Month: September 2021

The White House announced Monday that the U.S. will begin allowing foreign travelers into the country in November if they provide proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. The new policy will replace various restrictions that have been in effect since last year, which barred U.S. entry for foreign travelers if they’d spent any of the previous 14 days in Britain, the European Union, China, India, Iran, Ireland, Brazil and South Africa.

Under the new policy, foreign travelers will be required to show proof of vaccination before they board a U.S.-bound flight and a negative coronavirus test no older than three days. Vaccinated U.S. residents traveling abroad will also need to show a negative test to return — and unvaccinated Americans will have to test one day before their flight, and must test again once they return.

Authorities said a body discovered in northern Wyoming is believed to be that of 22-year-old Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, who disappeared while on a cross-country trek with her boyfriend. The FBI said the body of Petito was found Sunday by law enforcement agents who spent the weekend searching camp sites on the eastern border of Grand Teton National Park. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Charles Jones said the cause of death not yet been determined, and the specifics on where and how the body was found were not disclosed. Jones said investigators were still seeking information from anyone who may have seen Petito or Laundrie around camping sites in the area of Spread Creek, where law enforcement search efforts focused over the weekend.

Boyfiend Brian Laundrie, 23, has been identified as a person of interest in the case. He was last seen Tuesday by family members in Florida, and now the subject of an intense search in a Florida nature preserve. More than 50 law enforcement officers on Sunday started a second day of searching for Laundrie at the more than 24,000-acre (9,712-hectare) Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida, a wildlife area with more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) of trails, as well as campgrounds.

Petito and Laundrie left in July on a cross-country trek in a converted van to visit national parks in the U.S. West. The couple’s trek in the Ford Transit began from Long Island, and they intended to reach Oregon by the end of October, according to their social media accounts. However, Petito vanished after her last known contact with family in late August from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Laundrie was alone when he drove the van back to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1, police said. Petito’s family filed a missing persons report Sept. 11 with police in Suffolk County, New York.

Agents at the U.S. border with Mexico began moving thousands of Haitian migrants sheltering under the Del Rio International Bridge into the Texas town of Del Rio. The increasingly poor conditions under the bridge – which connects the Texas city with Mexico – led the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to accelerate flights to Haiti and other destinations within the next 72 hours.

The DHS over the weekend said that some 2,000 people were moved to other immigration processing stations on Friday, as the town has been overwhelmed by an influx of Haitian and other migrant groups. The department said the transfers will continue to ensure that migrants are “swiftly taken into custody, processed, and removed from the United States consistent with our laws and policy.”

As the United States plans to accelerate the pace and increase capacity of flights to remove migrants at the border, the Biden administration directed U.S. agencies to work with Haiti and other governments to provide assistance and support for migrants returned to their countries.

It is only in recent days that the number of migrants seeking jobs and safety converging on Del Rio has drawn widespread attention, posing a humanitarian and political challenge for the Biden administration.

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Idaho hospitals are so overwhelmed with patients that health officials are allowing them to ration care. The Idaho Department of Health and Wellness announced that it has activated the ‘Crisis Standards of Care’ for the entire state as healthcare workers struggle to deal with the influx of patients with COVID-19.  The declaration allows hospitals to repurpose rooms not meant for patient care and prioritize healthcare decisions based on how sick a patient is. That means that some patients may have to wait longer for treatment or be transferred to another hospital to receive the proper care.

Dave Jeppesen, the director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said in a statement: “The situation is dire — we don’t have enough resources to adequately treat the patients in our hospitals, whether you are there for COVID-19 or a heart attack or because of a car accident.”   Jeppesen also urged people to get vaccinated to help alleviate some of the strain on the healthcare system, saying in part: “Our hospitals and healthcare systems need our help. The best way to end crisis standards of care is for more people to get vaccinated. It dramatically reduces your chances of having to go to the hospital if you do get sick from COVID-19. In addition, please wear a mask indoors in public and outdoors when it’s crowded to help slow the spread.”

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Alex Murdaugh, a prominent South Carolina lawyer accused of trying to arrange his own death earlier this month so his son would receive a $10 million life insurance payment, turned himself in to authorities on Thursday. Murdaugh allegedly hired a gunman to kill him, but the planned fatal shot only grazed his head, according to state police. Jim Griffin, Murdaugh’s attorney, said a warrant was issued for his arrest on a charge of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. The State Law Enforcement Division said in a statement that the alleged shooter, Curtis Edward Smith, was charged with assisted suicide, insurance fraud and several other counts in the September 4 shooting of Murdaugh on a highway in Hampton County.

Still unsolved are the June 7 killings of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and her 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh. Alex Murdaugh discovered the bodies of his wife and son at their Colleton County home; both had been shot multiple times. Attorneys for Murdaugh said he had been struggling with a longtime addiction to opioids and wanted to end his life. Murdaugh is fully cooperating with the investigation of his shooting as well as the deaths of his wife and son. “Alex is not without fault but he is just one of many whose life has been devastated by opioid addiction,” his attorneys said.

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