Month: September 2021

The Justice Department vowed Monday to protect the safety of women seeking access to reproductive health care in Texas. In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he will tap “support from federal law enforcement” if an “abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack” and said the DOJ will explore “all options” to challenge the state’s strict new abortion law.

Garland, citing authority under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — or FACE Act — said the federal government will not tolerate any “threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.” Garland added that the Justice Department will “protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion” as the Biden administration seeks to challenge the Texas law, known as Senate Bill 8.

Signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in May, ‘SB8’ outlaws abortions when a heartbeat is detectable, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy. It will deny the procedure to about 85% of patients who seek it in the state. The ban is enforced by members of the public who are able to sue anyone who provides or is involved in aiding and performing abortions barred by SB8, including anyone who drives a patient to the procedure. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court voted against an emergency petition from abortion providers and advocates to block the law.

Editorial credit: CHRISTOPHER E ZIMMER / Shutterstock.com

The death toll drastically rose on Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit the Northeast, causing historic flooding, tornado damage and record-breaking rain. The storm killed at least 45 people from Maryland to Connecticut from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. On Sunday, Ida first struck Louisiana as a hurricane, becoming the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the U.S. mainland, and leaving 1 million people without power for weeks.

In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy said at least 23 people died in the state. At least 12 people in New York City were killed, and suburban Westchester County, NY reported at least three deaths. Officials reported at least five deaths in Pennsylvania, and in Connecticut a state police sergeant was killed, while another death was reported in Maryland.

Ida’s remnants merged with a more traditional storm front to drop massive amounts of rain on the Interstate 95 corridor, meteorologists said. The National Hurricane Center had warned since Tuesday of the potential for “significant and life-threatening flash flooding” in the mid-Atlantic region and New England. Wednesday’s storm ultimately dumped over 9 inches of rain in parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and nearly as much on New York City’s Staten Island. The storm also spawned at least seven tornadoes. According to the National Weather Service, tornadoes were confirmed in Cape Cod, suburban Philadelphia and Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.

Editorial credit: Brian Derr / Shutterstock.com

On Thursday, both President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to fight Texas’ new six-week abortion ban, which was left to stand by the U.S. Supreme Court. Led by Republicans and signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in May, the ‘Texas Senate Bill 8’ outlaws abortions when a heartbeat is detectable, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy. It will deny the procedure to about 85% of patients who seek it in the state. In addition, the ban is enforced by members of the public who are able to sue anyone who provides or is involved in aiding and performing abortions barred by SB8, which includes anyone who drives a patient to the procedure.

Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court voted against an emergency petition from abortion providers and advocates to block the law. Pelosi said in a statement on Thursday: “SB8 unleashes one of the most disturbing, unprecedented and far-reaching assaults on healthcare providers — and on anyone who helps a woman, in any way, access an abortion — by creating a vigilante bounty system that will have a chilling effect on the provision of any reproductive health care services. This provision is a cynical, backdoor attempt by partisan lawmakers to evade the Constitution and the law to destroy not only a woman’s right to healthcare but potentially any right or protection that partisan lawmakers target.”

President Biden also strongly condemned the court’s decision, calling it an “unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights,” adding, “It unleashes unconstitutional chaos and empowers self-anointed enforcers to have devastating impacts. This law is so extreme it does not even allow for exceptions in the case of rape or incest.”

Editorial credit: Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com

New York City and New Jersey was slammed with heavy rain overnight and into Thursday morning, causing historic, mass flooding due to the remnants of hurricane Ida earlier. The storm hit the Northeast as a post-tropical cyclone on Wednesday after making landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday. The historic rain halted subway service and destroyed homes in New Jersey. At least eight deaths were reported from the flooding, seven in New York City and one in Passaic, N.J.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Passaic, NJ Mayor Hector Lora all issued states of emergency as the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for New York and southern New England. “We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads,” de Blasio said via Twitter. “Please stay off the streets tonight and let our first responders and emergency services get their work done.” He urged New Yorkers not to drive and stay off subway trains, and videos showed subways and streets flooded.

Early Thursday, the city’s official emergency notification system issued a travel ban until 5 a.m., stating “all non-emergency vehicles must be off NYC streets and highways.” The Metropolitan Transportation Authority told residents that they “strongly recommended” the public avoid traveling.

Authorities announced Wednesday evening that a suspect was taken into custody following a shooting at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, left one student dead.  No other details were immediately released. The victim, identified by authorities as William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr., was rushed to a hospital where he later died of a gunshot wound.

Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office reported a shooting “on school property” just after noon local time. Mount Tabor and surrounding schools were placed on lockdown as Winston-Salem police and first responders secured the area and began reunification efforts.  A search ensued before the suspect, who is believed to be a fellow high school student, was taken into custody Wednesday evening.  Authorities said during the press briefing that no other students were physically hurt, but one student suffered a seizure as the incident unfolded.