Category Archives: US

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C.D.C. Proposes New Guidelines for Treating Pain, Including Opioid Use

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In another indication that the C.D.C. sees these new guidelines as a course-correction to the earlier ones, the agency now suggests that when patients test positive for illicit substances, doctors should offer counseling, treatment and, when necessary, careful tapering. Because doctors had interpreted the 2016 dosing limits narrowly, some had worked up one-strike policies and were summarily ejecting such patients.

Dr. Jones said that such results should instead be considered one piece of diagnostic information among many. An unduly high level of opioids could indicate the patient still has untreated pain or even a substance use disorder. “If you instead retain the patient and have those conversations, there’s now an opportunity to improve the patient’s life,” he said.

Drawing from a mountain of research that accumulated in recent years, the proposed guidelines also offer extensive recommendations for the treatment of acute pain — short-term pain that can come with an injury like a broken bone or the aftermath of surgery. They advise against prescribing opioids, except for traumatic injuries, such as burns and auto accidents.

In granular detail, they compare the relief provided by opioids to that offered by alternatives such as exercise and acupuncture and other drugs. And they give fine-tuned recommendations for discrete areas of pain, such as lower back, knees and neck.

The guidelines, for example, note that opioids should not be used for episodic migraines. They endorse, among other treatments, heat therapy and weight loss for knee osteoarthritis, and, for neck pain, suggest options like yoga, tai chi, qiqong, massage and acupuncture.

Dr. Marie Hanna, an associate professor of anesthesia and critical care at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said she was particularly enthusiastic about the depth and breadth of research that the guidelines provide in support of nonopioid treatments, including manual manipulation, laser therapy and exercise.

“This is what we’ve been talking about for years, but no one was listening. Now we have the evidence to show that these treatments are effective. I’m very optimistic,” added Dr. Hanna, a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, an organization of pain researchers and providers across several disciplines.

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Access to three US-Canada border crossings cut off by trucker protest blockades

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To address the ongoing issue, the Canadian government announced Thursday it would send additional officers and resources to protests throughout the country.

“The plan is to make sure police have all the resources they need,” said Marco Mendicino, the public safety minister. “Our top priority is to make sure that these illegal blockades end.”

For two weeks now, the trucks have blockaded the downtown core of Ottawa, the capital of Canada. In recent days, demonstrators have parked their bulky vehicles in the middle of critical roadways between Canada and the US.
Thursday marked the fourth day protesters impeded access to the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit and Windsor — the busiest international crossing in North America. Second, a mix of semi-trailers and farm equipment shut down the border crossing connecting Emerson, Manitoba, and Pembina, North Dakota, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba. And third, the Coutts access point between Alberta and Montana has also been blocked.

The protests were ignited by truckers who oppose the nation’s new rule that requires them to be fully vaccinated when crossing the Canada-US border or face a two-week quarantine. Their “Freedom Convoy” has since drawn others who are resisting Covid-19 preventative measures, including mask mandates, lockdowns and restrictions on gatherings.

“I want all these mandates gone, and I’m not leaving until all the mandates are gone. So, I am here for the long haul,” Dylan Friesen, a protester in Ottawa, told CNN on Wednesday. “They can try get rid of us, but we’re not leaving.”

The blockades have slowed the movement of goods and caused production issues at a number of car manufacturing plants along the border. Ford, General Motors and Stellantis all announced production issues due to the blockade.

Further, about 60 to 70 vehicles were attempting to disrupt traffic at Ottawa International Airport on Thursday by circling the arrivals and departure terminals, the airport said in a statement. Videos on social media showed a handful of vehicles driving around near a street close to the airport carrying Canadian flags and honking.
Ottawa police said on their website that there have been 25 arrests since protests began about two weeks ago and more than 1,500 tickets have been issued for traffic, noise and other violations.

Resolving the standoff is a delicate operation. Forcibly removing the truckers could cause even more problems, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told CNN on Thursday.

“It’s very frustrating because people just want us to go in and flush everyone out, and there’s a real threat of violence here. We’ve seen protesters come out with tire irons when the police attempted to tow a car. It could escalate very, very quickly,” he said.

“At the same time, going in and moving out 100 or 200 protesters — well, we could probably do that. What we don’t want to see happen is have 300 more show up tomorrow to replace the ones that were moved out. So, police are trying to negotiate.”

Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly said a company that could move the trucks has been threatened.

“At least one of the major tow trucks (company) that would have been able to supply us with the logistics to tow illegal vehicles and to a significant degree reduce the size of the demonstrations has been threatened themselves,” he said. “They have been threatened through some sophisticated online activities and direct threats to harm to their employees and their business.”

He added that authorities might try other options.

“We are considering other methods that may allow us to not need to use tow trucks to the extent we initially thought,” he said. “All options are on the table.”

A criminal investigation into the threats is underway, Sloly said.

Similar protests could take place on the other side of the border. American officials are warning that rallies soon could happen in the United States, where right-wing media outlets have raised that prospect and offered positive coverage of the protests. Sunday’s Super Bowl in Southern California could draw such crowds, the officials said.

What the protesters are demanding

The protesting truckers represent a vocal minority among their profession and fellow citizens.

Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with about 4 in every 5 Canadians fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 90% of Canada’s truckers are fully vaccinated and eligible to cross the border, according to the government.

Friesen, the protesting trucker, was let go from a job at a transport company in Ontario for not taking the Covid-19 vaccine, he explained.

“That’s not right for companies be able to decide that and take away our right to earn money and support our livelihood,” Friesen said.

Samuel Gauthier, who supports the truckers protesting in Canada, is unvaccinated, which has prevented him accessing certain businesses in his home province of Quebec, he told CNN.

“I can’t go skiing, I can’t go to Walmart, I can’t go to Canadian tire, I can’t go to Home Depot, I can’t go to restaurants, I can’t go to bars, I can’t go to the gym,” Gauthier said, noting restrictions in Quebec have been “a bit more intense than in other places in Canada.”

The protesters’ many different requests make the negotiations tricky, Dilkens said.

“I would call them a leaderless group, and frankly, the requests that these folks have, they are not unified,” he said. “There are folks here protesting government, like you’d see at a G-7 or G-20 protest. There are folks that are protesting climate change initiatives, and there are some folks who protesting vaccine mandates.”

Meanwhile, officials are pressing demonstrators to stop blocking the critical pathways.

“I’ve said consistently, we welcome the freedom of people to protest lawfully and peaceful, but this is not a lawful protest,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said during a news conference this week.

CNN’s Paradise Afshar, Josh Campbell, Tanika Gray, Jason Hanna, Chris Isidore, Chuck Johnston, Paul P. Murphy, Donie O’Sullivan, Raja Razek and Geneva Sands contributed to this report.

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Southern California firefighters battle 3 brush fires amid winter heat wave

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The blaze, dubbed the Emerald Fire, covers 150 acres and is 10% contained, according to a tweet from the Orange County Fire Authority.

An evacuation warning will remain in place while police and fire personnel patrol the area for hot spots; residents are advised to stay on heightened alert.

Laguna Beach officials warned that residents may return to homes without power as Southern California Edison has not yet received the “all clear” to re-energize power lines. Approximately 375 firefighters have been tackling the flames in unseasonably high temperatures, with five helicopters assisting the effort.

The Pacific Coast Highway reopened at midday after being closed in both directions for about five hours. All schools were closed in North Laguna.

“I want to thank our city team who has been working since 4:30 a.m. this morning to stop this fire in its tracks, and while we are tired we are happy with the outcome,” said Laguna Beach City Manager Shohreh Dupuis in an update on the city website.

A winter heat wave has prompted a heat advisory for Southern California through Sunday, with temperatures reaching the mid-80s each day. Offshore winds and extremely dry air, combined with the heat, have created conditions ripe for brush fires.
“We no longer have a fire season, we have a fire year,” said Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy. “It’s February 10 and it’s supposed to be the middle of winter, we’re anticipating 90-degree weather.”

Fennessy said the last time the area burned was in 1993.

Farther north, a 2-acre blaze dubbed the Sycamore Fire is burning in Whittier, making an uphill run in medium to heavy fuels, with multiple structures threatened, LA County Fire tweeted. By 5 p.m. Thursday, the fire had destroyed two homes and one home was damaged, LA fire officials said.

The fire has been upgraded to a two-alarm fire, with more than 200 firefighters assigned. A firefighting airplane has been requested to assist.

A third fire dubbed the Imperial Fire became visible from the 405 Freeway in Hawthorne on Thursday afternoon and drew in firefighters, who quickly got the upper hand.

The Imperial Fire was held to about a half acre, as firefighters stopped its forward progress just after 2 p.m. local time, LA County Fire said, noting that firefighters remain in place mopping up hot spots.



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Wolves Will Regain Federal Protection in Much of the U.S.

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Gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the lower 48 United States following a court ruling Thursday that struck down a Trump Administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list.

Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White, of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in declaring wolf conservation a success and removing the species from federal protection, did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains where they have rebounded most significantly.

Although the decision to delist wolves came under the Trump administration, the Biden administration has defended it in court.

“Wolves need federal protection, period,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization that has helped lead the legal fight. “The Fish and Wildlife Service should be ashamed of defending the gray wolf delisting.”

A spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service said the agency was reviewing the decision.

The Trump Administration’s decision to delist came despite concerns from some of the scientists who performed the independent review that is required before the Fish and Wildlife Service can remove a species from federal protection.

The ruling applies in 44 of the lower 48 states. Wolves in Montana and Idaho will remain unprotected because they were delisted by Congress in 2011. Wolves in Wyoming were delisted by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017. Wolves in New Mexico, which are considered a separate population, never lost protection.

After gray wolves were removed from the endangered species list, wolf hunting increased sharply in some states, including Wisconsin. In the spring of 2021, the state had to end its wolf hunting season early, after more than 200 wolves were killed in less than 60 hours, far exceeding the state’s quota of 119. Ojibwe tribes were furious, having decided not to fill their tribal quota because wolves have a sacred place in their culture.

Deb Haaland, the Secretary of the Interior, published an essay in USA Today this week expressing concern about threats to wolves. She said that she was alarmed by reports from Montana, where nearly 20 wolves have been killed this season after leaving the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. The Fish and Wildlife Service, she wrote, was evaluating whether it would be necessary to relist wolves in the Northern Rockies.

Wolves were some of the first animals shielded by the 1973 Endangered Species Act, and the decision has been politically charged ever since. Big predators have long been controversial in Western states, where ranchers complain of lost livestock.

Hunter Nation, an advocacy group that filed a brief in the case, criticized the ruling. “We are disappointed that an activist judge from California decided to tell farmers, ranchers, and anyone who supports a balanced ecosystem with common-sense predator management that he knows better than them,” said Luke Hilgemann, the president and chief executive of the group.

Judge White was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2002.

Before the arrival of Europeans, gray wolves thrived from coast to coast in North America, living in forests, prairies, mountains and wetlands. But two centuries of eradication campaigns caused them to nearly disappear from the lower 48 states. By the mid-20th century, perhaps 1,000 were left south of the Canadian border, mainly in northern Minnesota.

Their numbers began to rebound after the species was placed under federal protection in the 1960s. In the mid-1990s, the Fish and Wildlife Service embarked on a new chapter of wolf conservation, relocating 31 wolves from Canada into Yellowstone National Park. Their numbers quickly increased, and in 2020 about 6,000 wolves ranged the western Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains, with small numbers spreading into Oregon, Washington and California.

The United States is also home to the red wolf, a species that is listed as endangered. Its historical range included North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

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DHHS guidance under review “right now” on masks, schools :: WRAL.com

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By Travis Fain, WRAL statehouse reporter, and Keenan Willard, WRAL eastern North Carolina reporter

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released an updated COVID-19 guidance toolkit for public schools.

In-person learning and keeping children and staff in schools while decreasing risk of transmission of COVID-19 is the priority for these new guidelines.

One of the most significant updates the agency recommended involved how students handle COVID-19 exposure saying, “Individual contact tracing and exclusion from school of asymptomatic people after an identified exposure is no longer recommended statewide in K-12 schools.”

That means, effective on Monday, Feb. 21, students exposed to COVID-19 who don’t show any symptoms will be allowed to stay in the classroom.

It was not the change one of the state’s top republicans had asked for.

House Speaker Tim Moore wrote a letter to the governor Thursday, calling on his administration to change Department of Health and Human Services guidelines that the speaker said “have all but compelled local schools to keep their mask mandates in place.”

The toolkit still recommends that districts in high areas of COVID-19 spread have a universal masking rule in place for everyone older than two, and that schools can consider moving to mask optional when COVID-19 spread is defined as moderate or low by the CDC.

“I’m pleased and hopeful that we can get back to normal lives with the understanding that we’re all going to need to do things to make sure that we protect ourselves, dependent upon the risk,” Cooper said.

Cooper’s comments came during a Thursday morning visit to a childcare center in Goldsboro.

Governor Cooper specifically said with COVID-19 numbers falling, the state would be reviewing its mask guidance for schools.

But the new rules sent the same message: mask up in class.

Philip Hackley has two twin boys in first grade in Wake County schools.

“I’m excited about the idea of them being able to go to school without masks. I think it is to some extent limiting,” said Hackley.

He says after two years of pandemic rules, he’s ready for the day when they can learn without masks, but only if experts say the time is right.

“Our general position is that we don’t want our family to get sick and we don’t want to see anybody else get sick,” said Hackley. “As long as that’s what the science is telling us to do we’re happy to do it.”

Public school masking requirements are decided system-by-system, but DHHS guidelines recommend them in areas with higher COVID spread. According to the N.C. School Boards Association, as of Feb. 4 most systems required masks. Twenty-eight, the association said, were mask optional.

Johnston and Cumberland county schools recently voted to make masks optional, a change that goes into effect later this month.

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Five takeaways on the Canadian trucker protests

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Two weeks of protests in Canada’s capital over a cross-border vaccine mandate requiring truckers to be vaccinated upon crossing has produced dozens of investigations and numerous arrests — leading to a state of emergency declaration.    

Efforts to stage similar protests in the U.S. are emerging, with the Department of Homeland Security issuing a memo warning police partners of demonstrations in the United States.   

The demonstrations and protests reflect widespread pandemic fatigue around the world but have also stirred controversy.    

Here are five takeaways on the protests.   

Ottawa is under siege    

The protests in Canada’s capital city led Ottawa mayor Jim Watson to declared a state of emergency on Sunday, reflecting the “serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents.”   

The protests have interfered with traffic and sleep, with truckers using their horns to push back at the Canadian government.    

“We’re in the midst of a serious emergency, the most serious emergency our city has ever faced, and we need to cut the red tape to get these supplies available to our police officers and to our public works staff,” Watson told the CBC in an interview after the order was issued.    

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a strong rebuke of the demonstrations on Wednesday, telling parliament that demonstrators were attempting to blockade Canadians’ democracy, their economy and their daily lives.     

“Blockages, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable, and are negatively impacting businesses and manufacturers,” Trudeau said, adding that the nation “must do everything to bring them to an end.”   

Reports suggest around 400 trucks remain in central Ottawa.     

The protests reflect pandemic fatigue in Canada and beyond      

The protests started as a response to vaccine mandates for truckers entering Canada.    

Similar protests are sprouting up elsewhere across the globe as people in other countries frustrated over COVID-19 restrictions seek to rally.   

Since the beginning of the Ottawa protests, demonstrations have appeared in Australia, New Zealand, France and New York, among other various locations.     

Nearly two years into the pandemic, many Americans no longer have many restrictions on their lives.    

But indoor mask mandates are in effect in a number of U.S. cities, with vaccine mandates required in some cities and at some private businesses.    

Those rules have led to frustrations for those opposed to mandates — including the minority of the country that remains unvaccinated.    

Schools have also been a site for friction over mask mandates.    

There’s talk of similar US events    

Efforts to stage protests in the U.S. are emerging online and quickly gaining support.    

The Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement agencies on Tuesday that protesting truckers could potentially disrupt the Super Bowl and President Biden’s first State of the Union address.     

In a memo, the agency said they have received reports of truck drivers potentially planning to block roadways in major U.S. cities in protest of the vaccine mandates. It also notes that the planned convoy is expected to stretch from California to Washington, D.C., while adding that protesting truckers from Canada might join.   

The memo also notes a rise in social media posts with the accompanying hashtags #ShutDownSuperBowl and #SuperBowlTrafficking.  

A Facebook group called “The People’s Convoy” is planning the “March for Freedom Convoy to DC 2022.” Group organizers posted they expect truckers will arrive in Coachella Valley in Indio, Calif March 4 “to defeat the unconstitutional mandates.”   

Around 100 truckers in Alaska assembled late last week to signal support for the Ottawa demonstrations, while another group demonstrated in Fairbanks, according to The Anchorage Daily News. One driver told the paper it is his belief that the COVID-19 vaccine should be a choice instead of a requirement.     

“We have to have the shot stamps on our medical cards in order to go out of state, and we don’t want them,” driver Jeremy Speldrich said. “Mandates should be our choice, whether you want the shots or not.”    

Conservatives in US are backing the movement   

The Ottawa protests have drawn widespread support from American conservative figures.    

Prominent conservatives ranging from former President Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.), have signaled support.  

“The left’s worst nightmare is coming true,” Huckabee wrote in a Facebook post January, commenting on a media article about convoy protests in the U.S.     

There have also been reports about some demonstrators in Ottawa seen carrying signs and flags with Nazi swastikas near the National War Memorial.  

But the majority of protestors have been more mainstream. Trudeau has referred to the extremist element involved in the protest as a “fringe majority.”   

It’s unclear how it ends    

As officials seek to contain the sprawling demonstrations, lawmakers elsewhere are grappling with the economic effects of Canada’s demonstrations and with their own constituent’s pandemic fatigue.     

Protestors demonstrating over the vaccine mandate on Monday evening blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, causing supply chain disruptions at one of the busiest land border crossings on the U.S.-Canada border.  

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the Biden administration is monitoring the blockade “very closely,” noting that it “poses serious risks to the supply chains for the auto industry.”     

In Ottawa, as police prepare protestors for arrests, a judge has offered residents a modicum of relief from some of the noise.     

Ontario Superior Court judge Hugh McLean granted a temporary injunction on Monday that bans horn honking and allows authorities to arrest or remove people who violate the order.     

Lawmakers in the U.S. are showing signs of loosening pandemic related restrictions, as several governors have announced they are lifting their state’s respective mask mandates. At least eight governors are lifting mask requirements in the coming weeks.     

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D.C. police arrest teen in connection with school bomb threats

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Similar threats were reported Thursday in Prince George’s County at Suitland, Laurel, Gwynn Park and Crossland high schools, police and school officials said. School security and police were investigating.

“Laurel High School was placed on lockdown as a precaution,” Prince George’s County Public Schools said in a statement. “Students at the other schools remained in their classrooms while the buildings were searched.”

In Arlington, Yorktown High School was evacuated after an anonymous telephone threat, police said.

On Wednesday, eight schools, including D.C. public high schools and charter schools, received threats. Police searched school buildings with bomb technicians and dogs trained to smell explosive substances.

Dustin Sternbeck, a police spokesman, said a youth from Southeast Washington was arrested and charged with making terrorist threats as a suspect in the Wednesday incidents. His name was not released, and it was not immediately clear whether he is being charged as an adult or as a juvenile.

Sternbeck said police have tied the teenager “to several incidents” that occurred Wednesday afternoon. Police have not yet concluded whether the youth may be connected to a similar threat on Tuesday at Dunbar High School during a visit by second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Harris.

“The investigation is ongoing as we explore his potential connection to the remaining cases, including the one with the second gentleman,” Sternbeck said.

Authorities did not divulge a possible motive for the calls or discuss the investigation that led to the youth.

Police scrambled Wednesday as a succession of bomb threats were called into four public and four private high schools in Northwest, Northeast and Southeast Washington. Most of the calls were made between noon and 1 p.m.; two came in after 2 p.m.

Sternbeck said all the calls were similar and involved threats that an explosive device would detonate within a specified time frame. Police had previously said the call that came into Dunbar on Tuesday during Emhoff’s visit indicated that people had 10 minutes to leave.

Justin Wm. Moyer, Katie Mettler, Rachel Weiner, Perry Stein and Nicole Asbury contributed to this report.

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Brush Fire Burns in Laguna Beach Area – NBC Los Angeles

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A brush fire pushed by strong winds forced evacuations early Thursday in coastal Orange County communities, but firefighters have protected homes as flames appear to be moving into open space.

The fire, estimated at about 145 acres, was reported around 4 a.m. on a hillside above Emerald Bay. Containment was estimated at 5 percent. Acreage was estimated at 10 acres earlier Thursday, but those figures often change with improved mapping.

Flames and smoke could be seen at dawn from Long Beach and other parts of Southern California with a eerie orange glow over the coast.

An evacuation order was issued for Irvine Cove and Emerald Bay. An evacuation warning was in effect for North Laguna.

No homes were damaged, thanks to firefighters on the ground and a barrage of overnight runs from water-dropping aircraft. Orange County fire officials said they are optimistic that the fire will burn away from the area, allowing firefighters to hold flames along a ridge line away from neighborhoods.

Fire retardant will be dropped along the ridge line to halt the fire’s spread.

Click here for updated evacuation information from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department

“We met it with a very robust response,” said Orange Count Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy. “If we ask you to evacuate, please evacuate.”

Emerald Bay is an unincorporated area of Orange County. The fire was pushed north by wind along the northern edge of a residential area. 

“We got lucky in that regard,” Fennessy said. “I’m pretty confident right now, as long as the weather cooperates.

A map shows evacuations due to a brush fire Feb. 10, 2022 in the Laguna Beach area.

“The bulk of the fire is away from the structures.”

Spot fires were reported due to wind-strewn embers landing in dry brush.

Fennessy said at one point there was a fire engine in front of almost every home in the Emerald Bay area. There are no other major brush fires currently burning in the region.

The last time the area burned was in 1993, when hundreds of homes burned. At the time it was one of the most damaging fires on record in California. Fifteen of the state’s 20 most-damaging fires have burned within the last seven years. 

After viewing the area, Fennessy complimented residents on the defensible space he saw throughout the neighborhood. Creating defensible space involves removing brush, branches or anything else that might allow flames to spread from brush to a house. The defensible space gives firefighters room to defend property from wildfires. 

“They’ve got great defensible space,” Fennessy said. “They’ve done what we asked them to do.”


Smoke rises from the burned out ruins of homes along Skyline Boulevard in Laguna Beach in October 1993 after the wildfire hit the area. (Photo credit should read VINCE BUCCI/AFP via Getty Images)

Details about how Thursday’s fire started were not immediately available 

An evacuation center was opened at Laguna Beach Community and Susi Q Center, and at the Los Olivos Community Center in Irvine.

Pacific Coast Highway was shut down in Laguna Beach from Ledroit Street to Newport Beach at Reef Point Drive.

All classes in the Laguna Beach Unified School District were canceled.

Strong Santa Ana winds, notorious for fanning brush fire flames, are in the Thursday forecast. A high wind warning was issued for parts of Southern California, including coastal Orange County.

Above-normal temperatures are in the forecast through Super Bowl weekend.


A U.S. Drought Monitor map for Thursday Feb. 10, 2022.

The winter heat follows a dry January, which countered the benefits from days of drenching storms in December. Most of Southern California, including all of Orange County, remains in moderate drought — an improvement from conditions at the start of the water year in October when the region was in severe and exceptional drought.

“We’re in for a good couple days of tough weather,” Fennessy said. “We see green on the hillsides, and it lulls us in to a sense of complacency.”

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Investigators Find Gaps in White House Logs of Trump’s Jan. 6 Calls

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Early on in his administration, Mr. Trump was known to use the cellphone belonging to Keith Schiller, his personal body guard at Trump Tower and later the director of Oval Office operations, for some of his calls. It meant the White House call logs were often an incomplete reflection of his contacts.

After the Supreme Court ruled against Mr. Trump’s efforts to block the release of hundreds of pages of presidential records, the National Archives turned over to the House panel investigating the riot voluminous documents that included daily presidential diaries, schedules, appointment information showing visitors to the White House, activity logs, call logs, and switchboard shift-change checklists showing calls to Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence on Jan. 6.

The committee has learned in recent weeks that Mr. Trump spoke on the phone with Mr. Pence and Republican lawmakers on the morning of Jan. 6 as he pushed to overturn the election. For instance, Mr. Trump mistakenly called the phone of Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, thinking it was the number of Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama. Mr. Lee then passed the phone to Mr. Tuberville, who said he spoke to the former president for less than 10 minutes as rioters were breaking into the building.

But many of the calls the committee is aware of did not show up in the official logs.

The revelations about incomplete call logs come as Mr. Trump is under increasing scrutiny for apparently violating the Presidential Records Act by ripping up some White House documents and taking others with him when he left office. The House Oversight committee on Thursday announced an investigation into what it called “potential serious violations” of the law, including that Mr. Trump took 15 boxes of White House documents to his Palm Beach, Fla., compound and attempted to destroy presidential records.

Mr. Trump’s conduct, said Representative Carolyn Maloney, Democrat of New York and chairwoman of the oversight committee, “involves a former president potentially violating a criminal law by intentionally removing records, including communications with a foreign leader, from the White House and reportedly attempting to destroy records by tearing them up.”

The National Archives and Records Administration discovered what it believed was classified information in documents Mr. Trump had taken with him. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the National Archives had asked the Justice Department to examine Mr. Trump’s handling of White House records.

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‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters shut down third border crossing, as Ottawa police warn of arrests ‘without a warrant’

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Soon afterward, police in Manitoba province said the typically bustling Emerson crossing into North Dakota was “shut down” after a convoy of vehicles and farm equipment blocked traffic heading both north and south.

“It is a criminal offence to obstruct, interrupt or interfere with the lawful use, enjoyment, or operation of property,” Ottawa police said in a news release issued Wednesday. “You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you may face charges,” the police department told protesters.

Residents express frustration over noise as the ‘Freedom Convoy’ occupies the streets of downtown Ottawa with one goal in mind: Make Trudeau resign. (Zoeann Murphy, James Cornsilk/The Washington Post)

Police said those found to be taking part in criminal activity — which could include blocking streets or “assisting others in the blocking of streets” — could be arrested. Police are also giving notice that vehicles could be seized and possibly forfeited if people are convicted.

Law enforcement officials are under pressure to use tougher measures to disperse demonstrations, including those that continue to clog traffic arteries between the United States and Canada. So far, two major ports of entry — the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, and the Coutts crossing linking Montana to Alberta — have been closed or partially blocked.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been widely targeted by protesters denouncing his response to the pandemic, called the obstruction of border crossings an economic crisis. He tweeted that the blockades in Windsor and the capital, Ottawa, where a state of emergency was declared over the weekend, “must stop” — but he didn’t elaborate on how this could be achieved.

The blockades, he said, “are endangering jobs, impeding trade, threatening the economy, and obstructing our communities.” Business groups and experts reported that the bridge blockades were hurting supply chains. Goods worth approximately $300 million cross the Ambassador Bridge every day.

Despite the warning from Ottawa police, some local law enforcement officers seemed to acknowledge the fraught implications of mass arrests.

“You can’t arrest your way out of the choices that people are making. … The best thing is for them to make the decision to leave,” a Royal Canadian Mounted Police superintendent in Alberta, Roberta McKale, told reporters Wednesday at one of the protest sites near Coutts. “And they’ve got to go.”

Still, McKale said, asking the protesters to leave has so far not worked: “We’re going to have to use our enforcement options in order to have that happen.”

And Windsor’s mayor, Drew Dilkens, warned that arresting people could lead to violence, telling local outlets that Windsor police must be “calculated and appropriately balanced” in how they handle protesters. “At this time, our focus is on maintaining security and de-escalating the situation as much as possible,” he said during a news briefing.

Some protesters believe “they are fighting for a cause that is worth dying for,” Dilkens said. “That type of sentiment translates into different behaviors than any normal protests.”

In Ottawa, where more than 1,000 tickets for offenses including excessive noise and red-light violations have been issued, municipal authorities are stepping up enforcement. They can now issue fines up to nearly $800 for setting fires or creating noise, a steep increase for those types of offenses, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The Ambassador Bridge is temporarily closed, while the delay at the Coutts land crossing is estimated at seven hours, according to Canada’s border service agency. Dilkens said in an interview Wednesday that local police have tried to keep at least one lane open in each direction on the Ambassador Bridge so that goods could be transported across the border while respecting people’s right to protest.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is also monitoring a campaign in which truckers in the United States are potentially planning to block roads in major metropolitan areas in protest of vaccine mandates. The Super Bowl in Los Angeles on Sunday and President Biden’s State of the Union address March 1 could be affected.

In New Zealand, an anti-vaccine rally outside Parliament in Wellington led to mass arrests, after crowds gathered to protest myriad reasons, including lockdown restrictions and alleged media corruption.

“We stand with Ottawa,” read the message on the side of one truck at the scene, while others held signs attacking the media and calling the global health crisis “a plandemic.”

The Wellington district commander, Superintendent Corrie Parnell, told reporters that 120 people were arrested Thursday as the protest there went into its third day.

Similar demonstrations — seemingly energized by Canada’s convoy — have also been held in Australia, France, Alaska and across Europe in recent days.

As the protests drag on, concerns are growing for the number of children who have been present.

About 25 percent of attendees inside some 400 trucks stationed at the scene are believed to be children, police say, which could complicate the ways in which officers respond to those protesting. Ottawa Police Deputy Steve Bell cited sanitation, noise levels and carbon monoxide fumes as some of the risks that children who are spending so much time inside the trucks could face.

“It’s something that greatly concerns us.” Bell told reporters Tuesday, adding that the children could be “at risk during a police operation.”

The Ottawa Police Service said Wednesday that it was aware of the welfare concerns and working with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa to “ensure the safety” of the children present. The force said it would be sharing information with the CASO and that the organization “has a duty to investigate whenever there are allegations of abuse or neglect that suggest a child or youth may be in need of protection.”



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