Signs of omicron found in California wastewater, suggesting variant is widespread
LOS ANGELES — Signs of the omicron variant of the coronavirus have been found in California’s wastewater, officials said, as the number of cases associated with the new variant rose to double digits this week, including a newly confirmed infection in a Long Beach resident.
Clues suggestive of omicron’s presence in the Central Valley were picked up in wastewater samples collected in Sacramento and Merced counties, California state epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said Tuesday in a discussion hosted by the California Medical Association.
“We definitely are seeing omicron across the state, for sure,” Pan said.
In Sacramento County, Stanford University researchers detected a distinctive mutation that is found in omicron from wastewater collected Nov. 30, according to a statement provided by county spokesperson Janna Haynes. Results were confirmed Monday, the county said.
“These findings indicate that the omicron variant is most likely present in Sacramento County,” the statement said.
Pan said the mutation was also found in a wastewater sample collected in Merced County.
Of the 10 people confirmed to have omicron in California, five reside in Alameda County, four in Los Angeles County and one in San Francisco.
—Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court leans in favor of requiring taxpayer funding for some religious schools
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices sounded ready Wednesday to rule for a Maine couple seeking state taxpayer funds to send their children to a church-sponsored school because no public ones are available in their area.
The case of Carson vs. Makin poses the latest test of the line between church and state, and it comes at a time when the court’s conservatives have increasingly sided with religious discrimination claims. Last year, the high court ruled for Montana parents who sought a state scholarship to send their children to a Christian school.
A ruling in favor of the Maine parents could open the door to arguments that states may not exclude private religious charter schools if they also fund nonreligious ones.
The Maine case centers on whether the state can refuse to pay for Christian schools for students who live in rural communities that don’t have a public high school.
For 40 years, the state has said it will pay the cost to send those children to a private school, but not one that is affiliated with a church and teaches religion.
—Los Angeles Times
Jury deliberations begin in Jussie Smollett’s trial for allegedly orchestrating and reporting a staged hate crime
CHICAGO — Jury deliberations have begun in the trial of Jussie Smollett, the former “Empire” actor accused of arranging a phony hate crime attack on himself in downtown Chicago nearly three years ago.
After a week-long trial and about five hours of closing arguments, the six-man, six-woman jury began deliberating the hot-button case at about 2:45 p.m. after being instructed on the law by Judge James Linn.
Linn, who is known for keeping the trial going after hours, warned jurors previously that he would let their discussions continue as long as they need to.
Smollett, 39, faces six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly giving false information to Chicago police about the alleged racial and homophobic attack on a frigid night in January 2019.
In his closing argument earlier Wednesday, Smollett’s attorney said the prosecution’s case was riddled with “doubts” and built on the testimony of two brothers who are criminals and “certified liars.”
“The entire prosecution case was built like a house of cards,” attorney Nenye Uche told jurors at the outset of his remarks. “And we all know what happens to a house of cards when you apply a little pressure. It crumbles.”
—Chicago Tribune
Social Democrat Olaf Scholz takes Germany into post-Merkel era
BERLIN — Olaf Scholz, a veteran Social Democrat with a reputation as a steady pair of hands in government, is taking the reins of Europe's largest economy and leading Germany into the post-Merkel era as chancellor.
The 63-year-old succeeds conservative leader Angela Merkel thanks to an election campaign earlier this year that focused on his personal popularity with the electorate, driving his Social Democratic Party (SPD) ahead of its conservative rivals.
Many argue however that Scholz's victory was fundamentally down to his years-long determination to become chancellor — right down to his physical fitness. With plenty of sport and no alcohol, the unflappable moderate was as personally disciplined as his election campaign was solid.
He took criticism in his stride before and after the election, and still refuses to be drawn into heated debates either with his peers or the media — much, observers say, like Merkel herself.
"I am running as candidate to be chancellor, not to be circus ringmaster," he said.
He is sure to be tested from the start. The coronavirus pandemic has already forced action from his fledgling coalition government, composed of three parties that have never ruled together at national level: the SPD, the Greens, and the liberal Free Democrats.
—dpa
