New York governor adds 12,000 deaths to publicized virus tally
ALBANY, N.Y. — Delivering another blow to what’s left of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legacy, New York’s new governor acknowledged on her first day in office that the state has had nearly 12,000 more deaths from COVID-19 than Cuomo told the public.
“The public deserves a clear, honest picture of what’s happening. And that’s whether it’s good or bad, they need to know the truth. And that’s how we restore confidence,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said on NPR.
In its first daily update on the outbreak Tuesday, Hochul’s office reported that nearly 55,400 people have died of the coronavirus in New York based on death certificate data submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That’s up from about 43,400 that Cuomo reported to the public as of Monday, his last day in office. The Democrat who was once widely acclaimed for his leadership during the COVID-19 outbreak resigned in the face of an impeachment drive after being accused of sexually harassing at least 11 women, allegations he disputed.
The higher number is not entirely new. Federal health officials and some academic institutions tracking COVID19 deaths in the U.S. have been using the higher tally for many months because of known gaps in the data Cuomo had been choosing to publicize.
But Hochul, who was lieutenant governor before being propelled to the state’s highest office, said it is vital to be fully transparent about the numbers.
“There’s a lot of things that weren’t happening, and I’m going to make them happen,” she said Wednesday on MSNBC. “Transparency will be the hallmark of my administration.”
Roof conviction upheld:
A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld Dylann Roof ’s conviction and death sentence for the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation, saying the legal record cannot even capture the “full horror” of what he did.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled unanimously against Roof in the shootings at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
In 2017, Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. Authorities have said Roof opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at the church, raining down dozens of bullets on those assembled. He was 21 at the time.
In his appeal, Roof ’s attorneys argued that he was wrongly allowed to represent himself during sentencing, a critical phase of his trial.
Palestinians protest:
Hundreds of Palestinians on Wednesday demonstrated near the Israeli border in the southern Gaza Strip, calling on Israel to ease a crippling blockade days after a similar gathering ended in deadly clashes with the Israeli army.
The demonstration wrapped up without a repeat of Saturday’s intense clashes after Hamas kept the crowds from approaching the separation wall.
Egypt, which has been trying to broker a longterm cease-fire between the enemy sides, had appealed to the Islamic militant group to calm things down. Shortly after the demonstration ended, Hamas officials
announced that the territory’s key border crossing with Egypt was partially reopening Thursday.
The Israeli military, which had beefed up its forces ahead of the demonstration, said it used tear gas and limited live fire to disperse the crowd. Palestinian medics reported at least 14 people were wounded, including five people who suffered gunshots. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
Tanzania’s president on Wednesday said five people are dead, including three police officers, after a gun battle with an armed man near the French Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
It was not clear whether the shootout in the heavily guarded diplomatic area was a terror attack. Inspector general of police Simon Sirro told reporters the armed man was a foreigner and police believe he was
Tanzania gunfight:
from Somalia.
Sirro also warned the attack could be linked to the jihadist insurgency in neighboring Mozambique, where a growing number of African nations are jointly pursuing the fighters.
The confrontation occurred shortly after President Samia Suluhu Hassan addressed security officials in another part of the city, Tanzania’s commercial hub. The president later said three police officers, a member of the auxiliary police and the armed man were killed, and she ordered an investigation.
Scam shut down: A racket in which corrupt lawyers and doctors generated over $20 million in lawsuit settlements by manipulating hundreds of homeless individuals and other desperate people to feign trip-andfall accidents has been shut down with an indictment, authorities announced Wednesday.
Charges against two lawyers and two doctors in Manhattan federal court were unveiled by authorities who detailed a scam in which people allegedly agreed to undergo needless surgeries sometimes to boost the value of lawsuits seeking compensation for fake accidents.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said the defendants “preyed upon the most vulnerable members of society” to carry out a fraud that stretched from January 2013 through April 2018.
“The defendants abused their professional licenses and positions of trust to steal millions of dollars from New York City businesses and their insurance companies through a massive trip-andfall fraud scheme,” she said in a release.
Records sought: The House committee investigating the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is demanding a trove of records from federal intelligence and law enforcement
agencies, showing the sweep of the lawmakers’ review of the deadly attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters.
The request Wednesday seeks information about events leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, including communication within the White House under then-president Trump and other agencies, and information about planning and funding for rallies held in Washington.
The requested documents are just the beginning of what is expected to be lengthy partisan and rancorous investigation into how the mob was able to infiltrate the Capitol and disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Committee members are also considering asking telecommunications companies to preserve phone records of several people, including members of Congress, to try to determine who knew what about the unfolding riot and when they knew it.