Wednesday, April 27 top stories
It is Wednesday, April 27. Here are today’s top stories.
Fauci: U.S. out of pandemic phase
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. is out of the pandemic phase because we don’t have “900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.”
CNN explained that new Covid-19 cases are still high but the amount of deaths is at its lowest point. We are still losing about 400 people a day from the coronavirus.
Fauci said we won’t be able to eradicate the coronavirus but we can keep virus levels low by continuing to vaccinate our population from time to time, possibly every year.
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In separate but related news, the CDC estimated in a report today that three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections. This is based on blood samples from over 200,000 Americans and finding antibodies that came from past infections instead of from vaccines.
Russia cuts natural gas to Poland & Bulgaria
Today Russia cut off its natural gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria. The gas company, Gazprom, which is owned and controlled by the Russian government, said it was because Poland and Bulgaria refused to pay in Russian rubles. The cut-off caused natural gas prices in Europe to increase over 20%.
Bulgaria’s PM Petkov said the suspension is “blackmail.” Both Bulgaria and Poland are NATO members. Poland has welcomed millions of refugees from Ukraine.
The European Union, composed of 27 nations, convened a special meeting to discuss the impact.
AP News said Europe is paying about $400 million a day to Russia for gas. So if Russia continues to cut off its natural gas to European countries, it might backfire on them with Europe moving on to find alternate sources of energy.
Southern California restricts outdoor watering
Officials in Southern California declared a water shortage emergency for the first time ever and ordered residents in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties to restrict outdoor watering to one day a week. The order impacts about six million residents.
There is an ongoing drought across most western U.S. states. January, February and March of this year were the driest three months in recorded state history for rainfall and snowfall. A main water reservoir reached its lowest point last year.
The Southern California officials said they don’t have enough water supply right now to meet normal demand. So it’s an emergency.
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Russia and U.S. swap prisoners
Russia and the U.S. conducted a prisoner swap to trade a Marine veteran named Trevor Reed with a Russian pilot named Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Reed was arrested in 2019 and accused by Russian authorities of assaulting an officer after a night of heavy drinking. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Yaroshenko was serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. from Liberia.
President Biden said he was delighted to share with Reed’s parents the good news about his freedom. Biden said the negotiations to bring Reed home required difficult decisions.
There are two other notable American prisoners in Russia: WNBA star Brittney Griner and a Michigan businessman named Paul Whelan. USAToday said it is unclear what if any impact this prisoner exchange might have on their cases.
Texans suing county for removing books from public libraries
A group of residents in Llano County, Texas have filed a lawsuit against county officials who control which books are available at three local public libraries, saying books are being removed due to the officials disagreeing with the ideas within them. The lawsuit said the actions are in conflict with the First Amendment (freedom of speech).
Examples of the books removed are “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent,” “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.,” and “In The Night Kitchen.” Also removed were over 17,000 digital books.
ABC News explained that the Llano County Library shut down for several days in December 2021 to review children’s books after orders from a conservative Republican state lawmaker to investigate books due to “objections from students, parents, and taxpayers.”
The American Library Association found that 2021 was a record-breaking year for “book challenges” across the U.S. There are many groups who are concerned about censorship coming from government officials that affects public libraries.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/health/fauci-covid-pandemic-phase/index.html