Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.

Matthew McConaughey Says He Doesn’t Support a COVID Vaccine Mandate for Kids Yet

People reported:

Matthew McConaughey doesn’t support a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for kids just yet.

McConaughey — who is fully vaccinated — explained that he isn’t anti-vaccine but wants “to find out more information” before supporting any requirements that young children get the shot.

For the time being, he said he won’t be vaccinating his young children: “Right now, I’m not vaccinating [my young children], I’ll tell you that.”

States Challenge Biden’s Vaccine Mandate for Health Workers

Associated Press reported:

A coalition of 10 states sued the federal government on Wednesday to try to block a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for healthcare workers, marking a new front in the resistance by Republican-led states to the pandemic policies of President Joe Biden’s administration.

The lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missouri contends that the vaccine requirement threatens the jobs of millions of healthcare workers and could “exacerbate an alarming shortage” in healthcare fields, particularly in rural areas where some health workers have been hesitant to get the shots.

Federal Judge Declines to Block Vaccine Mandate for Feds

Government Executive reported:

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday opted not to block the Biden administration’s mandate that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against COVID-19, concluding that the 20 federal workers and military service members who brought the case have failed to meet any of the circumstances that allow for the issuance of an injunction.

In a 41-page decision, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote that the group, composed of 18 civilian employees and two members of the U.S. Marine Corps, did not prove that it was likely to prevail in the case, brought the case prematurely, and any potential personal injury did not outweigh the government’s interest in curbing the spread of COVID-19 in the federal workforce.

12K NYC Workers Seek Exemption From COVID Vaccine Mandate: Mayor

Patch reported:

Scores of New York City municipal workers sought religious or medical exemptions to a coronavirus vaccine mandate that requires them to get a jab or lose paychecks.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that 12,400 “reasonable accommodation” requests by employees will be reviewed by city officials.

He said 400 so far have been granted. Employees whose requests are denied will once again face the choice to get vaccinated or go without pay.

Biden Team Won’t Admit It, but the COVID Pandemic Is Over

The Washington Times reported:

The Biden administration has justified its new COVID-19 vaccination mandate as an “emergency power.” But just where is the emergency?

If we’re facing such grave danger from the COVID-19 pandemic, then why did it take the Biden administration two months to draft its Occupational Safety and Health Administration

(OSHA) ruling on private businesses that employ more than 100 people?

If there’s such a medical emergency, why did the Biden administration delay its mandate implementation date nearly a month from Dec. 8 to Jan. 4, conveniently after the holidays to minimize workforce disruptions?

Get a COVID Vaccine for Ages 5 to 11? You Could Win a Scholarship to SUNY, CUNY

Lohud reported:

New York’s will raffle off 50 full scholarships to any New York public college or university for children aged 5 to 11 as part of the state’s push to get more kids vaccinated, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.

The announcement came as Hochul noted New York was receiving more than 700,000 pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine, with plans to soon obtain more doses for the entire 1.5 million New Yorkers in the age group.

The “vaccinate, educate, graduate” vaccine incentive scholarship is part of a five-week public outreach campaign, running through Dec. 19, Hochul said. It will award the scholarships to any campuses within the State University of New York or City University of New York systems.

3 LAPD Employees Face Firing After Refusing COVID Vaccines or Testing, While Thousands of Others Agree to Plan

Los Angeles Daily News reported:

The Los Angeles Police Department has placed on leave at least three employees who refused to either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or follow the city’s requirement to get tested weekly.

L.A. city employees have until December to get fully vaccinated. Under plans hashed out with the city’s unions, those employees with legitimate medical or religious reasons for not getting vaccinated are still required to get tested weekly. And they have to pay for the tests.

Moore said 2,239 LAPD employees had sought such exemptions, which are still subject to review and approval by city administrators. Some might have since chosen to get vaccinated.

Retail and Trucking Trade Groups Sue Biden Administration to Overturn Vaccine Mandate

CNBC reported:

National industry groups representing retail, truckers and independent businesses sued the Biden administration on Wednesday over its vaccine and testing requirements for private companies, claiming they would cause “irreparable harm.”

The National Retail Federation, the National Federation of Independent Business and the American Trucking Associations, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in their lawsuit that businesses would lose employees, incur “unrecoverable compliance costs” and face deteriorating conditions in “already fragile supply chains and labor markets” due to the requirements.

New Study Reports Massive Pro-Censorship Efforts From Broadcast News Networks

Fox News reported:

A new study from the Media Research Center released on Tuesday, show broadcast news networks favored stories about censorship when compared to the issue of free speech.

The report followed several recent instances of major tech platforms such as Facebook, Google, and YouTube limiting and censoring information regarding millions of COVID-19-related posts. Most notably, YouTube announced in September that the company would step up in efforts to limit and ban videos that spread “misinformation” regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

Landmark Places 21 Unvaccinated Employees On Leave, Each of Them With Religious Exemptions

The Boston Globe reported:

Landmark Medical Center has placed 21 unvaccinated employees on leave, one week after receiving a violation notice from the state health department.

Spokeswoman Carolyn Kyle told the Globe the Woonsocket-based hospital had placed the unvaccinated workers who each had “religious accommodations” on administrative leave, which brought the hospital into “full compliance” with the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“Currently, there are numerous cases already filed and working their way through the federal courts that will ultimately address the issue of whether religious accommodations to COVID-19 vaccine mandates are required,” Kyle wrote in an emailed statement.

Adams County Adopts Ordinance That Makes Compliance With Federal Vaccine Mandates Illegal

KTVB 7 reported:

Adams County Commissioners unanimously passed a local ordinance on Monday that makes following federal vaccine mandates illegal. This is the first county in Idaho to pass a mandate of this nature.

The ordinance is in response to President Joe Biden‘s vaccine mandate, which requires all federal contractors and employers with more than 100 employees to require vaccination against COVID-19 or weekly testing. That mandate was paused by a federal court over the weekend and is pending review of the mandate’s possible statutory and constitutional issues.

During a county commissioner meeting in October, Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann Domeck said the health center could lose its Medicare and Medicaid status, which would mean the center could provide services, but would not be paid for them.

Top UK Court Blocks Legal Action Against Google Over Internet Tracking

The Guardian reported:

A 3 billion-pound legal action against Google over claims it secretly tracked the internet activity of millions of iPhone users has been blocked by the UK supreme court.

Legal experts said the decision meant the “floodgates” remained closed to class actions on data privacy in England and Wales, although the ruling noted digital technology’s ability to cause “mass harm” to people.

Richard Lloyd, a former director of the consumer group Which?, wanted to bring a US-style class action lawsuit against the search engine on behalf of about 4.4 million people in England and Wales. He claimed Google illegally misused the data of millions of iPhone users by tracking and collating their internet usage on their handsets’ Safari browser in 2011 and 2012, even when users were assured they would be opted out of such tracking by default.

Health Department Looks Into Vaccine Mandate Compliance

Associated Press reported:

Two dozen home care agencies, walk-in clinics, treatment and urgent care centers in Rhode Island are under investigation for potential violations of the state’s healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccination mandate, state public health officials said Tuesday.

Also, two facilities are considered non-compliant and facing fines and restrictions on the admission of new patients because they still had unvaccinated employees on the job on Oct. 31, The Providence Journal reported.

Care Homes in England Set to Lose 50,000 Staff as COVID Vaccine Becomes Mandatory

The Guardian reported:

Tens of thousands of care home residents face losing vital support as unvaccinated carers clock off for the last time before double jabs become mandatory.

About 50,000 care home staff who have not had two doses in England will not be allowed to work from Thursday. Analysis by the Guardian suggests that on current staff/resident ratios without other measures to tackle the problem, the care of about 30,000 people could be affected.