U.S. COVID-19 death toll hits 700,000

Oct 1 (Reuters) - The United States surpassed 700,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, as officials roll out booster doses of vaccines to protect the elderly and people working in high-risk professions.

The country has reported an average of more than 2,000 deaths per day over the past week, which represents about 60% of the peak in fatalities in January, a Reuters analysis of public health data showed.

The United States still leads the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths, accounting for 19% and 14% of all reported infections and fatalities, according to Reuters tally. Globally, the pandemic is set to surpass 5 million deaths.

The highly transmissible Delta variant has driven a surge in COVID-19 cases that peaked around mid-September before falling to the current level of about 117,625 cases per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-covid-19-death-toll-hits-700000-2021-10-01/

MANCHIN asked by @AriNatter whether an energy company he founded is a conflict of interest as he negotiates reconciliation:

MANCHIN: "I've been in a blind trust for 20 years, I have no idea what they're doing.

Ari: You're still getting dividends.

MANCHIN: "You got a problem?"

More from @AriNatter RE: the energy company Manchin founded: Your son still owns it, doesn't he?

MANCHIN: "You'd do best to change the subject."

Lewandowski out, per Trump spokesman: “Pam Bondi…has our complete faith and confidence in taking over MAGA Action. Corey Lewandowski will be going on to other endeavors and we very much want to thank him for his service. He will no longer be associated with Trump World.”

Britney Spears has finally been heard. After 13 years as conservator over the pop star's multi-million-dollar estate, a Los Angeles judge suspended her estranged father Jamie Spears during a hearing on Wednesday afternoon.

Judge Brenda J. Penny granted Spears’ request for certified public accountant John Zabel to be made temporary conservator over her estate. She also ordered Jamie Spears to hand over all assets pertaining to Spears’ estate as soon as possible.

Jodi Montgomery, who oversees Spears’ day-to-day care and medical decisions, will remain the temporary conservator over Spears’ person for the time being.

“This situation is not tenable... This situation is toxic,” Judge Penny remarked while making her ruling. Although the next court date is set for Nov. 12, the conservatorship could be terminated before then.

But as the hearing came to a close, Jamie Spears’ legal team made a last ditch attempt to keep their client in a position of power, telling Judge Penny they intended to appeal her ruling, which the judge quickly shut down by saying her order was not appealable.

While Spears is still shy of being completely freed, Wednesday’s ruling is a major step in the right direction. It comes three months after the 39-year-old detailed at length what she endured during her “traumatizing” and “abusive” ordeal and begged the judge to pave the way to end the legal arrangement and, at the very least, remove her father.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/britney-spears-father-is-immediately-suspended-from-her-conservatorship-after-13-years/

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed in a new book that she sought to shield a young, female aide from former President Trump after he at one point invited her to his Air Force One cabin to “look at her.”

Grisham writes in her new book “I’ll Take Your Questions Now,” set to be released on Oct. 5, that she tried to keep a young, female aide away from Trump after the former president repeatedly invited her up to his Air Force One cabin, including one time to “look at her,” and used an expletive to describe her rear end.

Grisham also writes that Trump told her to promote the aide and “keep her happy," according to The New York Times, which received a manuscript of Grisham's book.

The former president said in a statement to The Hill Tuesday that Grisham “didn’t have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning.”

He also said she “became very angry and bitter after her break up,” presumably referring to her reported previous relationship with former Trump aide Max Miller, adding that “as time went on she was seldom relied upon, or even thought about.”

“She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things,” Trump added.

Monument to ‘Mothers of Gynecology’ unveiled in Montgomery

19th century Montgomery physician J. Marion Sims is often credited as the father of modern gynecology for developing new tools and techniques for women’s health that are still used today.

Often overlooked are the enslaved Black women he experimented on -- without consent or anesthesia -- to make those advancements.

A new monument unveiled Friday in Montgomery aims to tell the other side of the Sims story by honoring the “Mothers of Gynecology,” -- Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey, three of eleven enslaved women who were the unwilling subjects of Sims’ experiments in the 1840s.

The statues stand almost 15 feet high and were welded together by Montgomery artist and activist Michelle Browder. They were unveiled Friday afternoon at a ceremony at the More Up Campus on Mildred Street.

“The endeavor is to change the narrative as it relates to the history and how it’s portrayed regarding Sims and the women that were used as experiments,” Browder said Sunday. “They’re not mentioned in any of the iconography or the information, the markers.”

https://www.al.com/news/2021/09/monument-to-mothers-of-gynecology-unveiled-in-montgomery.html