January 5, 2021 • No Comments • National News

marilyn nieves/iStockBy Mark Osborne, ABC News

(KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis.) — The Kenosha County, Wisconsin, district attorney will not be charging any of the law enforcement officers involved in the August 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake.

District Attorney Mike Graveley told Blake, 29, of his plan not to file charges prior to announcing it to the media.

During a news conference, Graveley said Officer Rusten Sheskey, who shot Blake seven times, was justified in his use of force on Aug. 23 because Blake was armed with a knife, refused orders to drop it and made a motion as if he was going to stab Sheskey. He said the evidence shows Sheskey fired in self-defense.

Graveley said Blake admitted to investigators that he was armed with a knife throughout the entire encounter with the officers.

Answering the question of whether Sheskey’s act was an excessive use of force, Graveley said that Sheskey told investigators, “I continued to fire until Jacob Blake dropped the knife. I am trained to fire until the threat is stopped.”

He said Sheskey stopped shooting when he saw Blake was no longer a threat and immediately began to give Blake first aid. The prosecutor said there were 10 more bullets left in Sheskey’s gun.

Blake’s shooting came after Sheskey and officer Vincent Arenas responded to a report of a domestic dispute, Graveley said. The officers first deployed a stun gun three times on Blake, but it had no effect. Blake broke free from the officers and continued around to the other side of his car, reaching into the driver’s side door before Sheskey fired his weapon, the prosecutor said.

Graveley said Arenas told investigators that he would have also fired at Blake if he had a clear shot because he feared Sheskey was about to be stabbed.

Graveley said an unfolded knife was found on the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s vehicle.

Blake’s family said through their attorney that they are disappointed by Graveley’s decision, but will not stop fighting for justice.

“We are immensely disappointed and feel this decision failed not only Jacob and his family but the community that protested and demanded justice,” Ben Crump, Blake’s attorney, said in a statement on Twitter. “This isn’t the news we hoped for, but our work is not done and hope is not lost. We must broaden the fight for justice on behalf of Jacob Blake and the countless other Black victims of racial injustice and police brutality.”

“We will continue to press forward with our own investigation and fight for systemic change in policing and transparency at all levels,” Crump added. “We urge Americans to continue to raise their voices and demand change in peaceful and positive ways during this emotional time.”

The Kenosha Professional Police Association hailed the decision and said the “facts from this incident are finally known.” The statement also blamed politicians for “perpetuating the spread of misinformation” and “fanning the flames of civil unrest.”

“The officers attempted to take Mr. Blake into custody by giving him verbal commands, physically struggling with him AND deploying their Tasers,” Pete Deates, union president said in a statement. “Mr. Blake was also armed. At any time during his interaction with the officers, Mr. Blake could have and should have complied with their lawful orders. If he had, nobody, including the entire Kenosha community would have had to endure the pain and suffering that ensued.”

The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights division is still investigating the shooting, according to a statement from the department.

The shooting was captured on a cellphone video that was posted on social media and went viral, prompting days of large-scale protests in Kenosha that were mostly peaceful during the day but turned violent at night. The Kenosha Area Business Alliance reported that $50 million in damages occurred from instances of violence, looting and fires. Thirty-five small businesses were destroyed.

The anger was especially high in the wake of protests of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.

Graveley’s decision came after the mayor of Kenosha proposed an emergency declaration he said is intended to prevent a replay of the damage to businesses that occurred in August and led to a shooting that left two protesters dead and an Illinois teenager charged with homicide.

The Kenosha City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve Mayor John Antaramian’s emergency declaration “regarding potential civil unrest.” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers mobilized 500 state National Guard troops to Kenosha to support local law enforcement efforts in case violence breaks out. Evers, a Democrat, said he marshaled the National Guard in response to a request from local authorities.

Evers said in a statement Tuesday that he did not agree with the lack of action taken by prosecutors.

“Jacob Blake’s life has forever been changed and his kids witnessed violence no kid should ever see, experienced trauma no kid should ever endure, all while the world watched,” Evers said. “And yet, when presented the opportunity to rise to this moment and this movement and take action to provide meaningful, commonsense reform to enhance accountability and promote transparency in policing in our state, elected officials took no action.”

During a news conference Monday night, Blake father, Jacob Blake Sr., said he wanted to see Sheskey charged with attempted murder.

“He tried to kill my son. He didn’t try to take him down,” Blake Sr. said.

Over the weekend, Antaramian and Police Chief Daniel Miskinis released a list of “precautionary community safety measures” to be imposed for up to eight days after Graveley announced his decision, including a curfew, a designated demonstration space, road closures and limitations on city bus routes.

“Our responsibility to public safety is paramount and we are preparing for a number of possible public demonstrations and safety efforts,” Antaramian and Miskinis said in a joint statement.

Those closest to Blake, including his parents, say Blake is a loving and devoted father who did not deserve what happened to him.

Three of his children — ages 8, 5 and 3 — witnessed the shooting and were “absolutely devastated” by what they saw, Crump said. Blake’s oldest child was celebrating his birthday when his father was shot, Crump added.

“An unarmed Black man was sprayed with bullets by police. His children were watching. And once paralyzed by the gunshots, he was left handcuffed to a hospital bed,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

“Today’s announcement from Kenosha is shameful and disgusting, and only proves how much work still needs to be done,” Johnson added. “This is far too familiar to the Black community.”

During a protest in Kenosha on Aug. 25, three protesters were shot, two fatally, allegedly by a then-17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. The teenager, who is now 18, was arrested and charged with multiple counts, including first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a shooting that left 22-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz wounded.

Following a Dec. 3 preliminary hearing, Rittenhouse was ordered to stand trial on the charges. His lawyers claim he opened fire with an AR-15 rifle in self-defense and cited multiple videos they say show him being chased and attacked by protesters.

He was arraigned on Tuesday in Kenosha County Circuit Court. Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 5, 2021 • No Comments • National News

narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR and ERIN SCHUMAKER, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 85.6 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Jan 05, 8:19 am
Arizona has world’s highest rate of COVID-19, data shows

Arizona currently has the highest rate of COVID-19 infections per capita of any region in the world, according to a graph created by 91-DIVOC, which used data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

91-DIVOC is an online data visualization project created by Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider, a teaching associate professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The graph, which is updated daily with data collected by Johns Hopkins University, shows that the southwestern U.S. state has an average of 112.1 newly confirmed cases per 100,000 people a day over the past week.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has the highest infection rate of any country, with a seven-day average of 96.7 new cases per 100,000 people a day. The United States as a whole has a seven-day average of 65.4, the sixth highest of any country, the graph shows.

Arizona’s Department of Health Services has reported more than 561,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including over 9,000 deaths. The state has seen a surge in new cases over the past week, which would account for the per capita ranking, according to ABC Phoenix affiliate KNXV-TV.

Jan 05, 6:52 am
Retired CT state trooper who was among first to respond to Sandy Hook shooting dies of COVID-19

A retired Connecticut State Police trooper, who was among the first to respond to the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, has died of COVID-19, officials said.

Patrick Dragon, 50, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, died Saturday at Hartford Hospital in the state’s capital, according to the Connecticut State Police, which announced his death in a Facebook post Monday night.

The Foster Police Department in the Rhode Island town of Foster, where Dragon was working as a dispatcher, confirmed his death “after a valiant battle with COVID.”

Foster Police Chief David Breit described Dragon as “a great person, kind, caring and a friend to all who met him.”

“There are not enough words, to describe the kind of a person that Patrick was,” Breit wrote in a Facebook post Sunday morning.

The East Brooklyn Fire Department in the Connecticut town of Brooklyn, where Dragon served for 34 years, most recently as a deputy chief, also announced his death.

“We cannot express how deeply he will be missed and wish to extend our deepest condolences to the Dragon family,” the department wrote in a Facebook post.

Jan 05, 4:31 am
Seychelles records first death from COVID-19

Seychelles has recorded its first death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The patient was a 57-year-old Seychellois man who was hospitalized on New Year’s Eve at a COVID-19 isolation and treatment center on Perseverance Island, just north of the capital Victoria. He died from complications of his illness on Sunday evening, according to a press release from Seychelles’ Ministry of Health.

“This is the first such death occurring in Seychelles and comes amid an uptick of new COVID-19 cases,” the health ministry said in a statement. “This first loss is deeply felt by all the health workers and community in general. It further strengthens the resolve to intensify efforts to prevent further transmission.”

In the wake of the country’s first coronavirus-related fatality, Seychellois health authorities announced a string of new restrictions at a press conference Monday, including the closure of all public swimming pools, retail stores and many restaurants. Grocery stores and hardware shops can remain open.

Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan warned that the “situation is deteriorating,” with more than a dozen new cases confirmed over the previous 24 hours.

“It is easy to put COVID-19 under control if we all take precautions,” Ramkalawan told reporters Monday. “We should all be wearing our mask, it is an easy thing to do.”

Seychelles, an Indian Ocean archipelago located off the coast of East Africa with a population of just under 100,000, has reported 322 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jan 05, 3:20 am
US reports over 180,000 new cases

There were 180,477 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Monday’s tally is less than the all-time high of 297,491 new cases, which the country logged on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.

An additional 1,903 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide on Monday, down from a peak of 3,750 on Dec. 30, according to Johns Hopkins data.

COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the holidays followed by a potentially very large backlog.

A total of 20,823,345 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 353,621 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.

The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4 and reaching 200,000 for the first time on Nov. 27.

Jan 05, 2:45 am
Mexico approves Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

A COVID-19 vaccine developed by England’s University of Oxford and British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has been authorized for emergency use in Mexico.

Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS), a decentralized regulatory body of the country’s health ministry, announced its decision to approve the shot in a statement Monday evening.

Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard took to Twitter to praise the approval, calling it “very good news.”

It’s the second COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in the Latin American nation. Mexico authorized a vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for emergency use on Dec. 11, just before the United States did so as well.

Mexico has reported more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 127,757 deaths, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 4, 2021 • No Comments • National News

william87/iStockBy JULIA JACOBO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A man who used a tree branch in an assault spree throughout downtown Manhattan has been arrested.

The chaos began Sunday evening when New Jersey resident Bryan Thompson, 43, allegedly struck three people over the head on the subway platform for the 1 train on Canal Street just after 6:30 p.m., ABC New York station WABC reported.

Thompson then allegedly left the station and struck a fourth victim in her head on Varick and Canal Streets before approaching a car and attacking the driver, police said.

When the driver of that car fled, Thompson allegedly took the vehicle, sped off and then crashed into two parked cars, according to authorities.

After crashing, Thompson allegedly smashed the side window of another vehicle, police said, but the female driver of that car did not get out.

Thompson then allegedly attacked a man and woman on the street nearby with the tree branch before approaching a third vehicle and hitting it with the branch.

When the driver of that vehicle got out, Thompson got behind the wheel and drove away, police said. The car was spotted on West 24th Street and 12th Avenue at about 7 p.m.

Thompson reportedly lost control of the car, crashed into an NYPD radio vehicle and hit a center median before coming to a stop on the West Side Highway near Chelsea Piers, according to police.

When Thompson refused commands by police officers to exit the vehicle, they broke the driver’s side window and deployed a stun gun on him.

Thompson was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with several counts of assault and robbery, according to police.

The first four victims suffered lacerations to their head, while the man attacked on the street sustained a broken arm, police said. The woman on the street suffered lacerations and bruising to her leg.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 4, 2021 • No Comments • National News

Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 85.1 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:

Jan 04, 9:40 am
Schools reopen in Kenya after nearly 10 months

Schools fully reopened across Kenya on Monday for the first time in nearly 10 months.

The Kenyan government shut down schools nationwide in March, after the East African nation confirmed its first COVID-19 case. The government reopened schools for students in grades 4, 8 and 12 who were preparing for final exams. The remainder — some 16 million schoolchildren — were expected to return to classrooms Monday.

The government has asked school officials and teachers to implement public health measures, such as social distancing and hygiene guidelines, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Still, teachers have expressed concern over the safety of their students and themselves amid the pandemic. Wilson Sossion, secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, told BBC’s Newsday that the level of preparation on COVID-19 safety measures ahead of the reopening was “quite inadequate.”

“When you give such directives to schools and you don’t give them funding,” Sossion said, “how are they expected to implement?”

Kenya, a country of 51 million people, has reported more than 96,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 1,685 deaths, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jan 04, 8:23 am
TSA screens over 3.3 million travelers during holiday weekend

More than 3.3 million people went through airport security checkpoints across the United States over the holiday weekend, despite public health guidance against traveling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened 805,990 individuals at checkpoints nationwide on Friday, New Year’s Day, along with 1,192,881 on Saturday and 1,327,289 on Sunday. Sunday’s total was the highest checkpoint volume that TSA has recorded since the pandemic began.


That means the total for the entire holiday travel period — beginning Dec. 18 and ending Sunday — was more than 17.7 million people, which is far higher than what analysts had been forecasting.

Jan 04, 7:59 am
HHS secretary ‘surprised there haven’t been more glitches’ in vaccine rollout

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said the nationwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is still on track and that he’s “surprised there haven’t been more glitches.”

“We said our goal was to have 20 million first doses available in the month of December. Those are available, but there’s a lag between doses being available, them being ordered by the providers in the states, shipping and then eventual vaccination, especially when you have Christmas and New Year’s in the middle,” Azar told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.

“This is just — it’s normal,” he added. “This is the largest vaccination campaign in the history of the United States. I’m actually surprised there haven’t been more glitches that we’ve seen so far.”

Azar’s comments come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an update on the country’s vaccine rollout, showing that 13,071,925 doses have been distributed and 4,225,756 have been administered as of 9 a.m. ET on Jan. 2. Some states have faced delays or other issues with their rollouts, with people being turned away at vaccination sites.

But Azar said there’s been “a very rapid uptick” in just the last 72 hours of reporting, with an additional 1.5 million vaccine doses administered.

“I’m very hopeful that we’re going to see a continued rapid uptick in that,” he said. “Our states are on it, w’re working with our governors, we’re providing them help.”

Jan 04, 6:07 am
Tokyo, other areas of Japan poised for state of emergency as infections climb

Tokyo and other areas of Japan may enter a state of emergency as COVID-19 infections continue to climb.

“The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus has not gone down, but rather has remained high in Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference Monday. “With that in mind, we thought we needed to send a stronger message.”

Suga did not say when a state of emergency would go into effect but that the “details will be decided quickly.” The announcement is expected to come before the end of the week.

Declaring a state of emergency would give the governors of those respective regions the authority to ask residents for cooperation in efforts to stem the spread of the virus. There are currently no legal ramifications for non-compliance.

Suga’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, declared a nationwide state of emergency relatively early in the pandemic in April, which lasted for a month. At that time, residents were asked to reduce person-to-person contact by 80% and to practice “jishuku,” or “self-restraint,” by staying at home and closing non-essential businesses.

Suga has said any upcoming state of emergency will be implemented in a “limited and focused” manner, leading some to speculate that the demands won’t be drastic. Restrictive measures could also disrupt preparations for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which was postponed to this year.

During Monday’s press conference, Suga also pledged to speed up efforts to approve COVID-19 vaccines and to begin immunizing the country’s senior citizens, health care workers and nursing home employees in late February.

COVID-19 infections soared in Tokyo over the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, the Japanese capital reported over 1,300 newly confirmed cases for the first time in a single day. Nationwide, more than 245,000 cases have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic, including at least 3,645 deaths, according to the latest data from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Japan also recently detected several confirmed cases of the new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in the United Kingdom last month.

Jan 04, 4:55 am
South Africa variant ‘even more of a problem’ than UK strain, health secretary says

A new variant of the novel coronavirus identified in South Africa is “even more of a problem” than the highly contagious strain spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, according to British Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

“I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” Hancock said in an interview Monday on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.

“This is a very, very significant problem,” he added, “and it’s even more of a problem than the U.K. new variant.”

Last month, the U.K. introduced a ban on travelers who have been in or transited through South Africa in the last 10 days due to an “increased risk” from the country’s variant, called 501Y.V2. The travel ban does not apply to British or Irish nationals, U.K. visa holders and permanent residents, but they must self-quarantine.

The new rule comes as the U.K. grapples with a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was identified in England in late December. The strain, called B117, is currently prevalent in London and other parts of southeast England. It was also confirmed in the United States for the first time on Tuesday.

The South Africa variant was detected in the U.K. for the first time last week, linked to a contact of someone who had been in South Africa.

South African scientists say 501Y.V2 emerged after the first epidemic wave in a severely affected metropolitan area, Nelson Mandela Bay, located on the coast of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

“This lineage spread rapidly, becoming within weeks the dominant lineage in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces,” researchers wrote in a scientific paper published last month. “Whilst the full significance of the mutations is yet to be determined, the genomic data, showing the rapid displacement of other lineages, suggest that this lineage may be associated with increased transmissibility.”

South Africa, a nation of 57 million people, has reported more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 29,577 deaths. The country makes up for nearly 40% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa, a continent of 1.2 billion people, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.K., an island nation of 66 million people made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has reported more than 2.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 75,024 deaths, according to the latest data from the U.K. government. A count kept by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.K. currently has the sixth-highest total of diagnosed cases in the world.

Jan 04, 3:37 am
UK becomes first country to roll out Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

Rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by England’s University of Oxford and British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca began in the United Kingdom on Monday morning.

Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, was the first person in the country — and the world — to receive the newly approved vaccine outside of a clinical trial, according to a press release from National Health Service (NHS) England. He told reporters that he felt “pretty good” after getting the shot at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England.

“I am so pleased to be getting the COVID vaccine today and really proud that it is one that was invented in Oxford,” Pinker, who was born and raised in Oxford, said in a statement released by NHS England. “The nurses, doctors and staff today have all been brilliant and I can now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year.”

Trevor Cowlett, an 88-year-old music teacher and father of three, and Dr. Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator into the clinical trial of the shot, were also among the first to get the jab Monday.

“It was an incredibly proud moment for me to have received the actual vaccine that the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca teams have worked so hard to make available to the UK and the world,” Pollard said in a statement released by NHS England. “As a pediatrician specialising in infections, I know how important it is that health care workers along with other priority groups are protected as soon as possible — a crucial role in defeating this terrible disease.”

NHS England said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered to a small number of U.K. hospitals for the first few days for “surveillance purposes, as is standard practice, before the bulk of supplies are send to hundreds of GP-led services later in the week.” Hundreds of new vaccination sites are set to open this week, in addition to the 700 already in operation.

The U.K. became the first country to approve the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency supply last week. Another COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech was authorized in the U.K. on Dec. 2 and rollout began a week later. Both vaccines are administered in two doses.

Jan 04, 2:34 am
US reports over 210,000 new cases

There were 210,479 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

It’s the second straight day that the country has reported more than 200,000 newly confirmed infections. Sunday’s tally is less than the all-time high of 297,491 new cases, which the country logged the previous day, Johns Hopkins data shows.

An additional 1,396 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide on Sunday, down from a peak of 3,750 on Dec. 30, according to Johns Hopkins data.

COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the holidays followed by a potentially very large backlog.

A total of 20,637,537 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 351,580 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.

The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4 and reaching 200,000 for the first time on Nov. 27.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 3, 2021 • No Comments • National News

artisteer/iStockBY: IVAN PEREIRA, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — With a new year comes new rules and regulations across the country.

State legislatures and local jurisdictions passed hundreds of bills last year on topics ranging from police reform and employment regulations to road safety and environmental protection.

Here are some of the biggest changes that went into effect on Jan 1.

Criminal justice reform

Following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers, elected officials across the country pushed ahead with bills designed to curb racial profiling, reduce violent conflicts between officers and civilians, and improve transparency among police precincts.

A new law in California bans police officers from wearing uniforms that have camouflage or otherwise resemble military uniforms.

All uniformed officers in Connecticut are now required to wear their badges in a prominent place. The state’s officers must also undergo a mental health screening once every five years.

In Portland, private businesses are now banned from using facial recognition technology “in places of public accommodation.”

Some states have implemented laws that reduce punishments for nonviolent offenses and provide alternatives to prison.

Following the passage of Proposition 17 during the November election, former felons on parole will be allowed to vote in California.

Four states — Montana, New Jersey, Arizona and South Dakota — are slated to introduce legalized recreational marijuana for adults this year, following ballot measures approved in November.

Employment

Twenty states, including Florida, California, Ohio and Arizona, raised their minimum wage on Jan. 1. By August, four more states will join the list.

The move comes as millions of Americans are struggling financially as the coronavirus pandemic enters its second year.

Colorado implemented a new law at the beginning of the new year that requires employers to post a salary range with each job opening and announce promotion openings within their company.

The law also prohibits employers from asking prospective employees about their salary history.

California will now allow people who worked on inmate fire crews while incarcerated to petition the court upon their release to have their records cleared, which will give them better opportunities for jobs once they’re out of prison.

Immigration

Driver’s license and state ID card applicants in Oregon won’t be required to show “proof of legal presence” under a law that went into effect on Jan. 1.

The applicant will still have to prove their identity and Oregon residency, and their license will not be “Real ID” compliant, which will be required for all Americans to board passenger planes starting in October.

In Colorado, landlords are now prohibited from asking an applicant about their immigration status. Landlords in that state are also banned from denying housing to someone based on their source of income — but they’re allowed to do credit checks as long as the check is performed on all applicants.

Other new laws

It is now illegal to hold a cell phone and drive in Virginia.

Under the new law, drivers are also only permitted to have their headphones in one ear if they are talking on the phone hands-free. Exceptions will be made for calls to report an emergency, and when the car is parked.

Delaware became the eighth state in the union to ban plastic bags. Roughly 2,400 tons of plastic bags currently end up in Delaware’s landfills, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

And two years after Florida voters chose to ban statewide greyhound racing, the sport is now prohibited in the Sunshine State. Florida’s final greyhound race took place at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg on Dec. 27.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.