Mayor Bill de Blasio - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Winter storms disrupt vaccine effort as variants fuel new fears

CBS Evening News — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 14:15:34 +0000

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Winter storm devastates Texas as power outages continue

Justin Carissimo and Zoe Christen Jones — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 13:52:46 +0000

Severe weather is affecting more than 100 million Americans tonight and snow is still falling in the hardest-hit areas in Texas. While power has been restored to millions in Texas, nearly half of residents, 13 million, don’t have access to clean, running water.

In the city of Kyle, officials said water should “only be used to sustain life at this point.”

In Houston, America’s fourth-largest city, there are long lines for food, gas and supplies. Things are also bad in Oklahoma, where President Biden declared a state of emergency after the longest stretch of sub-zero temperatures there on record. At least 34 deaths were attributed to the storm, 20 of them were from Texas.

The winter weather also created a political storm. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was criticized for flying to Cancun with his family this week, while his constituents suffered in record-low temperatures.

San Antonio to open water distribution stations

The San Antonio Water System announced Thursday that it will begin providing water distribution at seven pump locations around the city. Residents will receive up to five gallons per person and are advised to boil the water they receive as a precautionary measure.

The City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Food Bank will also provide bottled water distribution at sites around the city.

San Antonio has experienced water outages due to the winter weather emergency, and the San Antonio Water System on Wednesday issued a boil water advisory for customers who still have access to water. ~April Siese

Power restoration to continue into Thursday night

ERCOT is continuing its power restoration efforts, according to CBS Houston affiliate KHOU. Restoration will continue into Thursday night, and ERCOT told KHOU that its progress has so far come without additional outages.

That could change later on Thursday or Friday morning depending on how stable the grid is as its load increases.

“The generating units that were online this morning have remained on throughout the day. With generation holding steady, we are hopeful that more generation will continue to become available,” ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin told KHOU. ~ April Siese

Winter storms disrupt COVID vaccine effort as variants fuel new fears

As Americans yearn for their pre-pandemic lives, the distribution of coronavirus vaccines is hitting delays as winter storms pummel the U.S. The disease has not only impacted how Americans live, but how long. Jonathan Vigliotti reports for “CBS Evening News.” See video here.

Winter storm continues to pummel South as freezing temps persist

CBS New York weathercaster Lonnie Quinn has an updated look at the frigid forecast. See video here.

34 deaths tied to the winter storm

As of Thursday, 34 deaths have been linked to the severe winter weather across seven states.

The most deaths were recorded in Texas, with 20 residents dying from storm-related incidents. Here’s where they occurred: Houston (7), Taylor County (6), Sugarland (4), Galveston County (2) and San Antonio (1).

Earlier this week, a grandmother and three children were killed in a house fire in Sugarland. City officials said the neighborhood had been without power. The cause of the fire is under investigation. ~Zoe Christen Jones

“This is a nightmare”: Over 13 million Texans face water crisis

For many Texans, it’s been unbearable. Thousands of homes have been ravaged by the storm. More than 13 million — almost half of the state’s population — have water issues.

In many homes, the tap is dry. Finding bottled water is nearly impossible. Some have resorted to boiling snow. Houston opened 11 sites Thursday to help give away water.

When the pipes burst in Texas Representative Shawn Thierry’s home, her world exploded. She and her 8-year-old daughter are in a hotel, but they won’t be able to live there long term.

“I mean this is a nightmare, this is everyone’s nightmare,” Thierry told CBS News. “Your home is your abode, it’s where you go to find your peace and work and now, I’m uprooted.”

Thierry is among millions in a new phase of misery. As lights come back on, the horrors of the storm are revealed.

Water is everywhere — or nowhere, as many treatment plants were knocked offline. A line to get into a plumbing supply store ran for blocks. Even food has become hard to come by as some grocery store shelves lay bare. ~Janet Shamlian

Read more here.

Relief groups rush to offer aid in Texas

Local organizations in Texas are using their resources to help residents in need. Warming stations across the state are still open and are urging residents to come if their situation becomes dangerous.

Organizations from outside the state are also sending teams to brave the storm. Mercy Chefs, a non-profit based in Portsmouth, Virginia, sent a team to Dallas to provide meals to those without water, gas, heat, or a way to leave their homes.

“This winter storm has affected so many people over such a widespread area in communities that simply aren’t prepared for this kind of weather – we’ve never seen anything like it,” Gary LeBlanc, founder of Mercy Chefs, told CBS News. “We are glad Mercy Chefs can respond quickly and get meals to those in need.” ~Zoe Christen Jones

Over 325,000 still without power in Texas

More than 325,000 Texas residents are still without power, Governor Greg Abbot said in a Thursday news conference.

Abbot promised to reform the state’s power utility, claiming that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas assured him Texas was “ready” for the extreme temperatures.

The state legislature will now investigate the company to find out what went wrong.

“Texans deserve answers about why the shortfalls occurred, and how they’re going to be corrected and Texans will get those answers,” Abbott said Thursday.

Some Texas gas stations are running out of fuel

Texas residents are encouraged to stay home or drive with caution. But those who do leave might have trouble finding gas. The winter storm has slowed down deliveries, leaving some gas stations across northern Texas completely out of fuel, CBS Dallas/Fort Worth reported.

Hundreds of thousands of residents are still without power and have resorted to using their cars for auxiliary power, charging phones, medical devices, or simply trying to get some heat.

But traveling is still a risky endeavor.

“Certainly what’s important for drivers to know is this is really more of a temporary outage, not a shortage,” AAA Texas Daniel Armbruster told CBS Dallas/Fort Worth. “So it’s really important that drivers not panic, and certainly don’t rush to the gas station to purchase fuel.” ~Zoe Christen Jones

A gas station ran out of gasoline in Euless, Texas, on February 18, 2021. MICHAEL AINSWORTH / AP

NBA and NHL postpones more games

The severe weather in Texas is forcing major sports leagues to postpone games.

The NBA has postponed Friday’s matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets after the city of Houston suspended operations at the Toyota Center. The league said the game would be rescheduled for a later date.

The NHL was also forced to postpone Saturday’s match between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. The league said it is working to re-schedule the four games postponed in Dallas this week. ~Justin Carissimo

A view inside the Toyota Center in Houston on February 11, 2021.CARMEN MANDATO/GETTY

125,000 Louisiana residents without power

More than 125,000 Louisiana residents are without electricity, Governor John Bel Edwards announced Thursday. Bel Edwards said 20,000 have been without power since Monday but are expected to slowly regain it tonight.

Water service is still being affected, with 98 outages reported and one million people under boil water advisories in the state.

The National Guard has delivered 28,000 bottles of water throughout Louisiana but is still working on distribution sites around Lake Charles, which remains compromised from Hurricane Laura.

Texas energy failure follows years of warnings

Politicians and power industry officials are blaming each other for the state’s outages, but they are not yet able to say how long this will last. Texas has its own power grid, which is managed by state and semi-private entities. Those same groups are now playing the blame game, trying to find how the state failed to keep the lights on for Texans.

Governor Greg Abbott is leaving no one out when it comes to pointing the blame for the state’s energy failures. “Whether it be renewable power, such as wind or solar, but also as I mentioned today, access to coal-generated power, access to gas generated power also have been compromised,” he said.

For context, in 2020, wind and solar energy were responsible for roughly 25% of the state’s electricity generation throughout the year. Meanwhile, natural gas, coal and nuclear power combined for roughly 69%.

Even if wind was a major source, the reason behind that failure is much of the equipment has not been “winterized,” which can include using heaters and insulated pipes. That’s something places like Minnesota do and their wind turbines don’t shut down in the cold.

“The natural gas generators are the ones that we were all counting on to provide the electricity. Some coal plants were supposed to fire up also, and they didn’t answer the bell either,”

After a 2011 winter storm in Texas that crippled power, a report recommended winterizing power sources. Ed Hirs, an expert in energy economics and policy at the University of Houston, said the recommendations were not applied.

“The warnings have been there for years and Governor Abbott has done nothing. Before that, Governor (Rick) Perry did nothing. This was a train wreck on the way to happening 10 years ago,” Hirs said. ~Omar Villafranca

A utility truck in McKinney, Texas, on February 16, 2021.COOPER NEILL/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY

New Jersey and New York prepare as new storm barrels in

A delivery person rides his bicycle in New York City on February 18, 2021.GARY HERSHORN / GETTY IMAGES

New Jersey residents are stocking up and preparing for power outages as the latest winter storm hits the state. Meanwhile, New York City has already surpassed its typical snow total for the year.

Before this latest snowstorm, New York City had been hit with 33.8 inches of snow this year. The normal seasonal average is 25.8 inches.

“This is not a huge storm, but it is coming on top of the snow we’ve had before. Obviously, a lot of the snow is still around,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “What it means is, be careful out there. It means that the evening rush hour is going to be messy. It is going to be slow. We want people to, as much as possible, stay off the roads if you can.

In New Jersey, neighborhoods were scenic but unplowed, as snow accumulated. The township of Freehold saw some of the most snow, on top of what was already on the ground from three weeks of storms. ~Peter Martinez

Read more at CBS New York.

Texas utility company says its made “significant progress” in restoring power

The utility company that services most of Texas said it has made “significant progress” in restoring power to residents. There are around 500,000 without power Thursday, down from the 3 million outages earlier this week.

The company, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said power outages remain in areas likely under three categories: ice storm damage to distribution systems, areas where emergency load shed needs to be restored manually and large industrial facilities that voluntarily went offline.

Dan Woodfin, the utility’s senior director of system operations, said smaller rotating outages may be needed due to the cold temperatures. “We really feel like we’re on the right path,” he said. “We believe they’ll be at the level where they could be rotating outages, not the larger numbers we faced this week.” ~Justin Carissimo

Read more at CBS Dallas/Fort Worth.

Ted Cruz says he went to Cancun during Texas crisis because he wanted to be a “good dad”

Senator Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, with his family for a trip this week as Texas deals with the aftermath of a winter storm that left millions without power, an airline industry source familiar with the situation told CBS News. The Republican Senator is expected to return on a flight home Thursday afternoon.

Photos of Cruz arriving at the airport for the trip went viral on social media, sparking widespread criticism of the senator for leaving during the emergency. Cruz on Thursday said he wanted to escort his children who were leaving for a trip with friends.

“With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,” Cruz said in a statement. The senator said he’s been in “constant communication” with local leaders “to get to the bottom of what happened” in Texas.

“The greatest state in the greatest country in the world has been without power. We have food lines, gas lines, and people sleeping at the neighbors’ houses. Our homes are freezing and our lights are out. Like millions of Texans, our family lost heat and power too.” ~Zoe Christen Jones

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Cuomo suspends indoor dining in NYC, is backed by de Blasio

Adam Shaw | Fox News — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 18:14:16 +0000

Takeout and outdoor dining will still be permitted.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday announced that indoor dining would be suspended again in New York City — marking the latest devastating blow for struggling businesses in the Big Apple.

“Indoor dining will close in New York City starting Monday,” Cuomo announced, citing an increase in COVID infections and hospitalizations.

Takeout and outdoor dining will still be permitted.

“Hospitalizations have not stabilized, and with a rising infection rate and NYC’s density, this means that indoor dining is too high of a risk,” he said. “Takeout, delivery, and outdoor dining will continue.”

New York City was one of the hardest-hit areas of the country, but in recent months has been beginning to re-open, with limited indoor dining and in-person schooling.

While outdoor dining may offer some respite for struggling restaurants to bring in diners, with many building elaborate heated tents outside their venues on busy sidewalks, plunging winter temperatures will make that an uninviting proposition for many.

Ahead of the announcement, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters he would support such a restriction, noting the increase in hospitalizations and declaring that the city was in a second wave.

“If the governor announces restrictions, I support him 100% because we have to protect against the worst — the worst is the virus just grows and grows, that more and more people get infected, our hospitals start to get stressed and then get to the point where they can’t provide the service that people need and that puts lives in danger,” Hizzoner said.

“I guarantee you if that keeps happening then it’s going to be a lot longer time before we’re able to recover economically,” he claimed. “That puts those restaurants in much greater danger for the long term.”

Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News. He can be reached here.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nyc-cuomo-indoor-dining-de-blasio

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De Blasio says violators of city’s coronavirus beach restrictions will ‘be taken right out of the water’

Brooke Singman | Fox News — Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00:07 +0000

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As Memorial Day weekend approaches, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday said “no swimming” will be allowed at beaches and warned New Yorkers that they would “be taken right out of the water” if they violate the rules amid the city’s coronavirus response.

During his daily press briefing, de Blasio explained new beach rules and maintained that the city’s beaches would remain closed for swimming, despite New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s move to reopen state beaches ahead of the holiday weekend. Cuomo, though, gave local officials the option to keep beaches closed.

DE BLASIO FLOATS FENCING TO KEEP NEW YORKERS OFF BEACHES AMID CORONAVIRUS

“If you want to walk on the beach, fine,” de Blasio said Monday. “But no swimming, no parties, no barbecues.”

“Anyone tries to get in the water they’ll be taken right out of the water,” he warned, while noting that there would be “fencing” that would “be in position,” but said it “doesn’t have to be put up unless we have to take tougher measures.”

“The fencing, again, is available, but we don’t want to use it if we don’t have to,” de Blasio said. “The goal is not to have it implemented.”

He added: “No swimming, no sports … Use common sense and observe social distancing.”

The mayor said that the New York City Police Department would work to “avoid” boardwalks crowding.

“It is not beach season like normal,” de Blasio said. “It is a pandemic.”

De Blasio went on to urge people to avoid “nonessential travel” to the beaches.

BILL DE BLASIO SUPPORTS CAP ON FOOD DELIVERY FEES TO RESTAURANTS DURING CORONAVIRUS

“If more enforcement is needed, we’ll do it,” de Blasio said while noting that he is hopeful that beaches will be able to reopen as normal before the end of the summer.

All of New York City’s beaches – Wolfe’s Pond Beach in Staten Island; South Beach in Staten Island; Rockaway Beach in Queens; Orchard Beach in the Bronx; Midland Beach in Staten Island; Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn; Coney Island in Brooklyn; Cedar Grove in Staten Island; Brighton Beach in Brooklyn – are closed for swimming and will not reopen ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

De Blasio, on Sunday, said New York City beaches would not reopen before Memorial Day weekend, saying: “It’s not safe. It’s not the right thing to do.”

“No one has to be reminded, we are the epicenter of this crisis,” de Blasio said Sunday.

As of Monday, New York City reported more than 193,000 positive cases of COVID-19 and more than 15,700 deaths.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/de-blasio-keeps-nyc-beaches-closed-through-memorial-day-warns-no-swimming

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8 dead in Manhattan terror attack, Trump steps up ‘extreme vetting’ of foreign travellers

Yashwant Raj — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 10:38:39 +0000

Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old Uzbek migrant based in Florida, was shot in the abdomen by a police officer after he got out of his vehicle that collided with a school bus.

Police investigate a pickup truck used in an attack on the West Side Highway in Manhattan, New York, US, on November 1. (REUTERS)

A man rammed a pickup truck through a bike-only path in New York City’s lower Manhattan area shouting “Allah-u-Akbar”, killing eight people and injuring at least a dozen on Tuesday, in a terror strike close to the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old Uzbek migrant based in Florida, was shot in the abdomen by a police officer after he got out of his vehicle that collided with a school bus at 3.05 pm (1905 GMT), blocks away from the 9/11 Memorial, and walked in the middle of the street brandishing two weapons that turned out to be paint-ball and pellet guns.

The suspect is in police custody and is being treated at a hospital.

“This was an act of terror and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference.

Authorities had not disclosed his identity, but news reports said Saipov came to the United States in 2010. He had driven to New York City from neighbouring state of New Jersey.

In a note found at the site near the abandoned vehicle, Saipov is reported to have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State terror group. But it was not immediately clear where or how he was radicalised.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said based on preliminary investigation that this was a lone-wolf attack. “This was one individual who meant to cause pain and harm and probably death and the resulting terror. That was the purpose,” said Cuomo.

Confronting what could be the most serious terror-related incident since taking power less than a year ago, President Donald Trump announced he had ordered the Department of Homeland Security to step up his “extreme vetting programme” on foreign travellers to the country.

“We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!” Trump tweeted about what was clearly the first terrorist attack on American mainland in his term, and in his hometown.

This was the first instance also of a terrorist attack involving fatalities in New York City after 9/11 that had killed 2,606 people, including 34 from India. There were at least two other attempts since— the Times Square car bomb in 2010, and the Chelsea bombings in 2016 that had left 29 people injured.

This was also the first instance of a vehicle being used as a terror weapon in the United States, as in Berlin and Nice in 2016, in Barcelona last August and in London earlier this year. A white supremacist had driven through protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia recently killing one woman but authorities had not described it as an act of terrorism.

The suspect in the Tuesday’s attack had used a rental pick-up from Home Depot, a countrywide retail chain of home furnishings. He drove the truck down the bike-path used by cyclists, joggers and walkers for about a mile, before it rammed the school bus, injuring two adults and two children inside, close to a community college and a high school.

Videos taken by passersby show the suspect running around — “randomly,” as one witness described it — after abandoning the vehicle, with police officers in pursuit. He held up two weapons that were later found to be imitation guns.

Six people died at the site of the attack and two were declared dead on arrival at the hospital, police commissioner James P O’Neill told reporters. The dead include five friends from Argentina.

Eleven people were seriously injured, O’Neill added, but none with life-threatening conditions. The number of those injured could go up.

Security had already been stepped up all over the city for Halloween celebrations and a traditional parade later in the evening, and authorities urged New Yorkers to go about their business.

“We know that this action was intended to break our spirit but we also know New Yorkers are strong, New Yorkers are resilient and our spirit will never be moved by an act of violence, an act meant to intimidate us,” Mayor de Blasio added.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/8-dead-in-manhattan-terror-attack-trump-steps-up-extreme-vetting-of-foreign-travellers/story-2AoY5tdspFk9Tq3ohiw8rJ.html

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