Seniors with Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens get their second round of shots.
The African American community is reluctant to get vaccinated. Why? A sinful study from our nation’s past could be to blame.
We head to the nation’s capital where the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is underway.
Currents News Staff
A history making moment: Donald Trump is now the first president to face a Senate impeachment trial – twice.
“The Senate will convene as a court of impeachment…” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, “…against Donald John Trump, former president of the United States.”
Trump’s title of former president is front and center. House managers and Trump’s team of lawyers are debating if the trial itself is constitutional.
“Presidents can’t commit grave offenses in their final days and escape any congressional response,” said Impeachment Manager Rep. Joe Neguse.
“The impeachment articles, I think, are unconstitutional because the president is in Florida,” said South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. “He’s not in office.”
The single charge? Incitement of insurrection that stems from the deadly chaos at the Capitol.
A month later, barricades and troops stand guard outside as senators turned jurors hear arguments and watch video inside from the place they were forced to flee.
“We were all witnesses,” said Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono.
Just like the impeachment proceedings in the House, the Senate trial is expected to be fast. House impeachment managers hope for a conviction and the opportunity to ban Trump from ever seeking federal office again.
“I don’t think President Trump will be convicted,” said Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.
Especially since it will take a two-thirds majority— 67 senators — to convict.
Some Republicans say the trial is a distraction from a bigger priority: the pandemic.
“How many people are going to get vaccinated because of this impeachment trial? None,” said Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
By Jessica Easthope
The global pandemic COVID-19 has killed the father and grandfather of Detroit’s Keith Gambrell.
“It’s very frustrating, it’s heartbreaking. It’s bitter, it’s America.” Keith told Currents News.
The virus has disproportionately impacted the Black community, highlighting long-standing inequities in healthcare.
The CDC reports Black Americans are dying at three times the rate of white Americans.
In response, Thermo Fisher Scientific, a science equipment company, pledged $15 million for tests and equipment to historically Black colleges and universities in August.
“This has gotten Black and brown researchers so excited, the community that’s given me so much growing up. It’s really important to see more testing efforts being brought to D.C.,” Micah Brown, a medical student at Howard university, told Currents News.
Then came the COVID-19 vaccines. But some Black people are hesitant to get the shot.
“We know that lack of trust is a major cause of reluctance — especially in communities of color — and that lack of trust is not without good reason, as theTuskegee Studies occurred in many of our lifetimes,” says Jerome Adams, a former U.S. Surgeon General.
While battling a new pandemic, an old foe reared its ugly head again: racism.
Several states have now declared racism a public health emergency, acknowledging a painful past for Black Americans that’s still felt in present-day.
People spilled into the streets demanding an end to police brutality and racial inequality.
“You must stand, you must fight, but not with violence” were voices channeling the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Big companies like Google and Yelp stepped up which was perfect timing for Black business owners that were shutting down in numbers twice as large as others during the pandemic, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In Mississippi, a nearly 40-year fight finally won to replace the Confederate-themed state flag.
“Black folks in this state…very proud,” said Reuben Anderson, the former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice. “Young black folk don’t have this flag to look to for the rest of their lives.”
In Georgia, they elected its first Black U.S senator and nationally, a glass ceiling breaking.
“I Kamala D. Harris do solemnly swear,” said Madame Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and person of color as vice president.
It’s another historic moment to add to the long list of accomplishments celebrated during Black History Month.
Currents News Staff
Political theater — that’s what former president Donald Trump’s legal team calls the upcoming impeachment trial. But, the impeachment managers see the Senate trial differently and say that while he was in office, President Trump abused his power.
On the eve of Donald Trump’s second Senate trial, House impeachment managers say the former president incited violence with his rhetoric.
“We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, we’re not going to have a country anymore,” said Trump.
Trump’s lawyers laid out their case in a pretrial brief Monday, Feb. 8, they say the impeachment itself is unconstitutional.
“It’s just partisan politics under a different name,” said Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
As the impeachment process plays out in the Senate, the House is working on COVID relief legislation.
But Democrats are divided over whether to include an increase to the minimum wage.
“If you look at who has kept us together, these last almost a year now since COVID hit, it’s people we haven’t thought were worth paying $15 dollars an hour,” said Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan. “We need to pay people what their worth is.”
President Joe Biden doesn’t think the progressive proposal will make it into the final package.
“My guess is it will not be in it,” he said.
Another sticking point? Stimulus checks.
Moderates want to lower the income threshold and give the full amount to people who make $50,000 a year or less.
“Families making $275,000, $300,000 a year may not be the most in need of checks at this point in time,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
“From a political point of view, a little bit absurd that you would have under Trump these folks getting the benefit,” said Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “But under Biden, who is fighting hard for the working class of this country, they would not get that full benefit.”
But congressional Democrats do agree on a tax credit to give some families at least $3,000 per child.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The Cuomo administration releases more data on nursing home deaths due to COVID.
It’s Catholic Schools Week and we’re kicking it off with some coding kids who are helping shape a future in hi-tech.
Pope Francis makes history – appointing women to high level positions of power at the Vatican.
By Emily Drooby
New York controversy continues over the number of COVID deaths in New York nursing homes.
State officials released new totals this weekend, upping the death toll at adult-care facilities by more than 1,500.
The information is part of an ongoing battle between the state, a government watchdog group, and some lawmakers.
An additional 1,516 COVID deaths have been added onto the count for New York state adult-care facilities, raising the state’s death tally at elderly care facilities – which includes nursing homes – to about 15,000.
But, the numbers of deaths aren’t new – they were just attributed to hospitals before.
The new totals released this weekend coming from a battle for transparency started by a think tank on behalf of family members demanding more accurate accounting.
Over the summer, there was talk that the number of nursing home deaths attributed to COVID-19 could be much higher than the state was reporting. That’s because people in elderly care facilities who died in hospitals were not being counted.
In August, The Empire Center For Public Policy decided to look into the claims and submitted a freedom of information law request, or foil, to the state for more numbers.
A foil is basically a request for data that the government has to answer except in rare cases, such as classified defense information. Anyone can file one.
After seeing long delays in their requested information, Empire Center filed a lawsuit along with state senator Jim Tedisco.
Still the state continued to delay – setting a release date for the end of March.
“Reporting the number of deaths is always the hardest number to put out there, and we wanted to make sure those numbers were accurate,” State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has said.
Some of the requested information was released after a scathing report by the state’s attorney general.
However, the foil hasn’t been entirely fulfilled according to the center. They are still waiting for a breakdown of daily deaths, hoping to use this information to take a deeper look at the impact of a highly criticized early-pandemic decision by the Cuomo administration to force nursing homes to accept COVID positive patients.
“Numerous mistakes made, and bad policy decisions made that directly resulted in the deaths of thousands of New Yorkers who didn’t have to die,” New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich told Currents News Feb. 2, “and then the governor tried to cover that up.”
Currents News Staff
Bill Hammond from The Empire Center, a government watchdog group, was the driving force behind the lawsuit that put the count on New York nursing home deaths — and the Cuomo administration — under the microscope.
Bill joins Currents News to discuss the new data about coronavirus and New York’s nursing home deaths.
Currents News Staff
In September 2019, Pope Francis met with a network of doctors who provide health care to ethnic minorities in New York.
“This solidarity with the sick is a real treasure, and it is a distinctive sign of authentic health care and assistance, which puts the person and his needs at the center,” the Holy Father said.
The doctors of SOMOS Community Care never suspected that they would be faced with the biggest challenge of our time: the coronavirus pandemic.
The virus spread quickly among them and their patients, most of whom live in crowded apartments and struggle with more serious health conditions.
But, they didn’t give up.
“I think our meeting with Pope Francis in September 2019 was prophetic,” Ramón Tallaj, founder of SOMOS Community Care. “This message telling us what we had to do with the poor in New York, and I don’t think we’ve let him down. We haven’t failed him. I think we’ve done the work and we feel very good about it, and if it happens again, we’ll do it again.”
This network of family physicians, doctors are from the same cultural communities as their patients, and treat them in the language most familiar to them. Now, they’re administering vaccines, to guarantee an equitable distribution.
They’ve set up vaccination centers in schools, churches and synagogues throughout New York, to make people feel more comfortable.
“We have the vaccine of hope for the virus of solitude. That’s what we called it: the vaccine of hope,” said Ramón. “The vaccine is more important than the disease. if you don’t want the vaccine, the virus will get to you sooner or later.”
This group of doctors was one of the first to take action when the pandemic broke out, and it has remained one of the most active.
Besides administering vaccines, they have given about half a million COVID-19 tests and also addressed the socioeconomic crisis.
SOMOS Community Care has also distributed 5 million rations of food; supported small businesses in the city; and helped people in need of financial resources pay for funeral costs.
They are doctors who refuse to leave anyone behind.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this special edition:
Through wind, rain and heavy snow, Catholic Charities is braving the extreme conditions all week long to bring hot food to those in need.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still in the hot seat over nursing home deaths – even the White House could soon be getting involved.
Their dreams could become a reality as the Biden administration discusses a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Plus, Christmas in February – the NYPD and the Catholic Church coming together to bring cheer to families struggling during the pandemic.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
MTA workers who lost their lives to COVID-19, memorialized on screens throughout New York City. We speak with the son of one of those workers.
President Joe Biden is calling for unity and a return to faith at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, the commander in chief also promising to raise the number of refugees allowed in the country. The move is being applauded by U.S. bishops.
A step toward normalcy – Pope Francis returns to one of the most famous windows in the world for his weekly Angelus.