NEW YORK — New York could be headed for a spring-style shutdown of all non-essential businesses and services if the state’s coronavirus metrics do not improve over the next few weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Monday.
With hospitalization, infection and death rates continuing to tick up, Cuomo floated the potential shutdown order after laying out a bleak projection in which 3,500 more New Yorkers would die from COVID-19 in the next month while another 11,000 would end up hospitalized.
“If we do not change that trajectory, we could very well be heading toward shutdown,” he said in a virtual briefing from Albany. “That is really something to worry about.”
Cuomo contrasted the economic devastation of a full-scale shutdown against that of some recently reimplemented restrictions on businesses, like the indoor dining ban that took effect in New York City on Monday.
“You should be happy, because if we don’t change the trajectory, we’re going to go to shutdown and then your business will be closed,” he said. “All nonessential businesses closed. They go to zero.”
Cuomo’s dire warning came after another 83 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 on Sunday, putting the state’s total death count at 35,288, according to State Health Department data.
—New York Daily News
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who has threatened to veto the fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill, has until Dec. 23 to either do so or sign it into law, congressional aides said Monday.
The Senate cleared the $731.6 billion measure on Dec. 11, and it was quickly enrolled and delivered to the White House the next day, the aides said.
According to the Constitution, a president has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto a bill, setting up the Dec. 23 deadline for Trump’s decision.
If Congress were to adjourn during the 10 days, the bill could get scuttled in a so-called pocket veto, but Congress is expected to take procedural steps to avoid that scenario. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer has said he would not allow a pocket veto to happen.
Trump has threatened to veto the measure, known as the NDAA, because it would not repeal legal protections for social media companies and because it would require the Pentagon to rename military bases named after Confederate soldiers.
—CQ-Roll Call
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Capital Gazette reporter and editor Wendi Winters was posthumously awarded the highest honor for civilian heroism in the U.S. and Canada, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced Monday.
A gunman blasted through the glass doors of the Capital Gazette’s office on June 28, 2018, and killed five employees: John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith and Rob Hiaasen. Survivors credit Winters, who they say charged the attacker with a trash can and a recycling bin, for saving their life.
Winters, 65, is among 17 people being awarded the 2020 Carnegie Medal, an honor given to those who enter mortal danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. Awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant.
Established in 1904, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission was created to recognize outstanding acts of selfless heroism performed in the United States and Canada. The commission awards the Carnegie Medal to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
—Capital Gazette
ATLANTA – The campaign schedule for the dueling U.S. Senate candidates is about to get more hectic with the start of the three-week early voting period on Monday.
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock launched separate bus tours over the weekend, while U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue readied for a round of new events to capitalize on the early-voting period ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs for control of the U.S. Senate.
With the election coinciding with holiday season, both parties have put an extra emphasis on voting early. Warnock's campaign punctuated that effort by releasing a 30-second ad Monday that urges Georgians to add "vote" to their busy to-do lists.
"That's right, early voting starts December 14th, so make voting a part of your holiday plans," Warnock says as he wrestles with unwieldy Christmas lights. "It'll probably take you less time than it'll take me to do this."
Democrats built an edge in early-voting this year, dominating the GOP with mail-in votes. Republicans are trying to erase that advantage ahead of the runoffs, aggressively urging supporters to cast absentee ballots, though that will be no easy sell for many. Trump and other top GOP officials have denigrated the mail-in system for years, eroding the trust of the GOP base.
Both Democrats plan to campaign together on Monday in Atlanta and on Tuesday with President-elect Joe Biden, who is set to stump for the two candidates. The Republicans, meanwhile, have a busy campaign schedule that includes stops in metro Atlanta, rural Georgia and a Travis Tritt concert on Friday.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
