Cruise lines say it's safe to set sail. Health experts aren't convinced.
CBSN
Travel and cruise industry advocates are clamoring for ships to be allowed to sail again from U.S. ports. They're calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lift coronavirus restrictions by July, saying it would be in keeping with President Joe Biden's goal of getting the country "closer to normal" by Independence Day.
Major cruise lines halted excursions from the U.S. in March of last year, when the CDC issued a "no-sail" edict that continues to bar passenger cruise ships from leaving domestic ports. The health agency's stance "does not reflect the industry's proven advancements and success operating in other parts of the world, nor the advent of vaccines, and unfairly treats cruises differently," Kelly Craighead, CEO of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), said this week in a statement. "Cruise lines should be treated the same as other travel, tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors."President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.