California has the lowest coronavirus rate in the nation
LOS ANGELES — California officially has the lowest coronavirus case rate of any state, federal figures show, underscoring the progress made in the ongoing battle against the highly infectious delta variant.
The state has been among the national leaders in that metric for the last week, as the number of newly confirmed coronavirus infections continues to tumble from a peak earlier this summer.
California’s new case rate per 100,000 people is less than half of neighboring states, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some hard-hit states have more than triple California’s numbers.
As of Sunday, California’s seven-day case rate was 109.6 per 100,000 people. The next-closest state was Maryland, at 143.4.
The comparable rates over the same period were 386.2 cases per 100,000 people in Texas; 355.9 in Florida; 308.6 in Oregon; 266.3 in Nevada; and 262.7 in Arizona, federal data show.
Last week, the state’s coronavirus transmission level temporarily fell from “high” to “substantial,” the second-highest tier as defined by the CDC. California was the only state to progress into that category at the time, though it — like the rest of the nation, except for Puerto Rico — is now considered to have high community transmission.
The CDC’s scale evaluating coronavirus transmission levels categorizes states as being in one of four tiers: high, substantial, moderate and low.
The federal figures illustrate the recent success California has had in turning the tide of the delta variant-fueled coronavirus wave.
But the progress has been uneven. While the Bay Area, in general, experienced the least-severe summer surge and Los Angeles has had success with new measures to slow the delta variant, the Central Valley and parts of rural Northern California have been harder hit.
—Los Angeles Times
Audit: Pentagon lags in fight against fraud
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is falling short in its efforts to combat fraud in defense contracts, according to a draft federal audit obtained by CQ Roll Call.
The Government Accountability Office report credits Defense Department leaders with making some progress in establishing systems to find and root out fraud. But the audit nonetheless documents several ways military and civilian officials are lagging in their efforts.
The auditors cited examples of major defense organizations, such as the Army, not naming representatives to a year-old task force on fighting fraud and not conducting assessments of risks that are recommended in official guidance.
The audit focused on activities during fiscal 2020, when the Pentagon spent $422 billion on contracts.
From fiscal years 2013 to 2017, over $6.6 billion was recovered from defense contracting fraud cases, the report said. In 2020, nearly 20% of the 1,716 investigations run by the department’s inspector general were about procurement fraud.
“The scope and scale of this activity makes DOD procurement inherently susceptible to fraud,” the GAO said.
—CQ-Roll Call
Gun-waving Senate candidate McCloskey may lose law license
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — St. Louis attorney and U.S. Senate candidate Mark McCloskey faces suspension of his law license after pleading guilty this year to misdemeanor assault.
The case, filed by the state Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel on Thursday with the Missouri Supreme Court, follows McCloskey’s conviction in June of fourth-degree assault connected to his waving of a rifle at racial justice protesters last summer.
Republicans saw his action as an example of the “castle doctrine,” which allows property owners to defend their homes with firearms.
Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, pardoned McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, but the new legal fight shows the St. Louis attorney could still face consequences, including suspension of his law license for up to six months.
A similar motion by the court’s disciplinary officer was filed against Patricia McCloskey, who also is an attorney.
The incident that led to their guilty pleas came in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As a group of protesters walked through the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, the McCloskeys stood outside their home on Portland Place with a rifle and a pistol.
No shots were fired.
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
NYC mayors asked what they knew about ground zero hazards
What did then-New York City Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg really know about the toxic threats posed by the ruins for the World Trade Center, and when did they know it?
More than two decades after the catastrophic attacks, and almost 20 years since the city switched from a rescue to recovery operation at ground zero on Sept. 29, 2001, that’s the question two members of Congress are formally asking the city in a letter expected to be sent Monday to current Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Given the recent 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we call on you and your administration to open the City’s files on the aftermath of the attacks to help provide injured and ill 9/11 responders, survivors, and their families a better understanding of what the City knew at the time about the likely scope of the health crisis and when they knew it,” says the letter from Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler, whose districts include parts of the city.
“The time has come for a full accounting of the history of 9/11,” said the letter, obtained in advance by the Daily News.
In theory, much of what Giuliani knew and when he knew it came out in the lawsuits filed against the city in the years immediately after 9/11 and which were mostly settled in 2010.
But the new letter suggests that at least two members of Congress do not believe the administrations of Giuliani and his successor, Michael Bloomberg, delivered all the goods.
—New York Daily News
