KANSAS CITY —The suspect accused in the death of a Kansas City police officer made his first court appearance on Thursday.

Officials in Clay County asked North Kansas officers if they would like to escort murder suspect Joshua Rocha from the Clay County jail to his arraignment.&nbsp; North Kansas City Police Sgt. J. Holm put fallen Officer Daniel Vasquez’s handcuffs on the man charged with killing him.&nbsp;

Joshua Rocha, 24, of Kansas City, was charged in the death of Officer&nbsp;Vasquez,&nbsp;32, who was killed Tuesday during a traffic stop. He is being held on a $2 million bond.

According to a probable cause statement, Rocha told police after his arrest that he shot the officer because he didn't want to go to jail or have his vehicle towed.

Rocha told police he was on his way to buy ammunition for a rifle he had in the vehicle when he was stopped.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Rocha could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mike Wood, deputy chief of the Kansas City police department, which is conducting the investigation, said Rocha owned the vehicle he was driving. He was not aware of any previous contact between Vasquez and Rocha, who does not have an extensive criminal record. Rocha is scheduled to return to court on July 28, according to online jail records.

Funeral service information for Vasquez was announced Thursday. There will be a public visitation Tuesday, July 26, from 5-9 p.m. at the Vineyard Church at 12300 NW Arrowhead Trafficway in KCMO. The funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 27, at 9 a.m. at Vineyard Church.

If attending the public visitation on Tuesday, July 26, or funeral services Wednesday, July 27, you must enter from U.S. 169 South.

For community members who would like to show support to the Vasquez Family and North Kansas City Police Department but are unable to attend the service, there will be a procession immediately following the funeral services on Wednesday, July 27. The procession will leave from Vineyard Church at 12300 NW Arrowhead Trafficway in KCMO and proceed down U.S. 169 South to MO 9 South, to Armour Road, to I-29/35 North, to Antioch North, to 64th Street E., to White Chapel Memorial Gardens.

Parking will be restricted along Armour Road. However, parking on side streets will be permitted.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658447688980.png" alt="Photos courtesy Clay Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photos courtesy Clay Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —The suspect accused in the death of a Kansas City police officer made his first court appearance on Thursday.Officials in Clay County asked North Kansas officers if they would like to escort murder suspect Joshua Rocha from the Clay County jail to his arraignment.&nbsp; North Kansas City Police Sgt. J. Holm put fallen Officer Daniel Vasquez’s handcuffs on the man charged with killing him.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658447665465.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Joshua Rocha, 24, of Kansas City, was charged in the death of Officer&nbsp;Vasquez,&nbsp;32, who was killed Tuesday during a traffic stop. He is being held on a $2 million bond.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658265015795.png" alt="Officer Daniel Vasquez-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Officer Daniel Vasquez-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>According to a probable cause statement, Rocha told police after his arrest that he shot the officer because he didn't want to go to jail or have his vehicle towed.Rocha told police he was on his way to buy ammunition for a rifle he had in the vehicle when he was stopped.If convicted of first-degree murder, Rocha could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.Mike Wood, deputy chief of the Kansas City police department, which is conducting the investigation, said Rocha owned the vehicle he was driving. He was not aware of any previous contact between Vasquez and Rocha, who does not have an extensive criminal record. Rocha is scheduled to return to court on July 28, according to online jail records.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658448105261.png" alt="Police escorted Officer Daniel Vasquez to the funeral home on Thursday" />
 <figcaption>Police escorted Officer Daniel Vasquez to the funeral home on Thursday</figcaption>
 </figure>Funeral service information for Vasquez was announced Thursday. There will be a public visitation Tuesday, July 26, from 5-9 p.m. at the Vineyard Church at 12300 NW Arrowhead Trafficway in KCMO. The funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 27, at 9 a.m. at Vineyard Church.If attending the public visitation on Tuesday, July 26, or funeral services Wednesday, July 27, you must enter from U.S. 169 South.For community members who would like to show support to the Vasquez Family and North Kansas City Police Department but are unable to attend the service, there will be a procession immediately following the funeral services on Wednesday, July 27. The procession will leave from Vineyard Church at 12300 NW Arrowhead Trafficway in KCMO and proceed down U.S. 169 South to MO 9 South, to Armour Road, to I-29/35 North, to Antioch North, to 64th Street E., to White Chapel Memorial Gardens.Parking will be restricted along Armour Road. However, parking on side streets will be permitted.&nbsp;

Fallen KC officer's handcuffs used to escort his suspected killer to court

STONE COUNTY—Authorities are investigating after an employee at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri was injured on Wednesday and died, according to a media release from the amusement park.

&nbsp;The employee worked in maintenance and construction for the park since 2017. The park has not released the identity of the employee or details of how the employee died.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.&nbsp; The park was open on Thursday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658452685543.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>STONE COUNTY—Authorities are investigating after an employee at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri was injured on Wednesday and died, according to a media release from the amusement park.&nbsp;The employee worked in maintenance and construction for the park since 2017. The park has not released the identity of the employee or details of how the employee died.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.&nbsp; The park was open on Thursday.

Employee dies after incident at Silver Dollar City

WASHINGTON — The FCC’s Robocall Response Team this week announced the Enforcement Bureau has ordered phone companies to stop carrying traffic regarding a known robocall scam marketing auto warranties.  The calls are coming from Roy Cox Jr., Aaron Michael Jones, their Sumco Panama companies, and international associates.  Building on FCC action earlier this month, all U.S. voice service providers must now take all necessary steps to avoid carrying this robocall traffic.  This operation is also the target of an ongoing investigation by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and a lawsuit by the Ohio Attorney General.

“We are not going to tolerate robocall scammers or those that help make their scams possible.  Consumers are out of patience and I’m right there with them.”

The Enforcement Bureau has ordered all U.S. voice service providers to take all necessary steps to avoid carrying robocall traffic from the Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation.  Today’s order followed a Public Notice that warned providers of this concerning flood of robocalls.  The notice had authorized providers to cut off the traffic and today’s order requires that they do so.  If they do not, they must regularly report to the FCC of the steps they have taken to mitigate the traffic.

“Now that U.S. voice service providers know the individuals and entities associated with this scheme, the Enforcement Bureau will closely monitor voice service providers’ compliance with this order and take appropriate enforcement action as necessary,” said Acting FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal. 

The Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation appears to be responsible for making more than eight billion unlawful prerecorded message calls to American consumers since at least 2018.  The robocalls include prerecorded marketing messages which encouraged consumers to follow prompts to speak with a “warranty specialist” about extending or reinstating their car warranty.  

As announced on July 7, the Enforcement Bureau issued a Public Notice authorizing all U.S.-based voice service providers to cease carrying any traffic originating from the Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation consistent with FCC regulations.  At the same time, the Bureau sent cease-and-desist letters to eight voice service provider to warn them to stop carrying this suspicious traffic.  The eight service providers have not responded to the letters and so, as provided in the public notice, the Enforcement Bureau is directing all other carriers to refuse to carry this traffic.  In addition, Chairwoman Rosenworcel announced the Enforcement Bureau had opened a formal case and is actively investigating these calls for possible legal violations.  

Under Chairwoman Rosenworcel, the Robocall Response Team was created to serve as an FCC staff working group that pulls together expertise from across the agency to leverage the talents of enforcers, attorneys, policy makers, engineers, economists, and outreach experts to combat the unyielding menace of illegal spoofed, scam, robocalls.  

· record-breaking spoofing and robocall fines;

· closing gateways used by international robocallers to reach Americans’ phones;

· widespread implementation of STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication standards to help traceback illegal calls and improve blocking tools to protect consumers;

· the signing of robocall investigation partnerships with 41 states plus the District of Columbia and Guam; and

· unprecedented policy proposals to combat the rising threat of bogus robotexts.

As a general matter, “Auto Warranty” scam robocalls resulted in more consumer complaints to the FCC than any other unwanted call category each of the last two years.  These calls usually claim your insurance or warranty is about to expire and they frequently use consumers’ real information in order to appear legitimate.  These calls may be seeking consumers’ personal or financial information in order to defraud them, hoping to initiate a payment, and/or garnering information about active phones.  More information (including audio of a scam call) are available at: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/beware-auto-warranty-scams 

· Don’t Share - Do not provide any personal information to anyone that calls you unexpectedly.

· Be Aware – Telephone scammers are good at what they do and may use real information to gain your trust and imply that they work for a company you trust. 

· Caller ID – Criminals might use “spoofing” to deliberately falsify the information transmitted.

· Double Check - If you think it might be a legitimate call, hang up and call the company with which you have an established business relationship using a phone number from a previous bill or on their website. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1584977952684.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>FCCWASHINGTON — The FCC’s Robocall Response Team this week announced the Enforcement Bureau has ordered phone companies to stop carrying traffic regarding a known robocall scam marketing auto warranties. The calls are coming from Roy Cox Jr., Aaron Michael Jones, their Sumco Panama companies, and international associates. Building on FCC action earlier this month, all U.S. voice service providers must now take all necessary steps to avoid carrying this robocall traffic. This operation is also the target of an ongoing investigation by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and a lawsuit by the Ohio Attorney General.FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel:“We are not going to tolerate robocall scammers or those that help make their scams possible. Consumers are out of patience and I’m right there with them.”<h2>What’s New</h2>The Enforcement Bureau has ordered all U.S. voice service providers to take all necessary steps to avoid carrying robocall traffic from the Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation. Today’s order followed a Public Notice that warned providers of this concerning flood of robocalls. The notice had authorized providers to cut off the traffic and today’s order requires that they do so. If they do not, they must regularly report to the FCC of the steps they have taken to mitigate the traffic.“Now that U.S. voice service providers know the individuals and entities associated with this scheme, the Enforcement Bureau will closely monitor voice service providers’ compliance with this order and take appropriate enforcement action as necessary,” said Acting FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal. <h2>How We Got Here</h2>The Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation appears to be responsible for making more than eight billion unlawful prerecorded message calls to American consumers since at least 2018. The robocalls include prerecorded marketing messages which encouraged consumers to follow prompts to speak with a “warranty specialist” about extending or reinstating their car warranty. As announced on July 7, the Enforcement Bureau issued a Public Notice authorizing all U.S.-based voice service providers to cease carrying any traffic originating from the Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation consistent with FCC regulations. At the same time, the Bureau sent cease-and-desist letters to eight voice service provider to warn them to stop carrying this suspicious traffic. The eight service providers have not responded to the letters and so, as provided in the public notice, the Enforcement Bureau is directing all other carriers to refuse to carry this traffic. In addition, Chairwoman Rosenworcel announced the Enforcement Bureau had opened a formal case and is actively investigating these calls for possible legal violations. <h2>The Bigger Picture</h2>Under Chairwoman Rosenworcel, the Robocall Response Team was created to serve as an FCC staff working group that pulls together expertise from across the agency to leverage the talents of enforcers, attorneys, policy makers, engineers, economists, and outreach experts to combat the unyielding menace of illegal spoofed, scam, robocalls. <h2>This effort has resulted in</h2>· record-breaking spoofing and robocall fines;· closing gateways used by international robocallers to reach Americans’ phones;· widespread implementation of STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication standards to help traceback illegal calls and improve blocking tools to protect consumers;· the signing of robocall investigation partnerships with 41 states plus the District of Columbia and Guam; and· unprecedented policy proposals to combat the rising threat of bogus robotexts.<h2>Consumer Tips</h2>As a general matter, “Auto Warranty” scam robocalls resulted in more consumer complaints to the FCC than any other unwanted call category each of the last two years. These calls usually claim your insurance or warranty is about to expire and they frequently use consumers’ real information in order to appear legitimate. These calls may be seeking consumers’ personal or financial information in order to defraud them, hoping to initiate a payment, and/or garnering information about active phones. More information (including audio of a scam call) are available at: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/beware-auto-warranty-scams · Don’t Share - Do not provide any personal information to anyone that calls you unexpectedly.· Be Aware – Telephone scammers are good at what they do and may use real information to gain your trust and imply that they work for a company you trust. · Caller ID – Criminals might use “spoofing” to deliberately falsify the information transmitted.· Double Check - If you think it might be a legitimate call, hang up and call the company with which you have an established business relationship using a phone number from a previous bill or on their website.

FCC orders blocking of auto warranty robocall scam campaign

LONDON (AP) — As the World Health Organization's emergency committee convened Thursday to consider for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-politics-health-united-nations-world-organization-349b235908c13a166da97653b7f028fc">second time</a>&nbsp;within weeks whether to declare monkeypox a global crisis, some scientists said the striking differences between the outbreaks in Africa and in developed countries will complicate any coordinated response.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-africa-zimbabwe-10824530a2c021482dbebc08a9cd33ef">African officials</a>&nbsp;say they are already treating the continent's epidemic as an emergency. But experts elsewhere say the mild version of monkeypox in Europe, North America and beyond makes an emergency declaration unnecessary even if the virus can't be stopped. British officials recently downgraded their assessment of the disease, given its lack of severity.

“I remain concerned about the number of cases, in an increasing number of countries, that have been reported,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the emergency committee as its meeting got underway.

He said it was “pleasing” to note falling numbers of monkeypox cases in some countries but that the virus is still increasing elsewhere and that six countries reported their first infections last week.

Monkeypox has been entrenched for decades in parts of central and western&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/monkeypox-treatment-africa-inequities-004e53968120eaeda117b5b792d95807">Africa</a>, where diseased wild animals occasionally infect people in rural areas in relatively contained epidemics. The disease in Europe, North America and beyond has circulated since at least May among gay and bisexual men. The epidemic in rich countries was likely triggered by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/monkeypox-explained-health-72a9efaaf5b55ace396398b839847505">sex at two raves</a>&nbsp;in Spain and Belgium.

Some experts worry these and other differences could possibly deepen existing medical inequities between poor and wealthy nations.

There are now more than 15,000 monkeypox cases&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html">worldwide</a>. While the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries have bought millions of vaccines, none have gone to Africa, where a more severe version of monkeypox has already killed more than 70 people. Rich countries haven't yet reported any monkeypox deaths.

“What’s happening in Africa is almost entirely separate from the outbreak in Europe and North America,” said Dr. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia who previously advised WHO on infectious diseases.

The U.N. health agency said this week that outside of Africa, 99% of all reported monkeypox cases are in men and of those, 98% are in men who have sex with other men. Still, the disease can infect anyone in close, physical contact with a monkeypox patient, regardless of their sexual orientation.

“In these very active gay sexual networks, you have men who really, really don’t want people to know what they’re doing and may not themselves always know who they are having sex with,” Hunter said.

Some of those men may be married to women or have families unaware of their sexual activity, which “makes contact tracing extremely difficult and even things like asking people to come forward for testing,” Hunter said, explaining why vaccination may be the most effective way to shut down the outbreak.

That’s probably not the case in Africa, where limited data suggests monkeypox is mainly jumping into people from infected animals. Although African experts acknowledge they could be missing cases among gay and bisexual men, given limited surveillance and stigmatization against LGBTQ people, authorities have relied on standard measures like isolation and education to control the disease.

Dr. Placide Mbala, a virologist who directs the global health department at Congo’s Institute of National Biomedical Research, said there are also noticeable differences between patients in Africa and the West.

“We see here (in Congo) very quickly, after three to four days, visible lesions in people exposed to monkeypox,” Mbala said, adding that someone with so many visible lesions is unlikely to go out in public, thus preventing further transmission.

But in countries including Britain and the U.S., doctors have observed some infected people with only one or two lesions, often in their genitals.

“You wouldn’t notice that if you’re just with that person in a taxi or a bar,” Mbala said. “So in the West, people without these visible lesions may be silently spreading the disease.”

He said different approaches in different countries will likely be needed to stop the global outbreak, making it challenging to adopt a single response strategy worldwide, like those for Ebola and COVID-19.

Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a professor of medicine at Nigeria's Niger Delta University, said he feared the world’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-pandemics-united-nations-world-organization-a4848839d86d2d08100000d918b6bd0d">limited vaccine supplies</a>&nbsp;would result in a repeat of the problems that arose in the coronavirus pandemic, when poorer countries were left empty-handed after rich countries hoarded most of the doses.

“It does not make sense to just control the outbreak in Europe and America, because you will then still have the (animal) source of the outbreak in Africa,” said Ogoina, who sits on WHO’s monkeypox emergency committee.

This week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-public-rochelle-walensky-a7d197e26f4e650600c4b2cd13e0b436">U.S. officials</a>&nbsp;said more than 100,000 monkeypox vaccine doses were being sent to states in the next few days, with several million more on order for the months ahead. The U.S. has reported more than 2,000 cases so far, with hundreds more added every day.

Some U.S. public health experts have begun to wonder if the outbreak is becoming widespread enough that monkeypox will become a new sexually transmitted disease.

Declaring monkeypox to be a global emergency could also inadvertently worsen the rush for vaccines, despite the mildness of the disease being seen in most countries.

Dr. Hugh Adler, who treats monkeypox patients in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-epidemics-8a675e8b6e969a9fddbf86e568c3f809">Britain</a>, said there aren’t many serious cases or infections beyond gay and bisexual men. Still, he said it was frustrating that more vaccines weren’t available, since the outbreak was doubling about every two weeks in the U.K..

“If reclassifying monkeypox as a global emergency will make (vaccines available), then maybe that’s what needs to be done,” he said. “But in an ideal world, we should be able to make the necessary interventions without the emergency declaration.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658321685447.png" alt="Monkeypox map July 20, 2022- CDC&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Monkeypox map July 20, 2022- CDC&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>LONDON (AP) — As the World Health Organization's emergency committee convened Thursday to consider for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-politics-health-united-nations-world-organization-349b235908c13a166da97653b7f028fc">second time</a>&nbsp;within weeks whether to declare monkeypox a global crisis, some scientists said the striking differences between the outbreaks in Africa and in developed countries will complicate any coordinated response.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-africa-zimbabwe-10824530a2c021482dbebc08a9cd33ef">African officials</a>&nbsp;say they are already treating the continent's epidemic as an emergency. But experts elsewhere say the mild version of monkeypox in Europe, North America and beyond makes an emergency declaration unnecessary even if the virus can't be stopped. British officials recently downgraded their assessment of the disease, given its lack of severity.“I remain concerned about the number of cases, in an increasing number of countries, that have been reported,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the emergency committee as its meeting got underway.He said it was “pleasing” to note falling numbers of monkeypox cases in some countries but that the virus is still increasing elsewhere and that six countries reported their first infections last week.Monkeypox has been entrenched for decades in parts of central and western&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/monkeypox-treatment-africa-inequities-004e53968120eaeda117b5b792d95807">Africa</a>, where diseased wild animals occasionally infect people in rural areas in relatively contained epidemics. The disease in Europe, North America and beyond has circulated since at least May among gay and bisexual men. The epidemic in rich countries was likely triggered by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/monkeypox-explained-health-72a9efaaf5b55ace396398b839847505">sex at two raves</a>&nbsp;in Spain and Belgium.Some experts worry these and other differences could possibly deepen existing medical inequities between poor and wealthy nations.There are now more than 15,000 monkeypox cases&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html">worldwide</a>. While the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries have bought millions of vaccines, none have gone to Africa, where a more severe version of monkeypox has already killed more than 70 people. Rich countries haven't yet reported any monkeypox deaths.“What’s happening in Africa is almost entirely separate from the outbreak in Europe and North America,” said Dr. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia who previously advised WHO on infectious diseases.The U.N. health agency said this week that outside of Africa, 99% of all reported monkeypox cases are in men and of those, 98% are in men who have sex with other men. Still, the disease can infect anyone in close, physical contact with a monkeypox patient, regardless of their sexual orientation.“In these very active gay sexual networks, you have men who really, really don’t want people to know what they’re doing and may not themselves always know who they are having sex with,” Hunter said.Some of those men may be married to women or have families unaware of their sexual activity, which “makes contact tracing extremely difficult and even things like asking people to come forward for testing,” Hunter said, explaining why vaccination may be the most effective way to shut down the outbreak.That’s probably not the case in Africa, where limited data suggests monkeypox is mainly jumping into people from infected animals. Although African experts acknowledge they could be missing cases among gay and bisexual men, given limited surveillance and stigmatization against LGBTQ people, authorities have relied on standard measures like isolation and education to control the disease.Dr. Placide Mbala, a virologist who directs the global health department at Congo’s Institute of National Biomedical Research, said there are also noticeable differences between patients in Africa and the West.“We see here (in Congo) very quickly, after three to four days, visible lesions in people exposed to monkeypox,” Mbala said, adding that someone with so many visible lesions is unlikely to go out in public, thus preventing further transmission.But in countries including Britain and the U.S., doctors have observed some infected people with only one or two lesions, often in their genitals.“You wouldn’t notice that if you’re just with that person in a taxi or a bar,” Mbala said. “So in the West, people without these visible lesions may be silently spreading the disease.”He said different approaches in different countries will likely be needed to stop the global outbreak, making it challenging to adopt a single response strategy worldwide, like those for Ebola and COVID-19.Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a professor of medicine at Nigeria's Niger Delta University, said he feared the world’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-pandemics-united-nations-world-organization-a4848839d86d2d08100000d918b6bd0d">limited vaccine supplies</a>&nbsp;would result in a repeat of the problems that arose in the coronavirus pandemic, when poorer countries were left empty-handed after rich countries hoarded most of the doses.“It does not make sense to just control the outbreak in Europe and America, because you will then still have the (animal) source of the outbreak in Africa,” said Ogoina, who sits on WHO’s monkeypox emergency committee.This week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-public-rochelle-walensky-a7d197e26f4e650600c4b2cd13e0b436">U.S. officials</a>&nbsp;said more than 100,000 monkeypox vaccine doses were being sent to states in the next few days, with several million more on order for the months ahead. The U.S. has reported more than 2,000 cases so far, with hundreds more added every day.Some U.S. public health experts have begun to wonder if the outbreak is becoming widespread enough that monkeypox will become a new sexually transmitted disease.Declaring monkeypox to be a global emergency could also inadvertently worsen the rush for vaccines, despite the mildness of the disease being seen in most countries.Dr. Hugh Adler, who treats monkeypox patients in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-epidemics-8a675e8b6e969a9fddbf86e568c3f809">Britain</a>, said there aren’t many serious cases or infections beyond gay and bisexual men. Still, he said it was frustrating that more vaccines weren’t available, since the outbreak was doubling about every two weeks in the U.K..“If reclassifying monkeypox as a global emergency will make (vaccines available), then maybe that’s what needs to be done,” he said. “But in an ideal world, we should be able to make the necessary interventions without the emergency declaration.”

WHO again considers declaring monkeypox a global emergency

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, a Republican congressional leader and even his family, Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-hearing-takeaways-da9e850c8744a3d4395928cf19eaf36f">refused to call off the Jan. 6 mob</a>&nbsp;attack on the Capitol, instead “pouring gasoline on the fire” by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a stolen election and celebrating his crowd of supporters as “very special," the House investigating committee showed Thursday night.

The next day, he declared anew, “I don't want to say the election is over." That was in a previously unaired&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/final-jan-6-hearing-live-updates-2532549688cac4580d0a2d174832faba">outtake of an address to the nation</a>&nbsp;he was to give, shown at the prime-time hearing of the committee.

The panel documented how for some 187 minutes, from the time Trump left a rally stage sending his supporters to the Capitol to the time he ultimately appeared in the Rose Garden video that day, nothing could compel the defeated president to act. Instead, he watched the violence unfold on TV.

“President Trump didn’t fail to act,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a fellow Republican but frequent Trump critic who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. “He chose not to act.”

After months of work and weeks of hearings, the prime-time session started the way the committee began — laying blame for the deadly attack on Trump himself for summoning the mob to Washington and sending them to Capitol Hill.

The defeated president turned his supporters' “love of country into a weapon,” said the panel's Republican vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

Far from finishing its work after Thursday's hearing, probably the last of the summer, the panel will start up again in September as more witnesses and information emerge. Cheney said “the dam has begun to break” on revealing what happened that fateful day, at the White House as well as in the violence at the Capitol.

“Donald Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office,” Cheney declared.

“Every American must consider this: Can a president who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of Jan. 6 ever be trusted in any position of authority in our great nation?” she asked.

Trump, who is considering another White House run, dismissed the committee as a “Kangaroo court,” and name-called the panel and witnesses for “many lies and misrepresentations.”

Plunging into its second prime-time hearing on the Capitol attack, the committee aimed to show a “minute by minute” accounting of Trump’s actions with new testimony, including from two White House aides, never-before-heard security radio transmissions of Secret Service officers fearing for their lives and behind-the-scenes discussions at the White House.

With the Capitol siege raging, Trump was “giving the green light” to his supporters by tweeting condemnation of Vice President Mike Pence's refusal to go along with his plan to stop the certification of Joe Biden's victory, a former White House aide told the committee.

“I thought that Jan. 6 2021, was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,” Sarah Matthews told the panel. “And President Trump was treating it as a celebratory occasion. So it just further cemented my decision to resign.”

The committee played audio of Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reacting with surprise to the president’s inaction during the attack.

“You’re the commander-in-chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s Nothing? No call? Nothing, Zero?” he said.

On Jan. 6, an irate Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol after his supporters had stormed the building, well aware of the deadly attack, but his security team refused.

“Within 15 minutes of leaving the stage, President Trump knew that the Capitol was besieged and under attack,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.

At the Capitol, the mob was chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” testified Matt Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser, as Trump tweeted his condemnation of his vice president.

Pottinger, testifying Thursday, said that when he saw Trump's tweet he immediately decided to resign, as did Matthews, who said she was a lifelong Republican but could not go along with what was going on. She was the witness who called the tweet “a green light” and “pouring gasoline on the fire.”

Meanwhile, recordings of Secret Service radio transmissions revealed agents at the Capitol trying to whisk Pence to safety amid the mayhem and asking for messages to be relayed telling their own families goodbye.

The panel showed previously unseen testimony from the president's son, Donald Trump, Jr., with a text message to his father's chief of staff Mark Meadows urging the president to call off the mob.

Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner also testified in a recorded video of a “scared” GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy calling him for help.

And in a gripping moment, the panel showed Trump refusing to deliver a speech the next day declaring the election was over, despite his daughter, Ivanka Trump, heard off camera, encouraging him to read the script.

“The president’s words matter,” said Luria, D-Va., a former Naval officer on the panel. “We know that many of the rioters were listening to President Trump.”

Luria said the panel had received testimony confirming the powerful previous account of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson of an altercation involving Trump as he insisted the Secret Service drive him to the Capitol.

Among the witnesses testifying Thursday in a recorded video was retired District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Mark Robinson who told the committee that Trump was well aware of the number of weapons in the crowd of his supporters but wanted to go regardless.

“The only description that I received was that the president was upset, and that he was adamant about going to the Capitol and that there was a heated discussion about that,” Robinson said.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, appearing virtually as he self-isolates with COVID-19, opened Thursday’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">hearing</a>&nbsp;saying Trump as president did “everything in his power to overturn the election” he lost to Joe Biden, including before and during the deadly Capitol attack.

“He lied, he bullied, he betrayed his oath,” charged Thompson, D-Miss.

“Our investigation goes forward,” said Thompson. “There needs to be accountability.”

The hearing room was packed, including with several police officers who fought off the mob that day, and the family of one officer who died the day after the attack.

While the committee cannot make criminal charges, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.

So far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Of the more than 200 defendants to be sentenced, approximately 100 received terms of imprisonment.

No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Jan. 6 is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.”

Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand combat to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified that she was “slipping in other people's blood” as they tried to hold back the mob. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">Jan. 6 committee aims</a>&nbsp;to show in its final hearing Thursday that Donald Trump's lies about a stolen election fueled the grisly U.S. Capitol attack, which he did nothing to stop but instead “gleefully” watched on television at the White House.

The prime-time hearing will dive into&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-ivanka-trump-biden-presidential-elections-e8fc57e5de4fe00e848e63d923f7c758">the 187 minutes that Trump failed to act</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 6, 2021, despite pleas for help from aides, allies and even his family. The panel intends to show how the defeated president's attempt to overturn Joe Biden's election victory has left the United States facing enduring questions about the resiliency of its democracy.

“A profound moment of reckoning for America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the committee.

With&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-donald-trump-government-and-politics-00896eaba6df614bf46fc6beebe63fce">live testimony from two former White House aides</a>, and excerpts from its trove of more than 1,000 interviews, the nearly two-hour session will add a closing chapter to the past six weeks of hearings that at times have captivated the nation.

Returning to prime time for the first time since the series of hearings began, the panel aims to show just how close the United States came to what one retired federal judge testifying this summer called a constitutional crisis.

The events of Jan. 6 will be outlined “minute by minute,” said the panel's vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

“You will hear that Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help," Cheney said.

“He did not call the military. His Secretary of Defense received no order. He did not call his Attorney General. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security," Cheney said. “Mike Pence did all of those things; Donald Trump did not.”

The hearing will also show never-before-seen outtakes of a Jan. 7 video that White House aides pleaded for Trump to make as a message of national healing for the country. The footage will show how Trump struggled to condemn the mob of his supporters, who violently breached the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it ahead of its public release. Trump reluctantly condemned the riot in a three-minute speech that night.

Testifying Thursday will be former White House aides who had close proximity to power.

Matt Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, then press aide, both submitted their resignations on Jan. 6, 2021, after what they saw that day. Trump has dismissed the hearings on social media and regarded much of the testimony as fake.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the committee, is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 and will attend by video.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-veterans-virginia-adam-kinzinger-government-and-politics-d894f4671dcf21b5e2427c5d209f368c">Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a former Naval officer who will lead the session with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan,</a>&nbsp;said she expects the testimony from the White House aides will “just be really compelling.”

"These are people who believed in the work they were doing, but didn’t believe in the stolen election,” Luria said.

The White House aides were not alone in calling it quits that day. The panel is expected to provide a tally of the Trump administration aides and even Cabinet members who resigned after Trump failed to call off the attack. Some Cabinet members were so alarmed they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

As the panel continues to collect evidence and prepares to issue a preliminary report of findings, it has amassed the most substantial public record to date of what led up to Americans attacking the seat of democracy.

What remains uncertain is whether Trump or the former president's top allies will face serious charges. No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.

“We have to get this right,” Garland said. “For people who are concerned, as I think every American should be, we have to do two things: We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.”

In delving into the timeline, the panel aims to show what happened between the time Trump left the stage at his “Stop the Steal” rally shortly after 1:10 p.m., after telling supporters to march to the Capitol, and some three hours later, when he issued a video address from the Rose Garden in which he told the rioters to “go home” but also praised them as “very special.”

It also expects to produce additional evidence about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-united-states-government-and-politics-e5b67d9a848b76a3803e9f7e3546bb51">Trump's confrontation with Secret Service agents</a>&nbsp;who refused to drive him to the Capitol — a witness account that the security detail has disputed.

Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand combat to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified about how she was “slipping in other people's blood” as they tried to hold back the mob. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.

“The president didn’t do very much but gleefully watch television during this time frame,” Kinzinger said.

Not only did Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he did not call other parts of the government for backup and gave no order to deploy the National Guard, Cheney said.

This despite countless pleas from Trump's aides and allies, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to previous testimony and text messages the committee has obtained.

“You will hear that leaders on Capitol Hill begged the president for help,” Cheney has said, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who she said indicated he was “'scared' and called multiple members of President Trump’s family after he could not persuade the President himself.”

The panel has said its investigation is ongoing and other hearings are possible. It expects to compile a preliminary report this fall, and a final report by the end of this session of Congress.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, a Republican congressional leader and even his family, Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-hearing-takeaways-da9e850c8744a3d4395928cf19eaf36f">refused to call off the Jan. 6 mob</a>&nbsp;attack on the Capitol, instead “pouring gasoline on the fire” by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a stolen election and celebrating his crowd of supporters as “very special," the House investigating committee showed Thursday night.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pbRVqWbHGuo?start=165" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The next day, he declared anew, “I don't want to say the election is over." That was in a previously unaired&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/final-jan-6-hearing-live-updates-2532549688cac4580d0a2d174832faba">outtake of an address to the nation</a>&nbsp;he was to give, shown at the prime-time hearing of the committee.The panel documented how for some 187 minutes, from the time Trump left a rally stage sending his supporters to the Capitol to the time he ultimately appeared in the Rose Garden video that day, nothing could compel the defeated president to act. Instead, he watched the violence unfold on TV.“President Trump didn’t fail to act,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a fellow Republican but frequent Trump critic who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. “He chose not to act.”After months of work and weeks of hearings, the prime-time session started the way the committee began — laying blame for the deadly attack on Trump himself for summoning the mob to Washington and sending them to Capitol Hill.The defeated president turned his supporters' “love of country into a weapon,” said the panel's Republican vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.Far from finishing its work after Thursday's hearing, probably the last of the summer, the panel will start up again in September as more witnesses and information emerge. Cheney said “the dam has begun to break” on revealing what happened that fateful day, at the White House as well as in the violence at the Capitol.“Donald Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office,” Cheney declared.“Every American must consider this: Can a president who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of Jan. 6 ever be trusted in any position of authority in our great nation?” she asked.Trump, who is considering another White House run, dismissed the committee as a “Kangaroo court,” and name-called the panel and witnesses for “many lies and misrepresentations.”Plunging into its second prime-time hearing on the Capitol attack, the committee aimed to show a “minute by minute” accounting of Trump’s actions with new testimony, including from two White House aides, never-before-heard security radio transmissions of Secret Service officers fearing for their lives and behind-the-scenes discussions at the White House.With the Capitol siege raging, Trump was “giving the green light” to his supporters by tweeting condemnation of Vice President Mike Pence's refusal to go along with his plan to stop the certification of Joe Biden's victory, a former White House aide told the committee.Two aides resigned on the spot.“I thought that Jan. 6 2021, was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,” Sarah Matthews told the panel. “And President Trump was treating it as a celebratory occasion. So it just further cemented my decision to resign.”The committee played audio of Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reacting with surprise to the president’s inaction during the attack.“You’re the commander-in-chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s Nothing? No call? Nothing, Zero?” he said.On Jan. 6, an irate Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol after his supporters had stormed the building, well aware of the deadly attack, but his security team refused.“Within 15 minutes of leaving the stage, President Trump knew that the Capitol was besieged and under attack,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.At the Capitol, the mob was chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” testified Matt Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser, as Trump tweeted his condemnation of his vice president.Pottinger, testifying Thursday, said that when he saw Trump's tweet he immediately decided to resign, as did Matthews, who said she was a lifelong Republican but could not go along with what was going on. She was the witness who called the tweet “a green light” and “pouring gasoline on the fire.”Meanwhile, recordings of Secret Service radio transmissions revealed agents at the Capitol trying to whisk Pence to safety amid the mayhem and asking for messages to be relayed telling their own families goodbye.The panel showed previously unseen testimony from the president's son, Donald Trump, Jr., with a text message to his father's chief of staff Mark Meadows urging the president to call off the mob.Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner also testified in a recorded video of a “scared” GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy calling him for help.And in a gripping moment, the panel showed Trump refusing to deliver a speech the next day declaring the election was over, despite his daughter, Ivanka Trump, heard off camera, encouraging him to read the script.“The president’s words matter,” said Luria, D-Va., a former Naval officer on the panel. “We know that many of the rioters were listening to President Trump.”Luria said the panel had received testimony confirming the powerful previous account of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson of an altercation involving Trump as he insisted the Secret Service drive him to the Capitol.Among the witnesses testifying Thursday in a recorded video was retired District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Mark Robinson who told the committee that Trump was well aware of the number of weapons in the crowd of his supporters but wanted to go regardless.“The only description that I received was that the president was upset, and that he was adamant about going to the Capitol and that there was a heated discussion about that,” Robinson said.Chairman Bennie Thompson, appearing virtually as he self-isolates with COVID-19, opened Thursday’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">hearing</a>&nbsp;saying Trump as president did “everything in his power to overturn the election” he lost to Joe Biden, including before and during the deadly Capitol attack.“He lied, he bullied, he betrayed his oath,” charged Thompson, D-Miss.“Our investigation goes forward,” said Thompson. “There needs to be accountability.”The hearing room was packed, including with several police officers who fought off the mob that day, and the family of one officer who died the day after the attack.While the committee cannot make criminal charges, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.So far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Of the more than 200 defendants to be sentenced, approximately 100 received terms of imprisonment.No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Jan. 6 is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.”Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand combat to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified that she was “slipping in other people's blood” as they tried to hold back the mob. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.-----------WASHINGTON (AP) — The House&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">Jan. 6 committee aims</a>&nbsp;to show in its final hearing Thursday that Donald Trump's lies about a stolen election fueled the grisly U.S. Capitol attack, which he did nothing to stop but instead “gleefully” watched on television at the White House.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pbRVqWbHGuo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The prime-time hearing will dive into&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-ivanka-trump-biden-presidential-elections-e8fc57e5de4fe00e848e63d923f7c758">the 187 minutes that Trump failed to act</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 6, 2021, despite pleas for help from aides, allies and even his family. The panel intends to show how the defeated president's attempt to overturn Joe Biden's election victory has left the United States facing enduring questions about the resiliency of its democracy.“A profound moment of reckoning for America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the committee.With&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-donald-trump-government-and-politics-00896eaba6df614bf46fc6beebe63fce">live testimony from two former White House aides</a>, and excerpts from its trove of more than 1,000 interviews, the nearly two-hour session will add a closing chapter to the past six weeks of hearings that at times have captivated the nation.Returning to prime time for the first time since the series of hearings began, the panel aims to show just how close the United States came to what one retired federal judge testifying this summer called a constitutional crisis.The events of Jan. 6 will be outlined “minute by minute,” said the panel's vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.“You will hear that Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help," Cheney said.“He did not call the military. His Secretary of Defense received no order. He did not call his Attorney General. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security," Cheney said. “Mike Pence did all of those things; Donald Trump did not.”The hearing will also show never-before-seen outtakes of a Jan. 7 video that White House aides pleaded for Trump to make as a message of national healing for the country. The footage will show how Trump struggled to condemn the mob of his supporters, who violently breached the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it ahead of its public release. Trump reluctantly condemned the riot in a three-minute speech that night.Testifying Thursday will be former White House aides who had close proximity to power.Matt Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, then press aide, both submitted their resignations on Jan. 6, 2021, after what they saw that day. Trump has dismissed the hearings on social media and regarded much of the testimony as fake.Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the committee, is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 and will attend by video.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-veterans-virginia-adam-kinzinger-government-and-politics-d894f4671dcf21b5e2427c5d209f368c">Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a former Naval officer who will lead the session with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan,</a>&nbsp;said she expects the testimony from the White House aides will “just be really compelling.”"These are people who believed in the work they were doing, but didn’t believe in the stolen election,” Luria said.The White House aides were not alone in calling it quits that day. The panel is expected to provide a tally of the Trump administration aides and even Cabinet members who resigned after Trump failed to call off the attack. Some Cabinet members were so alarmed they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.As the panel continues to collect evidence and prepares to issue a preliminary report of findings, it has amassed the most substantial public record to date of what led up to Americans attacking the seat of democracy.While the committee cannot make criminal charges, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.So far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Of the more than 200 defendants to be sentenced, approximately 100 received terms of imprisonment.What remains uncertain is whether Trump or the former president's top allies will face serious charges. No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Jan. 6 is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.”“We have to get this right,” Garland said. “For people who are concerned, as I think every American should be, we have to do two things: We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.”In delving into the timeline, the panel aims to show what happened between the time Trump left the stage at his “Stop the Steal” rally shortly after 1:10 p.m., after telling supporters to march to the Capitol, and some three hours later, when he issued a video address from the Rose Garden in which he told the rioters to “go home” but also praised them as “very special.”It also expects to produce additional evidence about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-united-states-government-and-politics-e5b67d9a848b76a3803e9f7e3546bb51">Trump's confrontation with Secret Service agents</a>&nbsp;who refused to drive him to the Capitol — a witness account that the security detail has disputed.Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand combat to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified about how she was “slipping in other people's blood” as they tried to hold back the mob. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.“The president didn’t do very much but gleefully watch television during this time frame,” Kinzinger said.Not only did Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he did not call other parts of the government for backup and gave no order to deploy the National Guard, Cheney said.This despite countless pleas from Trump's aides and allies, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to previous testimony and text messages the committee has obtained.“You will hear that leaders on Capitol Hill begged the president for help,” Cheney has said, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who she said indicated he was “'scared' and called multiple members of President Trump’s family after he could not persuade the President himself.”The panel has said its investigation is ongoing and other hearings are possible. It expects to compile a preliminary report this fall, and a final report by the end of this session of Congress.

🎥 Jan. 6 panel Day 8 replay: "Trump's inaction" during Capitol riot

JACKSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a home burglary and have 3 suspects in custody.

&nbsp;On July 17, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a suspicious vehicle near 198th and G. Road in rural Jackson County, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

 Deputies arrived in the area and located three individuals who are allegedly connected to an area burglary of an abandoned house. 

Deputies found property from the residence inside the vehicle. They arrested were 20-year-old Cyrie Ryan De Jong,of Olathe, Kansas; 21-year-old Omar Garcia-Delgado of Kansas City, Missouri and 20-year-old Grant Timothy Gardner. 

 All three were booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of burglary, possession of stolen property, criminal trespass and theft, according to Morse.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658330998757.png" alt="Garcia-Delgado" />
 <figcaption>Garcia-Delgado</figcaption>
 </figure>JACKSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a home burglary and have 3 suspects in custody.&nbsp;On July 17, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a suspicious vehicle near 198th and G. Road in rural Jackson County, according to Sheriff Tim Morse. Deputies arrived in the area and located three individuals who are allegedly connected to an area burglary of an abandoned house. Deputies found property from the residence inside the vehicle. They arrested were 20-year-old Cyrie Ryan De Jong,of Olathe, Kansas; 21-year-old Omar Garcia-Delgado of Kansas City, Missouri and 20-year-old Grant Timothy Gardner. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658331062592.png" alt="Gardner" />
 <figcaption>Gardner</figcaption>
 </figure> All three were booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of burglary, possession of stolen property, criminal trespass and theft, according to Morse.

Sheriff: Suspects found with items taken in burglary from Kan. home

TOPEKA, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Topeka returned an indictment charging a Kansas man with one count of criminal conversion, one count of forgery of United States obligations or securities, and one count of false statement to a federally insured bank, according to the United State's Attorney.

According to court documents, Blaine Schurle, 26, of Barnes as operator of Double S Cattle Company, LLC is accused of allegedly selling approximately 400 head of cattle valued at more than $400,000 without authorization from the Farm Services Agency although FSA guidelines prohibit the sale of collateral in which the federal government agency has security interest without prior approval. Schurle is also accused of allegedly attempting to deposit a $13,452 check into his bank account that was issued to both him and FSA despite the check not being endorsed by FSA. 

A grand jury additionally indicted Schurle for allegedly failing to report his debt obligations to FSA while securing a bank loan for $45,450.

The defendant was scheduled for his initial court appearance Thursday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658416337565.png" alt="Schurle-photo Marshall Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Schurle-photo Marshall Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Topeka returned an indictment charging a Kansas man with one count of criminal conversion, one count of forgery of United States obligations or securities, and one count of false statement to a federally insured bank, according to the United State's Attorney.According to court documents, Blaine Schurle, 26, of Barnes as operator of Double S Cattle Company, LLC is accused of allegedly selling approximately 400 head of cattle valued at more than $400,000 without authorization from the Farm Services Agency although FSA guidelines prohibit the sale of collateral in which the federal government agency has security interest without prior approval. Schurle is also accused of allegedly attempting to deposit a $13,452 check into his bank account that was issued to both him and FSA despite the check not being endorsed by FSA. A grand jury additionally indicted Schurle for allegedly failing to report his debt obligations to FSA while securing a bank loan for $45,450.The defendant was scheduled for his initial court appearance Thursday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Kansas cattleman indicted for alleged financial crimes

SEDGWICK COUNTY —The city of Wichita on Thursday announced&nbsp; discipline for members of the police department who exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic texts and images. Three officers resigned or retired from the department, according to&nbsp;Interim Wichita Police Chief Lem Moore.

(Click below to watch the press conference)

Moore also suspended three officers for eight days without pay. City Manager Robert Layton believed the actions of these three were more serious and suspended two of those officers for 15 days and they must also complete special training and coaching. A third officer will be assigned desk duty until he completes an evaluation that indicates he is fit for a return to duty.

Three officers received written reprimands and or were given citations of conduct unbecoming an officer. One officer who did not respond to or report inappropriate text comments is required to receive coaching on how to handle a similar situations in the future.

The text messages, which were sent from 2015 to 2021, were first discovered in April 2021 while investigators were searching the phone of a Sedgwick County deputy in an unrelated case.

In April, a committee appointed by Wichita City Manager Robert Layton said the department must crackdown on biased police officers, poor leadership, botched investigations and poor oversight.

The committee’s findings mirror those of the Wichita Citizen’s Review Board, a group of citizens that reviews investigative reports on police cases,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-wichita-violence-race-and-ethnicity-26e2c9105ce0bfd5ecb4d77eec15c96d">released earlier</a>&nbsp;in April 2022.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658419681802.png" alt="Wichita interim Police Chief Lem Moore&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Wichita interim Police Chief Lem Moore&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —The city of Wichita on Thursday announced&nbsp; discipline for members of the police department who exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic texts and images. Three officers resigned or retired from the department, according to&nbsp;Interim Wichita Police Chief Lem Moore.(Click below to watch the press conference)<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcityofwichita%2Fvideos%2F576401520642020%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=144" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Moore also suspended three officers for eight days without pay. City Manager Robert Layton believed the actions of these three were more serious and suspended two of those officers for 15 days and they must also complete special training and coaching. A third officer will be assigned desk duty until he completes an evaluation that indicates he is fit for a return to duty.Three officers received written reprimands and or were given citations of conduct unbecoming an officer. One officer who did not respond to or report inappropriate text comments is required to receive coaching on how to handle a similar situations in the future.The text messages, which were sent from 2015 to 2021, were first discovered in April 2021 while investigators were searching the phone of a Sedgwick County deputy in an unrelated case.In April, a committee appointed by Wichita City Manager Robert Layton said the department must crackdown on biased police officers, poor leadership, botched investigations and poor oversight.The committee’s findings mirror those of the Wichita Citizen’s Review Board, a group of citizens that reviews investigative reports on police cases,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-wichita-violence-race-and-ethnicity-26e2c9105ce0bfd5ecb4d77eec15c96d">released earlier</a>&nbsp;in April 2022.

🎥 Wichita officers disciplined for inappropriate text messages

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and is isolating with “very mild symptoms," the White House said, as new variants of the highly contagious virus challenge the nation's efforts to get back to normal after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">two and a half years of pandemic.</a>

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Biden had begun taking Paxlovid</a>, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease. He was isolating in the family quarters of the White House and “continuing to carry out all of his duties fully,” she said.

Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor,&nbsp;said in a letter that Biden had a runny nose and “fatigue, with an occasional dry cough, which started yesterday evening.”

Biden himself said in a video posted on Twitter: “I really appreciate your inquiries and concerns. But I’m doing well, getting a lot of work done.“

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-business-health-united-states-762d03274aac3b09c78dc70b81354d59">Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office,</a>&nbsp;a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30. The president will isolate for five days and can return to his usual activities after a negative test, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told reporters at a briefing.

Jean-Pierre described the president's symptoms as "very mild" and said Biden had been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone and would participate in his planned meetings “via phone and Zoom from the residence.”

Asked where Biden might have contracted the virus, Jean-Pierre said, ”I don't think that matters." She later clarified that to say the White House was focused on how feeling and would engage in contact tracing.

In the video that Biden recorded outdoors to tell the world he was OK, the videographer stood six feet away and wore an N95 mask, Jean-Pierre said. The president will stop taking his anti-blood clot and cholesterol medications while receiving Paxlovid.

The White House took steps to show that the president was busy working despite his diagnosis, with Biden tweeting out a picture of himself making calls from the treaty room of the White House.

The president spoke by phone to lawmakers in Pennsylvania to apologize for having to cancel his planned trip Thursday to the city of Wilkes-Barre&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-police-pennsylvania-wilkes-barre-c3d8e3ee5190adde35b1b7932a47dc4b">to promote his crime prevention plans.</a>&nbsp;Biden also called South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn to wish him a happy birthday and congratulate him on receiving an award from the NAACP.

Dr. O'Connor wrote in his letter about the president's treatment plan: “I anticipate that he will respond favorably” to Paxlovid “as most maximally protected patients do.”

Jean-Pierre said Biden had tested negative on Tuesday and would stay isolated until he tests negative again.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that “all close contacts of the president” will be informed of Biden's positive test “per standard protocol.”

"We have said for some time that there was a substantial possibility that the president – like anyone else – could get COVID, and we have prepared for this possibility," Klain wrote to White House staff. "We are now executing on our plan so that the president can continue to work seamlessly from the Residence."

First lady Jill Biden, speaking to reporters as she arrived for a school visit in Detroit, said she'd just gotten off the phone with her husband.

“He’s doing fine,” she said. "He’s feeling good.”

The first lady, who was wearing a mask, said she tested negative earlier in the day. She will keep her full schedule in Michigan and Georgia on Thursday, though she will be following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on masking and distancing, said Michael LaRosa, her spokesperson.

The president spent much of last week&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-africa-israel-iran-ba943ceaceb78d17cf50c64511ba6db4">in Israel and Saudi Arabia.</a>&nbsp;White House officials had told reporters that Biden planned to minimize contact during the trip, yet as soon as he exited Air Force One on July 13, he was fist-bumping, handshaking and even was seen in an occasional hug. The CDC says symptoms can appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus.

Biden has had a minimal public schedule after returning from Saudi Arabia late on Saturday night, attending church the next day and helping to welcome Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska to the White House on Tuesday. The president traveled to Massachusetts on Wednesday to promote efforts to combat climate change.

Up to this point, Biden’s ability to avoid the virus seemed to defy the odds, even with the testing procedures in place for those expected to be in close contact with him. Prior waves of the virus swept through Washington’s political class, infecting Vice President Kamala Harris, Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers. Biden has increasingly stepped up his travel schedule and resumed holding large indoor events where not everyone is tested.

A White House official said Harris tested negative for COVID-19. She was last with the president on Tuesday and spoke with him on the phone Thursday morning. Harris planned to remain masked on the guidance of the White House medical team.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hoped that Biden's positive test for the virus would cause more Americans to get vaccinated and boosted because "none of us is immune from it, including the president of the United States, and we really have to be careful.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Twitter wished the president "a speedy recovery.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-rochelle-walensky-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-government-politics-0bd2ccf19f1c27379f312b9edf5f3634">Top White House officials in recent months have been matter-of-fact about the likelihood of the president getting COVID</a>, a measure of how ingrained the virus has become in society — and of its diminished threat for those who are up to date on their vaccinations and with access to treatments.

When administered within five days of symptoms appearing, Paxlovid, produced by drugmaker Pfizer, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-covid-death-toll-one-million-7cefbd8c3185fd970fd073386e442317">deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.</a>

Biden is far from the first world leader — and not the first U.S. president — to get the coronavirus, which has infected British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and more than a dozen other leaders and high-ranking officials globally.

When Biden’s predecessor,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-donald-trump-ap-top-news-elections-virus-outbreak-7fece2838ff7a9bd91ccf5ac287348b3">Donald Trump, contracted the disease in October 2020,</a>&nbsp;vaccines were not available and treatment options were limited and less advanced. After being diagnosed at the White House, Trump was given an experimental antibody treatment and steroids after his blood oxygen levels fell dangerously low. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three days

After more than two years and over a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing an average of 353 people a day here., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at far greater risk, more than twice as likely to test positive and nine times as likely to die from the virus as those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.

The highly transmissible omicron variant is the dominant strain in the U.S., but scientists say it poses a lower risk for severe illness to those who are up to date on their vaccinations. Omicron's BA.5 sub-strain, believed to be even more contagious, now makes up more than 65% of U.S. cases.

The coronavirus pandemic helped put Biden in the White House, as he pledged to handle COVID-19 better than his predecessor. After he had initial months of success surging the nation’s supply and availability of vaccines, the virus became a worse problem as he struggled to stay ahead of the unpredictable disease.

As cases sharply declined earlier this year, Biden highlighted his administration’s efforts to end the pandemic and help the nation regain a sense of normalcy. He said in his March 1 State of the Union address, “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus as new variants challenge the nation's efforts to resume normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions.

White House Press Secretary<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/21/statement-from-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre/"> Karine Jean-Pierre said that</a> Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms" and has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease.

She said Biden “will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.”

Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30.

Top White House officials in recent months have been matter-of-fact about the likelihood of the president getting COVID, a measure of how engrained the virus has become in society — and of its diminished threat for those who are up to date on their vaccinations and with access to treatments.

When administered within five days of symptoms appearing, Paxlovid, produced by drugmaker Pfizer, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.

In an April 30 speech to more than 2,600 attendees at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Biden acknowledged the risks of attending large events, but said it was worthwhile to attend.

“I know there are questions about whether we should gather here tonight because of COVID,” he said. “Well, we’re here to show the country that we’re getting through this pandemic.”

When Biden’s predecessor, President Donald Trump, contracted the disease in October 2020, it was a far different time. Vaccines were not available and treatment options were limited and less advanced. After being diagnosed with COVID-19 at the White House, Trump was given an experimental antibody treatment and steroids after his blood oxygen levels fell dangerously low. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three days

While much of the world has resumed normal rhythms after the early lockdowns to control spikes in cases and deaths, the virus still serves as a disrupter in daily life as people are forced to change plans, isolate and calculate the risks of taking part in various activities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and is isolating with “very mild symptoms," the White House said, as new variants of the highly contagious virus challenge the nation's efforts to get back to normal after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">two and a half years of pandemic.</a><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">An update from me: <a href="https://t.co/L2oCR0uUTu">pic.twitter.com/L2oCR0uUTu</a>&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1550179049598861314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Biden had begun taking Paxlovid</a>, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease. He was isolating in the family quarters of the White House and “continuing to carry out all of his duties fully,” she said.Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor,&nbsp;said in a letter that Biden had a runny nose and “fatigue, with an occasional dry cough, which started yesterday evening.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658416889840.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Biden himself said in a video posted on Twitter: “I really appreciate your inquiries and concerns. But I’m doing well, getting a lot of work done.“<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-business-health-united-states-762d03274aac3b09c78dc70b81354d59">Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office,</a>&nbsp;a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30. The president will isolate for five days and can return to his usual activities after a negative test, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told reporters at a briefing.Jean-Pierre described the president's symptoms as "very mild" and said Biden had been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone and would participate in his planned meetings “via phone and Zoom from the residence.”Asked where Biden might have contracted the virus, Jean-Pierre said, ”I don't think that matters." She later clarified that to say the White House was focused on how feeling and would engage in contact tracing.In the video that Biden recorded outdoors to tell the world he was OK, the videographer stood six feet away and wore an N95 mask, Jean-Pierre said. The president will stop taking his anti-blood clot and cholesterol medications while receiving Paxlovid.The White House took steps to show that the president was busy working despite his diagnosis, with Biden tweeting out a picture of himself making calls from the treaty room of the White House.The president spoke by phone to lawmakers in Pennsylvania to apologize for having to cancel his planned trip Thursday to the city of Wilkes-Barre&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-police-pennsylvania-wilkes-barre-c3d8e3ee5190adde35b1b7932a47dc4b">to promote his crime prevention plans.</a>&nbsp;Biden also called South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn to wish him a happy birthday and congratulate him on receiving an award from the NAACP.Dr. O'Connor wrote in his letter about the president's treatment plan: “I anticipate that he will respond favorably” to Paxlovid “as most maximally protected patients do.”Jean-Pierre said Biden had tested negative on Tuesday and would stay isolated until he tests negative again.White House chief of staff Ron Klain said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that “all close contacts of the president” will be informed of Biden's positive test “per standard protocol.”"We have said for some time that there was a substantial possibility that the president – like anyone else – could get COVID, and we have prepared for this possibility," Klain wrote to White House staff. "We are now executing on our plan so that the president can continue to work seamlessly from the Residence."First lady Jill Biden, speaking to reporters as she arrived for a school visit in Detroit, said she'd just gotten off the phone with her husband.“He’s doing fine,” she said. "He’s feeling good.”The first lady, who was wearing a mask, said she tested negative earlier in the day. She will keep her full schedule in Michigan and Georgia on Thursday, though she will be following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on masking and distancing, said Michael LaRosa, her spokesperson.The president spent much of last week&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-africa-israel-iran-ba943ceaceb78d17cf50c64511ba6db4">in Israel and Saudi Arabia.</a>&nbsp;White House officials had told reporters that Biden planned to minimize contact during the trip, yet as soon as he exited Air Force One on July 13, he was fist-bumping, handshaking and even was seen in an occasional hug. The CDC says symptoms can appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus.Biden has had a minimal public schedule after returning from Saudi Arabia late on Saturday night, attending church the next day and helping to welcome Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska to the White House on Tuesday. The president traveled to Massachusetts on Wednesday to promote efforts to combat climate change.Up to this point, Biden’s ability to avoid the virus seemed to defy the odds, even with the testing procedures in place for those expected to be in close contact with him. Prior waves of the virus swept through Washington’s political class, infecting Vice President Kamala Harris, Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers. Biden has increasingly stepped up his travel schedule and resumed holding large indoor events where not everyone is tested.A White House official said Harris tested negative for COVID-19. She was last with the president on Tuesday and spoke with him on the phone Thursday morning. Harris planned to remain masked on the guidance of the White House medical team.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hoped that Biden's positive test for the virus would cause more Americans to get vaccinated and boosted because "none of us is immune from it, including the president of the United States, and we really have to be careful.”Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Twitter wished the president "a speedy recovery.”<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-rochelle-walensky-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-government-politics-0bd2ccf19f1c27379f312b9edf5f3634">Top White House officials in recent months have been matter-of-fact about the likelihood of the president getting COVID</a>, a measure of how ingrained the virus has become in society — and of its diminished threat for those who are up to date on their vaccinations and with access to treatments.When administered within five days of symptoms appearing, Paxlovid, produced by drugmaker Pfizer, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-covid-death-toll-one-million-7cefbd8c3185fd970fd073386e442317">deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.</a>Biden is far from the first world leader — and not the first U.S. president — to get the coronavirus, which has infected British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and more than a dozen other leaders and high-ranking officials globally.When Biden’s predecessor,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-donald-trump-ap-top-news-elections-virus-outbreak-7fece2838ff7a9bd91ccf5ac287348b3">Donald Trump, contracted the disease in October 2020,</a>&nbsp;vaccines were not available and treatment options were limited and less advanced. After being diagnosed at the White House, Trump was given an experimental antibody treatment and steroids after his blood oxygen levels fell dangerously low. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three daysAfter more than two years and over a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing an average of 353 people a day here., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at far greater risk, more than twice as likely to test positive and nine times as likely to die from the virus as those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.The highly transmissible omicron variant is the dominant strain in the U.S., but scientists say it poses a lower risk for severe illness to those who are up to date on their vaccinations. Omicron's BA.5 sub-strain, believed to be even more contagious, now makes up more than 65% of U.S. cases.The coronavirus pandemic helped put Biden in the White House, as he pledged to handle COVID-19 better than his predecessor. After he had initial months of success surging the nation’s supply and availability of vaccines, the virus became a worse problem as he struggled to stay ahead of the unpredictable disease.As cases sharply declined earlier this year, Biden highlighted his administration’s efforts to end the pandemic and help the nation regain a sense of normalcy. He said in his March 1 State of the Union address, “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.”------<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658413817667.png" alt="President Biden at Brayton Point in Massachusetts on Wednesday-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>President Biden at Brayton Point in Massachusetts on Wednesday-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus as new variants challenge the nation's efforts to resume normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658416889840.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>White House Press Secretary<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/21/statement-from-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre/"> Karine Jean-Pierre said that</a> Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms" and has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease.She said Biden “will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.”Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Praying and hoping for a speedy recovery for the President.&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1550129798235635713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Up to this point, Biden’s ability to avoid the virus seemed to defy the odds, even with the testing procedures in place for those expected to be in close contact with him. Prior waves of the virus swept through Washington’s political class, infecting Vice President Kamala Harris, Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers. Biden has increasingly stepped up his travel schedule and resumed holding large indoor events where not everyone is tested.Top White House officials in recent months have been matter-of-fact about the likelihood of the president getting COVID, a measure of how engrained the virus has become in society — and of its diminished threat for those who are up to date on their vaccinations and with access to treatments.When administered within five days of symptoms appearing, Paxlovid, produced by drugmaker Pfizer, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.In an April 30 speech to more than 2,600 attendees at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Biden acknowledged the risks of attending large events, but said it was worthwhile to attend.“I know there are questions about whether we should gather here tonight because of COVID,” he said. “Well, we’re here to show the country that we’re getting through this pandemic.”Biden is far from the first world leader — and not the first U.S. president — to get the coronavirus, which has infected British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and more than a dozen other leaders and high-ranking officials globally.When Biden’s predecessor, President Donald Trump, contracted the disease in October 2020, it was a far different time. Vaccines were not available and treatment options were limited and less advanced. After being diagnosed with COVID-19 at the White House, Trump was given an experimental antibody treatment and steroids after his blood oxygen levels fell dangerously low. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three daysWhile much of the world has resumed normal rhythms after the early lockdowns to control spikes in cases and deaths, the virus still serves as a disrupter in daily life as people are forced to change plans, isolate and calculate the risks of taking part in various activities.

🎥 Biden talks about his positive COVID test: Going to be OK

By DAVIS WINKIE <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/07/20/medals-of-honor-for-soldiers-who-perpetrated-wounded-knee-massacre-may-be-rescinded/">Army Times</a>

Lawmakers
 took a step last week toward taking back the nation’s highest award 
for valor from Army troops who perpetrated one of the most infamous 
Native American massacres in U.S. history.

The
 legislation to revoke the medals passed the House of Representatives as
 an amendment to the fiscal 2023 defense policy bill. Similar attempts 
have made it this far before, however, only to be stymied during 
compromises between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Some
 20 soldiers received the Medal of Honor following the Dec. 29, 1890, 
massacre near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, where troops from the 
7th Cavalry and accompanying artillery units killed hundreds of Lakota 
men, women and children.

The 7th Cavalry <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Cavalry_Regiment">was organized at Fort Riley in Kansas</a>&nbsp;in 1866.

The
 U.S. troops had nearly completed confiscating weapons from a Lakota 
encampment when a struggle with a reportedly deaf man sparked a chaotic 
one-sided firefight.

When
 the smoke cleared, dozens of cavalry troopers were wounded or killed by
 friendly fire — likely from their artillery — and hundreds of Lakota 
were dead.

Rep.
 Kaialiʻi Kahele, D-Hawaii, was the legislation’s primary sponsor, 
though other members of Congress, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., 
and Rep. Reuben Gallego, D-Ariz., have pushed for similar legislation in
 the past. Kahele is a Native Hawaiian.

Dubbed
 the “Remove the Stain Act,” the legislation’s advocates, which include 
more than a dozen Native American tribes and groups, say it’s a 
long-overdue step to right a historical wrong.

“As
 Congress continues to consider the FY23 NDAA, the most important 
defense legislative vehicle that is debated each year, we must remind 
ourselves of the uncomfortable truth that this land — the United States —
 was taken from indigenous peoples,” said Kahele in a press release. 
“Although we can never undo the irreparable damage inflicted on 
indigenous peoples, we can do our best to respect their lands, empower 
our communities and acknowledge the truth behind our shared history.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658434742178.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By DAVIS WINKIE <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/07/20/medals-of-honor-for-soldiers-who-perpetrated-wounded-knee-massacre-may-be-rescinded/">Army Times</a>Lawmakers
 took a step last week toward taking back the nation’s highest award 
for valor from Army troops who perpetrated one of the most infamous 
Native American massacres in U.S. history.The
 legislation to revoke the medals passed the House of Representatives as
 an amendment to the fiscal 2023 defense policy bill. Similar attempts 
have made it this far before, however, only to be stymied during 
compromises between the House and Senate versions of the bill.Some
 20 soldiers received the Medal of Honor following the Dec. 29, 1890, 
massacre near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, where troops from the 
7th Cavalry and accompanying artillery units killed hundreds of Lakota 
men, women and children.The 7th Cavalry <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Cavalry_Regiment">was organized at Fort Riley in Kansas</a>&nbsp;in 1866.The
 U.S. troops had nearly completed confiscating weapons from a Lakota 
encampment when a struggle with a reportedly deaf man sparked a chaotic 
one-sided firefight.When
 the smoke cleared, dozens of cavalry troopers were wounded or killed by
 friendly fire — likely from their artillery — and hundreds of Lakota 
were dead.Rep.
 Kaialiʻi Kahele, D-Hawaii, was the legislation’s primary sponsor, 
though other members of Congress, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., 
and Rep. Reuben Gallego, D-Ariz., have pushed for similar legislation in
 the past. Kahele is a Native Hawaiian.Dubbed
 the “Remove the Stain Act,” the legislation’s advocates, which include 
more than a dozen Native American tribes and groups, say it’s a 
long-overdue step to right a historical wrong.“As
 Congress continues to consider the FY23 NDAA, the most important 
defense legislative vehicle that is debated each year, we must remind 
ourselves of the uncomfortable truth that this land — the United States —
 was taken from indigenous peoples,” said Kahele in a press release. 
“Although we can never undo the irreparable damage inflicted on 
indigenous peoples, we can do our best to respect their lands, empower 
our communities and acknowledge the truth behind our shared history.”The
 Senate is yet to pass its version of the defense policy bill, and the 
two houses of Congress will have to agree on a compromise version of the
 legislation. If Kahele’s amendment survives the compromise process, it 
will mark the success of a decades-long effort from Native American 
advocacy groups and other members of Congress.Congress <a href="https://apnews.com/article/50a20c85ffbac9a6e627b577abc8715a" target="_blank">officially apologized</a> for the massacre in 1990, near its 100th anniversary, but did not rescind the medals then.But
 that’s far from certain. Previously, the act passed as part of the 
House’s fiscal 2022 defense policy bill, but did not make it into the 
final compromise legislation.Military Times deputy editor Leo Shane III contributed to this report.&nbsp;Davis Winkie is a senior reporter covering the Army, specializing in accountability reporting, personnel issues and military justice.Republished with permission. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.armytimes.com">Army Times.</a>