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☆ Abortion opponents push post-Roe agenda at annual Washington march
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Gabriella Borter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Women's March activists hold signs outside the White House in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 9, 2022. With that goal now accomplished after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Roe's precedent and gutted federal abortion rights last June, the leaders of March For Life hope to galvanize support for state and federal legislation placing further limits on abortion. Michigan voters approved a state constitutional amendment last November to enshrine abortion rights. This year's national march will take place two days before Jan. 22, which would have been the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Abortion rights advocates were marking the occasion by reflecting on the enormous disruption in reproductive healthcare that the United States has witnessed over the last year, and calling for more legislation to protect abortion rights at the state and national level.

☆ Analysis: U.S. House Republicans favor message over substance in early legislation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) speaks during a news conference following Senate Republican leadership elections that included the re-election of U.S. The bills are meant to provide a political benefit, as Republicans seek to fulfill 2022 campaign promises and formulate plans to capture the Senate and White House in 2024. "You'll watch it week after week after week." "The real purpose for the House Republican conference is to hold down spending and try to limit the debt," said Republican strategist Charles Black. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise said would target people earning less than $400,000 and break Biden's promise not to raise taxes on that income group.

☆ California braces for 'parade of cyclones' after storms kill 7
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Fred Greaves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/9] A drone view of a tree that fell during a winter storm with high winds in Sacramento, California, U.S. January 8, 2023. Forecasters warned on Sunday that northern and central California was still in the path of a "relentless parade of cyclones," promising little relief for the region until the middle of the week. The latest storms vividly illustrated the consequences of warmer sea and air temperatures caused by climate change. At least seven people have died from weather-related incidents in California since the New Year's weekend, including a toddler who was killed by a redwood tree that fell and crushed a mobile home in northern California. Another severe storm was supposed to hit on Monday.

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Pharmacies across the United States are weighing whether to sell mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortions, following the Food and Drug Administration's announcement earlier this week that they can now do so. The FDA rule will make medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions, more accessible in states where abortion remains legal, but its impact on pharmacies in the states that have banned abortion remains to be seen. The pharmacy is located near Florida's borders with Georgia and Alabama, where abortion is severely restricted. We're not near an abortion clinic or in a larger city where that happens more," she said. Steve Moore, pharmacist and owner of Condo Pharmacy in Plattsburgh, New York, a state where abortion is legal, plans to dispense the drug.

☆ South Carolina's top court strikes down six-week abortion ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Gabriella Borter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 5 (Reuters) - South Carolina's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a state law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional because it violates a right to privacy, handing a major win to abortion rights supporters in the U.S. South. The 2021 law, which banned abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy and often before a woman knows she is pregnant, took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in June eliminated the longstanding right to abortion that had been established by the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. Planned Parenthood challenged the law, and the state Supreme Court, comprised of five justices, blocked it in August pending a decision in the case. "We hold that our state constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion," Justice Kaye Hearn wrote in the 3-2 opinion released on Thursday. The ruling will provide broader legal protections for abortion access in the Southern state, which is a neighbor to many states that have banned abortion in most cases since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

☆ Winter storm threatens heavy snow in US Midwest, tornadoes in South
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 3 (Reuters) - More than a foot of snow could fall on the U.S. Northern Plains and Upper Midwest over the next day, forecasters said on Tuesday, and the same storm threatened tornadoes and severe thunderstorms over parts of the South. After dropping around a foot (30 cm) of snow on parts of Nebraska and South Dakota, a powerful winter storm was moving eastward and could leave parts of southern South Dakota and Minnesota with another 12-18 inches (30-45 cm), according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The same system was causing heavy rain and a chance of tornadoes along the Central Gulf Coast. The heavy snowfall is occurring on the west to northern side of the storm...and then the rainfall and severe weather is across the south," NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said. Meanwhile, in California, the northern coast was hit by heavy rain over the weekend and might see flooding when another heavy rain storm arrives on Wednesday and Thursday.

The toll of confirmed storm-related deaths climbed to 27 in Buffalo and the rest of Erie County on Monday, from 13 the night before. The fatalities included cases of people found in snow banks and in cars or who had died from cardiac stress while plowing or blowing snow, county executive Mark Poloncarz said. The greater Buffalo region, on the edge of Lake Erie near the Canadian border, was hardest hit. [1/9] An ambulance passes an abandon car during a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region, in Amherst, New York, U.S., December 26, 2022. She and local officials ranked it as the worst Buffalo-area snowstorm since a 1977 blizzard that killed nearly 30 people.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the storm's confirmed death toll climbed to 13 on Sunday, up from three reported overnight in the Buffalo region. The latest victims included some found in cars and some in snow banks, Poloncarz said, adding that the death tally would likely rise further. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it an "epic, once-in-a-lifetime" weather disaster that ranked as the fiercest winter storm to hit the greater Buffalo area since a crippling 1977 blizzard that killed nearly 30 people. RESCUING THE RESCUERSThe latest blizzard came nearly six weeks after a record-setting but shorter-lived lake-effect storm struck western New York. [1/9] A snow plow is left stranded on the road following a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region on Main St. in Amherst, New York, U.S., December 25, 2022.

☆ Deadly blizzard, deemed worst in 45 years, paralyzes greater Buffalo, N.Y.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Gabriella Borter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Vehicles are left stranded on the road following a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region in Amherst, New York, U.S., December 25, 2022. The greater Buffalo region, lying at the edge of Lake Erie near the Canadian border was one of the hardest-hit places. The governor called it an "epic, once-in-a-lifetime" weather disaster that ranked as the fiercest winter storm to hit Buffalo, New York state's second-largest city, since a crippling 1977 blizzard that killed nearly 30 people. The latest blizzard, which initially overwhelmed emergency crews, came nearly six weeks after a record-setting but shorter-lived lake-effect storm struck western New York. He said one electrical substation knocked offline was sealed off by an 18-foot-tall mound of snow, and utility crews found the entire facility frozen inside.

[1/6] Hoak's restaurant is covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie waves during a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region in Hamburg, New York, U.S. December 24, 2022. Twenty-eight people have died so far in weather-related incidents across the country, according to an NBC News tally. The Buffalo airport had recorded 43 inches (109 cm) of snow as of 7 a.m ET (1200 GMT) on Sunday, Otto said. "Another one to two feet in general before Monday morning in the Buffalo area is expected," Otto said. "I guess you can say in some ways, the worst of it is over but there's still some pretty significant snowfall that's ongoing around the Buffalo region today."

☆ U.S. deep freeze forecast to break Christmas Eve records
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 24 (Reuters) - An arctic blast that has gripped much of the United States this week, disrupting daily life and holiday travel for millions of Americans, was expected to produce the coldest Christmas Eve on record in several cities from Pennsylvania to Florida. Temperatures are forecast to top out on Friday at just 8 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 Celsius) in Pittsburgh, the largest city in western Pennsylvania, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of 13 F, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The capital cities of Florida and Georgia - Tallahassee and Atlanta - were likewise expected to record their coldest daytime Christmas Eve high temperatures, while Washington, D.C., was forecast to experience its chilliest Dec. 24 since 1906. Extreme winter weather was blamed for at least five deaths on Friday. The NWS said its map of existing or impending meteorological hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever."

☆ Extreme cold weather stretches U.S. homeless shelters' capacity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Gabriella Borter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] A man stands outside of his tent during a period of cold weather in Denver, Colorado, U.S. December 22, 2022. Officials prepared the indoor arena to house 225 people but increased its capacity to 359 on Wednesday night. The report found that homelessness among people in shelters declined by 1.6%, while unsheltered homelessness increased by 3.4%, compared to 2020. "Severe weather exacerbates the cruel reality of homelessness in America," said Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Nearly 1,000 migrants were staying at Denver city shelters or partner shelters as of Thursday, according to a city statement.

With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it crept eastward, some 240 million people - more than two-thirds of the U.S. population - were under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The map of existing or impending wintry hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the NWS said. [1/5] A driver makes their way through a flooded street at high tide during a winter storm in Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S., December 23, 2022. Their plight has added to local agencies scrambling to get people off the streets as the arctic blast arrived. While some areas downwind from the Great Lakes received a foot or more of snow on Friday, "the big story wasn't so much the falling snow but the blowing snow," weather service meteorologist Brian Hurley said.

☆ Philadelphia schools will require masks as U.S. COVID cases spike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Philadelphia is among state and local agencies around the United States rolling out mask mandates or recommendations this month to fight a new surge in virus cases, which is expected to grow as Americans travel and socialize around the winter holidays. Health experts say the U.S. healthcare system is under strain because of a "tridemic" caused by COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). There is debate over the mandates' efficacy, as months of stringent public health rules early in the pandemic exacerbated the public's COVID fatigue and stoked political controversy. California's public health department on Thursday told Reuters it was urging people to wear masks, but stopping short of requiring them. While the political will to impose mask mandates may have waned, covering one's face remains the best way to avoid getting sick - and infecting others.

☆ Indiana prosecutor seeks to punish doctor in 10-year-old's abortion case
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Gabriella Borter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, accused Dr. Caitlin Bernard of "violating a patient’s privacy rights" and the obligation to immediately report child abuse to Indiana authorities. Rokita has been investigating whether Dr. Bernard followed state law requiring doctors to report abortions, even though public records showed Dr. Bernard promptly reported the abortion as required. The attorney general is not questioning whether the girl met the Indiana statutory requirement that she be no more than 22 weeks pregnant. When Dr. Bernard learned of the situation, the girl was three days past the six-week limit in Ohio. News of the 10-year-old's case launched a bitter legal battle between Dr. Bernard and Rokita.

☆ Amid homeless crisis, New York to step up forced hospitalization of mentally ill
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A man sleeps on a cardboard box along 34th street near Pennsylvania Station in New York City, U.S., April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File PhotoNov 29 (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams rolled out a plan on Tuesday to allow more homeless and mentally ill people to be hospitalized against their will in order to tackle "a crisis we see all around us." The Democratic mayor has made addressing the city's homelessness crisis a priority for his administration since taking office earlier this year. New York law allows for involuntary hospitalization when a person's mental illness prevents them from providing for their own basic needs, as well as when they present a danger to themselves or others. He said there would be a telephone line for police officers to get in touch directly with clinicians for consultation while dealing with cases of mental illness.

[1/2] Abortion rights protesters participate in nationwide demonstrations following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Alyssa PointerNov 15 (Reuters) - A Georgia law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy cannot be enforced, a state judge ruled on Tuesday, handing a victory to Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups that challenged the restriction when it took effect this summer. The law was previously blocked under Roe, but it took effect in July, after the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling gave states the power to restrict abortion. Around a dozen states have enforced near-total abortion bans since the end of Roe v. Wade, many like Georgia in the southeast region of the United States. Solicitor General Stephen Petrany argued at the time that the law was in line with the state's interest to protect "unborn children."

[1/11] The sun rises over the U.S. Capitol, as control of Congress remained unclear following the 2022 U.S. midterm elections in Washington, U.S., November 9, 2022. "Women in America made their voices heard, man," President Joe Biden said at a political event in Washington. At the political event, Biden noted that many so-called "election deniers" had accepted their own losses. A White House official said Biden spoke by phone with Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, who announced on Wednesday his intention to run for speaker of the House if Republicans control the chamber. Republicans are expected to demand spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation's borrowing limit next year, a showdown that could spook financial markets.

☆ Analysis: Ron DeSantis' big election night shakes 2024 White House field
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Trump would be the favorite in a primary matchup against DeSantis or any other Republican. Although he has been coy about a presidential run, supporters at his victory party chanted "Two more years!" Even if Trump mounts another presidential run, he will continue to face a dizzying array of legal headaches, including probes of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his removal of classified documents from the White House. I don't like him," said two-time Trump voter Gordon Nelson, 77, as he voted for Republican candidates in Michigan on Tuesday. At a Wednesday press conference, Biden seemed amused at the prospect of Trump and DeSantis going head-to-head.

☆ U.S. Senate up for grabs as Republicans move toward House majority
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

(Live election results from around the country are here.) But Democrats were able to avoid the major defeat that Republicans had anticipated and were holding on in the close Senate battles in Nevada and Arizona. Even a slim House majority would allow Republicans to shape the rest of Biden's term, blocking priorities such as abortion rights and launching investigations into his administration and family. A White House official said Biden spoke by phone with Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, who announced earlier in the day his intention to run for speaker of the House if Republicans control the chamber. Control of the Senate, meanwhile, would give Republicans the power to block Biden's nominees for judicial and administrative posts.

☆ Republicans close in on U.S. House majority, Senate still up for grabs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A split would mean the Senate majority would come down to a runoff election in Georgia for the second time in two years. Even a slim House majority would allow Republicans to shape the rest of Biden's term, blocking priorities such as abortion rights and launching investigations into his administration and family. A White House official said Biden spoke by phone with Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, who announced earlier in the day his intention to run for speaker of the House if Republicans control the chamber. Control of the Senate, meanwhile, would give Republicans the power to block Biden's nominees for judicial and administrative posts. MIXED RESULTSThe party in power historically suffers heavy casualties in a president's first midterm election, and Biden has struggled with low approval ratings.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy had hoped to celebrate a resounding victory that would propel him into the top job of speaker. But Republican hopes for a "red wave" of victories faded as Democrats showed surprising resilience in several key races. Pelosi said in a statement, "It is clear that House Democratic members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations around the country." [1/9] Supporters cheer U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) at a House Republicans' party held late on the night of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections in Washington, U.S., November 9, 2022. The Georgia Senate race could end up in a Dec. 6 runoff, possibly with Senate control at stake.

By early Wednesday, Republicans had flipped six Democratic House seats, Edison Research projected, one more than the minimum they need to take over the chamber. But Republican hopes for a "red wave" of victories faded as Democrats showed surprising resilience in several key races. Pelosi said in a statement, "It is clear that House Democratic members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations around the country." But television host and heart surgeon Mehmet Oz failed to win his Pennsylvania Senate race. In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who sought to overturn the state's election results after Trump lost, was defeated by Democrat Josh Shapiro.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans remained favored to win a majority that would allow them to halt Biden's legislative agenda. By early Wednesday, the party had flipped six Democratic House seats, Edison Research projected, one more than the minimum they need to take over the chamber. But Republican hopes for a "red wave" of victories faded as Democrats showed surprising resilience in several key races. The Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement, "It is clear that House Democratic members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations around the country." Voter anger over the Supreme Court's June decision to overturn the nationwide right to abortion helped Democrats to curb their losses.

SummarySummary Companies Key House, Senate races still too close to callRepublican-controlled Congress would stymie Biden agendaPHOENIX, Ariz./BIRMINGHAM, Mich., Nov 8 (Reuters) - Control of Congress was up for grabs after Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections with many of the most competitive races uncalled, leaving it unclear whether Republicans would seize control from President Joe Biden's Democrats. In the House of Representatives, Republicans had been favored to win a majority that would allow them to halt Biden's legislative agenda. By early Wednesday, the party had flipped four Democratic House seats, Edison Research projected, one short of the number they need to take over the chamber. The Georgia Senate race could end up in a Dec. 6 runoff, possibly with Senate control at stake. Democrats currently control the 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break any ties.

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