9/30
Read Time: 5 Minutes
Coronavirus/COVID-19
- The U.S. reported 36,947 new cases and 739 additional deaths. 14,206 are receiving critical care for the virus.
- Top officials at the White House pressured leaders at the CDC to downplay the risk of the coronavirus to children as President Trump’s administration pushed to reopen schools this fall, according to a new report.
Citing documents and interviews with current and former government officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday the push included an effort to find data suggesting the pandemic was weakening and the coronavirus did not threaten children.
- Kids need to be back in school in areas where the virus is not spreading badly, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
- A COVID-19 vaccine developed by the biotechnology company Moderna in partnership with the National Institutes of Health has been tested in older adults and found to safely elicit an immune response in that age group, according to preliminary data.
- As many as one in three Covid-19 patients will develop symptoms that linger for months. The symptoms can span a wide range — piercing chest pain, deep exhaustion, a racing heart. Those affected include young and otherwise healthy people.
- The CDC is preparing to post new guidance Wednesday on a “no sail” order for cruise ships.
The guidance will extend an order first issued in March through October. An official said CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield failed to convince the White House to extend it into next year.
- The NFL had its first virus outbreak of the season. The Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings halted operations after eight members of the Titans received positive tests.
- The University of Notre Dame announced Monday that 18 players had tested positive for the virus.
Team doctors have traced an outbreak of Covid-19 on the Notre Dame football team to two specific events, including a pregame meal, head coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday.
- New York City reported a large uptick in coronavirus cases. The daily rate of positive tests rose to 3.25 percent, the highest it had been in months, as more students returned to classrooms.
- New York City could implement further restrictions, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference.
The mayor cautioned that if necessary, the city will prohibit gatherings, except small ones, and may close non-essential businesses.
- About 300,000 elementary school students returned to New York City classrooms, a major milestone in the recovery from the pandemic.
- Indoor dining capacity in Philadelphia will increase to 50% on Friday.
- Florida’s Tampa International Airport today announced a new pilot program, which makes it the first airport in the country to offer two different types of Covid-19 testing, PCR tests and rapid antigen tests, for any arriving or departing passenger.
- Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) is self-isolating for 14 days after one of his staffers tested positive for COVID-19.
- Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) loosened limits on public gatherings and encouraged corporate events to return to Las Vegas.
- Several populous counties in California are being allowed to reopen further as they move into less restrictive tiers.
Trump Administration
- Trump has repeatedly touted his signature anti-poverty program as a way to attract support from Black voters. Opportunity zones, he has said, have drawn “$100 billion of new investment … into 9,000 of our most distressed neighborhoods” and created “countless jobs.”
A new report suggests that his claims inflate the results by to 250-700%.
- The Trump administration has asked the military to assess how quickly it could pull nuclear weapons out of storage and load them onto bombers and submarines if an arms control treaty with Russia is allowed to expire.
- President Donald Trump is weighing closing the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad as intelligence agencies in recent weeks have picked up specific threats against American forces in Iraq, including against the embassy itself.
- President Trump has received a third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
According to Sky News Australia, four Australian law professors recently nominated the president for the high honor, with one of them, David Flint, citing his recent role in helping broker relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
- The Trump administration is preparing a series of immigration enforcement actions targeting sanctuary cities leading up to the November general election, sources told The Washington Post on Tuesday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation is known informally as the “sanctuary op” and could reportedly begin as soon as this week in California and eventually move to cities including Denver and Philadelphia.
- Some former intelligence officials are saying the alleged $421 million of debt owed by President Trump over the next four years could pose national security risks, Time magazine reported Tuesday.
Officials told Time that Trump, who the New York Times reported is in an audit fight with the IRS that could cost him an additional $100 million, could be easily influenced by those he owes money.
- The Census Bureau announced on Monday that it intends to wrap up its count on Oct. 5, despite a judge’s order to continue the census through the end of October.
Protests/Racial & Social Issues
- Hours after a member of the grand jury sued to have the record of the proceedings opened to the public, Kentucky’s attorney general agreed to release the recordings of the secret grand jury proceeding that considered charges against three officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
- The average Black family had less than 15 percent of the wealth of white families in 2019, a trend that barely budged despite economic gains among minorities over the past three years, the Federal Reserve said on Monday.
Presidential Campaign
- In the wake of a New York Times report that revealed President Trump’s years of tax avoidance, Joe Biden released returns showing he paid $288,000 in federal income taxes in 2019.
Presidential Debate
- The first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden immediately got heated Tuesday night, with Trump talking over both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace, sparking a sharp exchange of words between Trump and the Fox News anchor.
- President Trump and Joe Biden jabbed back and forth during the debate, with Trump repeatedly talking over Biden and moderator Chris Wallace, prompting Biden to harshly call Trump a “liar” and a “clown” at one point.
Trump: (Interjecting as Biden spoke) “You just lost the left.”
Biden: “Folks, do you have any idea what this clown is doing?”
- President Trump refused to denounce white supremacy during an intense debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden Tuesday night, which featured a heated exchange over racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.
- “This is the same man who told you by Easter this would be gone away, by the warm weather it would be gone miraculously like a miracle,” Biden said, suggesting Trump could not be trusted. “And by the way maybe you can inject some bleach in your arm and that would take care of it.”
“That was said sarcastically and you know that,” Trump responded immediately. “That was said sarcastically.”
Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post
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