CDC changes course on indoor masks in some parts of US
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course Tuesday on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the delta variant of the coronavirus is fueling infection surges.
Citing new information about the variant’s ability to spread among vaccinated people, the CDC also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status.
In other developments, President Joe Biden said his administration was considering requiring all federal workers to get vaccinated. His comments came a day after the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require its health care workers receive the vaccine.
Biden dismissed concerns that the new masking guidance could invite confusion, saying Americans who remain unvaccinated are the ones who are “sowing enormous confusion.”
“The more we learn about this virus and the delta variation, the more we have to be worried and concerned. And there’s only one thing we know for sure — if those other 100 million people got vaccinated, we’d be in a very different world,” he said.
Biden mileage rule to exceed Obama climate goal
WASHINGTON — In a major step against climate change, President Joe Biden is proposing a return to aggressive Obama-era vehicle mileage standards over five years, according to industry and government officials briefed on the plan. He’s then aiming for even tougher anti-pollution rules after that to forcefully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nudge 40% of U.S. drivers into electric vehicles by decade’s end.
The proposed rules from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation reflect Biden’s pledge to attack climate change but also balance concerns of the auto industry, which is urging a slower transition to zero-emission electric vehicles.
The regulatory action would tighten tailpipe emissions standards rolled back under President Donald Trump. The proposed rules are expected to be released as early as next week, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the rules haven’t been finalized.
Environmental groups said Tuesday that the proposal did not go far enough.
“The world isn’t the same as it was in 2012 when President Obama signed the clean car standards,” said Katherine Garcia, acting director of Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign. “Millions of Americans have had to swelter in heat waves, evacuate their homes in the face of onrushing wildfires, or bail out flooded homes.”
From wire sources
Crunch time for infrastructure deal
WASHINGTON — Time running short, senators and the White House worked furiously Tuesday to salvage a bipartisan infrastructure deal, with pressure intensifying on all sides to wrap up talks on President Joe Biden’s top priority.
Despite weeks of closed-door discussions, several issues are still unresolved over the nearly $1 trillion package. Spending on public transit remains in question and a new dispute flared over the regulation of broadband access. Patience was running thin as senators accused one another of shifting the debate and picking fights over issues that had already been resolved.
Still, all sides — the White House, Republicans and Democrats — sounded upbeat that an accord was within reach as senators braced for a possible weekend session to finish the deal. No new deadlines were set.
“Good progress,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he opened the chamber.
Republican negotiator Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who took the lead in key talks with a top White House aide, struck a similar tone, but also acknowledged the bipartisan group was “still working” on transit and other issues.
Man pleads guilty to 4 Asian spa killings, sentenced to life
CANTON, Ga. — A man accused of killing eight people, mostly women of Asian descent, at Atlanta-area massage businesses pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in four of the killings and was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Robert Aaron Long, 22, still faces the death penalty in the other deaths, which are being prosecuted in another county. The string of shootings at three businesses in March ignited outrage and fueled fear among Asian Americans, who already faced increased hostility linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Many were particularly upset when authorities suggested Long’s crimes weren’t racially motivated but born of a sex addiction, which isn’t recognized as an official disorder.
Cherokee County prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty but decided a plea deal would bring swift justice and avoid any lengthy appeals. That’s what the victims and their families who they were able to contact wanted, District Attorney Shannon Wallace said.
Bonnie Michels’ husband of 24 years, Paul, was the first person killed.
“A part of me died with him that day,” she told the judge. “I am shattered.”
___
Democratic donor convicted of offering drugs for sex; 2 died
LOS ANGELES — A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a wealthy California political donor on charges he injected gay men with methamphetamine in exchange for sex, leading to two deaths and other overdoses.
Ed Buck, 66, was found guilty of all nine felony counts in federal court, which could lead to a life sentence. The verdict came exactly four years after one of the victims, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore, was found dead of an overdose in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment.
“Today is bittersweet,” LaTisha Nixon, Moore’s mother, said after the verdict. “We got victory today.”
The jury deliberated for more than four hours after a two-week trial. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
Prosecutors said Buck paid men and provided drugs in return for sex acts. Buck had pleaded not guilty. His defense lawyers said neither fatal overdose victim died from meth and that many of the alleged victims were drug addicts.
Wu-Tang Clan album sale pays off Martin Shkreli’s court debt
NEW YORK — An unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album forfeited by Martin Shkreli after his securities fraud conviction was sold Tuesday for an undisclosed sum, though prosecutors say it was enough to fully satisfy the rest of what he owed on a $7.4 million forfeiture order he faced after his 2018 sentencing.
The entrepreneur known as “Pharma Bro” once boasted that he paid $2 million in 2015 at auction for “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” the 31-track double album the multiplatinum rap group spent six years creating.
“With today’s sale of this one-of-a-kind album, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis in Brooklyn said in a release.
Authorities said the sales contract for the album contained a confidentiality provision that protects information relating to the buyer and price.
In a civil case in Manhattan federal court, lawyers wrote in an April document that Shkreli had already reduced his forfeiture debt by about $5 million.
