The coronavirus has infected New York City's rats. Why that's bad news for people
Rats, whose populations in cities exploded during the pandemic, have now joined the list of wildlife believed to be capable of catching and transmitting the virus that causes COVID-19, new research finds.
In a study published Thursday in the journal mBio, researchers showed that rats — like dogs, cats, hamsters, ferrets and humans' other close cohabitants — can pick up the pandemic virus from their environment.
They don't appear to get very sick; none of the wild rats deliberately infected in a lab lost weight or died as a result. But when the rats were exposed to the alpha, delta and omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, researchers found evidence of robust viral replication in the animals' noses, mouths, throats and lungs.
In addition, a detailed examination of 79 so-called brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) collected in and around the sewers of New York City turned up telltale signs that 13 had been exposed to the coronavirus and developed an immune response. Indeed, PCR testing of the rats' respiratory tissue suggested that four of the 79 rats had active infections when they were euthanized.
—Los Angeles Times
Sen. Hawley says some people charged for entering Capitol on Jan. 6 ‘didn’t do anything wrong’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Jan. 6, 2021, Lloyd Casimiro Cruz Jr., 40, of Polo, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C. After the rally, he walked down to the U.S. Capitol, where he saw people breaking windows and fighting with police. He then walked into the Capitol through a door on the Senate side, walked to the crypt and walked out.
He was in the building a total of six minutes. Last month, he pleaded guilty on one charge of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds and one charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who was the first senator to say he would object to the certification of the presidential election, said he isn’t sure people like Cruz should be convicted of any crimes from that day.
“You’ve got people saying I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be in here,” Hawley said this week. “They didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t assault anybody. They didn’t engage in any acts of violence. They stayed within the velvet rope lines or whatever. And they’ve been charged with trespassing. I mean, I imagine those people have got good claims, I assume, to litigate cases.”
—The Kansas City Star
Parents sue after SC student says teacher assaulted her for not saying Pledge of Allegiance
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 15-year-old student at River Bluff High School says she was physically assaulted by a teacher for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Now her parents are suing Lexington School District One, Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait, school Principal Jacob Smith, teacher Nicole Livingston and the S.C. Department of Education on her behalf.
On Nov. 29, 2022, Marissa Barnwell, a Black honor roll student, was walking in the hallway on her way to class when the Pledge of Allegiance began to play over the intercom, according a federal lawsuit filed Feb. 13. Barnwell allegedly refrained, in a “non-disruptive manner,” to acknowledge the pledge as she walked into her classroom.
Livingston began yelling and demanded that Barnwell stop to acknowledge the pledge, then physically assaulted her by pushing her on a wall, according to the lawsuit. Livingston then escorted her to the principal’s office to be punished. “I was just in disbelief,” Barnwell said. “You can hear me say in the video, ‘Get your hands off of me.’”
—The State (Columbia, S.C.)
Will Putin attend G-20 Summit in India? Kremlin clears his diary
The Kremlin is opening up Russian President Vladimir Putin’s schedule around this year’s G-20 summit in India in September to make it possible for the Russian president to participate in the leaders’ gathering after skipping the last two, according to people familiar with the planning.
Kremlin defiance is growing as efforts by the U.S. and its allies to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine are stalling in the face of reluctance among other countries to join. For the moment, the Kremlin is planning for him to participate in the summit though no final decision has been made, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that aren’t yet public.
Officials this week shifted the dates for an annual economic forum in Vladivostok, which had been set for the eve of the Sept. 9-10 summit, to a week later to give Putin greater flexibility and open the possibility that senior officials from India and China might attend the forum, the people said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
Formally, India has invited Putin to the G-20 summit and the Kremlin has accepted. But last year, amid pressure from the U.S. and its allies over the war, Putin dropped plans to attend the gathering in Indonesia and sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his place. He also skipped the G-20 meeting in Rome a year earlier while he was planning his invasion of Ukraine.
—Bloomberg News
