 4,742 cases since Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 2,982,083.
• Since Tuesday, 124,732 tests were reported statewide. In all, 52,372,521 tests have been reported in Illinois.
• Illinois’ seven-day case positivity rate was at 4.9 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 5.4 percent Tuesday.
• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 6.5 percent. It was at 7 percent Tuesday.
• As of Tuesday night, 449 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 243 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.
• In Chicago, 20 deaths were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 7,088 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of more than nine people dying per day, down 44 percent from a week ago.
• Chicago has had 681 confirmed cases reported since Tuesday. It’s had a total of 551,095 confirmed cases. An average of 561 confirmed cases are being reported per day, down 47 percent from a week ago.
• Testing in Chicago is down 17 percent from a week ago.
• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 2.9 percent, down from 4.4 percent a week ago.
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In a first-of-its-kind federal grant to be distributed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of HHS, dozens of organizations across the country would be able to spend the money over three years on a preapproved list of resources, including referrals to treatment, infectious-disease testing kits, condoms, and vaccinations for hepatitis A and B.
In a statement to the court on Wednesday, Mr. Gautreau said he did not learn until after Olivia’s death that she may not have been sick.
“This truth about Olivia has caused such a deep pain that it continues to ravage me every day,” he said.
In August 2021, Mr. Gautreau settled a civil case with Children’s Hospital Colorado, where Olivia went for treatments, for an undisclosed amount, Ms. Hoskins said.
In 2018, a year after Olivia died, Ms. Turner had been bringing in another daughter for treatments that were not “medically necessary,” causing local doctors and welfare workers to be concerned, prosecutors said. They tipped off law enforcement officials once they found out that Olivia had died from a “mysterious, untreatable illness.”
The other daughter improved after she was “moved from Turner’s care,” prosecutors said.
Ms. Turner was arrested in 2019 after a yearlong investigation by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, which found that she had a long history of presenting doctors with false diagnoses while soliciting financial support from charities, individuals and the government.
While Olivia was in treatment, Ms. Turner sought donations to cover her daughter’s medical expenses, prosecutors said. She had raised $22,270 through GoFundMe and from 2014 to 2018 had received more than $500,000 from Medicaid, among other funds.
Olivia was also made to participate in heartwarming news media appearances. Six months before her death, her transformation into a superhero bat princess through the Make-a-Wish Foundation was captured on a local TV station. She drew national attention when she fulfilled her wish to be a police officer and a firefighter for a day.
New York’s indoor mask mandate for businesses is being lifted Thursday, but masking requirements will continue in New York’s schools through at least early March, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
The Democratic governor’s administration is ending the measure that required people wear masks in most indoor settings, unless the venue required proof of COVID-19 vaccination for entry. It had been set to expire Thursday.
New York’s mask mandate for businesses had been in place since Dec. 13, and its end marked yet another turning point in the nearly two-years long debate over public health measures intended to limit the spread of coronavirus.
“New Yorkers, this is what we’ve waited for; tremendous progress after two long years, and we’re not done, but this is trending in a very, very good direction,” Hochul said, adding local officials and businesses would still be allowed to enforce indoor mask mandates, if they choose.
“This fight is not over. We’re not surrendering. This is not disarmament,” Hochul added, noting New Yorkers who still want to voluntarily wear masks should continue to do so.
Further, a statewide mask mandate will remain in effect in New York for people in health care settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, childcare centers and mass transit, Hochul said, citing the lingering COVID-19 threat in certain high-density settings.
As for the politically charged policy fight over New York’s mask mandate for schools, which was scheduled to expire Feb. 21, Hochul said state officials would reassess the schools mask mandate in early March.
A state initiative to conduct COVID-19 testing of students as part of the return to classrooms following the February break, Hochul said, would provide crucial additional information about the risk factors involved in lifting the mask mandate in schools.
Ultimately, the decision to renew or end the schools mask mandate in early March will be based on the latest COVID-19 data on infections, test positivity, hospitalizations and other factors, Hochul said.
“There will not be one number that says, ‘yes or no,'” Hochul added, noting state officials will work with educators in coming weeks on plans for potentially lifting the schools mask mandate.
Some lawmakers and parents, however, have urged Hochul to follow the example of a growing list of other states with Democratic governors, including New Jersey, that have either already lifted school mask mandates, or announced the measures will end by March 7.
Many Republican-led states have also either never imposed mask mandates for schools — or approved laws banning the measures — underscoring how politics have influenced authorities approach to the issue.
Hochul said she remained reluctant to lift New York’s school mask mandate in part due to the low COVID-19 vaccination rate among children ages 5 to 11, with just 38% of kids in the group receiving at least the first of Pfizer-BioNtech’s two-dose vaccine series as of Tuesday.
“This is all about looking out for the health of our children,” Hochul said Wednesday, asserting the mask mandate in schools in part helped New York limit outbreaks and sustain in-person learning this fall and winter.
The policy debate is unfolding as the recent winter COVID-19 surge fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant has receded across New York, with daily cases dropping to around 4,000 from a peak of about 90,000 on Jan. 7.
While the omicron variant proved to cause less severe illness than prior variants, the massive number of infections resulted in thousands of COVID-related hospitalizations.
And after the omicron variant became dominant in mid-December, New York’s COVID-related death toll in January was about 5,400, including 2,300 fatalities outside New York City, federal data show.
Many of the omicron-related deaths claimed the lives of unvaccinated New Yorkers, who still have between a 90% and 95.8% higher risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people, state data show.
Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett on Wednesday said children remained at a much lower risk of severe illness due to COVID-19 than adults, despite recent increases in pediatric hospitalizations due to the omicron variant.
Bassett added she supported the governor’s conclusion that current pandemic conditions warranted further review of the mask mandate in schools before lifting the measure, despite national debate among public health experts over the issue.
“This has become a polarized conversation even within the medical community,” Bassett said.
A total of 56 children ages 19 and younger have died due to COVID-19 in New York, while more than 12 million children nationally have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic, resulting in more than 37,000 related hospitalizations, according to state data and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Meanwhile, New York is also locked in a legal battle over its mask mandate after a state Supreme Court judge last month ruled it was unconstitutional. An appeals court issued a stay that kept the mandate in place during the appeals process, which could conclude in early March, court records show.
What lawmakers, educators say about NY’s mask mandates
Hochul’s plan to keep the mask mandate for schools while lifting it for businesses garnered mixed reactions from educators and lawmakers.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican who is running for Congress, called on Hochul to “end the mask mandate for all.”
“We know there is harm to our youngest learners, particularly those with disabilities, when forced to mask all day,” he said in a statement.
“As we move forward, rather than continued restrictions, we must aggressively open access to treatment and interventions to help those who do contract COVID recover quickly and fully,” he added.
The state government “owes the families torn apart, businesses shuttered and lives lost a thorough review and investigation of pandemic response,” Molinaro said.
U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, on Tuesday praised governors such as Hochul for beginning to roll back mask mandates. He asserted declining COVID-19 cases resulted in part from policies enacted by the Biden administration and Democratic leaders nationally.
Speaking during a press conference in Washington, D.C., Maloney said the Democratic plan for transitioning to a post-pandemic world includes making “sure people understand that they will be in a position to care for themselves and their families” and “that we trust parents to know best for their child and their schools.”
The moment, he added, is about “remembering the extraordinary losses we’ve suffered as a country and honoring the people who helped us through, but once again asserting that we will not let the pandemic run our lives.”
As for educators, some school officials on Tuesday voiced support for Hochul’s plan to reassess the mask mandate in March, but called on state officials to provide clear guidance on the timing and logistics of any plans connected to lifting the measure.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to recommend mask use in many public indoor settings. That included a recent study that found wearing a mask reduced the odds of testing COVID-19 positive, with the level of protection varying by the type of mask.
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David Robinson is the state health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network New York. He can be reached at drobinson@gannett.com and followed on Twitter: @DrobinsonLoHud
TORONTO (AP) — A blockade of the bridge between Canada and Detroit by protesters demanding an end to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions forced the shutdown Wednesday of a Ford plant and began to have broader implications for the North American auto industry.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, stood firm against an easing of Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions in the face of mounting pressure during recent weeks by protests against the restrictions and against Trudeau himself.
The protest by people mostly in pickup trucks entered its third day at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Traffic was prevented from entering Canada, while U.S.-bound traffic was still moving.
The bridge carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and Canadian authorities expressed increasing worry about the economic effects.
Ford said late Wednesday that parts shortages forced it to shut down its engine plant in Windsor and to run an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, on a reduced schedule.
“This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford said in a statement. “We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”
Shortages due to the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift of the day at its midsize-SUV factory near Lansing, Michigan. Spokesman Dan Flores said it was expected to restart Thursday and no additional impact was expected for the time being.
Later Wednesday, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company will not be able to manufacture anything at three Canadian plants for the rest of this week due to parts shortages. A statement attributed the problem to supply chain, weather and pandemic-related challenges, but the shutdowns came just days after the blockade began Monday.
“Our teams are working diligently to minimize the impact on production,” the company said, adding that it doesn’t expect any layoffs at this time.
Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, reported normal operations, though the company had to cut shifts short the previous day at its Windsor minivan plant.
“We are watching this very closely,″ White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said earlier of the bridge blockade.
“The blockade poses a risk to supply chains for the auto industry because the bridge is a key conduit for motor vehicles, components and parts, and delays risk disrupting auto production.”
A growing number of Canadian provinces have moved to lift some of their precautions as the omicron surge levels off, but Trudeau defended the measures the federal government is responsible for, including the one that has angered many truck drivers: a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated.
“The reality is that vaccine mandates, and the fact that Canadians stepped up to get vaccinated to almost 90%, ensured that this pandemic didn’t hit as hard here in Canada as elsewhere in the world,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
About 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated, and trucker associations and many big-rig operators have denounced the protests. The U.S. has the same vaccination rule for truckers entering the country, so it would make little difference if Trudeau lifted the restriction.
Protesters have also been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for a week and a half, with about 50 trucks remaining there Wednesday. And more than 400 trucks have paralyzed downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a protest that began late last month.
While protesters have been calling for Trudeau’s removal, most of the restrictive measures around the country have been put in place by provincial governments. Those include requirements that people show proof-of-vaccination “passports” to enter restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and sporting events.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia announced plans this week to roll back some or all of their precautions. Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropped its vaccine passport immediately and plans to get rid of mask requirements at the end of the month.
Alberta opposition leader Rachel Notley accused the province’s premier, Jason Kenney, of allowing an “illegal blockade to dictate public health measures.”
Despite Alberta’s plans to scrap its measures, the protest there continued.
“We’ve got guys here — they’ve lost everything due to these mandates, and they’re not giving up, and they’re willing to stand their ground and keep going until this is done,” said protester John Vanreeuwyk, a feedlot operator from Coaldale, Alberta.
“Until Trudeau moves,” he said, “we don’t move.”
As for the Ambassador Bridge blockade, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said police had not removed people for fear of inflaming the situation. But he added: “We’re not going to let this happen for a prolonged period of time.”
The demonstration involved 50 to 74 vehicles and about 100 protesters, police said. Some of the protesters say they are willing to die for their cause, according to the mayor.
“I’ll be brutally honest: You are trying to have a rational conversation, and not everyone on the ground is a rational actor,” Dilkens said. “Police are doing what is right by taking a moderate approach, trying to sensibly work through this situation where everyone can walk away, nobody gets hurt, and the bridge can open.”
To avoid the blockade and get into Canada, truckers in the Detroit area had to drive 70 miles north to Port Huron, Michigan, and cross the Blue Water Bridge, where there was a 4½-hour delay leaving the U.S.
At a news conference in Ottawa that excluded mainstream news organizations, Benjamin Dichter, one of the protest organizers, said: “I think the government and the media are drastically underestimating the resolve and patience of truckers.”
“Drop the mandates. Drop the passports,” he said.
The “freedom truck convoy” has been promoted by Fox News personalities and attracted support from many U.S. Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who called Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.”
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter in Canada than in the U.S., but Canadians have largely supported them. Canada’s COVID-19 death rate is one-third that of the U.S.
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said in Parliament that countries around the world are removing restrictions and noted that Canadian provinces are, too. She accused Trudeau of wanting to live in a “permanent pandemic.”
Ontario, Canada’s largest province with almost 40% of the country’s population, is sticking to what it calls a “very cautious” stance toward the pandemic, and the deputy premier said it has no plans to drop vaccine passports or mask requirements.
Ms. Pelosi was less effusive, telling reporters at her weekly news conference that she would accept such a ban, but with a complicating twist. She said she wanted any stock limitations, including a toughening of existing disclosure rules on stock ownership and trading that now apply to members of Congress and the executive branch, to also apply to the judicial branch of government, especially the Supreme Court.
The judiciary branch does have ethics rules that oblige some disclosure, in some cases more quickly and more often than the congressional branch. But an investigation last month by The Wall Street Journal found hundreds of instances in which federal judges presided over cases involving companies in which they or their family members owned stock.
“It has to be governmentwide,” she said, adding, “the judiciary has no reporting. The Supreme Court has no disclosure. It has no reporting of stock transactions, and it makes important decisions every day.”
Multiple proposals for a trading ban already exist in the House and Senate, including a new bill unveiled this week by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Steve Daines, Republican of Montana. One proposal by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, and Representative Katie Porter, Democrat of California, reintroduced on Wednesday, would ban individual stock trading and extend financial disclosure rules to both the judiciary and the Federal Reserve Board.
The speaker’s caveats angered some of the strongest proponents of fast action to ban congressional stock ownership, who saw them as a veiled attempt to ground the effort. For all the merits of applying disclosure rules to the judiciary, they argued, such legislation would spark debate on the constitutional separation of powers and the rights of Congress to dictate to the judicial branch.
“There’s no question, whether it was last year’s election, whether it was getting a sense of the pulse of the state, people are frustrated. They are fatigued,” Murphy, a Democrat who nearly lost his reelection bid last November, said in an interview. “There’s learning loss in our kids, mental health and stress among kids and adults. Folks are yearning for some sense of normalcy — and count me, by the way, among them.”
After the F.B.I., during the 2016 presidential campaign, investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified material while she was secretary of state, Mr. Trump assailed her, helping make the issue pivotal in the outcome of that race. In that case, the intelligence community’s inspector general had made a national security referral to the F.B.I., prompting the investigation of Mrs. Clinton.
But during Mr. Trump’s administration, top White House officials were deeply concerned about how little regard Mr. Trump showed for sensitive national security materials. John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, tried to stop classified documents from being taken out of the Oval Office and brought up to the residence because he was concerned about what Mr. Trump may do with them and how that may jeopardize national security.
Similar to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka used personal email accounts for work purposes. And even after being warned by aides, Mr. Trump repeatedly ripped up government documents that had to be taped back together to prevent him from being accused of destroying federal property.
Now Mr. Trump faces questions about his handling of classified information — a question that is complicated because as president he had the authority to declassify any government information. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump had declassified materials the National Archives discovered in the boxes before he left office. Under federal law, he no longer maintains the ability to declassify documents after leaving office.
He invoked the power to declassify information several times as his administration publicly released materials that helped him politically, particularly on issues like the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.
Toward the end of the administration, Mr. Trump ripped pictures that intrigued him out of the President’s Daily Brief — a compendium of often classified information about potential national security threats — but it is unclear whether he took them to the residence with him. In one prominent example of how he dealt with classified material, Mr. Trump in 2019 took a highly classified spy satellite image of an Iranian missile launch site, declassified it and then released the photo on Twitter.
TORONTO (AP) — A blockade of the bridge between Canada and Detroit by protesters demanding an end to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions forced the shutdown Wednesday of a Ford plant and began to have broader implications for the North American auto industry.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, stood firm against an easing of Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions in the face of mounting pressure during recent weeks by protests against the restrictions and against Trudeau himself.
The protest by people mostly in pickup trucks entered its third day at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Traffic was prevented from entering Canada, while U.S.-bound traffic was still moving.
The bridge carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and Canadian authorities expressed increasing worry about the economic effects.
Ford said late Wednesday that parts shortages forced it to shut down its engine plant in Windsor and to run an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, on a reduced schedule.
“This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford said in a statement. “We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”
Shortages due to the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift of the day at its midsize-SUV factory near Lansing, Michigan. Spokesman Dan Flores said it was expected to restart Thursday and no additional impact was expected for the time being.
Later Wednesday, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company will not be able to manufacture anything at three Canadian plants for the rest of this week due to parts shortages. A statement attributed the problem to supply chain, weather and pandemic-related challenges, but the shutdowns came just days after the blockade began Monday.
“Our teams are working diligently to minimize the impact on production,” the company said, adding that it doesn’t expect any layoffs at this time.
Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, reported normal operations, though the company had to cut shifts short the previous day at its Windsor minivan plant.
A growing number of Canadian provinces have moved to lift some of their precautions as the omicron surge levels off, but Trudeau defended the measures the federal government is responsible for, including the one that has angered many truck drivers: a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated.
“The reality is that vaccine mandates, and the fact that Canadians stepped up to get vaccinated to almost 90%, ensured that this pandemic didn’t hit as hard here in Canada as elsewhere in the world,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
About 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated, and trucker associations and many big-rig operators have denounced the protests. The U.S. has the same vaccination rule for truckers entering the country, so it would make little difference if Trudeau lifted the restriction.
Protesters have also been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for a week and a half, with about 50 trucks remaining there Wednesday. And more than 400 trucks have paralyzed downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a protest that began late last month.
While protesters have been calling for Trudeau’s removal, most of the restrictive measures around the country have been put in place by provincial governments. Those include requirements that people show proof-of-vaccination “passports” to enter restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and sporting events.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia announced plans this week to roll back some or all of their precautions. Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropped its vaccine passport immediately and plans to get rid of mask requirements at the end of the month.
Alberta opposition leader Rachel Notley accused the province’s premier, Jason Kenney, of allowing an “illegal blockade to dictate public health measures.”
Despite Alberta’s plans to scrap its measures, the protest there continued.
“We’ve got guys here — they’ve lost everything due to these mandates, and they’re not giving up, and they’re willing to stand their ground and keep going until this is done,” said protester John Vanreeuwyk, a feedlot operator from Coaldale, Alberta.
“Until Trudeau moves,” he said, “we don’t move.”
As for the Ambassador Bridge blockade, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said police had not removed people for fear of inflaming the situation. But he added: “We’re not going to let this happen for a prolonged period of time.”
The demonstration involved 50 to 74 vehicles and about 100 protesters, police said. Some of the protesters say they are willing to die for their cause, according to the mayor.
“I’ll be brutally honest: You are trying to have a rational conversation, and not everyone on the ground is a rational actor,” Dilkens said. “Police are doing what is right by taking a moderate approach, trying to sensibly work through this situation where everyone can walk away, nobody gets hurt, and the bridge can open.”
To avoid the blockade and get into Canada, truckers in the Detroit area had to drive 70 miles north to Port Huron, Michigan, and cross the Blue Water Bridge, where there was a 4½-hour delay leaving the U.S.
At a news conference in Ottawa that excluded mainstream news organizations, Benjamin Dichter, one of the protest organizers, said: “I think the government and the media are drastically underestimating the resolve and patience of truckers.”
“Drop the mandates. Drop the passports,” he said.
The “freedom truck convoy” has been promoted by Fox News personalities and attracted support from many U.S. Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who called Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.”
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter in Canada than in the U.S., but Canadians have largely supported them. Canada’s COVID-19 death rate is one-third that of the U.S.
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said in Parliament that countries around the world are removing restrictions and noted that Canadian provinces are, too. She accused Trudeau of wanting to live in a “permanent pandemic.”
“Many of the reasons that were previously to keep Canadians under restrictions are vanishing before our eyes,” she said. “The prime minister needs to put his ego aside. He needs to do what’s right for the country. He needs to end the mandates. He needs to end the restrictions.”
Ontario, Canada’s largest province with almost 40% of the country’s population, is sticking to what it calls a “very cautious” stance toward the pandemic, and the deputy premier said it has no plans to drop vaccine passports or mask requirements.
NICE, France, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Protesters set out from southern France on Wednesday in what they call a “freedom convoy” that will converge on Paris and Brussels to demand an end to COVID-19 restrictions, inspired by demonstrators who have blocked a Canadian border crossing.
About 200 protesters assembled in a parking lot in Nice, on France’s Mediterranean coast, with many displaying Canadian flags in a nod to the truckers in Canada who are protesting their government’s COVID-19 restrictions. read more
The protesters in Nice said they planned to head first to Paris, then on to Brussels – headquarters of the European Union – to demand, among other things, the scrapping of rules barring people from public venues if they do not have a COVID-19 vaccination.
“Lots of people don’t understand why a vaccine pass is in force in France,” said one man who was helping coordinate the convoy from Nice and who gave his name as Denis.
“Our work is to communicate to Europe that putting in place a health pass until 2023 is something the majority of our fellow citizens cannot understand,” Denis said.
Not all of the people setting out from Nice planned to travel all the way to Paris or Brussels. The convoy was made up of motorcycles and private cars, but no trucks.
In the city of Perpignan, near France’s border with Spain, around 200 people gathered to set off towards Paris as part of the “freedom convoy” movement.
Their convoy was made up of cars, some camper vans, and one heavy-goods vehicle.
“We are just tired of it all. We want to go where we want without being asked for a vaccine pass. At least with this action, I am doing something,” said Nicolas Bourrat, an independent truck driver as he was about to hit the road.
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