Wednesday, December 15 top stories
It is Wednesday, December 15. Here are today’s top stories.
Outbreak of Omicron cases among vaccinated Cornell students
Cornell University in upstate New York reported 903 cases of Covid-19 among students between December 7-13. Cornell officials said a very high percentage are Omicron cases in fully vaccinated individuals. Some students had booster shots, but they still became infected. Cornell is shutting down its campus and is moving final exams online. An official said they have not seen severe illness among affected students. The university has a mandatory vaccination policy and almost all staff are vaccinated. Cornell students regularly get tested on a weekly basis, so that’s why many cases were detected.
Pfizer study says vaccine 33% effective against Omicron infection
A study in South Africa found that two doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine offered only 33% protection against Omicron infections, but the vaccines still provide 70% protection against severe illness that could lead to hospitalization.
So, with the Cornell University cases and the South African study, we can see that the Omicron variant is adept at getting around defenses provided by vaccines, but that the vaccines may help people to not experience severe illness. One positive takeaway is that the information we have so far shows that Omicron infections are milder than Delta infections.
Three residents of The Villages arrested for voter fraud
Three residents of a large retirement and golfing community in Florida, The Villages, have been arrested for casting more than one ballot in an election. The three are accused of voting in Florida while also casting absentee ballots from their original home states. It is not known which presidential candidate they voted for in 2020, but all three were registered as Republicans. Two of the three had Facebook posts expressing support for Donald Trump.
Florida Gov. DeSantis’ office said it isn’t a crime to be registered to vote in more than one state, as long as you only vote in one — multiple voting is unlawful.
Former Houston police captain indicted for efforts to prove voter fraud
A former Houston police captain, Mark Aguirre, was indicted with felony assault for an incident last December in which he is accused of using his personal SUV to force an A/C serviceman’s truck off the road and pointing a gun at his head out of suspicion that the truck had over 750,000 fraudulent ballots inside. A district attorney said Aguirre was paid over $250,000 by a conservative activist to investigate voter fraud. Aguirre was not a police officer at the time. He faces up to 20 years in prison. So far, there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the Houston area. The truck had no ballots inside, only A/C parts and tools.
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Still no evidence of massive voter fraud in 2020
AP News said they’ve reviewed every potential case of voter fraud in the six key states that voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020 and found that there are less than 475 cases. The six states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Biden won these states by a combined 311,000 votes.
AP News said the 475 votes would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election and not even all of the 475 votes were for Biden. AP News said there was no kind of collusion to rig the voting and that all the 475 cases were based on individuals acting alone to cast more than one ballot.
AP News said they reached out to Trump for comment and that he repeated a “litany of unfounded claims of fraud he had made previously, but offered no new evidence that specifically contradicted the AP’s reporting.”
House votes to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress
The House of Representatives voted 222-208 on Tuesday night to hold Mark Meadows, the chief of staff for former President Trump, in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. It is now up to the Department of Justice to indict Meadows.
bell hooks passes away at 69
Author and activist bell hooks, who’s real name was Gloria Jean Watkins, passed away today at the age of 69 in Berea, Kentucky from kidney disease. Her name bell hooks came from her great grandmother’s name, Bell Blair Hooks. She was considered one of the world’s top thinkers and scholars on feminism, race, class, and systems of oppression.
Steph Curry breaks NBA record for most three-pointers
NBA star Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors broke an NBA record for the most three-pointers last night. His total is now 2,977 three-pointers. He now has the designation of the greatest NBA shooter of all time.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/14/us/cornell-university-covid-cases/index.html
https://www.axios.com/house-meadows-contempt-7e4590ec-2a13-4b66-af78-3ff661f17bdf.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/acclaimed-author-activist-bell-hooks-dies-69-rcna8895