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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order banning state government entities from enforcing the so-called ‘vaccine passports.” According to the governor, this ban would apply to “any public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds through any means, including grants, contracts, loans, or other disbursement of taxpayer funds.”  The order reads: “Whereas, an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status is private health information, and no governmental entity should compel disclosure of this information by mandating a so-called ‘vaccine passport’ for COVID-19 or by otherwise conditioning receipt of services on an individual’s COVID-19 status.” 

Abbott said in a statement announcing the order: “We will continue to vaccinate more Texans and protect public health — and we will do so without treading on Texans’ personal freedoms.”

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a similar executive order banning businesses from requiring customers to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get service and barred any government agency in Florida from issuing such documentation to provide proof of vaccinations.

Texas governor bans mandated COVID-19 ‘vaccine passports’

Via abcnews.go.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is using his executive power to ban state government and some private…

04/06/2021 6:09 PM

 

Editorial credit: Carrington Tatum / Shutterstock.com

Two people were injured after a shooting near Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, on Tuesday. Police were called for an active shooter situation at 8:20 a.m. in the Riverside Tech Park area.

Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando said when officers arrived on scene they found two adult males injured. The victims were flown by helicopter to Baltimore, where one of the victims was released Tuesday afternoon, while the other remained in critical condition. The 38-year-old suspect, who Navy Public Affairs confirmed was a Navy hospital corpsman, then traveled to nearby Fort Detrick and was subsequently shot and killed by base personnel, police said. The suspect, identified as Fantahun Girma Woldesenbet, had been stationed at Fort Detrick base.

Navy hospital corpsman killed at Maryland base after shooting two people nearby, officials say

Via www.nbcnews.com

04/06/2021 11:42 AM

 

Emergency crews in Manatee County, Fla., are scrambling to drain a leaking wastewater reservoir in an effort to prevent a catastrophic event that officials said could unleash a “20-foot wall of water.” The leak at Piney Point — a long-abandoned phosphate plant in the Tampa Bay area — was first discovered last month. 

Workers are removing millions of gallons of water from the reservoir each day to reduce pressure on its liner, and concerns over a potential breach prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency on Saturday for Manatee County, where more than 300 homes and businesses have been ordered to evacuate. Officials said Monday that a drone may have identified a second breach overnight; engineers evacuated the site but have since returned to continue their assessment. The leak has prompted a multi-agency response at the state and federal level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deployed an on-scene coordinator on Sunday, and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team arrived at the site on Monday.

Piney Point closed 20 years ago when its owners declared bankruptcy and is now owned by a company called HRK Holdings. It still stores industrial byproducts including polluted water and stacks of phosphogypsum — a waste product that emits radioactive gas, according to the EPA. Gov. Ron DeSantis stressed on Sunday that officials are most immediately concerned with the risk to local residents, saying, “public health and safety is the priority. Obviously we want to protect that in a way that minimizes any of the environmental impacts, but the goal is to ensure the integrity of the stack system as quickly as possible in order to minimize impacts to local residents and to prevent an uncontrolled discharge.”

 

Leaking toxic Florida reservoir evidence of decades of failure, environmental activists say

Via www.nbcnews.com

“Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong,” a longtime environmental activist said of the…

04/05/2021 7:03 PM

 

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On Monday, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed a proposed state law banning access to gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormones to transgender minors. Hutchinson said he had rejected the bill, which had been approved last month by the GOP-controlled state Legislature, calling it a “product of the cultural war in America” that would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.” Hutchinson told reporters in Little Rock if the bill became law, it would set “new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people.”

The legislation prohibits public funds from being granted to organizations or entities providing gender transition procedures to people younger than 18; bans state-owned facilities from providing transition-related care; and bars the state’s Medicaid program from reimbursing or providing coverage of gender-affirming care to minors. Hutchinson said the veto was partly meant to “cause conservative Republican legislators to think through the issue again, and hopefully come up with a more restrained approach that allows a study of the science and ethics surrounding the issue before acting.”

Arkansas governor vetoes bill that would ban gender-confirming treatments for minors

Via abcnews.go.com

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender treatments for…

04/05/2021 5:22 PM