Today’s In Crisis headlines

(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:

Colorado shooting suspect due in court Thursday; Biden calls on Congress to address gun violence
The suspect in Monday’s mass shooting at a Boulder, Colorado grocery store is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a hearing. Ahmad Alissa, 21, faces 10 murder charges, one for each person killed. While the motive for the attack remains unclear, more details about Alissa are being discovered. When he was arrested, police say in documents obtained by ABC News that Alissa told them wasn’t on any drugs, nor were there any signs he was high or intoxicated. The semi-automatic rifle used in the attack was purchased by Alissa just last week. The Arvada, Colorado Police Department also confirms to ABC News that there are two past criminal reports for Alissa: a third-degree assault charge from November 2017 for assault, intimidation, and menacing, and one for criminal mischief in 2018.

In response to the Colorado shooting and the Atlanta-area shootings less than a week earlier, President Biden has called on Congress to act to address gun violence, declaring, “I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he’s committed to bringing two House-passed bills on background checks up for a Senate vote. While Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell says he’s “certainly open to discussion,” he’s not happy with the House-passed measures. The White House also doesn’t rule out the president taking executive actions, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying, “We are certainly considering a range of levers.”

Derek Chauvin jury seated; trial to begin Monday
Jury selection has ended in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of murdering George Floyd. A fifteenth juror was seated on Tuesday, although that extra alternate juror will be released on Monday, Judge Peter Cahill said, if all the other jurors show up. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd during an arrest on May 25, 2020, when Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Three other officers involved in Floyd’s death face trial in August.

COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections, deaths and vaccinations.

Latest reported COVID-19 numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 124,320,576
Global deaths: 2,736,452. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 543,849.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Total patients recovered globally: 70,539,821

Latest reported COVID-19 numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 29,922,911 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 543,849. California has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 57,798.
U.S. total people tested: 384,628,905

The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,646,941 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks second in the world after England, which has 3,768,609 cases. Texas is third, with 2,762,453 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.

Latest reported COVID-19 vaccination numbers in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 164,300,795 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. Of those, 128,217,029 doses have been administered, with 83,930,495 people receiving at least one dose and 45,533,962 people fully vaccinated, representing 25.3% and 13.7% of the total U.S. population, respectively. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines each require two doses to be effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a single dose to be effective.

White House to withhold relief money from schools, asks governors for reopening plans
It’ll be a little longer before states receive their share of $41 billion contained in the American Rescue Plan that’s earmarked for K-12 schools. The Department of Education announced that it first wants governors to submit plans on how states will use the money to reopen classrooms and “close the gaps in education equity that the pandemic has exacerbated.” The money is about a third of the $122 billion Congress recently approved for schools as part of the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden’s recently-passed $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package. The president, along with first lady Dr. Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, plan to announce today during a livestreamed National Safe School Reopening Summit on schools that $81 billion for K-12 schools will be released immediately, with the rest contingent upon states submitting their plans.

News

By She 100.3 | March 24, 2021