Monday, March 22 top stories

It is Monday, March 22. Hope your weekend was good. Here are today’s top stories.

The AstraZeneca vaccine’s trial in the U.S. has concluded with its scientists reporting that the vaccine is 79% effective against Covid-19 and that it is safe. It was found to be 100% effective against severe illness. The trials involved over 32,000 people, most of them in the U.S. The vaccine is controversial because there are concerns that it causes blood clotting. The Washington Post said during this trial, there was an independent monitoring board that combed through the data to look for cases of blood clotting events and found no indication that the vaccine causes an increased risk of blood clotting. Dr. Anthony Fauci said “The data looks good. The numbers don’t lie.” AstraZeneca said it would apply for emergency authorization from the FDA. The U.S. government has already preordered 300 million doses of this vaccine, but the U.S. might not need it. We’ll see what happens with it in the coming weeks.

The founder and CEO of Texas Roadhouse, Kent Taylor, committed suicide on Thursday. He was 65. His family said Taylor was recovering from Covid-19 and had severe tinnitus, which causes ringing in the ear. His family said Taylor’s suffering was unbearable. His body was found on his property near Louisville, Kentucky. There are over 600 Texas Roadhouse restaurants worldwide.

Researchers in the U.K. said data from 24 studies shows that more than 7% of people infected with Covid-19 had some form of hearing loss while almost 15% had tinnitus. It is already known that viruses can damage cells in the inner ear — for example many people became deaf from measles or meningitis several decades ago. Now UK scientists are doing a new study focused on hearing damage from Covid-19.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) released several images of crowded facilities in southern Texas full of migrant children. They are seen sitting or laying down on mattresses on the floor with foil blankets. Rep. Cuellar said the children are facing terrible conditions. News reports said there are about 5,000 unaccompanied minors who were detained over the weekend.

Homeland Security Sec. Mayorkas said he is working around the clock to move the children out of Border Patrol facilities and into the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services. He blamed the Trump administration for dismantling a previous system for processing migrants, but Republican lawmakers say the Biden administration’s more friendly posture towards migrants is the reason why so many are going to the border.

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Here are updates with the Atlanta-area spa shootings on Tuesday in which eight people, six of them Asian women, were shot and killed.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris gave speeches in Atlanta on Friday afternoon after meeting with AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) leaders. Here is a clip.

[Clip]

Harris: “Sadly, it’s not new. Racism is real in America and it has always been. Xenophobia is real in America and it has always been. Sexism too.”

The suspect told police he carried out the murders because he was struggling with a sex addiction that was at odds with his religious beliefs. His church, Crabapple First Baptist Church, voted to remove him from its membership. The church had an hour-long service on Sunday morning dedicated to the eight victims.

The husband of one of the victims in the first spa shooting in Acworth, Mario González, told a Spanish-language news website, Mundo Hispanico, that he went to the spa to get a massage with his wife in separate rooms when gunfire broke out. He hid at first, and when police officers showed up, he was handcuffed, led out, and detained for four hours. He said he found out that his wife was dead from police officers but was held as a possible suspect. He said he was treated badly and showed wounds on his arms from handcuffs. He said maybe it was because he was Mexican. He said the gunman should get the death penalty.

That’s all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/astrazeneca-vaccine-trial-efficacy/2021/03/22/fc950a22-8aa6-11eb-a33e-da28941cb9ac_story.html

https://heavy.com/news/kent-taylor-ceo-texas-roadhouse-suicide-covid/

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-hearing-loss-tinnitus-and-vertigo-may-be-associated-with-coronavirus-research-suggests-12253274

https://www.axios.com/photos-overcrowded-border-patrol-migrant-tents-0525a96b-0dc8-473f-b59c-38b0b3e52760.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=politics-bordercrisis

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-slams-biden-border-crisis-migrant-surge-destroying-country

https://mundohispanico.com/hispano-sobrevive-masacre-atlanta-spa/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/21/us/atlanta-spa-attacks-mario-gonzalez.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/20/atlanta-shooting-victims/