Monday, July 26 top stories
It is Monday, July 26. Here are today’s top stories.
The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics opened on Friday and is now in full swing. Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone. The U.S. sent over 600 athletes. There are no fans in the stands because of a Covid-19 emergency in the Tokyo area.
As of noon today, Japan is leading in the medal counts with 8 gold medals and 13 in total. U.S. and China are in second and third places.
In fourth place is “ROC,” which stands for Russian Olympic Committee. Fox News explained that Russia’s name, flag, and anthem are banned because of violations of international anti-doping regulations.
So any athlete from Russia will have to compete under the “ROC” flag, similar to the “OAR” banner for Russian athletes during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
A highlight for Japan is them winning the first two gold medals of skateboarding, which is an Olympic sport for the first time. Yuto Horigome won the men’s street skateboarding gold,while Nishiya Momiji, who is only 13 years old, won the women’s street skateboarding gold.
Germany’s female gymnastics athletes are wearing unitards that allow the women to cover up their full body while competing. They say it’s to counteract sexualization in the sport and allow athletes to feel confident and comfortable.
U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky, who is one of the top swimmers in the world, came in second place in a very close 400M Freestyle race to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus. The Australian coach went viral for his celebration dance from the stands. This was Ledecky’s first loss in an individual event in the Olympics, but she will have four other events to try and win a gold medal.
Today President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris marked the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by holding a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden.
Biden was a co-sponsor of the bill during his time as a senator. The ADA, when it was signed in 1990, was a bipartisan effort with a Democratic bill that was signed by a Republican president. Here are some video clips.
[01 CSPAN clips]
VP Kamala Harris: When people can ride a bus because it has a lift, when they can enter a building, because it has a ramp, when they can watch a movie with closed captions, when a student with a disability goes to school, instead of discrimination gets support, that is the ADA in action.
President Joe Biden: 31 years ago today on the south lawn of the White House, President George H. W. Bush signed the American Disabilities Act. He was surrounded by disability advocates and bi-partisan members of the United States Congress, just as we are today.
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com ]
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that about 340,000 workers for the city — such as police officers and teachers — will be required to receive Covid-19 vaccines or undergo tests every week. If employees refuse to comply, they will be put on leave without pay.
NPR said New York is the largest city in the nation to take this step.
Today the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it is mandating vaccines for most of its health care workers. They are the first federal agency to have such a mandate.
In similar news, the State of California is requiring all state employees and health care workers to be vaccinated or face regular testing.
Axios reported that France’s legislature approved a law to mandate people to show online or paper proof of Covid-19 vaccination before they can enter restaurants, trains, planes, and various public venues. This applies to anyone after age 12 and would take effect on September 30. There are many people who are protesting the idea of a “health pass,” but the country is seeing a surge of Covid-19 cases right now.
French President Emmanuel Macron said there needs to be unity. He questioned what people’s freedom from vaccinations is worth if they infected their father, their mother, or Macron.
In central Utah, four children and four adults were killed in a 22-vehicle pileup on an interstate that is blamed on a sandstorm. This happened on Sunday night. A video showed multiple wrecked vehicles and semi trucks on a two-lane road.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/what-does-roc-mean-tokyo-olympics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/25/german-gymnastics-unitards-olympics/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kanosh-utah-accident-crash-sandstorm/