Data from New York's public health department undercounted COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%, according to a report released Thursday by state Attorney General Letitia James.
The big picture: Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration had not been including nursing home patients who died after being transferred to the hospital in its tally of over 8,500 nursing home deaths. Data provided to the attorney general's office from 62 nursing homes "shows a significantly higher number of resident COVID-19 deaths can be identified than is reflected" in the official count.
National data on COVID-19 testing is incomplete, "critical gaps in the medical supply chain" remain, and a lack of data has stalled delivering key resources to people who need it most, a nonpartisan federal watchdog, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has found.
Why it matters: The findings come as the rise of more contagious variants ensures that Americans’ risk remains high, despite a three-week decline in the number of COVID infections in the U.S. A greater number of people are also dying from the coronavirus over less time.
President Biden on Thursdayrescinded the "global gag rule," a policy that bans international organizations that receive U.S. funding from providing abortion services or offering information about abortion.
Why it matters: The Reagan-era rule, also known as the Mexico City policy, has historically been rescinded or rolled back by Democratic presidents and reinstated by Republican ones. The Trump administration also expanded the rule to include virtually all global health aid.
The Democratic Party's Senate fundraising arm on Thursday named Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) as its chair ahead of the 2022 election, with several Republicans already announcing they won't run again, per Politico.
Why it matters: As chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Peters will be tasked with raising the enormous amounts of money Democrats will need to preserve their razor-thin majority, write Axios' Hans Nichols and Alayna Treene.
David Hogg, a survivor of the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, said in a CNN interview on Thursday that he "absolutely remembers" an incident in 2019 in which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) harassed him and baselessly accused him of being paid by George Soros.
Why it matters: Greene's past online activity indicating support for violence against Democrats and promoting debunked conspiracy theories about mass shootings are presenting a huge problem for Republican leadership.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the man convicted and later acquitted of beheading American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 should be released.
The state of play: Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh — whose death sentence was overturned last year — and three other men who had been sentenced to life in prison for their alleged involvement were ordered to be released. It remains unclear whether they will be freed on Thursday, AP reports.
Jonathan Karl, ABC News chief Washington correspondent, will be out next year with "The Aftermath," a sequel to his New York Times bestseller, "Front Row at the Trump Show" (paperback out in March).
Dutton will publish "The Aftermath" before the 2022 midterms.
Nearly 15 million Americans who are currently uninsured are eligible for coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, and more than half of them would qualify for subsidies, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation brief.
Why it matters: President Biden is expected to announce today that he'll be reopening the marketplaces for a special enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15, but getting a significant number of people to sign up for coverage will likely require targeted outreach.
Two notorious white nationalist novels are seeing their online values surge as social media companies remove white supremacists and far-right activists continue to use popular online venues to sell racist material.
Why it matters: The $200 asking price of the 1973 "The Camp of the Saints," a book that sold for $40 six months ago, shows the demand for white nationalist literature remains high as the Department of Homeland Security warns of the potential for violence following President Biden's inauguration.
The FBI believes California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the Bay Area headquarters of Twitter and Facebook were targets of a man facing federal explosives charges, according to a criminal complaint.
Driving the news: Prosecutors charged Ian Benjamin Rogers after finding weapons including five pipe bombs, 49 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition following a Jan. 15 search of his Napa County home and auto repair business. His alleged goal was to ensure former President Trump remained in office.
Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers are emerging as troublemakers within their parties and political thorns for their leadership.
Why it matters: We're calling this group "The Mischief Makers" — members who threaten to upend party unity — the theme eclipsing Washington at the moment — and potentially jeopardize the Democrats' or Republicans' position heading into the 2022 midterms.
President Obama's former speechwriter says he's "preemptively frustrated" with President Biden's effort to find unity with Republicans.
What they're saying: Cody Keenan told Axios that Biden's messaging team has "struck all the right chords," but at some point "they're gonna have to answer questions like, 'Why didn't you achieve unity?' when there's an entire political party that's already acting to stop it."
A Republican group is raising and spending huge amounts of money defending Sen. Josh Hawley after he was ostracized for early January’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Why it matters: The Senate Conservatives Fund is plugging Hawley's ideological bona fides and backfilling lost corporate cash with needed political and financial support, helping inoculate him as he weighs reelection or a possible presidential campaign in 2024.
