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Virginia governor expected to sign bill ending school mask mandates

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The legislation allows parents to opt their children out of wearing a mask in school without having to provide a reason, and would make the Republican governor the latest state leader to lift Covid-19 mitigation measures as case numbers decline around the US.

“I am pleased that there is widespread and bipartisan support in Virginia for a parental opt-out of mask mandates in schools. Today, the General Assembly took a significant step for parents and children,” Youngkin said in a statement Monday.

The House of Delegates sent the legislation to the governor’s desk Monday after it passed the chamber along party lines, with no Democrats in support of the measure. Three Democrats had joined all Republicans in the Virginia Senate in approving the legislation last week.

Inaugurated on January 15, Youngkin campaigned heavily on the rights of schoolchildren’s parents and signed an executive order on his first day in office that allowed parents and guardians to “elect for their children not to be subject to any mask mandate in effect at the child’s school or educational program.”
That order, however, faced a flurry of legal challenges from Virginia school districts and parents, and a judge had ruled earlier this month that mask mandates in seven Virginia school districts could remain in place.

While a number of states have pushed forward with plans to lift mask mandates in schools, the move goes against guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends universal masking in schools.

The CDC’s broad guidance has produced a range of responses from states. California, for example, is set to keep its mask mandate in schools even as it lifts it for vaccinated people in indoor public spaces.

Some public health experts, however, have questioned whether it’s time for the CDC to update its school guidance, especially as the nation mulls what life after the pandemic might look like.

Dr. Carlos del Rio, the executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine, previously told CNN it’s the right thing to do for school districts in highly vaccinated communities.

“In a highly vaccinated community, as the cases are decreasing right now with Omicron, in a couple of weeks, maybe removing masks is actually the right thing to do. It allows us the opportunity to actually peel off one of those restrictions that has been so controversial,” del Rio told CNN.

He added that there are other mitigation measures that schools can adopt, such as improving air ventilation in classrooms.

Such guidance has had buy-in from both political parties, with the Democratic governors of three East Coast states — Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey — announcing this that they will lift mask requirements in schools in the coming weeks.

“If hospitalizations are clearly coming down and positivity rates are coming down in the community, it is the right thing to do,” del Rio said.

This story has been updated with additional information Monday.

CNN’s Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report.

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‘Not There Yet:’ Lightfoot Refuses to Specify Date for Lifting Chicago’s Mask Mandate – NBC Chicago

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Even as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker remains hopeful to lift the state’s mask mandate by the end of February, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has refused to name a date for rescinding mask and vaccine restrictions, saying the latest COVID-19 data still shows some “danger signs.”

Speaking to reporters Monday, Lightfoot said the city has made “tremendous progress” in its fight against COVID-19 and continues to climb down the backflow of a surge in cases brought on by the omicron variant.

During the last few weeks, cases have declined by at least 50% week-over-week, she stated. However, with an average number of 500 new COVID cases reported daily, Lightfoot said “it’s not where we want to be.”

“…I don’t want to put an artificial date on when this is going to happen when we still see some danger signs in the data,” the mayor said.

Pritzker previously said he would lift Illinois’ indoor mask mandate by Feb. 28 if state COVID metrics continue to decline. Suburban Cook County also plans to lift its mask and vaccination requirements in accordance with the governor’s timeline.

At one point, the state was averaging more than 32,000 cases per day because of the omicron COVID variant. In less than a month, that number has plummeted to an average of 5,825 cases per day, a level not seen since the omicron surge began.

The governor emphasized hospitalization reductions would be key to removing the mandate.

Earlier this month, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady acknowledged the rapid decline in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, but cautioned lifting mask and vaccine requirements too early would set back efforts to combat the virus.

While Arwady said lifting the mask and vaccine mandates in the city is something that she wants to do, but also wants to exercise patience in doing because of fears of an increase in cases with so many people still gathering indoors.

“I want to be able to lift this, I want to be able to lift it though at a time that we’re confident that it won’t lead to a major rebound,” Arwady said at the time.

More information regarding the future of the mask and vaccine requirements will be provided later this week, the mayor said.

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Arbery hate-crimes trial jury selected

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Bernstein emphasized that the federal prosecution “does not require proof of hate. What it requires is proof the defendants acted because of race … meaning in this case, the defendants made assumptions about Ahmaud based on the color of his skin, chased him down and threatened and tried to catch him themselves — and that wouldn’t have happened if he was White. That’s exactly what the evidence shows.”

She cited texts and social media posts in which Travis McMichael, now 36, allegedly used the “n-word” about Black people and also referred to them as “animals, criminals, monkeys, subhuman savages.”

Defense lawyers rebutted the accusations by telling jurors the men were inspired to chase Arbery after they saw him running in the street, at a time when neighbors were on “high alert” over reports of potential property theft and trespassing. One homeowner had shared surveillance videos from a residential security camera, viewed by the McMichaels, that captured Arbery exploring his property, which was under construction.

The defense team called Arbery’s death an “American tragedy” and acknowledged that their clients — already convicted of murder in state court — were responsible for actions that caused his death. They said the epithets the men have used to describe African Americans were repugnant. But the lawyers for Bryan and the McMichaels emphasized that such language is not illegal and said the men had set out to follow Arbery in their pickup trucks to help their neighbors apprehend the man they suspected of the trespassing.

“As tragic and as unfortunate as the death of Ahmaud Arbery is, the evidence will show that Greg McMichael followed Arbery because he believed he was the man from the video at the home,” said A.J. Balbo, a defense lawyer. “And Greg McMichael was right.”

The opening statements in the high-profile case came shortly after U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood had seated a 12-member jury composed of eight White people, three Black people and one Hispanic person — a more diverse panel than in the state murder trial. Wood said she expects the trial to last between seven and 12 days.

In providing jury instructions, Wood said the burden of proof for the federal government is “quite high” in a case that civil rights advocates have said could have broad social implications at a time of rising white nationalism and an ongoing reckoning over racial justice.

The federal charges focus not on Arbery’s killing but rather on accusations that the McMichaels and Bryan intimidated Arbery and interfering with his right to use a public street because of his race, which qualifies as a hate crime. The defendants also are charged with kidnapping, and the McMichaels are facing a separate federal count of using firearms during a crime of violence.

Among those inside the courtroom on Monday were Arbery’s parents, Marcus Arbery and Wanda Cooper-Jones, and his sister, Diane Jackson.

Gregory McMichael’s wife, who is Travis’s mother, also was present.

Marcus Arbery, who left the courtroom during Bernstein’s opening statement, told reporters outside the courthouse that he was emotional after hearing her describing how his son was killed. He called the racist language that prosecutors said the defendants had used as “a sickness” and added that it was difficult “listening to all this hate.”

In describing the case, Bernstein sought to paint the defendants as making the leap, without evidence, that a Black man seen on the home surveillance video was responsible for reported thefts at the property — even though the homeowner told police the man had not taken anything and the videos appeared to show Arbery, in running shorts and a T-shirt, leaving the house without disturbing any property.

The McMichaels “persisted in their insistence that the black guy had to be up to no good,” Bernstein said. When Gregory McMichael, now 66, a former police investigator, saw Arbery running past his home in the Satilla Hills neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020, he ran inside to get his son, Travis. The two men grabbed firearms and chased Arbery in a pickup truck, with Bryan, now 52, joining the chase in his own truck.

Prosecutors described the men cutting off Arbery’s route as he tried to escape and cornering him, forcing him to try to disarm Travis McMichael, who responded by shooting him. Bryan, who recorded the incident on a cellphone, told investigators that Travis McMichael used a racial epithet after the shooting — an allegation the younger McMichael has denied.

Defense lawyers sketched a picture of a neighborhood in which residents were sharing stories of increasing crime and urging each other to be more vigilant. They said a local police officer had canvassed the neighborhood and discussed with Gregory McMichael the reports that a man had been seen trespassing on the surveillance video.

“The government is describing a vigilante, which makes me think of Batman and Robin,” said Amy Lee Copeland, a lawyer for Travis McMichael. “Travis was trying to be a good neighbor. He and father were trying to help everybody … even if it had disastrous results.”

Barbara Arnwine from the Transformative Justice Coalition, which is supporting the Arbery family, said outside the courtroom that she was shocked when prosecutors described Gregory McMichael allegedly ranting to a colleague about Black people being “nothing but trouble” during a conversation about the death of Julian Bond, a civil rights leader, in 2015. At the time, McMichael was working as an investigator for the local district attorney.

“He was a police officer! A police officer with those kind of views and working in a city that is mostly Black,” Arnwine said. “The truth is too overwhelming here. These are their full words out of their own mouths. They really don’t have a hiding place. Their own lawyers have had to say today that it’s reprehensible. Sadly for them, it’s the facts.”

Nakamura reported from Washington.

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January 6 committee still expects Giuliani to ‘cooperate fully’ despite rescheduled appearance though no interview date set

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The panel is making clear that it still expects Giuliani, a central figure in former President Donald Trump’s failed bid to overturn the 2020 election, to “cooperate fully” with its subpoena. CNN reported last week that Giuliani was among four witnesses scheduled to appear before the committee on Tuesday who had their depositions rescheduled.

“Mr. Giuliani’s appearance was rescheduled at his request. He remains under subpoena and the Select Committee expects him to cooperate fully,” a committee aide said in a statement to CNN.

Robert Costello, Giuliani’s attorney, previously told CNN that the committee deferred a subpoena deadline while discussions are ongoing. The committee has rescheduled interviews for other high-profile witnesses who have engaged with investigators, but those talks are predicated on negotiations happening in good faith. Costello has so far declined to say in what areas Giuliani may be willing to cooperate.

A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Giuliani may be willing to testify to the committee about claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential contest, though the former Trump attorney still does not intend to waive executive or attorney-client privilege. More than a dozen items of interest to the committee in Giuliani’s subpoena have to do with election fraud, and Giuliani may be willing to testify under oath about some of those matters as they are not covered by privilege, the source said.

But negotiations are still in the early stages, and there is still no agreement for Giuliani to cooperate. And he hasn’t turned over any documents to the committee, the source said.

The New York Times reported Saturday that Giuliani’s lawyer is discussing with the committee the possibility of responding to questions and “has signaled to the committee that he plans to take a less confrontational stance toward its requests than some other members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle who are fighting the committee’s subpoenas or have otherwise refused to cooperate.” The Times also reported Giuliani is still negotiating over whether to sit for a formal deposition or give an informal interview.

Giuliani’s apparent willingness to engage with the committee comes as a stark shift from his previous stance.

Last month, immediately following news he had been issued a subpoena, CNN reported that Giuliani had indicated through his attorney that he didn’t plan to provide information to the committee, citing claims of executive privilege and attorney-client privilege.

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger said on Sunday that committee members “fully expect” Giuliani to speak with them, adding, “The expectation is he is going to cooperate because that’s the law.”

“Regardless of when we hear from Rudy or how long that interview is, we’re getting a lot of information, and we’re looking forward to wrapping this up at some point, when that is right, showing it to the American people, but not rushing it, not hurrying this. We want everyone to have the full story,” Kinzinger said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Former White House chief of staff Staff Mark Meadows was referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal contempt charges after refusing to comply with his subpoena in December. Steve Bannon was indicted in November after refusing to obey his subpoena.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Monday.

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Hate Crimes Trial in Ahmaud Arbery Killing: Live Updates

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Image
Credit…Pool photo by Stephen B. Morton

A federal prosecutor opened the hate crimes trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers on Monday afternoon by describing racist views that the three men had previously expressed, in some cases by using the coarsest of slurs.

The men, who were convicted of murder in a state court last year, had made erroneous assumptions about Mr. Arbery, the prosecutor said, because of the color of his skin.

“At the end of the day, the evidence in this case will prove that if Ahmaud Arbery had been white, he would have gone for a jog, checked out a house under construction and been home in time for Sunday supper. Instead he went out for a jog, and he ended up running for his life. Instead he ended up bleeding to death, alone and scared, in the middle of the street.”

The opening statement by Bobbi Bernstein, a lawyer with the Justice Department’s civil rights division, laid out in the starkest terms the racism that the government believes to be at the heart of the decision by the three men — Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis McMichael, 36, and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — to pursue Mr. Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, through their neighborhood on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2020.

Ms. Bernstein recounted the harrowing five-minute chase by truck through the neighborhood, which ended when the younger Mr. McMichael shot Mr. Arbery, who was unarmed, at close range with a Remington shotgun.

The McMichaels, Ms. Bernstein said, were operating on a number of false assumptions when they suspected Mr. Arbery of committing a series of break-ins in their neighborhood. She noted that Gregory McMichael told police officers, shortly after the shooting, that Mr. Arbery had “broken into multiple houses over and over” and had probably stolen a gun from his son’s truck.

None of that, Ms. Bernstein said, was true.

Ms. Bernstein also laid out some of the evidence of the men’s racist thinking — thinking that the prosecution will use to buttress the argument that the men chased Mr. Arbery because he was Black.

She said Travis McMichael referred to Black people as “animals,” “criminals,” “monkeys,” “subhuman savages” and “niggers,” including in an electronic exchange with a friend who had sent a video of a Black man sticking a firecracker up his nose.

It would have been “cooler,” Mr. McMichael replied, using a racial slur, if the firecracker had blown the man’s head off.

Ms. Bernstein, in her arguments, repeated the racial epithets aloud, underscoring the ugliness of the men’s language. Although some of the evidence had been foreshadowed in court documents, it was jarring to hear it spoken for the first time in open court.

Ms. Bernstein also described a time that Gregory McMichael had ranted against Black people to a work colleague and described his animosity toward the civil rights leader Julian Bond, who had recently died.

The prosecutor also said that Mr. Bryan, just days before the chase of Mr. Arbery, had used a racist slur when referring to a Black man that his daughter had been dating, and called him a monkey.

Ms. Bernstein said that Mr. Bryan knew nothing about Mr. Arbery’s visits to a house under construction in the neighborhood — one of the main reasons that the McMichaels had been suspicious of Mr. Arbery, who had stopped by that house moments before they began to chase him.

She said that Mr. Bryan simply saw an unarmed Black man running down the street, being chased by men in a truck. His first thought, she said, was to help the pursuers. So he too gave chase.

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Democrats sue Kansas officials over Republican redistricting law – live | US news

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18:45

Daily Show host and comedian Trevor Noah is set to host the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this year – after two years of the annual media shindig being cancelled due to the pandemic.

According to Politico:

“The announcement of Noah as the dinner’s featured entertainer represents a return to normalcy for the highly anticipated gathering of Washington journalists, politicians and elite society, which in the past drew big-name comedians to preside over the event known as “Nerd Prom.”

But after [Michelle] Wolf’s performance in 2018 — which saw the comedian savage Trump administration officials such as then-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders — proved too polarizing for some attendees, the WHCA selected presidential biographer Ron Chernow to speak at the 2019 dinner. The dinner was then canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus-related concerns.”




 Trevor Noah is due to host the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2022 Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Updated










17:56

A person shot at a mayoral candidate today in Louisville, Kentucky.

While candidate Craig Greenberg was uninjured, a round came close enough to him to pierce his clothing. The suspect is in custody, but police have not released a motive.

Grace McKenna
(@GraceMcKennaTV)

NEW: Council President David James confirms someone shot at mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg.

We’re told Greenberg was in his office in Butchertown — he wasn’t hit and isn’t hurt. @WHAS11

February 14, 2022

Grace McKenna
(@GraceMcKennaTV)

HAPPENING NOW: Chief Shields giving an update.

Shields reports NO injuries, confirms Craig Greenberg was targeted. Says a round struck his clothes. @WHAS11 pic.twitter.com/fmPHR1IIYr

February 14, 2022

This shooting takes place on the fourth anniversary of the Parkland, Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school – the deadliest shooting in the country that killed 17 people.

Joe Biden issued a statement earlier today calling on Congress to pass more stringent gun control legislation.










17:41

Meanwhile, Washington is lifting its mask mandate in places like restaurants and businesses beginning 1 March, but it will remain in place for schools and healthcare facilities.

davidshepardson
(@davidshepardson)

Breaking: DC will lift mask mandate in places on March 1 pic.twitter.com/MQ3CEmGzeN

February 14, 2022










17:03

Democrats sue Kansas officials over Republican redistricting law

The Associated Press is reporting that Democrats have sued Kansas officials today over a Republican redistricting law that cost the state’s only Democrat in Congress some territory in her Kansas City-area district that she carried by wide margins in elections.

A team of attorneys led by Democratic attorney Marc Elias’ firm are arguing that Republican map drawers “explicitly set out to gerrymander the state in their favor” by splitting up two Democratic strongholds and heavily minority counties and redistricting their populations into heavily white and Republican districts.

Elias had promised that the new Kansas map would be challenged when the Republican-controlled legislature overrode the veto of the Democratic governor, Laura Kelly. Elias has been involved in lawsuits in multiple states, including Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio.

Updated










16:39

Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee are urging Joe Biden to hurry up and choose someone for his supreme court nomination while they still have the narrow 50-50 majority vote, the Hill reports.

Earlier this month, Ben Ray Luján, a 49-year-old freshman Democratic senator from New Mexico, suffered a stroke and will likely need to miss four to six weeks of work to recover.

Senator Ben Ray Luján
(@SenatorLujan)

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The outpouring of support from New Mexicans and folks all around the country gives me strength every day. Excited to get back to work. pic.twitter.com/qRH2JjLTpp

February 13, 2022

With this one medical emergency already putting a strain on the Democrats’ narrow majority, Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, told the Hill: “I think we understand the importance of the responsibility we have and we’re anxious to get this senate moving forward. We started to pick up speed recently and we want to continue that,” he said.

Updated










15:36

In sports news, there was a widely televised football game yesterday. During the Super Bowl half-time show, the rapper Eminem took a knee and held his head in apparent tribute to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality during the 2016 season.

After other players followed suit – in other sports as well – the move became a cultural controversy, with many believing that Kaepernick has been blackballed by the league’s teams and owners for taking his stance.

Immediately after Eminem took a knee, rumors began flying that the National Football League had attempted to stop him from doing so ahead of the game – in 2020, following the widespread protests over the police murder of George Floyd, the NFL famously had to apologize for not listening to its players earlier in their peaceful protest.

Today, however, the NFL has come out strong in denying the rumors that it tried to stop Eminem from taking a knee.

“We watched all elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week and were aware that Eminem was going to do that,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

Updated










15:06

Meanwhile, majority leader Chuck Schumer is saying that a bill looking to reform the post office is set to hit the senate floor.

Chuck Schumer
(@SenSchumer)

I’m standing together today with postal workers from NYC, postal workers from Long Island, and an Etsy entrepreneur who depends on the USPS.

We will move forward in the Senate to pass the Postal Service Reform Act and help strengthen one of America’s most important institutions. pic.twitter.com/kSDiilHkV4

February 13, 2022

But Punchbowl News is reporting that senate likely won’t be able to take up the legislation until March: House clerks mistakenly enrolled the wrong version of the bill, meaning that Schumer filed cloture on the wrong version.










14:42

Today is the fourth anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and wounded 17 more – the deadliest school shooting in the country.

Manuel Olivier, whose son Joaquin was one of the 17 killed that day, is now apparently on top of a construction crane a block from the White House, surrounded by police.

Bob Barnard
(@barnardfox5dc)

On this 4th anniversary of the #Parkland shooting Manuel Olivier whose son Joaquin was killed at Stoneman Douglas High School in FL is on top of a construction crane a block from the White House surrounded by police. @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/KgfZgn55IB

February 14, 2022

It is unclear if Olivier is staging a protest, but he has been outspoken in the past in his crusade against gun violence.

Joe Biden released a statement today acknowledging that “out of the heartbreak of Parkland a new generation of Americans all across the country marched for our lives and towards a better, safer America for us all”.

“Together, this extraordinary movement is making sure that the voices of victims and survivors and responsible gun owners are louder than the voices of gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association,” the statement reads.

Biden continued: “I’ve asked Congress to pass a budget that provides an additional half billion dollars for proven strategies we know reduce violent crime – accountable community policing and community violence interventions. I have also requested increased funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the US marshals. And Congress must do much more – beginning with requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers.

“We can never bring back those we’ve lost,” Biden said. “But we can come together to fulfill the first responsibility of our government and our democracy: to keep each other safe. For Parkland, for all those we’ve lost, and for all those left behind, it is time to uphold that solemn obligation.”

Updated










14:27

Senate unlikely to pass Russia sanctions bill ahead of military action

Howdy, live blog readers. Happy Valentine’s Day.

All eyes in Washington continue to be on the growing threat that Russia will invade Ukraine, with Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, set to brief House and Senate leaders later today on the situation. Tune into our live blog on the tensions here for updates.

While Senate is in session today, Punchbowl News is reporting that the odds are pretty low on whether there could be any legislative action taken on sanctions against Russia ahead of military action. Though the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, told reporters last week that lawmakers were getting “closer and closer” to agreement on a Russia sanctions bill, the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, downplayed the impact of it, saying it was up to Joe Biden to decide the importance of such action.

Last week, the major hangup was over whether the sanctions would be imposed on all Russian banks and over Nord Stream 2, according to Bob Menendez, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee.



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D.C. to drop coronavirus vaccine requirement to enter businesses

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Masks will still be required in some congregate settings, like schools, public transit and emergency shelters, Bowser said. And D.C. government and health care employees and health care workers will still be subject to a vaccine requirement specific to those workers.

Bowser’s decision to end the mandates comes amid mounting economic and political pressure on the region’s leaders to loosen pandemic restrictions; a slew of other states and cities relaxed indoor or in-school mask rules last week. As city officials have mulled how to balance residents’ safety with the desire to return to normalcy, Bowser, who is running this year for a third term in office, has repeatedly said the city would enact and ease restrictions depending on the course of the virus.

The District’s weekly coronavirus case rate per 100,000 residents was about 253 on Friday; it was about 1,300 per 100,000 residents just before Christmas when Bowser first announced the vaccine requirement. D.C., along with every other state in the country, is still in what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as “high” transmission — or a weekly case rate above 100.

Neighboring jurisdictions also are cutting back on pandemic restrictions. Masks will no longer be required in Maryland state buildings starting next week, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Monday. Hogan said the state’s health metrics warranted the change, noting hospitalizations have declined by 78 percent from last month’s peak.

The move follows Hogan’s advocacy last week pressing school officials to drop classroom mask mandates.

Erin Cox contributed to this report.

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3 officers injured, 2 critically, after hit-and-run crash on southbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles

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DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Three Los Angeles police officers were injured in a hit-and-run crash involving a patrol car on the 110 Freeway in downtown L.A., prompting a full closure of all southbound lanes Monday morning.

The crash happened around 2 a.m. at Olympic Boulevard near the 10 Freeway interchange, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Details about what led up to the collision were still being investigated, but the suspected hit-and-run driver was taken into custody, according to police. Two passengers were detained as well.

The three officers were taken to LAC+USC Medical Center. Two of them were initially listed in critical condition and the third was described as being in serious but stable condition. All of them suffered non life-threatening injuries and are expected to survive.

It’s unclear if driving under the influence was a factor in the crash.

The southbound side of the freeway would remain closed for an undisclosed amount of time.

DEVELOPING: We will add more details to this report as they become available.

Copyright © 2022 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.



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Coup memo author tries to hide 11,000 documents from Capitol riot committee

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Former Chapman University law professor John Eastman, the author of a controversial memorandum which claimed former Vice President Mike Pence had the unilateral power to overturn ex-president Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, is attempting to block the House January 6th select committee from obtaining 11,000 of the 95,153 pages a federal judge ordered him to give the panel last month.

Mr Eastman, a conservative legal scholar, sued the House panel on 20 January to block enforcement of an 18 January subpoena which select committee chairman Bennie Thompson had issued to his former employer to compel production of “all documents and communications … attributed to [Mr Eastman] that are related in any way to the 2020 election or the January 6, 2021 Joint Session of Congress”.

Five days later, a federal district judge denied his motion for an injunction blocking the subpoena, and the next day ordered him to begin reviewing documents and identify any over which he planned to assert claims of attorney-client privilege.

In a court filing early Monday, Mr Eastman said he’d reviewed 46,000 documents — nearly half of what he’d been ordered to review — and provided 8,000 to the select committee.

Of the 46,000, he said he was withholding 27,000 pages because they were mass emails — spam, newsletters, and the like — and was withholding another 11,000 documents under attorney-client or attorney work-product privileges.

Mr Eastman and lawyers for the House committee are set to appear in court on Monday to update the judge on their progress.

House of Representatives Counsel Douglas Letter is likely to tell the judge he is dissatisfied with Mr Eastman’s compliance with the court’s order, as a Friday court filing revealed Mr Eastman’s privilege log — a document detailing what he is purporting to withhold and under what privilege — is rife with vague labels such as “legal arguments” or “proposal to consider”.

“The Select Committee’s urgent need for resolution of the privilege issues is heightened by the fact that Plaintiff has broadly claimed privileges over a vast swath of documents—many of which appear to be critical to the Select Committee’s investigation,” Letter wrote.

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Here’s what happened with Canadian Covid-19 protests over the weekend

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The “Freedom Convoy” protests began in late January over Canada’s new vaccine mandate for truckers entering the country from the United States. Other Canadians fed up with Covid-19 rules have joined to oppose mask mandates, gathering restrictions and other measures enacted to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

In Ottawa, demonstrators concentrated around government buildings have spilled out into residential areas, blocking streets and forcing businesses to close temporarily.

Last week, protests blocked the Ambassador Bridge that links Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit — the busiest international crossing in North America — causing a “national economic crisis,” as Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens called it.

Other border crossings also have been blocked by semitrailers and even farm equipment. They include links between Manitoba and North Dakota, Alberta and Montana, and British Columbia and Washington state.

Here’s what happened at major protest sites over the weekend:

Ambassador Bridge

On the day the blockage of the Ambassador Bridge began, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told protesters: “It has to stop.” Five days later — on Friday evening — a judge granted an injunction that allowed police to begin clearing the bridge area and end the blockade.

Demonstrators were ordered to clear the area by 7 p.m. Friday. Windsor police warned vehicles could be seized and forfeited in the case of conviction, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned of stiff fines and prison sentences.

“Let me be crystal clear: It is illegal and punishable to block and impede the movement of goods, people and services along critical infrastructure,” Ford tweeted Sunday.

“Fines for noncompliance will be severe, with a maximum penalty of $100,000 and up to a year imprisonment.”

Only a few dozen vehicles were at the foot of the bridge at sunrise Saturday, according to a CNN crew there. More left as police arrived to clear the area.

As many as 30 protesters were arrested for criminal mischief in Windsor near the bridge over the weekend, Windsor Police Chief Pamela Mizuno told reporters Sunday afternoon. Police seized five protester vehicles Sunday, and seven were towed Saturday, the chief said.

“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end,” Mayor Dilkens said in a statement Sunday. “Border crossings will reopen when it is safe to do so and I defer to police and border agencies to make that determination.”

By Sunday night, the Ambassador Bridge had “fully reopened,” said its owner, The Detroit International Bridge Company.

Ottawa

For more than two weeks, the truckers and their supporters have gridlocked the downtown area of the nation’s capital. Businesses have had to shut down, and the noise of honking trucks permeated the air until a judge order that stopped last week.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday declared a state of emergency and promised “severe” consequences for the protesters.

“Your right to make a political statement does not outweigh the rights of the million people in Ottawa who live peacefully, free of harassment and chaos in their own homes,” he said. “So let me be as clear as I can: There will be consequences for these actions, and they will be severe,” Ford said.

On Sunday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said protest organizers agreed to leave residential areas in the city’s downtown and restrict the demonstration to streets directly in front of Canada’s national parliament.

“It represents a positive first step,” although it isn’t a long-term solution, Watson said in a statement to city councilors.

In a letter to the mayor, Tamara Lich, president of the protest organization Freedom Convoy 2022, said the organizers would be “working hard over the next 24 hours to get buy in from the truckers. We hope to start repositioning our trucks on Monday.”

Other border sites

Four people were arrested at the Pacific Highway border crossing in Surrey, British Columbia, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Sunday.

On Saturday, “a few vehicles” broke through a police barricade there, according to RCMP.

“While no injuries were reported as a result of the incident, this had the potential for harm to pedestrians and first responders. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated and is being investigated,” RCMP Cpl. Vanessa Munn said in a statement.

Police screened cars and trucks Saturday at the border, and after protesters showed up, police blocked the route with police cars as protesters neared the border on foot, CNN affiliate CTV reported.

“Several officers were cut off from their colleagues by what Mounties described as a hostile mob,” CTV reported. “Hundreds of protesters celebrated on foot near the border crossing, with traffic at a standstill through a massive area of south Surrey.”

Meantime, the border crossing at Emerson in Manitoba and Pembina in North Dakota has been blocked since early Thursday by demonstrators, CNN affiliated CBC reported Sunday.

CNN’s Miguel Marquez, Paula Newton, Kim Berryman and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.

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