White House Releases New COVID Plan That Includes Possibly Ending Transportation Mask Mandate

Currents News Staff

The White House says airplane passengers might get to enjoy mask-less travel without having to worry much about COVID-19. According to White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients, there is a plan in place:

“First, protect against and treat COVID,” Jeff said. “Second, prepare for any new variants. Third, prevent economic and school shutdowns. Fourth, vaccinate the world and save lives.”

Here’s how. Some pharmacies are preparing “Test to Treat” initiatives. They’ll offer free COVID-19 tests. If you’re positive, you’ll go home with an FDA-Authorized antiviral medicine for free.

If new variants emerge, Dr. Anthony Fauci says they also have a plan.

“We are ready to deploy personnel and resources to quickly update the vaccines,” said Chief Medical Adviser to the President Dr. Fauci.

The White House wants people to be able to safely go to work and send their children to school without shutdowns. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to push for more COVID vaccination worldwide. On top of that, officials are considering letting passengers fly without a mask. That mandate expires March 18.

“Transportation’s another arena where I think a lot of us are looking forward to being able to put so many of these pandemic restrictions behind us,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The public transportation mask mandate might end if those numbers drop, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

“We see those numbers begin to drop to levels that show that safety can be had everywhere,” said Xavier. “We see that Americans continue to vaccinate. Now we all have to get there working together.”

Seafood Prices Are Soaring as Inflation Drives Up Cost Just in Time for Lent

Currents News Staff

David Nunez works at a seafood restaurant in New Orleans.

“Usually we have a line outside the door,” David said. “We stay busy. We pretty much run out [of] crawfish every day.”

Now that the Lenten season is here, he says, they’re getting ready for the rush of people.

“You can’t even park out here sometimes, you got so many feet,” David said. “The flow is coming. We’re gonna be busy in March, March madness, wide open on the weekend.”

Right now, he says the price of crawfish he sells is reasonable at $3.35/lb for live crawfish and $4.35/lb for boiled. But other seafood? Expect higher costs.

“Nobody comes looking for work, we’re short handed,” David said. “[The] price of fuel [is] through the roof, the fishermen paying more for fuel, more for bait, more for gasoline.”

David says due to demand and the cost, they can’t get crab or oysters.

Drago’s Seafood Restaurant owner Tommy Cvitanovich says the rise in prices is causing him to rethink how he runs his business.

“Across the board, oysters are very, very expensive,” Tommy said.

He’s had to temporarily remove certain oyster dishes from his menu.

“I can tell you this week alone, the cost of my charbroiled oyster, the finished oyster to go to the table, has gone up about 25 cents,” Tommy said, “because of the increase in price this week per oyster.”

From Louisiana to New York and everywhere else for that matter, customers will be paying more. That’s because fishermen are fighting inflation and paying more for fuel, labor and sacks. As for crab meat, it doubled in price – going from about $18 to years ago, to about $40 today.

“So now the restaurateur has a couple decisions to make, put less crab meat, [and] obviously raise prices,” Tommy said. “Do I go to an imported crab meat? Do I go to a frozen crab meat?”

Europe Faces Humanitarian Crisis With Influx of Ukrainian Refugees

Currents News Staff

More than a million people so far are trying to escape the violence in Ukraine, according to the United Nations.

“Ukrainians are friendly – we don’t want to have war,” said one Ukrainian woman who fled the country. “We don’t want to have quarrels with somebody. We want just peace..”

This comes as Russia continues its assault on key Ukrainian cities. Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov says Russia forces have combated non-stop.

“So we have continuous shelling for 26 hours,” said Sergei. “Twenty-six hours they are destroying our city. We do not have electricity, water supply, sanitary system and no heat.”

One senior U.S. Defense official says Russian forces have shown a willingness to hit civilian infrastructure on purpose. Delegations from the two countries are meeting again amid the violence. On their agenda: An immediate ceasefire, armistice and creating a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians. The European Union is now offering them temporary protected status.

Sviatoslav Vakarchuk is a Ukranian activist.

“Thousands are being killed including children and women and it’s a nightmare,” said Sviatoslav.

Vladimir Putin’s History of Vatican Visits as Pope Francis Urges Aggressors to End War in Ukraine

By Jessica Easthope

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Pope Francis has avoided naming president Vladimir Putin – but has been sending messages directly to him.

“I repeat: Put down your weapons! God is with the peacemakers, not with those who use violence,” the Holy Father said.

Vladimir Putin’s history of making trips to the Vatican dates back more than two decades. The first time he met with Pope Francis, just eight months into his papacy in November of 2013, it was because they had a common interest – asking the United States not to take military action in the conflict in Syria.

But since then, the tone of the meetings with Pope Francis have been different. In 2015, they met after Russia annexed Crimea. Pope Francis urged Putin to respect the ceasefire agreement and allow humanitarian workers into the region. Their last meeting, in 2019, was seen by many to be a clashing of world views, as the two discussed Russia’s increased presence in Venezuela, Syria and Ukraine.

During that interaction, Pope Francis gave Putin a signed copy of the message of peace he gives to world leaders.

“This is the message of peace this year that I signed today for you,” he said.

And last Friday, Pope Francis made an unprecedented trip to the Russian embassy to the Holy See to express his concern about the war and attempt to make contact with Vladimir Putin’s political circles.

During his most recent general audiences, Pope Francis has made it clear that his heart remains with the Ukrainian people.

“Ordinary civilians are the real victims, who pay for the follies of war with their own skin,” he said.

Pope Francis asked that all those who are watching the conflict unfold should pray for those suffering.

St. Katherine Drexel: Journey with the Saints (3/3/22)

St. Katherine Drexel

Feast Day March 3rd

“If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy, which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.”

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday, 3/2/22

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season and it’s the first for Bishop Robert Brennan in his new home.

Pope Francis is asking the faithful to use Ash Wednesday as a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson already gotten a high-profile endorsement ahead of her Senate meetings.

Western Ukraine Residents Are Building Barricades and Preparing for Attack

Currents News Staff

In the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, hundreds of kilometers from the worst of the Russian attacks, they’re getting ready. One neighborhood includes a high rise apartment building, just on the outskirts of the city.

They’ve filled bags with sand donated by the army. They’ve posted Ukrainian flags to show their pride and allegiance. The locals don’t know if the Russian attack will come to their city, Lviv, but they’re not wasting any time to be ready.

One 23-year-old lives in the apartment building with his two brothers, a sister and his parents. He’s helping build the barricade to keep his community safe.

Ash Wednesday Returns to Pre-Pandemic Ways as Diocese of Brooklyn Parishioners Pray for Ukraine

By Jessica Easthope

Dennis LaSalle makes sure to come to church every Ash Wednesday to receive his ashes, but this year, he entered St. James Cathedral Basilica with a heavy heart.

“There’s so much hatred in the world,” he said, referring not just to the war in Ukraine but to the deep cultural and political divisions tearing people apart, locally and globally.

As a result, LaSalle has made up his mind about how he will spend Lent.

“I’m going to give up having hatred and anger in my heart. I wish we would all do it, but if I want it to happen, it has to start with me,” he said as he sat in a pew waiting for the noon Mass to start. His decision was inspired by the pandemic.

“COVID taught me that life is short and we have to care for one another,” he explained.

Ash Wednesday 2022 marked the first time since the pandemic uprooted everyone’s lives that Catholics were able to take part in the holy day in a normal fashion.

It also marked Bishop Robert Brennan’s first Ash Wednesday since becoming Bishop of Brooklyn in November.

Bishop Brennan distributed ashes at the cathedral by rubbing them on the heads of each member of the congregation — a sharp contrast to last year, when the clergy sprinkled ashes on heads to avoid touching anyone.

Back in 2020, Ash Wednesday fell on Feb. 26, just as the pandemic was first taking hold nationally, but before the lockdown intended to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus began in New York City.

Now, even as confirmed cases of COVID-19 are declining locally and the worst appears to be over, the pandemic was still very much on the minds of people who gathered at the cathedral.

L. Brown, who declined to give her first name, lost a good friend to COVID last year and her visit to the cathedral was partly in memory of her buddy.

“I came because COVID made me think about life and how finite it is. I believe in a higher power helping all of us, so I’m here to acknowledge that,” she said.

Anne King was attending Mass for the first time in a month.

“Between the cold and the snow and COVID still around, I didn’t want to take a chance on going out. I’m 85 years old. It feels so good to be back. This is my church,” she said.

Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, is a good time to reflect, Bishop Brennan said. “One of the chief things about Lent is opening ourselves up to the grace of God. Opening ourselves to God who wants to give to us his very self,” he added.

Father Bryan Patterson, pastor of St. James Cathedral Basilica, said Ash Wednesday reminds people they have the chance to reach beyond their limitations for something greater.

“We have the opportunity to discover that God is here and that he loves us — even with our limitations,” he said.

This year, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis asked the faithful to think of Ukrainians on Ash Wednesday.

“What Pope Francis has asked us to do is to take prayer and fasting today and make it an intentional act of prayer and fasting — praying for peace in our world right now, particularly peace in Ukraine,” Bishop Brennan said.

Ukrainians Fleeing War Share Stories of Survival and Racial Discrimination

Currents News Staff

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians already crossed the border into Poland. But while some are sharing stories of survival, others are not.

Olga fled the country with her nine-year-old daughter Angelina. Olga had to leave her husband behind so he could fight with whatever he could find.

“It’s so difficult that I, I cannot tell you how difficult,” Olga said.

She is still shell-shocked, but she has friends to take her in.

“We heard the bombs. It’s like explosion,” Olga said.

As night falls in the bitter cold, more heartbreak. But the Polish people are offering refugees a warm welcome, warm clothes, a warm place to stay, a warm meal, even diapers and toys for children. It’s a grassroots effort smack in the middle of a supermarket parking lot, just a few kilometers from the border.

At the nearest Polish train station, refugees stuff themselves inside looking for help and many get just that. But not everyone is treated equally. One Cameroonian woman doesn’t want any more trouble, so she hides her face. She says that in Ukraine, she was shoved from the free train while trying to escape with her child while white Ukrainians were helped up and black men, she says, were treated worse.

“All the black guys, no, no,” the Cameroonian refugee said. “There was one inside the chamber that went inside the train. And [someone] show him [a] gun and [he had to] walk out. And he walked out… it was terrible.”

She says discrimination was rearing its ugly head at the most terrifying moment.

“The free train, they help their people,” she said, “but do not want to help blacks.”

SCOTUS Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Meets With Top Senators as Confirmation Process Continues

Currents News Staff

President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address to plug his historic U.S. Supreme Court nominee: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She will have a chance to speak for herself when she meets with four top senators today. The two Republicans might need some persuading.

“I’m troubled by the combination of this slim appellate record and the intensity of Judge Jackson’s far left dark money fan club,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The two Democrats Jackson is meeting are already voicing their support.

“She has issued 500 separate legal opinions,” said Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin. “Her record is pretty well known, enough so that we confirmed her for the second DC Circuit Court just a few months ago.”

Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schume voiced his support.

“In choosing Judge Jackson, President Biden has hit a home run,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer.

The White House says Jackson will talk with any other senators who’d like to meet her. Mitt Romney is taking her up on that offer.

“Like anyone nominated by the president of the United States, she deserves a very careful look, a very deep dive,” said Sen. Mitt Romney.

Senator Lindsay Graham says he might not meet with Jackson. He calls her “the preferred candidate of the radical left.” Judge Jackson has to win over at least 50 U.S. senators to be confirmed. If she can, the nation’s first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court might be attending next year’s State of the Union speech.