US to buy antiviral pills
for 10 million people
The Biden administration plans to pay more than $5 billion for a stockpile of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 pill, enough for about 10 million courses of treatment to be delivered in the next 10 months, according to people familiar with the agreement. When given promptly to trial groups of high-risk unvaccinated people who developed symptoms of the disease, the drug sharply reduced the risk of hospitalization and death. Pfizer on Tuesday applied for federal authorization of the drug on an emergency basis. A similar pill developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics could be authorized as soon as early December.
Trump seeks continued block on opening White House files
Former President Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to block the National Archives from giving Congress quick access to records from his White House related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, arguing that litigation over whether they are properly shielded by his claim of executive privilege should fully play out first. In a 54-page brief filed before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Jesse R. Binnall, a lawyer for Trump, reiterated his argument that the Constitution gives the former president the power to keep those files confidential even though he is no longer in office.
No verdict after
daylong deliberations
by Rittenhouse jury
The jury at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial deliberated a full day on Tuesday without reaching a verdict over whether he was the instigator in a night of bloodshed in Kenosha or a concerned citizen who came under attack while trying to protect property. The case went to the anonymous jury after the judge, in an unusual move, allowed Rittenhouse himself to play a minor role in the selection of the final panel of 12 people whose job was to decide his fate. The jury will return today to continue its work.
GOP-majority court c
hosen to consider Biden vaccine mandate
Challenges to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers will be consolidated in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, a panel dominated by judges appointed by Republicans. The Cincinnati-based court was selected Tuesday in a random drawing using ping-pong balls, a process employed when challenges to certain federal agency actions are filed in multiple courts. The selection could be good news for those challenging the administration’s vaccine requirement, which includes officials in 27 Republican-led states, employers and several conservative and business organizations. They argue the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not have the authority to impose the mandate.
Yellen extends to Dec. 15 date for potential debt default
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress Tuesday she believed she would run out of maneuvering room to avoid the nation’s first-ever default soon after Dec. 15. In a letter to congressional leaders, Yellen said that she believed Treasury could be left with insufficient resources to keep financing the government beyond Dec. 15. Yellen’s new date is 12 days later than the Dec. 3 date she provided in a letter to Congress on Oct. 18. That letter was based on the fact that Congress had just passed a $480 billion increase in the debt limit as a stop-gap measure.
By wire sources
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