
Justice Department says it will not investigate Covid-19 nursing home deaths in several states
CNN
The Department of Justice will not open a civil investigation into the Covid-19 response in state nursing homes in New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan, after the department was seeking to determine whether policies issued during the pandemic requiring Covid-19 patients to be admitted into the facilities may have contributed to deaths.
The announcement in a letter sent to GOP Rep. Steve Scalise prompted swift outrage from him and other Republicans who have accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, of covering up Covid-19-related deaths in nursing homes in his state. Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing, but the state's handling of the data surrounding deaths in long-term care facilities has been the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by the US attorney's office in Brooklyn. In a letter on Friday that was obtained by CNN, the Justice Department said it "decided not to open a CRIPA (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act) investigation of any public nursing facility within New York, Pennsylvania, or Michigan at this time" after reviewing information provided by the states and other available information.
Nationwide outcry over the killing of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent spilled into the streets of cities across the US on Saturday, with protesters demanding the removal of federal immigration authorities from their communities and justice for the slain Renee Good.

Since early December the US Coast Guard and other military branches have boarded and taken control of five oil ships that had previously been sanctioned, all either accused of being in the process of transporting Venezuelan oil or on their way to take on oil that has been subject to US sanctions since President Donald Trump began a pressure campaign against the leadership of the country during his first term.

A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing most of his executive order on elections against the vote-by-mail states Washington and Oregon, in the latest blow to Trump’s efforts to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote and to require that all ballots be received by Election Day.










