Thursday, January 13 top stories
It is Thursday, January 13. Here are today’s top stories.
Supreme Court blocks vaccine mandate
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority blocked President Biden’s mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees to be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, but in a 5-4 vote allowed the vaccine mandate to go into effect for most health care workers. The Biden mandate went into effect on Monday with the threat of $14,000 penalties from the OSHA for noncompliance, but now it’s no longer allowed. The Supreme Court said the Biden administration overstepped its authority by requiring people to be vaccinated simply because they worked for a large employer. The vaccine mandate for health care workers applies to any facility that receives federal funding and would affect about 10 million workers. So, President Biden lost one case but won another.
NYT: Omicron may be past its peak
We may be at the peak of the omicron outbreak because case numbers are starting to plateau across the U.S.
A graphic from the New York Times shows that daily average cases in New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles are at the “top” of their peaks. You can see that the red lines are no longer climbing but starting to flatten or descend.
Boston analyzes its wastewater to detect the amount of Covid-19 virus to understand how widespread it is. An epidemiologist (disease investigator) said the amount of the virus detected in wastewater is down 40% since January 1. She hopes it means case numbers will also decline in the future.
The Times explained that in South Africa and in the U.K., case numbers have gone past their recent peaks and are falling.
Trump endorses booster vaccines
Former president Trump said in an interview with OAN News that he received the booster Covid-19 vaccine and has not experienced any side effects. He said he believes that the vaccine “saved tens of millions throughout the world.” In the interview Trump criticized politicians who refuse to answer whether they received the booster dose or not, saying they are “gutless” (lacking courage).
FBI arrests Oath Keepers founder
The Department of Justice said they have indicted and arrested the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers organization, which is a far-right militia with many members being veterans or former police officers, for “seditious conspiracy” over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. His name is Stewart Rhodes and he was detained by the FBI today in Texas. 10 other people were also charged with seditious conspiracy for trying to “oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power.” The DOJ said Rhodes called members of the Oath Keepers to come to the Capitol grounds and that members were seen in a “stack formation” to make their way into the Capitol. It is the first time that the DOJ has used the seditious conspiracy charge in connection with the Jan 6. riot. The maximum sentence for the charge is 20 years in prison.
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Cruises using empty boats for sick crew members
Two cruise ship companies, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, are using empty out-of-service ships as space for crew members who test positive for Covid-19 to stay in quarantine. A couple who posts travel vlogs showed a video of what seems to be a process of transferring sick crew members to another ship at an adjacent dock — there was a shuttle bus and staff members with full PPE protection helping to carry dozens of people’s luggage and guide them into the ship. The cruise companies confirmed they are using this method to quarantine staff but did not reveal the numbers of Covid-19 positive staff members they have on average.
Surgeon burned initials on patients’ organs
A British surgeon named Simon Bramhall lost his medical license because it was discovered that he would burn his initials, SB, on the organs of his patients using an electrical beam. In 2013, a woman had a liver transplant with Bramhall being her surgeon. One week later, the liver failed so there was a follow-up surgery, but with a different doctor, who noticed the SB initials. After an investigation, it was discovered that Bramhall did this to two different patients and it was because he wanted to relieve stress. He was suspended in 2013 and resigned from the hospital he worked at. He was charged and convicted with assault in 2017 and fined. His medical license was suspended and on Monday he had his license stripped — he will not be able to practice medicine again.
Ex-husband in hiding with daughter over vaccine
In Canada, a man named Michael Jackson said he has kept his 7-year-old daughter away from her mother and his ex-wife for two months now because he doesn’t want the girl to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Judges in Saskatchewan have issued orders for the father to return the girl, but Jackson is defying the orders. The mother, Mariecar, tearfully told CBC News that she’s praying every day that her daughter will be home. It is unknown where the father and daughter are but they may be out of the province.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/briefing/omicron-peak-us-northeast.html
https://www.oann.com/exclusive-oans-dan-ball-sits-down-with-president-donald-j-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/01/12/cruise-crew-quarantine-ships/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/13/doctor-branded-liver/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/13/canadian-missing-hiding-vaccinated-daughter/
https://www.facebook.com/LauraLynnTylerThompson/videos/594477611614759
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-eb5899ae1fe5b62b6f4d51f54a3cd375