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A Judge on New York State’s Highest Court Is Unvaccinated and Could Be Removed From the Bench
A judge on New York State’s highest court could face removal from the bench for failing to comply with the state’s COVID vaccination mandate, according to court guidelines and state officials.
Jenny Rivera, an associate judge on the state Court of Appeals, has participated remotely in the court’s activities since the fall, when the state court system’s vaccination mandate took effect and unvaccinated employees were barred from court facilities.
She is now one of four state judges who face referral to the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct, according to a person familiar with the process who spoke on background to discuss a personnel matter. The commission could move to admonish Judge Rivera, or remove her from the bench.
On Monday, Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for New York’s Unified Court System, said court administrators told 156 court employees — along with the four judges — that they failed to meet qualifications for employment, and if they do not comply with the vaccination requirements in the next two weeks they would be fired.
COVID Restrictions Are Lifting, but Unvaccinated Canadians Still Can’t Board Planes or Trains
Canada’s vaccine mandate — which took effect in November 2021 to boost vaccination rates — prevents unvaccinated Canadians from boarding a commercial plane or train in Canada to both domestic and international destinations.
Now that COVID-19 restrictions are fast disappearing, some unvaccinated Canadians question why the federal government still maintains the mandate.
Meanwhile, following a decline in COVID-19 cases after the Omicron wave, Canada’s provinces are dropping most or all of their vaccine mandates. That means unvaccinated people can return to venues such as restaurants, gyms and hockey games.
The Metaverse Could Become an Oppressive Dystopia. It Needs a Congress.
Facebook‘s recent announcement that it had changed its name to Meta in anticipation of the two-dimensional internet morphing into an immersive 3-D Metaverse has unleashed a boom in speculation about our digital future, along with investor interest.
While no one can yet know exactly what the Metaverse will be, it’s already clear that our personal and professional lives will increasingly be lived in interactive and communal virtual spaces that will sometimes feel more like multi-player video games than like searching today’s web. But if we want to make sure our security, integrity and freedom will be protected in these new worlds, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
The COVID-19 lockdowns rapidly pushed most of us into far more intimate and significant virtual lives; we didn’t just join Zoom work meetings, but also Zoom dates, parties, weddings, funeral ceremonies, and much more.
While some people may have once thought our lives could be divided into the realms of virtual and real, the transition accelerated by the pandemic has shown us that our lives are lived in both physical and virtual spaces which together constitute our reality.
U.S. Travel Industry Urges White House to Lift COVID Restrictions, Mask Mandate
The U.S. Travel Association on Tuesday urged the White House to lift COVID-19 travel restrictions and repeal a mandate requiring masks on airplanes and in other transit modes by April 18, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
In a letter to Dr. Ashish Jha, the incoming White House COVID response coordinator, the group called for an immediate end to the pre-departure testing requirement for all fully vaccinated inbound international persons and ending the mask mandate by April 18 “or announcing a plan and timeline to repeal the federal mask mandate within the subsequent 90 days.”
The travel industry also wants the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to end “avoid travel” advisories for all vaccinated individuals and urged the Biden administration to avoid the future “use of travel bans from specific countries.”
Virginia, the First State to Set COVID Workplace Rules, Drops Them
Virginia’s workplace safety board voted on Monday to withdraw the state’s emergency rules for protecting workers from COVID-19, leaving employers to follow looser guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the workplace.
Virginia, which has its own workplace safety agency, was the first state in the country to put in place emergency standards to protect workers from the virus. Under those standards, which were enacted in July 2020 under Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, employers had to require indoor masking in higher-risk areas, as well as report COVID outbreaks to the state’s Department of Health.
The current governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, instructed the state health board to re-evaluate the standards earlier this year, arguing that they presented a burden to businesses.
LA Set to Remove COVID Vaccine Proof Mandate
The Los Angeles City Council could lift the mandate Wednesday requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter many indoor establishments and large outdoor events.
The city ordinance, which went into effect Nov. 8, requires people over age 12 to show proof of vaccination before patronizing indoor restaurants, gyms, entertainment and recreational facilities, personal care establishments and some city buildings. The law also requires people to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend outdoor events with 5,000 or more people.
Earlier this month, the council voted unanimously to approve a motion rescinding the requirements, although individual businesses would be permitted to voluntarily require proof of vaccination from patrons. That motion requested the city attorney to prepare an ordinance to rescind the mandate, which will be considered Wednesday.
Michigan School Paying $190K in Dispute With Outspoken Mom
A suburban Detroit school district agreed to pay nearly $190,000 to settle a lawsuit by a parent who said she lost her job after criticizing COVID-19 policies. The Rochester district released the agreement Tuesday after a public records request by The Associated Press.
Controversies over masks, online learning, in-person instruction and other issues have hit schools across the U.S. during the pandemic. But the allegations in Rochester were extraordinary: Elena Dinverno accused the district of making calls that caused her to be fired from her marketing job.
Rochester acknowledged that a deputy superintendent, Debra Fragomeni, called Dinverno’s employer, though attorneys denied any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, the district agreed to pay $116,209 to Dinverno and $72,540 to her attorney to settle the lawsuit, records show.
Dinverno said her free-speech rights were violated when the district retaliated by calling her employer.
South Africa Begins to Lift COVID Restrictions but Leaves Its Indoor Mask Mandate
South Africa will begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday in an address that marked the start of what he called a “new era” in the country’s fight against the pandemic.
Masks will no longer be required outdoors in South Africa but will continue to be required in public indoor spaces, including shops, offices and public transportation.
Indoor and outdoor venues that require proof of vaccination or a negative test no more than 72 hours old will be allowed to fill up to 50 percent of their capacity. Venues without such requirements must continue to adhere to the existing limits of 1,000 people indoors and 2,000 people outdoors.
New Zealand to Remove Pandemic Mandates as Omicron Wanes
New Zealand will remove many of its COVID-19 pandemic mandates over the next two weeks as an outbreak of the Omicron variant begins to wane.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday that people will no longer need to be vaccinated to visit places like retail stores, restaurants and bars from April 4. Gone, too, will be a requirement to scan QR barcodes at those venues.
A vaccine mandate will be scrapped for some workers — including teachers, police officers and waiters — though it will continue for healthcare and aged-care workers, border workers and corrections officers.
Remaining in place is a requirement that people wear masks in many enclosed spaces, including in stores, on public transport and, for children aged 8 and over, in school classrooms.
Health Data Breaches Swell in 2021 Amid Hacking Surge, POLITICO Analysis Finds
Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. had their sensitive health data breached in 2021, a threefold increase in three years, according to a POLITICO analysis of the latest HHS data.
Healthcare organizations including providers and insurers in every state except South Dakota reported such incidents last year. About half of states and Washington, DC, saw more than 1 in 10 of their residents directly impacted by unauthorized access to their health information, according to the analysis. And hacking accounted for nearly 75 percent of all such breaches — up from 35 percent in 2016.
The widespread unauthorized access of this data raises significant privacy and security concerns for consumers and the industry — costing billions every year — and highlights some of the potential consequences as healthcare modernizes and information flows more seamlessly.
NYPD Accused of Illegally Obtaining, Storing the DNA Samples of Nearly 32,000 People
A federal lawsuit accuses the New York Police Department of surreptitiously taking DNA samples without obtaining warrants and storing the genetic material in perpetuity in an illegal and unregulated database.
The database turns thousands of people, primarily Black and Latino people, into “permanent criminal suspects,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan.
The police routinely offer people who are being questioned about a crime a beverage, a cigarette or chewing gum and then collect DNA from the items, the lawsuit says. The suit claims the genetic material is stored and cataloged in a “suspect index” that puts people’s DNA profiles through “a genetic lineup that compares the profiles against all past and future crime scene DNA evidence — all without obtaining a warrant or court order to conduct these DNA searches.”
Where Does Your Info Go? U.S. Lawsuit Gives Peek Into Shadowy World of Data Brokers
There are a number of ways your personal data could end up in the hands of entities you’ve never directly given it to. One of them is through the data-broker industry: a complex network of companies that profits off the sale of data such as your location and your purchases, as well as biographical and demographic information.
Now, a new lawsuit is giving consumers an unprecedented peek into this opaque world, and illuminating just how easily a data broker can lose control of the user information it collects.
Data brokers collect personal data from a variety of sources, including social media, public records and other commercial sources or companies. These firms then sell that raw data, or inferences and analysis based on that data — such as a user’s purchase and demographic information — to other companies. Such analysis can be particularly useful for advertisers looking to effectively attract buyers.
