Man killed in shooting outside Orlando US immigration building; suspect in custody
ORLANDO, Fla. — A man was shot to death Monday morning outside an Orlando office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the alleged gunman was later arrested after a short car chase ending in Kissimmee, according to the Orlando Police Department.
Orlando police spokesperson Lt. Diego Toruno said the man was walking with a woman toward the federal building on Corporate Centre Boulevard near Lee Vista Boulevard shortly before 10 a.m. when a vehicle pulled up and a man opened fire. Toruno did not identify any of the three people involved.
The woman escaped without injuries, but the man she was with died at the scene, Toruno said. The alleged shooter then drove away from the building.
Orlando police officers soon located the suspect’s vehicle, chasing him for at least 20 miles until they caught up in Kissimmee, where he was arrested.
Toruno did not say if the three people knew each other, or why they were at the USCIS building early Monday.
Outside the building Monday, crime tape enclosed the parking lot, while multiple evidence tags — often used to mark bullet casings — surrounded a body on the ground. The building remained closed through the afternoon, with many people turned away.
—Orlando Sentinel
Ossoff introduces bill to roll back Georgia law on giving voters water
ATLANTA — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff introduced a bill Monday to prohibit states like Georgia from banning volunteers from distributing food and water to voters waiting in line.
The legislation is a response to Georgia’s new voting law, which makes it a crime for volunteers and organizations to give out refreshments as they did during last year’s primary election, when lines in some areas lasted over three hours.
Though Georgia’s law restricts volunteers from handing out food and water, it allows poll workers to set up self-service water receptacles.
“This is about decency — basic decency. This is about the health and well-being of a senior citizen who’s being made to wait six hours in line to vote and allowing a volunteer to hand that senior citizen a bottle of water without facing up to a year in jail,” Ossoff said during a press conference on Zoom.
Ossoff said his proposal could be incorporated into a bill known as S. 1, a sweeping election, redistricting and campaign finance bill that already passed the U.S. House and is pending in the U.S. Senate. His legislation is similar to a bill introduced last month by U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, a Democrat who represents Atlanta.
Volunteers would be able to provide food and water as long as they’re not engaging in political activity and they offer it to every voter, according to Ossoff’s bill.
The law bans distributing food and drinks to voters within 150 feet of the outer edge of a polling place or within 25 feet of any voter standing in line. Violations are punishable as a misdemeanor, which comes with up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Biden rides high in polls as Americans back his handling of pandemic
President Joe Biden is riding a wave of approval as Americans overwhelmingly back his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a new AP-NORC poll revealed Monday.
As he nears four months in the White House, Biden is seeing an enviable 63% overall approval rating.
Even more Americans approve of his handling of the pandemic, with 71% giving him high marks, including a remarkable 47% of Republicans.
Some 54% of those surveyed say the country is on the right track, higher than at any point in AP-NORC polls conducted since former President Donald Trump’s first months in office.
And 57% approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, although that figure is sharply divided by party with just 19% of GOP supporters approving.
Despite the rosy picture, the next phase of Biden’s presidency is likely to be much trickier. Vaccination rates have slowed, and the administration is grappling with how to persuade those who are reluctant to get the shots about their safety and efficacy.
Biden’s legislative agenda for the rest of this year faces major obstacles on Capitol Hill as Republicans continue to resist pleas for meaningful bipartisan cooperation while Democrats lack the unanimous support they would need to eliminate the filibuster. Without compromise on both sides of the aisle, reform initiatives including immigration policy, gun laws and voting rights will stand little chance of becoming a reality.
—New York Daily News
WHO classifies Indian coronavirus variant as one 'of concern'
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the coronavirus mutation that has appeared in India as a "variant of concern," said WHO's senior scientist Maria Van Kerkhove on Monday.
The other three mutations designated as ones of concern by WHO are the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants.
"There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility of B1617," or the Indian variant, said Van Kerkhove. According to preliminary studies, the immune system may also not be able to react as strongly to this variant, she added.
The WHO classifies COVID-19 variants into two categories: variants under observation and variants of concern. The latter are more contagious, hard to control, or they lead to more severe illness.
But there's no evidence yet that coronavirus tests, drugs or vaccines are less effective against the Indian variant, said Van Kerkhove.
Hundreds of thousands of people have become infected with the coronavirus daily in India, and just over 22.6 million infections have been tallied in the country since the pandemic began.
According to WHO, the number of new infections is decreasing in most regions of the world, including Europe and the Americas. However, there is still a sharp increase in South Asia and South-East Asia, the agency said.
—dpa
