Episode 50: August 22-27, 2021

August 22-27, 2021

Good afternoon, I’m Dennis Futoryan, and this is the 25th hour, helping you remember everything that happened beyond the 24/7 news cycle. Now, in this week’s news for the week of August 22-27, 2021, City teachers and staff will have to be vaccinated, Hochul picks State Senator Brian Benjamin to be her Lt. Gov., and released an expanded death count from COVID, Biden launches retaliatory airstrikes after a suicide bombing killed 13 service members, the House passed a $3.5t blueprint for Biden’s human infrastructure proposal, and the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s emergency eviction moratorium. Now, onto the show; things may have changed by the time you hear this.

De Blasio

• COVID
  • City data shows that most City residents who were hospitalized with COVID since the start of the year didn’t get their shots, showing that most of those being hospitalized for COVID, at least in NYC, are the unvaccinated. 
  • The Mayor formally announced that teachers and school staff have to be vaccinated, with teachers unions vowing to flesh out the nuances, considering a good chunk of members haven’t gotten their shots.
  • CUNY faculty leaders are saying that the City’s colleges aren’t ready for the upcoming fall semester, calling current policies inadequate and contradictory.
  • As for how to incentivize students to get shots, de Blasio said that at three select City-run vaccination clinics, students can get free limited edition Avengers comic books.
  • Meanwhile, the PBA, the city’s cops union, vowed to sue the City if a vaccination mandate was passed down to the NYPD. Police Commissioner Dermot Shea was seen with other police leaders on social media completely ignoring the recently-passed mask mandate for city cops, who at the same time said that he supports a vaccination requirement for NYPD employees “100%”.
  • De Blasio ordered the upcoming US Open tennis tournament to require proof of vaccinations for attendees, reversing a move by the US Tennis Association not to require proof of vaccination from ticketholders due to the tournament being held outdoors. 
  • After hyping up the NYC Homecoming Concert for the longest time, de Blasio commented on its sudden end since Tropical Storm Henri brought thunderstorms and rain to Central Park, saying it was sad to see it end just like that.
• Adams/Sliwa:
  • Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams continues to round out his policy priorities, mentioning this week that he wants to invest in the City’s tech sector as it was moving too slowly, as shown in the recent hack against the City Law Department. The Brooklyn Borough President isn’t letting up on his fundraising schedule despite being the favorite to win in November, attending up to five fundraisers in a day, according to the New York Times.
  • Eric Adams has also reportedly talked to the new Governor, Kathy Hochul, about making sure tenants and landlords received their rent relief funds. 
  • Adams also released a list of recommendations to make the Gowanus rezoning more palatable, opting not to issue a full-scale rejection. The Brooklyn Borough President cannot unilaterally reject rezoning plans, but they can issue advisories.
• Schools:
  • Looking to calm down parents who are worried about what could happen if there’s a COVID outbreak, Mayor de Blasio released safety protocols for schools, which included testing a random sample of 10 unvaccinated students a week, with parents’ consent for elementary school students. 
• Crime:
  • Federal monitor Steve Martin, not to be confused with the actor, released a new report detailing “unreasonably high” levels of violence still occurring in Rikers Island, pointing to staff shortages in the Corrections Department as the reason why. The Corrections Department promised they’re going to hire more officers and staff, and the Corrections Union has sued the Department, claiming their officers are constantly overworked. City officials are still aiming to close Rikers, years after de Blasio made it part of his platform in the beginning of his mayoralty, in favor of building more local prisons in every borough except Staten Island.
  • The New York Focus reported that staff shortages at Rikers have also forced prisoners to miss their medical appointments, to the tunes of thousands each month.
  • The detention center in Manhattan where Jeffrey Epstein died is temporarily closing down to address serious structural issues, according to sources that told the Daily News. The Metropolitan Correctional Center currently holds a little more than 260 inmates.
  • With the rise of gun violence in NYC since the start of the pandemic, officials are putting anti-gang policies in place that were always criticized for unfairly targeting Black people, such as pinning shooting incidents where a suspected gang member may have been just a bystander a “gang-related shooting,” and including people in a gang database based on sometimes scant evidence. The NYPD has recently undertaken gang takedowns that were earlier labeled as premature and just for show.
  • De Blasio said that he is going to turn his attention to the shortage of attorneys working at the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, as a shortage of those lawyers contributes to a lack of timely accountability measures against cops accused of the most serious misconduct. 
• Development:
  • That didn’t last long. New York City’s rental market has surpassed San Francisco’s in how expensive rentals are, jumping back to pre-pandemic levels, even though the unemployment rate isn’t back to where it was before and the economy is still having a slow slog back to pre-pandemic levels.
  • The MTA said it’ll hold 13 sessions with the public, starting September 23rd, to gather comments on congestion pricing, the plan that would toll drivers entering lower Manhattan’s business district. The plan seeks to get more cars off the road and commuters into trains, with the funds going to the MTA. The MTA also has to complete a year-and-a-half environmental assessment in order to implement the plan.
  • Two new City ferry stops were added, one in Staten Island and one in Western Manhattan, further expanding the commuting option that has seen its fair share of financial troubles.
• 9/11:
  • An analysis from the City Office of the Actuary, obtained by the Daily News, shows that NYC is still paying billions of dollars in pension funds almost 20 years after the 9/11 attacks. The increase in payments over the years are attributable to the rise in cost of living increases and the increase of emergency workers who got sick and/or died from Ground Zero’s toxic environment.

City Council

• The City Council passed a law late this week that places permanent caps on what food delivery apps can charge on commissions. Restaurants and other food businesses have been complaining that apps like Grubhub are stifling their economic recovery during the pandemic through huge fees.
• The Council also passed a law cracking down on street vendors and Times Square performers, as the lack of enforcement during the pandemic has given rise to complaints from residents and tourists that are gradually streaming back into the City. The law created a Theater District zone that covers 6th-8th avenues and 40th to 50th streets, banning solicitors from leaving those areas.
• Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who can’t vote on Council legislation but can introduce it, pitched a new law that would implement mandatory dyslexia screenings on Rikers prisoners that don’t have a high school diploma within 72 hours of their intake. The effort is part of a policy theory, which Eric Adams has also pushed for, that says a large contributor to crime is the lack of identifying mental health challenges in low-income and minority communities. 

Hochul

• COVID
  • After her swearing-in, Hochul said that she favors universal masking in schools and mandating vaccines amongst teachers and staff, or weekly testing in the alternative. Sure enough, the Health Department released an emergency regulation mandating masks in public and private schools for the fall.
  • The state Health Department approved a regulation that would fire healthcare workers that refuse the vaccine, continuing the push to make sure those working in the healthcare industry don’t endanger their patients. Those refusing the vaccines say their freedom of choice is being curtailed, and the Public Health and Health Planning Council voted to also remove religious exemptions as an alternative to healthcare workers getting their shots, which is sure to be challenged.
  • Following Cuomo’s ouster and Hochul’s swearing in, the new Madam Governor made good on her promise to begin a new era of transparency in state government by adding 12k people to the count of dead New Yorkers from COVID that were not disclosed by the previous administration. Cuomo is being investigated for hiding the true count of nursing home residents that died from COVID.
  • The state Corrections Officers union vowed legal action against the state for mandating vaccinations amongst their corrections staff, saying that negotiations with the union weren’t held. Similar outcries are coming out of the rest of the state’s unions.
• Cuomo/Hochul:
  • As alluded to before, Kathy Hochul was officially sworn in as New York’s 57th and 1st female Governor, following Andrew Cuomo’s resignation in light of his sexual assault and COVID scandals. Cuomo was facing a possible impeachment and couldn’t make a deal to save himself in this situation, forcing his hand. Hochul quickly began having discussions with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, with the legislative leaders trying to keep expectations low but hopeful for the new partnership. 
  • Hochul also selected State Senator Brian Benjamin as her next Lt. Governor, choosing to go with someone from New York City to balance out her office, as Hochul is from Buffalo. Both Hochul and Benjamin will have to run again for their positions next year. Benjamin also recently lost a run for NYC Comptroller, where he faced a few campaign finance gaffes.
  • Hochul has also chosen two women to be her top aides - Karen Persichilli Keogh as secretary and Elizabeth Fine as counsel.
  • Cuomo submitted his “Farewell Address” Monday night, thanking New Yorkers for the chance to represent them, while still strenuously denying the sexual harassment charges laid out in State Attorney General Letitia James’ report. Although Hochul officially took over Tuesday morning at midnight, she was sworn in officially during the day. Cuomo also promised that he wouldn’t run for office again.
  • While all attention is being paid on Hochul, however, Cuomo got his Emmy taken away from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his COVID briefings at the outset of the pandemic.
  • Hochul’s office said that she’s examining the $5m in contracts with Cuomo’s lawyers and PR team hired to handle his numerous scandals, with criticism not just about the hefty price tag that taxpayers are paying for, but for connections between Cuomo and former staffers that went on to work for the PR company, Kivvo. Lawmakers are also saying they want to look into the company Guidehouse, which received a contract from the state to administer the state’s rent relief program.
  • The Washington Post reported that the leaders of the sexual assault survivors’ group Time’s Up decided not to support Lindsay Boylan after she revealed her accusations against Cuomo the first time around after having converstaions with Cuomo’s top aide, Mellisa DeRosa. Boylan’s claim wasn’t taking seriously at the time as she was running for Manhattan Borough President and Cuomo’s aides quickly coalesced around him, but you may recall that things start falling pretty quickly for Cuomo once Assemblyman Ron Kim called Cuomo out for bullying and threatening him over criticisms against Cuomo’s COVID policies, and the tide of sexual assault accusations came in shortly after. President and CEO of Time’s Up, Tina Tchen, announced her resignation this week.
  • As mentioned last week, Cuomo’s ally and head of the Department of Financial Services, Linda Lacewell, has resigned. Lacewell was involved in Cuomo’s response to his scandals.
• Schools:
  • Apart from now mandating masks, school districts are still handling their COVID policies on a largely piecemeal basis. As concern continues over the lack of a remote schooling option, administrators are trying to set up remote classes for those that need medical accommodations, but who qualifies to get an accommodation is piecemeal as well.
  • The State Board of Regents is asking school districts to implement discussions of racism in American into their curriculums, diversify staff, and teach with cultural competency, as part of a policy reformation promised following the death of George Floyd. The policy is likely going to feed into more angry conservative narratives about critical race theory - the thesis that racism is embedded into every facet of America’s institutions - that have seen angry parents shouting at school board meetings.
• Afghanistan:
  • Hochu’s office said that New York is ready to accept 860 Afghan refugees who were evacuated out of Afghanistan. Other states are also taking charge by making it known how many refugees they’re willing to take in.
• Retirement:
  • State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is looking to reduce the amount of contributions government workers are pitching into their pension funds, which collectively comes out to $268b. DiNapoli’s office said that given the strength of the State Retirement Fund, the average contribution will be lowered from 16.2% to 11.6%, giving state workers a tiny bit of extra cash in their paycheck.
• Development:
  • The Shinnecock Indian Nation has partnered up with Arizona’s TILT Holdings for an $18m funding stream in order for the Native American tribe to build a medical marijuana cultivation and dispensary facility in Long Island, so stay tuned for that Long Islanders.
  • The State Department of Environmental Conservation shut down a proposed power plant in Astoria, Queens, because it ostensibly failed to pass the muster of the state’s climate legislation. The DEC is asking for more details on how the power plant would mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
• Buffalo:
  • The victor of the Buffalo mayoral primary, Socialist India Walton, only this week received the endorsement of the Buffalo Democratic Party, after Walton specifically requested it. Walton has also filed challenges at the start of the week against incumbent mayor Byron Brown’s attempt to get his name on the ballot through a write-in campaign.
• Albany:
  • The Albany police union is suing against a law that would give more power to the city police review board, including more disciplinary authority over cops, saying the law violates bargaining agreements and civil service laws between the union and the state.
• Westchester:
  • The legislature in Westchester is considering adopting a right-to-counsel law for trouble tenants facing eviction, much like in NYC.

State Legislature

• State Senator James Skoufis is reportedly planning to go ahead with a study on the legislature’s studies without a vote on his bill to officially sanction the idea. If that sounded confusing, Skoufis wants to look into whether any of the legislature’s plans to form commissions and studies actually came to fruition. 
• A State Ethics Committee hearing held this week discussed what possible transparency reforms could be passed now that Hochul is Governor. The Committee also questioned Sandord Berland, the executive director of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, about how leaks of investigations from the Commission made their way back to Cuomo. JCOPE announced that they were going to make their deliberations more transparent. Hochul promised to implement ethics training for state workers and make sure sexual harassment trainings are held in person rather than online. JCOPE later in the week adopted a measure officially asking State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate whether someone from inside the Commission leaked contents of one of JCOPEs probes to Cuomo.
• State Senator Liz Krueger called on those who donated to former Governor Cuomo’s campaign to ask for their money back. Krueger is also taking aim against Cuomo using the current money in his campaign account considering the Governor said he wasn’t going to run again for the office. State law allows the Governor to use the money in the account to pay legal fees or donate to other political causes or candidates.
• Following the Supreme Court’s striking down of Biden’s emergency eviction moratorium, state lawmakers got together and discussed what should be done about the state’s own moratorium, which is set to expire at the end of the month, including holding a special session next week, which even Governor Hochul agreed to just hours after saying it wouldn’t be necessary.
• State Senator Brad Hoylman introduced a bill that would require proof of vaccination from students seeking to attend public schools once vaccines receive full FDA authorization, which would put COVID vaccination in line with other vaccine proofs against diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella.

State Judiciary

• The head of the State Court Officers Association, Dennis Quirk, was suspended for 30 days this week for publishing the home and vacation address of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore in a Facebook post, upset over the fact that the Chief Judge is mandating vaccinations amongst court staff without negotiating with the union. All court staff have to be vaccinated by September 27th, according to Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks.
• The saga continues in the case of former Suffolk County, Long Island, Executive Steve Levy’s case revolving around a deal made between himself and the former Suffolk County DA that would have seen Levy being prosecuted for campaign finance issues if Levy hadn’t have resigned his position at the time. A trial court ruled for the release of Levy’s agreement, but this week, a four judge appellate panel delayed the agreement’s release pending a hearing where Levy’s attorneys will argue against its disclosure.

Biden

Domestic

• COVID
  • The day has finally come for the FDA to fully authorize the Pfizer vaccine, becoming the first vaccine since emergency authorization was granted last winter. With government officials hoping this could flip some holdouts citing the lack of full authorization from getting their shots, a loud minority have started a campaign of blaming the lack of a full authorization to building a case against the FDA. 
  • Dr. Fauci, in a new assessment of how long the pandemic could last, said that the US might finally be able to get a grip on the virus in the spring of 2022.
  • Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Biden is set to approve a 6-month timeline for boosters after someone gets their last dose, instead of the earlier announced 8 months. Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson’s booster shots are set to be approved by regulators by the middle of September. Johnson & Johnson was the latest company to report on how their boosters perform, especially against the new Delta variant, with studies showing antibody levels were nine times higher than 28 days after their first dose.
  • Biden’s intelligence agencies came up short on a possible explanation of COVID’s origins, with the prevailing view from the scientific community that it developed naturally from animals and jumping onto humans in a wet market in Wuhan, China, where exotics animals were sold in less than sanitary environments. An alternative view is that the virus originated as a result of a leak from a virus laboratory in Wuhan, although there is no evidence to support to suggest that’s the case. Biden had tasked his agencies to provide him a report 90 days ago. The intelligence review did come up with a broad agreement, however, that the virus wasn’t developed as a biological weapon and that the Chinese didn’t have prior knowledge of the virus before its outbreak in Wuhan. A separate group of researchers from the World Health Organization said their study is stalled as China is not forthcoming with data about the origins of the virus, having even spun conspiracy theories of the US spreading the virus first.
  • The Pentagon has confirmed that US troops will have to get vaccinated immediately, considering Pfizer has received full authorization from the FDA. The announcement from the Defense Department earlier was that troops have until mid-September to get vaccinated or immediately if one of the vaccines were approved, whichever was earlier. 
  • The CDC released a new report that details how unvaccinated people have an elevated risk of COVID, at 29 times more than vaccinated people to be hospitalized. The unvaccinated are also 5x more likely to get infected. 51.5% of Americans are fully vaccinated and almost 61% have received at least one shot. 
• Student loans:
  • Biden’s Education Department forgave $1.1b in student loans associated with ITT Technical Institute, a now-defunct college that forced abot 115k students to abandon their degrees after the ITT Tech university system shut down in 2016 and closed about 130 schools.

Foreign

• Afghanistan:
  • Biden’s big headache isn’t going away anytime soon, as the President maintains that he is going to fully withdraw American troops, and by extension, Americans, by the end of August on the 31st. Republicans and Democrats alike are asking Biden to ignore his deadline as it doesn’t seem likely to them that Biden would be able to evacuate anyone else looking to flee Afghanistan by that time. The Taliban said they’re not going to grant any extensions and they’re not allowing any Americans free reign to the airport in Kabul, including Afghans, who want to escape to America. Biden, also seeking to head off conservative fear mongering about terrorists within the population of Afghan refugees, said that there is a thorough vetting process underway at refugee camps such as in Qatar, which are overrun and in poor condition. CIA Director William Burns held a secret meeting with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar this week, probably about the August 31st deadline, but the agency refused to divulge the contents of the discussions.
  • A suicide bombing went off at the airport in Kabul, days after defense officials started warning of possible terrorist attacks from groups such as ISIS-K, an offshoot from the original terrorist group. 13 American service members have died, along with nearly 200 Afghan civilians. The State Department had even issued a warning for Americans not to approach the airport, and to specifically stay away from three gates. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that there are an estimated 1500 Americans looking to leave  Afghanistan, according to the embassy, with the CIA and US troops conducting missions outside of the airport to get Americans home. Estimates say that a quarter of a million Afghans that helped the US military have not been evacuated, according to the New York Times. Biden vowed retaliation for the suicide bombing, and a day later, an airstrike hitting Nangarhar province in Afghanistan is said to have likely killed two ISIS-K leaders that were involved in the planning of future attacks. Although Defense officials say future attacks are still likely and warned against people coming to the airport, evacuations resumed. 
  • Airbnb has pledged to temporarily house 20k Afghan refugees, working with resettlement agencies to get it done, having already housed 165 Afghans and working with hosts to see if there could be more accommodations.
• Israel:
  • Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Biden at the White House this week, with discussions revolving around Iran and Palestinians. Following longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster, Bennett and Biden agreed on a reset in US-Israeli relations but a gulf still remains over Israel’s policy to settle Israeli homes in Palestinian territory in the West Bank and don’t even mention a two-state solution. 

Congress

House

• Afghanistan:
  • In the midst of bipartisan outcry over how Biden is handling the withdrawal out of Afghanistan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi chided a group of Congress members that went on a secret trip to the country, including Republican Peter Meijer and Demorat Seth Moulton. Pelosi said that the trip strained critical resources ahead of the August 31st deadline.
• Infrastructure:
  • Striking a deal with Democratic moderates, Speaker Pelosi successfully placed a legislative blueprint on the floor of the House to pass a $3.5t human infrastructure proposal that is yet to come out of the Senate. Moderates and progressives are at odds about whether the physical and human infrastructure proposals should be passed together or separate, with moderates saying the country can’t afford to wait for the latter as it’s being debated in the Senate. Winning a deal from Pelosi that she won’t hold up the physical infrastructure proposal beyond Sep. 27th and wouldn’t put the human proposal on the floor unless there are 51 votes for it in the Senate, the House passed a resolution approving of the human proposal 220-212. The physical proposal was passed in the Senate before Congress recessed, providing $1.2t in new and old funds marked for new roads, bridges, tunnels, transportation, water pipes, broadband, and more. The human proposal focuses more on free community college, pre-k, elder care, climate resiliency, and more.
• John Lewis voting rights:
  • The House also approved a voting rights bill named after the late civil rights icon John Lewis, which would reinstate a struck down portion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that would require federal preclearance before historically racist Southern states implemented changes to voting rights, and reverse restrictive voting measures recently adopted in Arizona banning certain absentee ballots and throwing out ballots brought to the wrong voting precinct. The bill doesn’t stand much of a chance in the Senate due to the filibuster. 
• House Jan 6 committee:
  • The special select committee looking into the January 6th insurrection incited by Trump and whose supporters ransacked the Capitol have officially requested documents from the National Archives and the White House looking into communications by Trump’s former officials. The Justice Department already said they’re not going to get in teh way with executive privilege claims, even though Trump hinted that he might try to assert those claims now, despite him not being President anymore and not having that right.
  • Meanwhile, 7 Capitol Police officers sued former President Trump, along with extremist groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keeps, who were affiliated with the insurrection on January 6th, for violating the officers’ civil rights. The lawsuit joins other cases of Capitol Police officers suing Trump and those who had a role in the January 6th attack.
  • Speaking of the Proud Boys, the group’s leader, Henry Tarrio, was sentenced to 5 months in prison this week for burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from the Asbury United Methodist church and trying to bring a high-capacity ammo magazine into DC, where they’re banned.
  • Additionally, the Capitol Police officer that shot and killed Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt as she tried to break into the House chamber where lawmakers were hiding spoke in public for the first time after being exonerated for her death, saying he saved countless lives. Police Lt. Michael Byrd said he and the lawmakers he was charged to defend were in jeopardy and warned rioters to stop trying to break through the doors.

Senate

Federal Judiciary

• Remain in Mexico:
  • After being referred to the full Court by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court refused to block an appellate ruling that would force Biden to reinstate Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which forced asylum seekers to apply and wait out their cases to get asylum in America in the country they applied from. Missouri and Texas originally sued after Biden rescinded the policy, claiming it would bring an influx of migrants into their states, especially in the midst of the pandemic. 
• Eviction moratorium:
  • The Supreme Court also struck down Biden’s latest eviction ban, which would have kept the ban in place within the areas of the country with the highest transmission of COVID. The first moratorium was allowed to expire by the Court, but Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence said that the CDC didn’t have the authority to rely on an old statute to pass a ban on evictions in a public health emergency. The Court this time said Biden engaged in “gamesmanship,” and said only Congress has the authority to pass an eviction moratorium.
• Dylan Roof:
  • A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in South Carolina upheld the death penalty of Dylann Roof, who shot and killed 9 members of the historical Black church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. Roof was sentenced to death in 2017, whose lawyers then appealed based on the theory that Roof wasn’t competent to stand trial, but the 4th Circuit said there was ample evidence of premeditation to let capital punishment stand.
• Michigan election lawsuit:
  • Michigan federal judge Linda Parker has officially sanctioned the pro-Trump lawyers that continued to make false claims in court that the 2020 Presidential election was rigged against former President Trump. Judge Parker said attorney Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and others, have engaged in a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.” Parker ordered that the lawyers attend ethics classes, but Lin Wood said that he would appeal the sanctions.
  • Within the same vein, Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s associate, Igor Fruman, was expected to plead guilty this week to campaign finance fraud charges, but the hearing was delayed. Giuliani is being investigated for his relationship with Fruman and another associate, Lev Parnas, in his attempt to find dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine during the 2020 Presidential election.
  • Arizona’s election audit, spurred by state Republicans and called out by everyone else as a sham, was delayed after the firm hired to conduct the audit, Cyber Ninjas, delayed issuing their final report because their CEO and two people on their audit team tested positive for COVID. The audit focused on the margin of victory between Biden and Trump in the state, which Trump falsely claims is fake. The audit has even forced the discarding of voting machines, according to the state secretary of state, because of possible compromise from the audit team.

National

• COVID
  • For the first time since January, COVID hospitalizations have risen past 100k due to the Delta variant’s continued spread and the reluctance or downright refusal of those who won’t get vaccinated. Florida has the most hospitalizations at 17k, with Texas coming up at 14k. Children are now 36% of Tennessee’s COVID cases, with the state recording 14k children’s COVID cases, a 57% increase from just last week.
  • Continuing the fight in Republican states like Florida over mask mandate bans, Leon County, Florida, Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled against Governor DeSantis’ mandate ban, saying the Governor exceeded his authority, as it exempted the government’s authority to make decisions related to public health. DeSantis said he’ll appeal the ruling. Simultaneously, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who had a recent bout with COVID despite being vaccinated, banned COVID vaccine mandates in his state, regardless of FDA authorization.
  • In Illinois, Governor JB Ptrizker announced mask and vaccine mandates on educators, college students, and healthcare workers. Everyone 2 and up is required to wear a mask indoors, in an effort to fight off the rising Delta variant cases in the state.
  • Hawaii’s Governor David Ige urged people to avoid non-essential travel to the islands due to the COVID outbreak there.
  • 120 COVID cases in 5 states were officially linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota which ended on August 15th. Last year’s rally is linked to one death and 649 infections.
  • Ty Garbin was sentenced this week to 6 years in prison for the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was one of the first Governors to institute shutdowns at the outset of the pandemic. Encouraged by President Trump’s calls to protest, the state was the site of gun-toting shutdown protests in front of the state Capitol, who also managed to just walk right in. Garbin admitted to being part of a plot to kidnap the Governor from her summer home and “pass judgment on her,” and although Garbin apologized, he was still sentenced and has to also pay a $2500 fine.
  • Airline company Delta said that it’s going to start charging its unvaccinated staff members a $200 deduction from their paychecks in order to cover the medical bills of those who get sick with COVID, saying that the virus has cost $50k a person in hospital bills through its provided health insurance. The fee will go into effect on November 1st.
  • Former President Trump was booed this week at a rally he gave after encouraging his supporters to get vaccinated. The former President himself is vaccinated, although he constantly cast doubt on the dangers of COVID and himself got sick with it during his Presidency. 
• Hurricane Ida:
  • A new hurricane named Ida has formed off the coast of Cuba, hitting the island nation before setting its sights on Louisiana as of the time of this recording. Governor John Bel Edwards urged evacuations, while New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered mandatory evacuations for an area of the city just outside the city’s levees, while telling the rest of New Orleans to shelter in place as it’ll be too late to evacuate.
• Wildfires:
  • Wildfires continue to blaze uncontained in the Western US, with the Caldor Fire threatening Lake Tahoe in California. The fire has destroyed 632 structures and 450 homes, expanding to 123k acres. 50 fire crews, 22 helicopters, and 200 fire engines are currently engaged in fighting wildfires throughout the region.
• RFK assassin:
  • The assassin of JFK’s brother, RFK, who was JFKs Attorney General and who ran for President before being killed by Sirhan Sirhan, is being recommended for parole by California’s Parole Board in his 16th appearance. The parole board’s decision will make its way to the Governor’s desk for approval in the coming months. There’s a divide amongst RFK’s children about whether Sirhan should be released.
• Voting rights marches:
  • A March On for Voting Rights rally was held this past Saturday in Washington, D.C., in support of voting laws currently pending in Congress that would do away with restrictions passed in Republican states that relied on lies perpetrated by former President Trump about the 2020 presidential election. Marches are planned in other cities as well, with the main March in DC set to occur in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where MLK Jr. gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
• Texas voting restrictions:
  • The March comes on the heels of the Texas legislature finally winning out and passing voting restrictions that state Democrats sought to prevent by escaping the state altogether to block a quorum. Texas Governor Greg Abbott kept calling special sessions and enough Democrats eventually returned, causing the restrictions to pass in the Texas House 79-37. The restrictions add more ID requirements to vote-by-mail, bans drive-through voting and 24 hour voting, and gives poll watchers more power as they observe elections staff counting votes. The underlying reason for the restrictions relies on falsities spread by Trump about the 2020 presidential election. 
• Charlie Watts:
  • Famous Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed away this week at the age of 80 due to an undisclosed medical issue that kept him away from touring with the band. Watts underwent surgery for throat cancer in 2004. 

And that’s it for this week’s show of THE 25TH HOUR, helping you stay on top of the 24/7 news cycle. Don’t forget to rate us on Apple Podcasts, share us with your friends, and subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. You can email your tips and suggestions at the25thhournews@gmail.com and become a Patron today for as low as $2 a month to support the show at patreon.com/the25thhournews! Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next week.