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US government cuts financial ties to controversial Wuhan lab

July 19, 2023
The U.S. government has cut future funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology after it failed to provide officials with documents pertaining to lab safety and security. Officials had requested the Wuhan Institute to comply in a probe searching for answers into COVID’s origin. Despite a leading theory that the virus came from the institute, the U.S. government had been funding the Chinese laboratory until now.

The Wuhan lab apparently stonewalled the investigation, leading to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services taking action to ensure the lab “doesn’t receive another dollar of federal funding.”

The U.S. had previously paid tens of millions of dollars to fund different projects at the Wuhan lab. One of those projects was the controversial research on bats, which some federal agencies say may have led to the global pandemic.

Despite several agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, suggesting COVID could’ve come from the Wuhan lab, it’s still a subject the government has avoided.

A top adviser to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, who served as President Biden’s chief health official during the pandemic, has admitted to hiding information regarding the origins of COVID.

Two federal agencies, including the FBI, believe COVID was the result of a lab leak. Meanwhile, five other agencies asserted the virus spread naturally from infected animals to humans.

While there are strong assertions, there is no definitive answer how COVID originated.
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US Census Bureau changes its definition of ‘urban’

January 6, 2023

When the U.S. government changes the definitions of words, it may or may not impact the average person at all. But depending on where one lives, this latest move certainly could. The U.S. Census Bureau announced it is updating its definition of an urban area, from one with 2,500 people to now one with more than 5,000.

As a result, 4.2 million people across 1,100 areas in the U.S. who were classified as urban in 2010, are now rural. This could change access for many state and federal programs depending on if one lives in an affected area.

According to the Wall Street Journal, whether an area is classified as urban or rural can affect funding for health care, broadband development, transportation and so on. Some government agencies follow the Census Bureau’s classification, such as the Rural Health Clinic program. Others develop their own criteria.

In a written statement, the Census Bureau said that its previous threshold was “the lowest in use among all federal agencies. We see the change in our minimum threshold as signifying that the Census Bureau is listening to stakeholders and feedback from other agencies and is matching the way others have characterized and classified settlement in the United States.”

The last time the bureau changed the threshold like this was in 1910. Since then, the U.S. population has more than tripled, according to census figures.

Right now, most Americans live in and around major cities and it’s been that way for the past 100 years. This latest change puts Americans at an 80-20 split between urban and rural America.
Morning rundown: $1.7 trillion spending bill signed, Pele dies

December 30, 2022

The $1.7 trillion government spending bill signed; Trump taxes released; and a soccer legend dead at 82. These stories and more highlight your morning rundown, aimed straight down the middle, for Friday, Dec.30, 2022.

Biden signs $1.7 trillion spending bill

While on vacation on Thursday, President Biden resumed official business just long enough to sign the $1.7 trillion bill that will keep the government from shutting down and provides funding for government agencies and projects in the new year.

The bill was passed and signed into law just in the nick of time ahead of 2023.

Trump taxes to be released today

A House committee will be releasing former President Trump’s tax records today. The documents are said to date back to 2015 through 2020. Democrats have been fighting for the documents to go public for many years.

The release is said to offer transparency on the finances surrounding Trump’s business empire.

Trump has called the move “an outrageous abuse of power”.

Chinese leaders to visit Moscow 2023

Just as the U.S. has clearly taken a side in the Ukraine-Russia war, China has to once again pit our two countries on opposite sides of the battlefield.

China’s Xi Jin Ping spoke with Russia’s Vladimir Putin through a video conference on Friday. Putin said their alliance is the “best in history.” And vowed to strengthen military cooperation with China.

Xi is expected to visit Moscow in person in the spring of 2023.

JP Morgan sued over Epstein account

JP Morgan Chase is suing the U.S. Virgin Islands. The attorney general accused the bank of aiding and abetting Jeffrey Epstein’s illegal sex trafficking enterprise.

The lawsuit suggests JP Morgan turned a blind eye to evidence of human trafficking for more than a decade because of Epstein’s own large financial contributions.

It accuses the bank of deliberately trying to hide Epstein’s suspicious activities by failing to comply with proper record-keeping.

The suit says financial institutions have the ability to dismantle human trafficking networks with proper vetting.

This latest lawsuit comes only about a month after two of Epstein’s accusers sued JP Morgan. Alleging the bank made millions in profits off of sex-trafficking accounts.

JP Morgan has not responded.

Soccer legend Pele dies at 82

“Pele represents what we are, where we come from. Pele is our roots. What we are today is thanks to him,” said Pele fan Flavio Augusto.

“It’s really sad to see a legend go on. He had such an influence in soccer. And I just feel really upset and I hope he is in a better place. He influenced soccer for generations to come,” said Pele fan Alberto Melgar.

Soccer fans around the world are mourning the loss of Pele. Better known as the “King of Soccer” and. arguably the best footballer of all time. The only player to ever win three world cup championships.

Pele was not only a star in Brazil but around the world. He was the first global sports icon, transforming the sport of soccer as we know it.

He was 82 years old.
Senate passes $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill

December 22, 2022

The United States Senate on Thursday approved a $1.7 trillion omnibus package to fund the federal government through September of next year. The legislation is now heading to the House, and if passed, must be signed by President Joe Biden before funding runs out on Friday.

The spending package, which passed the Senate 68-29, has $858 billion in defense funding and $45 billion in aid to Ukraine. It also provides $59 billion for the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law last year. It also includes the Electoral Count Act, which makes clear the vice president does not have the authority to overturn presidential election results and only plays a ministerial role in the certification process.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lauded funding the CHIPS Act and PACT Act as part of the legislation.

“A lot of hard work. A lot of compromise. But, we funded the government with an aggressive investment in American families, American workers, American national defense,” Schumer said during a press conference Thursday following its passage. “It’s one of the most significant appropriations packages we’ve done in a long time.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke on the Senate floor about the commitment to the military included in the spending bill.

“The world’s greatest military will get the funding increase that it needs, outpacing inflation,” McConnell said. “Meanwhile, nondefense, non-veterans spending will come in below the rate of inflation, for a real-dollar cut.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the lower chamber could bring the spending bill up for a vote as early as Thursday evening during her weekly press briefing.
Morning rundown: COVID surge; Pelosi’s attacker in court; JFK files revealed

December 15, 2022

The U.S. faces a potential COVID surge; a government shutdown likely to be avoided; Paul Pelosi’s attacker appears in court; and JFK documents are set to be declassified. These stories and more highlight our morning rundown for Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.

Senate to vote on funding bill to avert shutdown

There was a House vote late Wednesday to avoid a partial government shutdown. A short-term funding bill was passed in the House. The Senate is expected to vote on it as early as today.

It would give the government a one-week extension to continue debating how to allocate government spending in 2023. If the Senate passes the short term funding bill, Congress will have until Dec. 23 to iron out details of a roughly $1.7 trillion spending package.

White House renews free at-home COVID tests

From December to February is when Americans are most at risk of viral infections, including the flu and COVID-19.

The White House is unveiling contingency plans today for any potential surge in COVID cases. That includes sending out free at-home tests, putting personnel and equipment on standby for hospitals and nursing homes, and encouraging more people to get booster shots.

As of now, the White House could run out of federal funding for COVID-19 as early as next month. That’s when insurance companies or uninsured Americans would be responsible to pay for vaccines or testing.

House committee holds hearing on Uvalde massacre

Today on Capitol Hill, a House Judiciary Committee will be hearing testimony from a Texas state senator on the Robb-Elementary mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez represents the district that includes Uvalde. Today he will give lawmakers his opinion on systemic failures of law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting. He will also discuss gun laws that he says make school shootings possible.

Survivors, victims’ families and local officials will also have the opportunity to appear at today’s public hearing.

Pelosi’s attacker targeted Hunter Biden, Tom Hanks

The man who allegedly broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and assaulted her husband Paul Pelosi was in a San Francisco courtroom Wednesday. During a preliminary hearing, David Depape said he was also planning to go after President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and actor Tom Hanks.

“At this time, as I’ve already said a month ago, this was clearly a planned and calculated act. The outcome was what I expected, which is that we filed the charges based on what evidence we had. And that we had sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed these acts,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said.

In court, police who were on scene that day took the stand. One police officer held the hammer that police say was used in the attack.

There was also body camera footage played at the hearing, but it is still not available to the public.

DOJ charges 7 with smuggling us tech to Russia

Millions of dollars worth of U.S. equipment and technology has been sent to Russia’s military, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The DOJ arrested seven individuals in the scheme — five Russians and two U.S. nationals.

They allegedly conspired to violate U.S. sanctions, illegally obtaining military grade equipment, and shipping it to Russia both before and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year.

8,000 JFK documents to be declassified

Nearly 60 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the National Archives will release once-classified information related to the president’s death and assassin Lee-Harvey Oswald.

On Thursday, 8,000 documents will become declassified — something conspiracy theorists have been wanting for decades. But officials say it might be a let down, saying there’s no obvious bombshells in the material.

Still, the new information will likely reignite the debate on why the government can withhold information about a president’s murder.