Wednesday, March 31 top stories

It is Wednesday, March 31. Here are today’s top stories.

The Treasury Department announced that Social Security recipients should expect to receive their $1,400 stimulus payments this weekend or by April 7. This also applies to those who do not normally file tax returns with the IRS. The payments should go through electronically. There was a delay because apparently there were communication and file sharing issues that came up with between the SSA and the IRS.

A suspect named Brandon Elliot was arrested this morning in connection to the attack on a 65-year-old Asian-American woman in New York City on Monday. He was charged with assault and hate crimes. News reports said he was convicted in 2002 of killing his mother and was released from prison in 2019. The woman has not been identified but was released from a hospital yesterday.

Local news in Washington state reported that 102 people tested positive for the coronavirus even though they have been fully vaccinated. Out of that group, two people have died and eight were hospitalized. Scientists said the cases are called “vaccine breakthrough” cases and that it is normal, and they are relieved that the breakthrough cases are not higher. The 102 positive cases have occurred out of 1.2 million people who are fully vaccinated. The two who died were over 80 years old and had pre-existing health issues.

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The state of New York passed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana and it was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It is the 15th legal state. Cuomo’s office said the marijuana industry is expected to bring $350 million in annual tax revenue and create about 50,000 jobs. The new law also expunges thousands of people’s records of marijuana-related convictions, which disproportionately affects people of color.

The New York Times reported that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) is being investigated for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him, which may be a violation of federal sex trafficking laws. The incident was two years ago and the Times said an investigation was opened during the final months of the Trump administration under former Attorney General William Barr. Gaetz said he never did anything wrong and that there was someone else trying to extort $25 million from him and his family. Gaetz is a close ally of Donald Trump and popular within the Republican Party. Gaetz has not been charged and he said he is cooperating with the investigation.

Pfizer announced that its Covid-19 vaccine is safe and 100% effective in preventing illness for those ages 12 to 15 in data from clinical trials that involved over 2,200 teenagers. The company plans to request authorization for emergency use in the next few weeks and hopes that this age group can be fully vaccinated before the start of the next school year.

Today was Day 3 of the Derek Chauvin trial. An employee at Cup Foods named Christopher Martin testified that he took a $20 counterfeit bill from George Floyd, who bought a pack of cigarettes.. There was surveillance video that showed Floyd inside of Cup Foods flipping through several bills. Martin said he realized that the bill was likely a fake and walked outside to talk with Floyd, who was seated in a SUV on a street by the store to try and get him to come back inside. Floyd was with two other people and one of them ripped the bill. A store manager told a coworker to call the police. Martin said he saw that people were yelling and screaming outside and when he walked outside, he saw Chauvin pressing his neck against Floyd’s neck. He admitted that he felt disbelief and guilt and thought that if he refused to accept the $20 bill, all of this could have been avoided.

Another person who testified was Genevieve Hansen, who is a firefighter and an EMT. She said she was off-duty on May 25 and happened to be walking near the scene of Floyd’s arrest. She said when she saw Floyd, she was immediately concerned because his face was swollen and there were three grown men putting all of their weight on him. A video recording shows her demanding police officers to check his pulse, but they told her to back off. She later called 911 to report that the police officers didn’t take a pulse or do anything to save him.

That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/30/delayed-stimulus-checks-for-social-security-recipients-to-be-sent-soon.html

https://www.aol.com/news/man-arrested-nyc-attack-65-102548748.html

https://katu.com/news/coronavirus/102-get-sick-with-coronavirus-despite-getting-vaccine-in-washington

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/100-fully-vaccinated-people-contract-covid-19-washington/story?id=76784838

https://www.axios.com/new-york-legalizes-marijuana-1e623022-a45d-4aec-94af-de3d3b39fb39.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/politics/matt-gaetz-sex-trafficking-investigation.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/31/matt-gaetz-what-we-know-investigation-into-florida-congressman/4817868001/

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pfizer-says-its-covid-vaccine-100-percent-effective-young-teens-n1262550

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/31/derek-chauvin-trial-live-day-3-witness-genevieve-hansen/7019123002/