- Ethiopia and Eritrea: Is a new war looming? – DW – 11/14/2023 DW (English)
- Ethiopian PM affirms “no plans for invasion over Red Sea ports access” africanews
- Ethiopia’s Abiy takes a page from Russia, China in asserting the right to restore historical claim to strategic waters Yahoo News
- Abiy Ahmed’s imperial ambitions are bad news for Africa, and the world Al Jazeera English
- Ethiopia’s Abiy takes a page from Russia, China in asserting the right to restore historical claim to strategic waters theconversation.com
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Looming
Layoffs are coming with a US recession looming, Jeff Gundlach warns – Business Insider
- Layoffs are coming with a US recession looming, Jeff Gundlach warns Business Insider
- ‘Bond King’ Jeffrey Gundlach warns higher-for-longer interest rates could trigger the next Financial Crisis—and advises investors to ‘T-Bill and Chill’ Yahoo Finance
- Layoffs are coming, warns DoubleLine CEO Jeffrey Gundlach CNBC Television
- DoubleLine’s Gundlach says interest rates are going to fall as recession arrives early 2024 CNBC
- Gundlach says ‘massive interest-expense problem’ could cause next U.S. crisis MarketWatch
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Details on Israel’s looming offensive will not be revealed for strategic reasons, Netanyahu says – CBS News
- Details on Israel’s looming offensive will not be revealed for strategic reasons, Netanyahu says CBS News
- Israel-Hamas war live updates: Crowd gathers in Prospect Heights for pro-Palestine rally blocks away from major Jewish festival New York Post
- Israel-Hamas War News Live: Netanyahu Calls Gaza Conflict ‘Second War of Independence’ The Wall Street Journal
- Netanyahu declares a ‘second war of independence’ as fears for Gazans grow The Guardian
- Benjamin Netanyahu vows to ‘save our country’ as Israel battles ‘barbarians’ in Gaza New York Post
- View Full Coverage on Google News
‘They work hard’: GR business owners on looming UPS strike – WOODTV.com
- ‘They work hard’: GR business owners on looming UPS strike WOODTV.com
- ‘We’ve organized, strategized, now it’s time to pulverize,’ says Teamsters union president ahead of looming UPS strike CNN
- UPS Contract Talks Go Down to the Wire as a Possible Strike Looms The New York Times
- ONLINE MEETING: The battle at Yellow freight: Logistics and postal workers must rally in support! WSWS
- Kids’ Shoe Brands Prepare for Possible UPS Strike Ahead of Crucial Back-to-School Season Footwear News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
White House scrambles to avert looming railroad strike
The stalemate pits two of Biden’s top priorities against each other. The president has been an adamant defender of union workers but does not want a breakdown in the nation’s transportation infrastructure that would disrupt commuter and passenger services.
The administration has little time to act: The nationwide rail shutdown is set to go into effect on Friday, and labor and management have been at an impasse over difficult issues such as sick time and penalties for missing work.
The freight industry has warned that the first national rail strike in decades would shut down 30 percent of the country’s freight and “halt most passenger and commuter rail services.” The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, a division of the Teamsters, on Sunday announced a tentative agreement with national rail carriers, leaving only two of the 12 unions without a deal in place. But those are the two biggest rail unions in the country, representing 57,000 engineers and conductors.
Concerns about the political impact of a labor shutdown extend to parts of the administration as well. Farm groups have clamored for an agreement to be swiftly reached, as their operations could be heavily impacted. The administration has already faced criticism over its handling of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, which was wracked last year by supply chain snarls and this year by a spike in cancellations and delays at the nation’s airports. Some administration officials fear squandering the Biden economic victories of August that have helped increase Democrats’ poll numbers.
The Federal Railroad Administration, a part of the Transportation Department, has estimated that failure to reach an agreement could cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion per day in lost economic output. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark on Monday said a strike would be an “economic disaster” with “catastrophic economic impacts,” calling for urgent action to resolve the standoff.
“The last thing they want right now is a major strike in a key sector like this,” said Dean Baker, a White House ally and economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal think tank. “I think Biden is going to be pushing really hard to get a deal. He’ll presumably push on the employer side but I’m sure he’ll push the union side as well … though there’s a question of how hard he’ll be willing to push the workers.”
Still, the president has made supporting unions one of the top priorities throughout his administration. Many Biden aides are sympathetic to workers’ complaints of poor working conditions and unjust treatment by management, and are reluctant to lean too aggressively on labor leaders to end the strike.
At issue is the recommendation of the Presidential Emergency Board, which is run by three Biden appointees. The board outlined wage hikes and annual bonuses in a 124-page report that were between the demands of the union and management, and were generous enough to peel off 10 of the labor unions that represent a subset of railway workers who do not operate trains.
But the remaining two unions slated to strike are infuriated by the board’s lack of strong proposals related to certain working conditions that they say are “destroying the lives” of their members, such as facing penalties for taking any time off. Labor groups say engineers and conductors have been fired for going to routine doctor’s appointments or family members’ funerals, and can be on call for 14 consecutive days without a break, for up to 12 hours. They are also afforded no sick days.
“We’re facing the potential of a strike because the railroad refuses to grant one single day of sick time,” said Ron Kaminkow, a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, one of the unions that has not reached an agreement. “It’s about the phone rings at 2 a.m. to be at work at 4 a.m. after just 10 hours of rest prior. It’s about not knowing when you’re coming home and being penalized with discipline up to firing if you need to go to the doctor.”
Analysts say looming battle for Donbas will prove decisive in Russia’s war on Ukraine
WASHINGTON — Stung by the strength of the Ukrainian resistance, Russia is looking to launch a major offensive under more favorable conditions after attempts to take Kyiv and other major cities have floundered. The new offensive will focus on the Donbas region, a contested swath of eastern Ukraine that includes two breakaway regions controlled by Moscow.
“They want to achieve some physical, tangible objectives in the Donbas within the next couple of weeks,” a senior Pentagon official told reporters during a Thursday briefing.
But given the ongoing challenges, Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to deliver the knockout blow he desperately seeks, analysts say. Any territorial gains Russia does achieve are expected to be considerably less significant than what Putin envisioned when he launched the invasion of his much smaller and less powerful neighbor in late February.
What’s more, those gains could come at the expense of continued deterioration of readiness, morale and other factors already working against Russia.
The final border between Ukraine and Russian forces “might actually not be that different from what it is now,” says Phillips P. O’Brien, a scholar of military strategy and history at St. Andrews University in the U.K., arguing against looking at the conflict purely in terms of territorial gains. “What matters is the state of the armed forces, not where they are on the map.”
The initial invasion was envisioned by top Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov as a quick, ruthless and multipronged assault meant to stun the Ukrainians. Kyiv was to be toppled within days, and the entire “special operation” — as the Russians insist on still calling what is obviously now a full-scale war — was to be as relatively painless, in military terms, as the previous invasion of Ukraine, in 2014.
A spirited Ukrainian resistance, bolstered by Western anti-aircraft systems and other materiel, upended Gerasimov’s plan, forcing the Russians to retreat. “They weren’t planning on this being a long, drawn-out fight,” Benjamin H. Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank, told Yahoo News in an interview. “They’ve now shifted their thinking.”
According to the Pentagon, the Kremlin has amassed 65 battalion tactical groups, or BTGs, on Ukraine’s eastern border. The question is whether that force will be sufficient to consolidate and expand Russian gains — or whether the same mistakes that plagued the first stage of the war are endemic to the Russian military as a whole, meaning that the second stage won’t be all that different.
To head the new offensive, Putin appointed Gen. Aleksandr Dvornikov, who in 2015 was dispatched to Syria in Russia’s (ultimately successful) effort to prop up dictator Bashar Assad. Before that, he fought in Chechnya in what became a grinding years-long campaign that some fear could be replicated in Ukraine.
Dvornikov’s appointment might be taken as a sign that Putin “seems ready now to embrace long-standing principles of war: simplicity, unity of effort and focused logistics,” as retired U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt wrote in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
Kimmitt added that if precedent holds, the offensive Dvornikov is expected to soon launch in Donbas will feature the predictable mix of “large armored formations and enormous concentrations of artillery, rockets and missiles.”
The change in military leadership, however, could also be less a sign of fresh thinking than a recognition that the Kremlin simply had to do something to show the world — and ordinary Russians — that it was doing all it could to salvage an invasion it thought would be well over by the spring thaw.
“You don’t fire winning generals,” says military historian O’Brien. Dvornikov will have at his command the same poorly trained army that has already suffered thousands of deaths, according to NATO estimates.
Putin almost certainly envisioned a triumphant parade on May 9, when Russia celebrates its victory in World War II. Now he needs to stave off outright defeat, a scenario that would have been unthinkable only two months ago. The sinking of the flagship Moskva earlier this week was a reminder of how uncannily effective the Ukrainian resistance has proved.
“It is likely that this part of the war will be decisive,” Friedman said. “Victory-victory doesn’t seem likely” for the Kremlin, he told Yahoo News, envisioning a drawn-out conflict with few meaningful attempts at a peace settlement in the near future.
The Russian army went through a much-touted reorganization in 2008, but the underprepared units fighting in Ukraine are more reminiscent of the bumbling and bloody first campaign in Chechnya — launched in 1994 by Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin — than the kind of technically precise, efficient effort a Western military might have launched.
A campaign focused in eastern Ukraine does provide Russia with some advantages, however, among them open terrain and shorter supply lines. “Russians will want to bring the Ukrainians out into the open, into the steppe,” Friedman said. “It’s less urban terrain. Presumably they will at least be able to have more fights outside cities.”
But even newfound topographic advantages could be undone for the Russians if, as some believe, spring rains turn unpaved roads to mud, making it difficult for tanks and armored vehicles to maneuver. Even before they were blitzed by the brutal Russian winter, German troops encountered that very fate in the fall of 1941, as they pushed toward Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
“Weather will certainly be a factor in war, as it always is,” the defense official who briefed reporters on Thursday said, “and the fact that the ground is softer will make it harder for them to do anything off of paved highways,” especially when it comes to resupply logistics.
And, the official said, poor visibility could keep Russia’s from establishing air superiority over Ukraine, a critical factor in any major offensive. “It’s in and out,” O’Brien said of Russia’s current air campaign. “Come in, drop your bomb, leave.”
The lack of air support for ground units, combined with the relatively small size of the forces now preparing for the eastern campaign (the initial invasion featured 130 battalions, twice what Dvornikov will have at his disposal), make him skeptical about Russia’s prospects.
Ukrainians agree. They have called on the West to help them deal a shattering blow. “Ukraine can win the next phase of this war with timely and proper Western support,” wrote Nataliya Bugayova in a brief for the Institute for the Study of War, where she is a fellow.
“The outcome of this phase is far from determined,” Bugayova added.
Dow Jones Futures: Market Rally Nears Lows Amid Ukraine Invasion, Looming Fed Rate Hike; What To Do
Dow Jones futures will open on Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. The stock market rally attempt continues to survive, but the major indexes lost significant ground for a second straight session as Russia’s Ukraine invasion continues to roil markets. The Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates this coming week with inflation at a 40-year high.
X
The time to ramp up market exposure is in a power trend. But right now, the market is in a power outage. The major indexes have been below their 21-day and 50-day moving averages for weeks. The 21-day exponential moving average has been well below the 50-day line for a long time, with both falling sharply. All of that reflects the recent and extended market weakness, despite some brief advances.
Dow Jones giant UnitedHealth (UNH), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) and Harmony Biosciences (HRMY) are showing relatively positive action. All are near buy points or early entries with their relative strength lines at or near highs.
It’s also no coincidence that all three are medical stocks, relatively insulated from Russia’s Ukraine war and soaring inflation.
Apple, Tesla Stock Roughed Up
Two stocks that aren’t showing positive action? Apple stock and Tesla (TSLA).
Apple (AAPL), which until recently had held up reasonably well, tumbled 5.2% to 154.73 last week, its worst weekly loss in just over a year. Shares settled Friday at their worst close since late November, closing in on the 200-day line.
Tesla stock skidded 5.1% last week to 795.35, with all of that coming on Friday. After hitting resistance at its 21-day line, Tesla tumbled back below its 200-day line late in the week. While still comfortably above its late February lows and holding up better than many of its peers, TSLA stock is not doing well.
Tesla is on IBD Leaderboard. UnitedHealth, Regeneron and HRMY stock are on the IBD 50. UNH stock is the subject of the latest New America.
Russia’s Ukraine Invasion, Fed In Focus
With earnings season winding down, investors will remain focused on Russia’s Ukraine invasion. The stock market, oil prices and more are prone to big moves on Russia-Ukraine headlines that often quickly reverse. Dow Jones futures popped Friday morning as Russian President Vladimir Putin cited a “positive shift” in Ukraine talks, but that optimism quickly faded and turned negative in the regular session.
President Joe Biden said the U.S., European Union and the Group Of Seven nations will revoke normal trade relations with Russia, paving the way for new tariffs over the Ukraine invasion.
Fed policymakers meet on March 15-16. After months of forewarning, Fed chief Jerome Powell and his colleagues will almost certainly raise rates by a quarter point on Wednesday afternoon, and signal several more Fed rate hikes.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures open at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Join IBD experts as they analyze actionable stocks in the stock market rally on IBD Live
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally had another tough week, with Wednesday’s strong gain not having a lasting impact.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 2% in last week’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index slumped 2.9%. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 3.5%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gave up 1%.
The 10-year Treasury yield shot up 28 basis points to 2%.
U.S. crude oil futures skyrocketed to an 11-year high, but then sold off, ultimately losing 5.5% last week to $109.33 a barrel.
ETFs
Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) retreated 2.9% last week, while the Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF (BOUT) fell 2.2%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) plunged 5.2%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gave up 3.7%.
Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) dived 7.6% last week, hitting a fresh 22-month low. The RS line for ARKK is now the lowest since late 2017. ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) slumped 4.65%. Tesla stock remains the No. 1 holding across Ark Invest ETFs.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) slipped 1.35% last week. The Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE) lost 1%. U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) descended 4.35%. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) sank 3.3%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) rallied 2.2% and the Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) fell 2.15%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) retreated 2.7%.
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UnitedHealth stock fell 3.2% last week to 482.87, but found support at the 50-day line. UNH stock has a double-bottom base with a handle, giving it a 500.10 buy point.
Regeneron stock rose 3.6% to 642.58 last week, following a slew of tight weekly closes during 2022. On Friday, REGN stock moved intraday above early entries at 636.46 and 645.10, though it closed below the latter as the market sold off into the close. Regeneron has an official buy point of 673.96 from a flat base within a larger consolidation, according to MarketSmith analysis.
Regeneron earnings skyrocketed in 2021, fueled by Covid antiviral treatments. Earnings are expected to tumble in 2022, but remain well above pre-2021 levels. The price-to-earnings ratio for REGN stock is just 8.
Harmony Biosciences stock jumped 9% to 43.86 last week, even as it retreated 3.9% on Friday. HRMY stock briefly cleared a 45.99 cup-base buy point after running up from an early entry. But shares could form a high-ish handle, offering a new entry. After booming earnings growth last year, analysts see Harmony’s EPS dipping in 2022 but they expect a strong rebound next year.
Market Rally Analysis
Russia’s Ukraine invasion and looming Fed rate hikes aren’t a great backdrop for a market advance. But whatever the reason, the technical picture doesn’t look good, though the stock market rally attempt continues.
Big sell-offs on Monday and Tuesday brought the major indexes close to their Feb. 24 lows. Wednesday brought a strong rebound, though on significantly lower volume than in the prior two sessions. The major indexes never touched their 10-day moving averages, let alone the 21-day line or other significant resistance levels. Stocks retreated Thursday and especially Friday, capping another big weekly loss.
Wednesday’s gain now looks like a blip. The best percentage gains in history tend to come amid corrections and bear markets.
That’s why investors should wait for real signs that a market has changed character via a follow-through day to confirm a new uptrend. A follow-through day could still happen any day.
Not all follow-through days work, though, and a FTD at the current levels would have a slew of caveats.
Bitcoin Under Fire In Russia-Ukraine War
Sector Winners, Losers
Energy stocks continue to do well, though many are extended. Some steel and mining plays are around buy points, but are prone to big swings.
There are a number of medical stocks setting up, including UNH stock, Harmony Biosciences and Regeneron. Some transportation, building materials and industrial plays also look interesting — flirting with buy points, setting up, or at least setting up to set up. The relative strength lines are at or near consolidation or all-time highs.
Most of these potential set-ups offer low or relatively modest price-to-earnings ratios, which are definitely in favor in 2022. (That’s no guarantee, as Apple stock buckled this week despite a modest P-E ratio of 26.)
Still, these names generally will struggle to make consistent headway — Regeneron’s Friday advance excepted — unless the broader market advances, or at least trends sideways.
With interest rates rising once again, growth stocks and especially highly valued growth stocks are struggling mightily. When the market has a big day, aggressive growth stocks tend to lead the way. But they are also leading to the downside on bad market days. And there are more bad days than good days lately.
Tesla stock is a relative leader among EV or aggressive growth generally. But that area of the market is simply out of favor.
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What To Do Now
There’s not too much to do right now. Commodity plays are still acting well, though many are extended. Investors could take some partial profits or let them ride.
If you got ahead of the market and bought stocks, especially growth plays, in Wednesday’s one-day pop, you may want to exit those positions.
But it’s important to stay engaged and be prepared. Build up your watchlists. There are a lot of potentially interesting stocks.
When the market rally does have a follow-through day, you’ll want to be ready. But even then, gradually build up your exposure as the market continues to build strength and overcome key hurdles.
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
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Catching up with Mr. INT J.C. Jackson with franchise tag looming
J.C. Jackson knows this is his time to cash in. He’s just wondering whether or not it’ll be with the Patriots.
Jackson told NBC Sports Boston on Tuesday that the Patriots have not been in touch with him about a new contract since the end of the season.
“I guess they feel like they don’t need me,” Jackson said. “I guess I can’t be that important to them. I know I am, but they’re not showing me.”
Tuesday marked the first day NFL clubs can place the franchise tag on players. The tag for corners is estimated to pay a guaranteed one-year salary of about $17 million in 2022.
“I love the game,” he said. “If they tag me, I’m gonna go out there and play.”
NFL clubs have until March 8 to designate players with the franchise or transition tags. While Jackson acknowledged he would play on the tag, his goal is to land with a team where he knows he’ll have the opportunity to spend the next four or five years.
What franchise tag history with the Patriots suggests for J.C. Jackson
Jackson said that the Patriots approached him about a contract extension during the 2021 season. Though a deal wasn’t done at the time, Jackson said that there were no hard feelings on his end about the result.
“It was all positive things,” he said. “I wanted to focus on ball at the time. I wanted to finish the season the right way. I didn’t really come back to them on it.”
Jackson played the 2021 season on a second-round tender signed last offseason worth $3.38 million. As an undrafted rookie, Jackson spent the first three years of his career playing on base salaries of $480,000 (2018), $570,000 (2019) and $750,000 (2020).
Jackson made the Pro Bowl and was named a Second-Team All-Pro for his performance in 2021. He finished the season second in the NFL with eight interceptions. No player has more picks since 2018 than Jackson (25).
Back in early October, one AFC executive told NBC Sports Boston that Jackson could be paid as a top-five corner this offseason.
“Twenty-five years old,” the executive said. “As productive as anyone.”
A contract in the $18 million per year range would slot him in ahead of Bills corner Tre’Davious White ($17.3 million per season) and just behind Saints corner Marshon Lattimore ($19.4 million) and Ravens corner Marlon Humphrey ($19.5 million). The market-setting contract at corner right now is the five-year, $100 million deal Jalen Ramsey inked with the Rams.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson was third among NFL corners in terms of quarterback rating allowed (52.4).
Next Pats Podcast: Mike Tannenbaum on J.C. Jackson: Patriots “GOTTA keep him” | Listen & Follow | Watch on YouTube
Former Jets general manager and longtime NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum told “The Next Pats” Podcast last week that the Patriots should find the money to keep Jackson. After spending record amounts last offseason, the Patriots are currently scheduled to be in the bottom half of the league in available cap space.
“You gotta keep him,” Tannenbaum said. “He turns the ball over. You pay a premium for that. Obviously, they let Stephon Gilmore go. He can play elite man-to-man, he has good feet. But more importantly, he has ball skills and to me, that’s very important as you talk about who to pay and who not to pay.”
Indications are that the Patriots would like to keep Jackson, and they have two weeks to determine whether or not they would like to use the franchise tag. If they opt to use the tag, the Patriots could then buy themselves some time into the new league year (which begins March 16) to negotiate a long-term deal with Jackson.
Should Jackson get to the open market, he’s expected to be the highest-paid free-agent corner this offseason, thanks in part to the dearth of in-their-prime stars available. Former teammate Stephon Gilmore and Tampa Bay’s Carlton Davis may be the next most coveted corner options on the market.
“Whatever happens happens,” Jackson said. “I’m taking it day by day. But it’s time for me to get paid. It’s time to get Mr. INT paid.”
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Looming midterm elections have states grappling over redistricting maps
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With midterm elections looming later this year, states are grappling over revisions to their election maps.
Here’s a look at some recent developments across the U.S.:
Kansas: GOP’s map vetoed
In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday vetoed Republicans’ congressional map that would have made it more difficult for the state’s only Democratic U.S. House member, Rep. Sharice Davids, to get re-elected.
“The process of drawing districts each decade is the core to ensuring that all Kansans have the opportunity to participate in their government and have their voices heard,” the governor said, according to FOX 4 in Kansas City. “The courts and the Legislature have established case law and criteria on how to draw Kansas districts fairly and constitutionally.”
Kansas state Reps. Brenda Landwehr, left, R-Wichita, and Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, confer during a meeting of a House committee on redistricting at the Statehouse in Topeka, Jan. 18, 2022.
(Associated Press)
She said the map would dilute minority communities’ voting strength and called for compromise.
“Without explanation, this map shifts 46% of the Black population and 33% of the Hispanic population out of the 3rd Congressional District by dividing the Hispanic neighborhoods of Quindaro Bluffs, Bethel-Welborn, Strawberry Hill, Armourdale and others from Argentine, Turner and the rest of Kansas City, Kansas south of I-70,” she said.
NEW YORK GOVERNOR APPROVES AGGRESSIVE REDISTRICTING PLAN THAT COULD WIPE OUT SEVERAL GOP SEATS
Republicans said they will try to override Kelly’s veto with a two-thirds majority, according to the station.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, gives a speech on Sept. 17, 2019.
(Getty Images)
The map passed the House last month by a vote of 79-37 and the Senate 26-9, according to the Washington Examiner.
State Republicans in a statement called the map “politically fair,” noting the current representatives would still have won their seats if the map had been in place in 2020.
“The map is reflective of the testimony we received from the public, has zero deviation between Congressional districts, creates compact and contiguous districts, preserves existing district cores, and groups together communities of interest.”
Michigan: Lawsuit dismissed
Meanwhile, in Michigan, the state’s Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit claiming its new redistricting maps unfairly disenfranchise Black voters in a 4-3 vote.
Black voters had a majority of voters in 15 districts under the old maps (two in the U.S. House, two in the state Senate and 11 in the state House), which was reduced to seven with the new maps created by an independent redistricting commission.
Michigan voters fill out their ballots at a school gymnasium on Nov. 03, 2020, in Lansing.
(Getty Images)
The majority justices said having Black voters spread out in more districts would give them more of a voice and the dissenting justices called the dismissal “premature” and “unjust,” saying an expert should have weighed in on the issue.
Republicans have also challenged the U.S. House map in the state in court, claiming it overly splits municipal boundaries.
New York: GOP districts threatened
In New York on Thursday, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a new map that could wipe out up to four Republican districts in the state.
Congressional elections expert and Cook Political Report journalist Dave Wasserman said the map “could lead to the single biggest seat shift in the country” in a tweet Thursday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., at a meeting with the National Governors Association in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Washington.
(Associated Press)
The state Senate voted 43-20 on party lines to pass the congressional maps and it passed mostly along party lines in the Assembly 103-45.
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“Democrats are circumventing the will of the people,” New York GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy said in a statement Wednesday. “They can’t win on the merits so they’re trying to win the election in a smoke-filled room rather than the ballot box.”
The new state maps will be in place for the next decade and are a result of last year’s Census, an official U.S. population count taken every 10 years.
As a result, New York lost a congressional seat because of population decline. Other states have lost or gained seats based on the Census’ findings.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Looming threat of omicron wave triggers early pandemic déjà vu
When the U.S. made COVID-19 vaccines available for all adults in the spring, Americans, including government officials, hailed the development as a turning point in the pandemic.
President BidenJoe BidenSenate confirms Rahm Emanuel to be ambassador to Japan NY governor plans to add booster shot to definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ Photos of the Week: Tornado aftermath, Medal of Honor and soaring superheroes MORE himself echoed the optimism that the U.S. may be turning a corner.
“Today we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus. That’s not to say the battle against COVID-19 is over. We’ve got a lot more work to do,” he said in July.
“It no longer paralyzes our nation, and it is within our power to make sure it never does again,” he added.
But fast-forward to December, and pandemic history appears to be repeating itself.
In the course of just a few weeks this month, the omicron variant and a steep rise in U.S. cases have triggered COVID-19 restrictions reminiscent of the early part of the outbreak.
Professional sports leagues have begun postponing games, some schools have started transitioning to remote learning and city officials have acknowledged they were reconsidering implementing prior coronavirus protocols such as mask mandates.
The current situation in the U.S. has also promoted concern from health experts.
“You know, I’m extraordinarily worried,” Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and professor of global health law at Georgetown University Law Center and a contributor to The Hill, said in an interview.
“I’ve always thought that there would be surges and waves but the overall arc would be toward containing the virus and getting back to normal. And now that omicron is here, I’m not sure about that,” Gostin said. “And I think for the foreseeable future, we’re going to have a fairly rough ride with the variant.”
The omicron variant, first detected in South Africa, has spread across the United States since the first case was reported earlier this month.
Scientists are racing to learn more about the new variant, which some health officials say is anticipated to be the dominant strain in the United States in a matter of weeks.
A study, still under peer review, from researchers from the University of Hong Kong’s LKS Faculty of Medicine suggests that while the omicron variant can infect 70 times more quickly in humans than previous strains, “the Omicron infection in the lung is significantly lower than the original SARS-CoV-2, which may be an indicator of lower disease severity.”
Pfizer, BioNTech and Israeli researchers have said that Pfizer’s booster appears to provide good protection against the omicron variant.
Gostin said that “there’s no question” the boosters would be helpful in combating the variant. However, it’s a question of how protective the boosters would be against infections and hospitalizations and how long that protection would last.
“Because a lot of the studies of the boosters have been, you know, in the first few weeks after the booster is given and whether that third shot immunity will wane is an open question,” Gostin said. “But our experience is that it will wane … and we don’t know how long, so we’re just really heading into a concerning unknown here.”
These developments have Americans scratching their heads over whether the U.S. might see a return to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Already, some families have canceled holiday gatherings, students have transitioned to remote learning, entertainment venues have shut down and city officials are grappling with how to approach mitigation of the new outbreak.
Prince George’s County, Md., public schools announced Friday that they would temporarily return to virtual learning amid a surge of coronavirus cases.
“The increased positivity rates have significantly challenged the ability to … [teach in person], causing anxiety among many school communities and disruption to the school day,” Prince George’s County CEO Monica Goldson said.
Holiday shows have also been canceled amid a surge of the virus.
In New York City, “The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” has canceled all of its upcoming performances due to coronavirus cases among the crew.
Jay Varma, a top public health adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio
De Blasio also unveiled a six-pronged approach to combating the spread of the new variant, including investing in K-95 masks and distributing rapid home tests.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser
On Friday, the District reported its second day of record-breaking new coronavirus cases.
“I think that we should absolutely try to mitigate the spread as much as we can through indoor masking mandates, vaccination mandates, social distancing and ventilation. But in my view, I think there’s such enormous pandemic fatigue that people are not going to tolerate in America, you know, closures of schools or lockdowns,” Gostin said.
Gostin added that the lack of knowledge about the new variant means that Americans should act preemptively, assuming that the threat is serious.
“We really don’t know if it’s less serious. There’s no good data to suggest that it’s less serious, so I think we should act as if it has the same progression to serious disease and hospitalizations as … other former variants did, including delta,” Gostin said. “If it turns out to be significantly less serious, we’ll still see our hospitals filling up to capacity because of the sheer numbers, even if it’s just a smaller rate.”
But some areas of the U.S. have already started to feel the effects.
States in the Midwest have seen a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past few weeks, with hospital systems’ intensive care units reaching capacity.
Wisconsin last week reported that 96 percent of the ICU beds in the Badger State were occupied. And the state’s governor, Tony Evers
Michigan has also been battered by a wave of COVID-19 infections and on Monday was one of 14 states that reported that their overall inpatient bed capacity had reached 80 percent.
Indiana’s largest hospital system also requested help from the National Guard last week for most of its locations due to COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Gostin said that officials should hesitate before considering reimplementing lockdowns or other harsh measures. He noted that the country should instead focus on getting as many Americans fully boosted as possible and making Pfizer’s antiviral drug, Paxlovid, available.
Experts are concerned, however, that the supplies of Paxlovid — which still awaits emergency use approval from the Food and Drug Administration — will not be able to keep up with demand amid high numbers of COVID-19 cases.
In addition, vaccine hesitancy remains among a good portion of the American public, and the Biden administration has battled several legal challenges its vaccine mandates for businesses, federal employees and health care workers.
“Right now, we do need to get a very, you know, much higher percentage of our population vaccinated and boosted because, ultimately, living with the virus — yes — we are going to need to live with the virus,” Gostin acknowledged. “But when we live with the virus, we have to live with it so that it’s not making us sick. That’s the really important part.”