Argentina's vice president survives assassination attempt
A man was arrested in Argentina after pointing a gun at Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as she greeted supporters outside her residence in Buenos Aires, a rare case of political violence that shocked the South American nation.
Video footage circulating on social media Thursday night showed a man coming within inches of the vice president and pulling the trigger of the gun, which did not fire. The man was arrested on the scene.
The incident comes at a time in which Argentina is bitterly polarized after years of economic crisis and political infighting. Even the Peronist ruling coalition is divided between Kirchner’s far-left supporters and the more moderate followers of President Alberto Fernandez. Argentina has seen low levels of political violence since a return to democracy in 1983.
Fernandez said the incident was an “attempt against the life” of the vice president and that the gun had five bullets but did not fire “for technical reasons that have yet to be confirmed.”
A video of the attack is being shared on Twitter and has been viewed millions of times.
“We are obliged to recover the democratic coexistence broken by hate speech,” he said in a recorded video message, adding that he decreed Friday a national holiday. “This event is extremely grave.”
—Bloomberg News
Migrants rescued after vessel capsizes near Florida Keys
MIAMI — Twenty people were rescued from the ocean off the Florida Keys on Friday morning after their migrant boat capsized while trying to reach South Florida, authorities said.
After the vessel capsized, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Estrada, civilian boaters, Coast Guard crews and officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rescued the people from the water while four others swam to land, he said.
The Coast Guard and other agencies searched Friday for a missing person.
The incident happened less than a mile off the coast of Islamorada, near the well-known Bud N’ Mary’s Marina.
Adam Hoffner, division for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Miami operations, said he received reports that the vessel was “possibly in distress.”
Other law enforcement sources said some of the people were rescued by civilian boaters in the area.
Later in the day, 45 Cuban migrants arrived in a large wooden fishing boat in the Marquesas Keys, a group of uninhabited islands about 20 miles west of Key West, according to the Border Patrol.
—Miami Herald
Sesame Place CEO fails to meet with Black family, attorney says
PHILADELPHIA — A Black family that was apparently snubbed by a mascot at Sesame Place in July was once again snubbed, according to their attorney, this time by the CEO of the park’s parent company, who pledged last month to hear them out.
On Tuesday, the Brown family was due to meet with Marc Swanson, CEO Of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, which owns and operates Sesame Place in Bucks County, but were instead met with attorneys and corporate representatives in New York, according to a statement from B’Ivory Lamarr, the family’s attorney.
Spokespeople for SeaWorld and Sesame Place did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Last month, Swanson met with Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and Lamarr, who is representing the family of Jodi Brown, the woman who posted the now-viral video of an employee dressed as the turquoise Muppet Rosita appearing to refuse to high-five two young Black girls during a parade at the park.
One of the girls is Brown’s daughter and the other is her niece; both are 6 years old.
When Jackson and Lamarr met with Swanson and company board members, the Brown family was not allowed up to the suite, Lamarr said, and had to wait in a building lobby for hours. Swanson said he was “willing to fly anywhere to meet with the Brown family,” according to the statement, but did not speak with them last month and was a no-show Tuesday.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
LA clinic diluted more than 2,000 COVID vaccine doses
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles clinic diluted more than 2,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and did not inform some patients until months later, according to a report.
Clinica Romero, a federally qualified health center with six Los Angeles County locations, administered roughly 2,100 faulty doses at two of its centers, county health officials said.
One man who received his booster vaccine from Clinica Romero in October 2021 was shocked when he received the clinic’s response letter in August.
The letter informed him that his vaccine had a “lower than recommended” dose and that he should get another.
His story is just coming out now, despite the fact that the county Department of Public Health has known about the issue since June 8.
Five days after finding out about the issue, health department officials conducted a site visit at the clinic.
Since it was not clear if the initial shots included enough of the dose to protect against the virus, Department of Public Health nurses advised the clinic to readminister the injections.
Clinica Romero has historically served a largely immigrant population, founded in 1983 by Salvadoran immigrants to be a resource for Central American war refugees.
—Los Angeles Times
