All 11 African lions at Denver Zoo test positive for COVID-19
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — All 11 of the African lions living at the Denver Zoo have tested positive for COVID-19, the zoo announced Monday.
The lions were tested for the virus after they began exhibiting symptoms, including coughing, sneezing, lethargy and nasal discharge, the zoo said.
The tests were confirmed by the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the National Veterinary Services Laboratories.
This diagnosis comes after two Amur tigers, Yuri and Nikita, became the zoo’s first animals to test positive for COVID-19 earlier this month.
The zoo said the lions began showing symptoms shortly after the tigers’ diagnosis, but they don’t believe the incidents are related.
“There have been a number of big cats to come down with COVID-19 at zoos throughout the country,” said Brian Aucone with the Denver Zoo. “Fortunately, the vast majority have fully recovered, and the upside is that there’s an established knowledge base for us to draw from to help treat our animals.”
Aucone said the lions’ symptoms are considered mild for now, but the zoo is monitoring their conditions closely. The zoo is also in touch with other zoos that have treated big cats with COVID-19 to help inform their care, he said.
The zoo said it is planning to vaccinate all of its lions and tigers when more doses of the animal-specific Zoetis COVID-19 vaccine become available. The vaccine has been authorized for experimental use on a case-by-case basis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
—The Gazette
Brian Laundrie’s family not planning a funeral, attorney says
A funeral service will not be held for Brian Laundrie, whose remains were found in a Florida reserve last week, an attorney for his family said.
Laundrie’s family plans to have his remains cremated, the attorney, Steven Bertolino, told CNN.
The 23-year-old Laundrie had been the fiancé of Gabby Petito, whose remains were found in a Wyoming national forest last month.
Petito and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country road trip in July that began on Long Island. Laundrie returned alone to Florida on Sept. 1, then disappeared nearly two weeks later after Petito, 22, was reported missing by her family.
The FBI used dental records to confirm the human remains discovered in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park last Wednesday were Laundrie’s. Multiple personal items were also found in the area.
“Brian Laundrie’s autopsy has not provided a manner or cause of death and his remains are now being transferred to an anthropologist,” Bertolino said to CNN.
A Wyoming coroner determined Petito, a Long Island native, died from homicide by strangulation, but few other details in the case have been confirmed.
Laundrie was considered a person of interest in the Petito case.
—New York Daily News
Florida’s 67 election supervisors urge voters to reject falsehoods
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s 67 county elections supervisors wrote a letter to voters Monday urging them to reject falsehoods about the 2020 election and reaffirming the integrity of the state’s voting system.
The plea, issued by the Florida Supervisors of Elections, comes after GOP county committees in Lake and Brevard counties called for an Arizona-style “forensic audit” spurred by former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
It was sent days after the supervisors, headed by Marion County election head Wesley Wilcox, issued a statement to Florida’s elected officials and candidates urging them to tamp down the rhetoric.
“The strength of our nation rests on the ability that ‘We the People’ have a voice in its governance and are confident in the integrity of our elections,” Monday’s letter states. “In this hour, public trust in our elections is being systematically undermined, to the detriment of all Americans.”
The letter says before and after the 2020 presidential election, “the integrity of our democracy has been challenged by misinformation, disinformation and malinformation that sows discord and undermines trust in America’s electoral process.”
The supervisors pledged that Florida’s voter rolls are accurate, paper ballots are counted using certified, publicly tested machines, and a public audit was already held following the election as it has after every election.
—Orlando Sentinel
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs 9 bills into law in Monday flurry
AUSTIN, Texas — The redistricting maps signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday already are being challenged in court.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed into law nine bills passed by lawmakers during this year's third special legislative session, including bills drawing new political maps that secure Republican power in the state.
The session ended earlier this month, with several of Abbott's agenda items approved by lawmakers, including limiting the participation of transgender athletes in public school sports and protecting dogs from dangerous restraints.
Abbott also signed bills funding construction projects at institutions of higher education through tuition revenue bonds and authorizing a ballot initiative that would raise the homestead exemption on school property taxes to deliver savings to homeowners.
Lawmakers did not approve four of Abbott's agenda items: prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates by government entities, prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates by Texas businesses, increasing penalties for voting illegally and allowing judges to deny bail to defendants facing charges for violent sexual offenses.
At least one bill passed by lawmakers during the session was not signed into law Monday: allocating about $13 billion in federal coronavirus relief dollars toward state hospitals, the tourism industry and other government entities that have faced financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Any legislation that appropriates money has to be certified by the state comptroller of public accounts before being sent to the governor.
—Austin American-Statesman
