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Virginia Democrats Defeat 15-Week Abortion Ban And Glenn Youngkin's Anti-Choice Agenda

Alanna Vagianos

Thu, January 26, 2023

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) push for a 15-week abortion ban died late Wednesday evening when a state Senate subcommittee blocked the ban along with two other restrictions.

The education and health committee blocked the proposed abortion restrictions with a 9-5 vote, officially defeating the 15-week ban, a near-total ban and a ban on the procedure later in pregnancy. Although the near-total abortion restriction was more extreme, the 15-week ban was the focus for many Virginia Republicans after Youngkin made it a priority in his December budget proposal.

“Despite Gov. Youngkin and his allies’ relentless efforts to undermine our health and rights, today we reaffirmed that there is no place for abortion bans in Virginia,” Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said in a statement.

Virginia Senate Majority Leader Louise Lucas (D), who is on the subcommittee that defeated the three abortion restrictions, tweeted about the victory on Wednesday night.

“All of Glenn Youngkin’s bills to limit abortion rights come to my committee. I put them straight into my trash can,” Lucas tweeted with a photo of her throwing the bills in a garbage can.

Youngkin’s 15-week abortion ban would have carried criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison and/or $100,000 in fines for physicians who provided an abortion. It included narrow exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant person.

Virginia Republicans knew the bill would likely fail after Democrats won a critical state Senate seat in a special election earlier this month. But the continued push for abortion restrictions was likely meant to appeal to a national audience. Youngkin is a potential 2024 presidential candidate and may need to point to his anti-abortion record in order to be competitive.

Virginia currently allows abortion through the second trimester of pregnancy and into the third if the mother’s life is at risk. In addition, it’s one of a handful of states that allows abortion through the 28th week of pregnancy, making it a safe haven for abortions later in pregnancy.

Experts explain why California is still rife with gun violence despite some of the most stringent gun laws in the country


People attend a candlelight vigil for victims of a deadly mass shooting at a ballroom dance studio, as a person holds a sign reading 'The Problem Is Guns!', on Jan. 24, 2023 in Monterey Park, Calif.

 (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

JULIA JACOBO
Thu, January 26, 2023 

Even the state with some of the strictest gun laws can't keep gun violence away from its borders.

California has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country -- many of which were enacted in response to several of the violent mass shootings in recent years.

But that hasn't stopped a wave of mass shootings from plaguing the state in the first few weeks of 2023.

MORE: There have been more mass shootings than days in 2023, database shows

On Monday, at least seven people were killed in Half Moon Bay, California, just south of San Francisco, after a suspect open fired on two farms in the rural town, according to officials. Hours after the shooting in Half Moon Bay, one person died and seven were injured in Oakland, just east of San Francisco, across the San Francisco Bay.

A shooting that occurred on Saturday at a dance studio in Monterey Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, claimed the lives of 11 people and injured nine more.

The "status quo" even with increasingly severe gun regulations, is not working, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters on Sunday evening in response to the Monterey Park shooting.

"California is known for having strict gun laws, but it is not surprising that guns are prevalent in the state," Matthew Lang, a professor of economics at the University of California Riverside who has studied firearms sales, told ABC News.

These are the current gun laws in California

California has "led the way" for gun safety regulations, California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters on Tuesday in response to the recent shootings. Everytown for Gun Safety ranks California as No. 1 in the country for gun law strength -- as well as the eighth-lowest rate of gun deaths and sixth-lowest gun ownership rate.

In 1989, California passed the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act following the killings of five schoolchildren at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton that year. The law was nation's first ban on "assault weapons," then a new classification of firearms, which defined them as having characteristics such as a detachable magazine, a flash suppressor, a forward pistol grip and a thumbhole stock. The state has continually updated the law, the current iteration of which is currently the strictest in the country.

In 2016, Californians passed Proposition 63, which requires background checks for purchasing ammunition and prohibits possession of large capacity magazines. A red flag law also went into effect that year, which prevents certain people from obtaining firearms.

The state employs a licensing system for gun and ammunition purchases, and bans the sale of most handguns that don't have a magazine safety or loaded-chamber indicator. It also requires safe storage of guns, and some cities require liability insurance for gun sellers.

Those seeking to purchase a firearm must pass a written test to obtain a Firearm Safety Certificate and are limited to buying one handgun per month. There is also a 10-day waiting period between applying for and obtaining firearms.

A message dedicated to victims, which is attached to a floral arrangement, is seen before the start of a candlelight vigil for victims of a deadly mass shooting at a ballroom dance studio on Jan. 24, 2023 in Monterey Park, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

While concealed firearms may be carried in public with a permit, law enforcement can deny approval of permits. The permits are also issued after a background check determines that the applicant is of good moral character, has good cause for requesting the license, completes a firearms safety course and meets the residency requirement.

In addition, the state requires child-safety firearm locks and requires guns to be safely stored in vehicles. Laws in California further prohibit the sale and manufacture of unsafe handguns and regulate ghost guns.

In 2022, in response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers, Newsom approved a barrage of new legislation, including a law that would raise the minimum age for sales and transfer of firearms and invest state funds to support evidence-based community violence intervention strategies.

MORE: Supreme Court decision creates confusion over which firearm restrictions are constitutional

While the recent wave of mass shootings in California may appear the severe gun laws aren't working, people are not seeing all of the times they do prevent violence, Dr. Amy Barnhorst, associate director for the California Firearm Violence Research Center at the University of California Davis, told ABC News.

"Unfortunately, firearms in this country are so pervasive that it’s going to take a lot to stop it," Barnhorst said. "The past work of legislation is undoubtedly reducing deaths from firearms."

A member of law enforcement near the site of a deadly shooting, Jan. 22, 2023 in Monterey Park, Calif. 

(Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

Why California gun laws aren't preventing shootings

There are too many guns in the U.S. to completely prevent gun violence in any given state, the experts said. Gun violence is continuing to affect a large number of Californians, but at much lower rates than other states.

While 3,449 people died from gun violence in California in 2020, the state still has one of the lowest gun death rates in the country at 8.5 deaths per 100,000 people -- about 37% lower than the national average, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gun homicides in California, at a rate of 3.9 per 100,000 people, is much lower than Texas' rate of 6.1 per 100,000 people, figures from Everytown shows.

MORE: How closing the violent misdemeanor loophole could curb gun violence

California's gun laws, while wide-reaching, don't target everyone who is at risk of committing violence, Barnhorst said. For example, California's background checks dig a little deeper than what's available in the federal database, so California will catch more at-risk people than other states.

But, the background checks are not going to catch everyone, especially those without a criminal history, those who have never been psychiatrically hospitalized or who don't meet any of the other criteria for prohibition of owning a gun, she said.

In addition, at-risk purchasers could be answering questions on the background check untruthfully, especially questions regarding substance abuse and mental health problems, Lori Post, director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC News.

"I think it just makes common sense that people willing to commit mass shootings are also willing to lie on background checks," she said.

Monterey Park mayor Henry Lo kneels at a makeshift memorial outside the scene of a deadly mass shooting at a ballroom dance studio on Jan. 23, 2023 in Monterey Park, Calif. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Despite the rigid requirements, the average citizen is still able to buy a gun in California, Lang said.

"Many people will be able to walk into a store, pass a background check and buy a firearm," Barnhorst said.

A common issue with gun laws is that they often require action by a third party to be effective, "regardless of how stringent they are," Lang said.

MORE: Who is Monterey Park shooting suspect Huu Can Tran? Acquaintance says he 'distrusted everyone'

For example, red flag laws are an important tool because "they allow intervention to happen before it gets really bad" and puts some power in the hands of ordinary citizens to do something, Barnhorst said.

But, while requests can be made to have a firearm removed from an individual, carrying out this request must go through court proceedings. In addition, someone must take the uncomfortable role of actually making the request and potentially jeopardizing their relationship with the individual they are concerned about, Lang added.

The red flag laws in California are "severely underutilized," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement on Wednesday.

PHOTO: A stop sign is seen near a gun store in Culver City, Calif., on March 23, 2021. (Ringo Chiu/AP)

The federal government needs to step up its gun regulations, critics say

President Joe Biden has reignited his calls for a nation-wide ban on assault rifles following the recent mass shootings in California, urging both chambers of Congress to "act quickly" and deliver the assault weapons ban to his desk.

On Monday, a federal ban on assault weapons, as well as legislation that would raise the minimum purchase age to 21, was introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Newsom lambasted Americans, especially the federal government, on Tuesday for not finding ways to prevent mass casualties caused by gun violence in response to the recent mass shootings that took place in his state.

The governor acknowledged that those laws will not save every life and that one state can only do so much, calling on the federal government to do more.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out several rulings from lower courts that upheld gun restrictions, including a law that banned AR15-style rifles in Maryland, another banning large-capacity ammunition magazines in New Jersey and California and a New York law limiting the concealed carry of handguns in public areas.

"We must provide the public with protection from gun violence and respect the authority of states as they implement common sense gun regulations to safeguard their communities," Bonta said on Wednesday.

 FBI officials walk towards from the crime scene at Mountain Mushroom Farm, Jan. 24, 2023, after a gunman killed several people at two agricultural businesses in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Aaron Kehoe/AP)

A report published by the University of California Berkeley's Center for Global Healthy Cities in 2021 found that the gun violence reduction program, Advance Peace, helped to decrease firearm homicides and assaults in several California cities, including by almost a quarter in Stockton, which in turn saved taxpayers millions of dollars in city expenses.

Organizations like Sandy Hook Promise, the Violence Policy Center and Everytown called on federal legislators to enact simple policy actions, such as background checks for all gun sales, secure storage, magazine limits for firearms and extreme risk protection orders, which they say have been proven to prevent the loss of life from gun violence.

Evidence-based gun laws work, especially ones that target high-risk people and high-risk moments, Barnhorst said.

"Looking at the data of who tends to perpetrate mass shootings, domestic violence, firearms suicide and then really targeting problem areas, is a better approach than reactively passing legislation.," she said.

 Governor Gavin Newsom met at the I.D.E.S. Portuguese Hall in Half Moon Bay, Calif., with victims' families, local leaders and community members that were impacted by the devastating shootings at two mushroom farms yesterday, Jan. 24, 2023.

 (Aaron Kehoe/AP)

Newsom accused politicians in Washington of "cowering" and giving into gun rights interest groups instead of protecting Americans.

"We’re supposed to be better than that," he said on Tuesday. "We’re supposed to be leading the world, not just responding to these mass crises and expressing damn prayers and condolences over and over and over again."

ABC News' William Hutchinson contributed to this report.
 abcnews.go.com

Where have Republicans been during California's mass shootings? They're busy appeasing the gun worshiping cult

George Skelton
Thu, January 26, 2023 


Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to victims' families, local leaders and residents in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Tuesday. (Aaron Kehoe / Associated Press)

Gov. Gavin Newsom has spoken more eloquently than anyone else about the three California mass shootings that occurred in rapid sequence, killing at least 24.

“What the hell is going on?” the longtime gun control advocate asked simply Tuesday in Half Moon Bay, where a 66-year-old farmworker was accused of fatally shooting seven co-workers and wounding another because of some grievance.

“Only in America. … The absurdity.”

Yes, America is certainly not great on gun deaths, and never will be as long as we’re blocked from much-needed national firearms regulations by Republicans.

Among the major industrialized nations, the United States has by far the highest gun homicide rate. No other country is anywhere close. That’s because other nations tightly restrict access to firearms.

America can’t do that because of the 2nd Amendment, but we could do a much better job nationally than we’re doing.

UCLA law professor Adam Winkler, who specializes in gun law, winces whenever politicians and pundits crow about California’s tough gun restrictions.

“We need to stop saying things like, ‘California has strict gun laws,’” he says. “That’s only in comparison to Texas and Mississippi. Compared to England, Japan and France, California has among the loosest firearms restrictions in the world. We don’t have incredibly strict gun laws.”

I’m not always a fan of Newsom’s rhetoric. It’s often overly emotional, awfully wordy and too repetitive. This is particularly true when he’s trying to enhance his national stature among Democrats by attacking conservative governors in Texas and Florida. I figure he has plenty to be angry about in his own state concerning problems that affect fellow Californians.

But on these shootings, he has had the right tone and length, especially in Half Moon Bay, a small coastal town just south of San Francisco. There he met with victims’ families, local leaders and reporters.

Newsom spoke of his frustration over mouthing “the same thing over and over and over” after each mass shooting. And aren’t we all tired of doing that?

“I have no ideological opposition to someone owning a gun responsibly, but what the hell is wrong with us that we allow these weapons of war and large-capacity clips out on the streets and sidewalks?” he asked. “Why have we allowed this culture, this pattern, to continue?”

Most of us keep asking that.

“Where’s the Republican Party been on gun safety reform?” the Democratic governor continued. “They’ve fought it every step of the way. … Shame on them.”

Where has the GOP been? Appeasing the relatively small gun-worshiping cult and becoming more hard right, in large part due to the gerrymandering of U.S. House districts.

Red state legislatures draw House district lines to make them safer for Republicans against Democrats. Then the biggest threat to GOP incumbents becomes other Republicans.

In a competitive party primary, gun enthusiasts are often the decisive swing voters. And they’re single-issue voters — people whose decisions on candidates solely depend on a politician’s stance on guns.

GOP members of Congress fear that if they vote for major gun control, they’ll be booted out of office by fellow Republican constituents.

By contrast, most American voters — and certainly Californians — support national gun control, such as requiring universal background checks, banning assault weapons and limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds. But gun control isn’t high on their priority list.

“It’s not on the top of people’s minds,” veteran Democratic consultant Bill Carrick says. “Inflation. Taxes. Boom. They’re on people’s minds all the time. The gun issue comes and goes as mass shootings come and go.”

California arguably has the nation’s strictest gun control laws, but they’re starting to be eroded by conservative courts, led by the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, California’s ban on high-capacity magazines is in litigation limbo.

And even with our surviving tough restrictions, they’re at the mercy of adjacent states — Nevada and Arizona — that have lax restrictions. Those neighbors are a great source of weapons for Californians who can’t arm themselves locally.

That’s why national regulations are needed — such as meaningful background checks and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s long-advocated assault weapons ban.

“The constant stream of mass shootings have one common thread: They almost all involve assault weapons,” Feinstein said in a statement while reintroducing her bill Monday. “It’s because these weapons were designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible. They have no business in our communities or schools.”

California was way ahead of the curve on assault weapon bans, passing its first in 1989 when Republican George Deukmejian was governor.

Deukmejian then was regarded as a mainstream conservative. Today he’d be seen by his party as a leftist.

Like a lot of people, I suspect, my first reaction upon hearing about the shooting rampage that killed 11 and wounded nine at a Monterey Park dance hall frequented by Asian Americans was that the culprit was a young male white supremacist. Wrong. It was a 72-year-old Asian American man.

So, there’s no common demographic or motive for these mass killers.

“The one common denominator is these damn guns,” Newsom said.

Yep.

Dr. Amy Barnhorst, a psychiatrist and associate director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, says of mass shooters: “We can’t solve all their problems. But we can stop these people from acting out by keeping them away from large-capacity weapons.”

That won’t happen, however, as long as a few heavily armed firearms lovers outgun the rest of us politically. The majority needs to use their most powerful weapon, the vote.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

After 3 Weeks and a Flood of Details, Va. School Shooting Grows More Unthinkable

Asher Lehrer-Small
Thu, January 26, 2023 


It’s a tragedy that many observers have struggled to wrap their minds around: How could a 6-year-old access a loaded gun, bring it to school and fire it as his teacher? And how could school leaders ignore multiple warnings the little boy was armed?

In the weeks since the Jan. 6 shooting in Newport News, Virginia, which police almost immediately deemed intentional, new details continue to emerge, but with each revelation the incident becomes harder to understand.

That was especially true this week when the attorney for injured first-grade teacher ​​Abigail Zwerner alleged the school failed to intervene despite at least three warnings that the student was carrying a gun. The school board on Wednesday night terminated the district’s contract with its superintendent and the 6-year-old’s mother, who legally purchased the weapon, still faces the possibility of criminal charges.

Zwerner, 25, suffered a gunshot wound as a bullet passed through her hand and into her chest, police say. Law enforcement officials have said there was an altercation between the boy and his teacher but gave no details; another boy in the class told The Washington Post that Zwerner was shot after she tried to confiscate the gun. While injured, she ushered more than 15 other children out of the room to safety, according to police. The wound initially left Zwerner critically injured, but she was released from the hospital Jan. 20. A bullet remains lodged in her body, her lawyer said.

With national attention trained on the shooting and its aftermath, we recap the twists and turns of the disturbing event that encompasses ongoing debates over guns, student mental health, teacher support and school safety.

New details, timeline of events

In the hours before the first-grader shot his teacher, school employees warned leaders at least three times that the student might be armed, including a shrugged-off request to search his pockets and a teary report from another child that the boy had shown him the gun at recess, Zwerner’s lawyer said in a Wednesday news conference.

The timeline attorney Diane Toscano laid out goes as follows:

Sometime between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m., Zwerner reported to a school administrator that the 6-year-old child had threatened to beat up a classmate. The administrator took no action to check in with or remove the child, Toscano said.

An hour later at 12:30 p.m., another teacher told an administrator she had searched the child’s backpack for a weapon and found nothing, but believed the 6-year-old had put the gun in his pocket before heading outside for recess. The administrator allegedly dismissed the threat, saying the boy “has little pockets.”

Soon after 1 p.m., a third teacher told the administration that a child had tearfully confessed that his classmate showed him the gun at recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone, Toscano said.

A fourth employee then asked school leaders for permission to search the boy, but was denied and received instructions to wait because the school day was almost over, according to Toscano.

The child shot Zwerner roughly an hour later, said Toscano.

Walkie talkies seen through a side door at Richneck Elementary School the day after the shooting. (Jay Paul/Getty Images)

Under federal law, school staff can search a student if they have “reasonable suspicion,” a lower bar than the probable cause required of police when searching civilians. Reports by two students to officials that a student possesses a gun at school can represent reasonable suspicion for a search, according to a 1990 court ruling.

Shortly before the Virginia teacher was shot, she sent a frustrated text message to a loved one saying one of her students was armed and her school administration was failing to act, NBC reported on Wednesday. The outlet did not reveal the identity of the person who received the text or its exact wording.

Related: ‘This is a Pressure Cooker’: A Third of Teachers Faced Abuse and Threats Last Year. Researchers Say Behavior Has Likely Gotten Worse

A spokesperson for Newport News Public Schools declined to comment and noted that the district’s investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

The shooter’s family, however, called the shooting “horrific” and on Wednesday released a statement through their lawyer, James Ellenson.

“On behalf of the family of the child, we continue to pray for Ms. Zwerner and wish her a complete and full recovery,” Ellenson said. “Our hearts go out to all involved.”
Legal ramifications

Zwerner plans to sue the school district, Toscano said on Wednesday, alleging that officials could have prevented the shooting but failed to act.

The events on Jan. 6 came after weeks or more of disturbing behavior from the student that school officials appear to have downplayed. A Richneck educator spoke anonymously with The Washington Post and said, on one occasion, the boy had written a note to a teacher saying he hated her and wanted to light her on fire and watch her burn to death, but the school administration told the alarmed teacher to drop the matter. The teacher did not specify the date of the incident.

On another occasion, according to the teacher, the boy threw furniture and other classroom items, forcing classmates to hide under their desks. He also, on a separate occasion, barricaded the doors to a classroom, trapping students and an educator inside until a teacher from across the hall forced the doors open from the outside. The boy’s identity appears to be known by several reporters who have interviewed educators and others who know him, but neither he nor his parents have been identified.

The 6-year-old has an “acute disability” and has been under an intensive care plan at his school, his family said in a Jan. 19 statement through their lawyer.

The family described an unusual arrangement with the school, saying his mother or father had been accompanying the boy in class each day to help manage his disability, and that the week of the shooting was the first time he had been in class without a parent.

“We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives,” the family said.

Related: Intentional Shootings by Young Children Very Rare: What We Know

The child is currently receiving treatment at a medical facility after police took him into custody and obtained a temporary detention order.

Virginia is one of 24 states in the U.S. with no minimum age for prosecution. Still, it is “incredibly unlikely” the 6-year-old would be charged with or convicted of a crime because children that young are considered incapable of forming criminal intent or being able to understand trial proceedings, University of Virginia legal professor Andrew Block told CNN.

The child’s parents, however, may be in legal jeopardy, juvenile justice experts in Virginia say, even though no one has so far been charged in the shooting.

The 9mm Taurus pistol used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy’s mother, according to police. Ellenson, the family’s lawyer, said the mother stored it on the top shelf of her bedroom closet and that the weapon had a trigger lock. Virginia law prohibits leaving a loaded firearm anywhere it is accessible to children under 14, a crime punishable by misdemeanor.

“A 6-year-old cannot go to the store and buy a gun,” David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, told The 74. “So if a 6-year-old shoots somebody at a school, it’s because whoever owned the gun failed to be a responsible gun owner.”

Related: Can Educators and Police Predict the Next School Shooter?

School policy changes

Facing mounting pressure from community members, the Newport News school board Wednesday night voted 5-1 in favor of terminating the contract with its superintendent, George Parker III, effective Feb. 1.

“We’re going to have to become a much more student-disciplined and safety-oriented board and division, and that is potentially going to require a lot of new direction,” board member Douglas Brown said.

At Richneck Elementary, the principal has left and the assistant principal resigned, according to local reports. Karen Lynch, a principal in the district for 17 years, is leading the school’s reopening, according to a message sent to community members.

Students will return to campus on Monday, Jan. 30. On Wednesday, the school invited students and families back for a non-instructional, two-hour transition period to get re-accustomed to the building.

The school’s website says it is providing sessions with school social workers or licensed therapists to affected students or families seeking emotional support. However, the listed number went to voicemail when called by The 74 Thursday, and staff offered no comment on when the soonest available appointments for families seeking the services would be.

Earlier in January, school board Chairman Lisa Surles-Law said the district would purchase 90 walk-through metal detectors, to go in all 45 schools within the roughly 26,600-student district. Richneck Elementary would be the first school in which the detectors would be installed.

The district did not respond to questions from The 74 asking whether the metal detectors would be in place for Monday’s reopening. The most recent shooting was the third instance of gun violence on Newport News Public Schools grounds in 17 months.

Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones, who took office Jan. 1, met with President Joe Biden in the days after the shooting at Richneck Elementary School.

 (Mayor Phillip Jones/Twitter)

What’s next

Newport News is a medium-sized oceanside city on the Chesapeake Bay home to the nation’s largest military shipbuilding company and several military bases. Roughly half of students who attend the school district are Black, about a quarter are white and the remaining share are Latino, Asian or mixed race. About half of all students qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch.

In the city that, until weeks ago, was best known for building submarines and supercarriers, many questions remain unanswered.

Steve Drew, the city’s police chief, said his team by Friday expects to finish their interviews of children who were in the classroom when the shooting happened, but did not specify when the investigation would be complete.

Investigative reporter Mark Keierleber contributed to this report.

Teacher shot by 6-year-old says school was warned 4 times, announces lawsuit

BEATRICE PETERSON, MORGAN WINSOR and NADINE EL-BAWAB
Wed, January 25, 2023 

Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who was shot by a student in a classroom in Newport News, Virginia, earlier this month intends to file a lawsuit against the school board, her lawyer said Wednesday, alleging the shooting could have been prevented by school administrators.

Zwerner sustained a gunshot wound to the chest when a 6-year-old student brought a gun into a classroom at Richneck Elementary School and intentionally shot and wounded her, according to police. A bullet remains lodged in her body, according to Diane Toscano, Zwerner's lawyer.

"This should have never happened. It was preventable and thank God Abby is alive. But had the school administrators acted in the interest of their teachers and their students, Abby would not have sustained a gunshot wound to the chest," Toscano said at a press conference Wednesday.

Toscano revealed new details about the events leading up to the shooting, alleging that school administration was warned that the student had a gun with him at school and had threatened people several times the day of the shooting, but school administrators took no action.

Toscano alleged that the administration was warned four times by teachers and school employees that the unnamed student "had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people."

MORE: Virginia school shooting: 6-year-old brought gun in backpack, fired during instruction

Toscano laid out a timeline of events the day of the shooting:

At around 11:15 to 11:30 a.m., Zwerner went to a school administrator and told them that the 6-year-old had threatened to beat up another child that day. The administration did not take action or remove the student from the classroom, according to Toscano.

At 12:30 p.m. a teacher told a school administrator she searched the 6-year-old's backpack for a gun and told the administration that she believed the boy put the gun in his pocket before going outside for recess. The administrator downplayed the report and responded that the boy has little pockets, according to Toscano.

Shortly after 1 p.m., a third teacher told administrators that another student who was scared and crying confessed that the shooter showed him a gun at recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone, according to Toscano.

A fourth employee asked the administrator for permission to search the boy but was denied and was told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over, according to Toscano.

Zwerner was shot almost an hour later, according to Toscano.

She is now home recovering, "but the road to recovery will be long," Toscano said.

Messages of support for teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a 6 year old student, grace the front door of Richneck Elementary School, Jan. 9, 2023, in Newport News, Va.

 (John C. Clark/AP)

The press conference came hours before the Virginia public school system is set to decide the fate of its superintendent.

The Newport News School Board has called a special meeting for Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET to vote on a separation agreement with Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker III and the appointment of an interim superintendent.

Parker has been under fire from teachers, parents and community members since the shooting. The boy, who has not been named publicly, allegedly took a handgun from his home, put it in his backpack and brought it to school that day before shooting his teacher in an "intentional" act, according to the Newport News Police Department.

Police said Zwerner was giving class instruction that afternoon when the student pointed the gun at her and fired one round. The teacher took a defensive position, raising her hand. The bullet went through her hand and into her chest, police said.

MORE: Teacher injured in shooting at Virginia elementary school, 6-year-old suspect in custody: Police

There was no physical struggle or fight, according to police.

After Zwerner was shot, she ushered all of her students out of the classroom. She was the last person to leave the room, police said.

About 16 to 20 students were in the classroom at the time of the shooting and none of them were physically injured, according to police.

Police said responding officers found a school employee physically restraining the 6-year-old suspect in the classroom. The boy allegedly hit the school employee before officers took him into custody. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation, police said.

Since then, a temporary detention order has been obtained and the child is currently receiving treatment at a medical facility, according to police.

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew has called Zwerner a "hero" who "saved lives." He told reporters that the teacher has repeatedly asked how her students are doing.

Zwerner was released from Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News last week and will continue to receive outpatient treatment, according to Riverside Health System.

 Residents of Newport News hold a candlelight vigil in honor of Richneck Elementary School first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner at the School Administration Building in Newport News, Va., Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. (John C. Clark/AP, FILE)

Police said the investigation into the Jan. 6 incident, including a motive, is ongoing and no one has been charged so far. Richneck Elementary School has remained closed in the meantime.

The 9 mm Taurus pistol used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy's mother, according to police.

MORE: 6-year-old's backpack was searched the day of shooting that injured a teacher, school district says

During a town hall meeting with parents earlier this month, Parker said the student's backpack was searched at school the morning of Jan. 6, after someone reported he may have had a weapon. The person who searched the backpack didn't find a weapon, according to the superintendent. It was unclear who conducted the search or how the tip about the weapon was received.

When asked for comment, a police spokesperson told ABC News: "We have determined through our investigation that a school employee was notified of a possible firearm at Richneck Elementary before the shooting occurred. The Newport News Police Department was not notified of this information prior to the incident. I cannot release any further information at this time because of the ongoing investigation."

A sign wishing students a 'Happy New Year' is seen outside Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, on Jan. 7, 2023. (Jay Paul/Getty Images)

Earlier this month, Newport News School Board Chair Lisa Surles-Law said they have been given approval to purchase 90 walk-through metal detectors, which will be installed in every school across the district, starting with Richneck Elementary School. The district will also bolster protocols on handling school violence, including implementing a safety stand down and reviewing student conduct and discipline records, according to Surles-Law.

The unnamed family of the boy released a statement last week, saying the "firearm our son accessed was secured" and that he "suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day."

MORE: Family of 6-year-old who shot teacher speaks out for 1st time

"The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives," the family said. "Since this incident, our son has been under hospital care and receiving the treatment he needs."

The boy's family called the shooting "horrific" and noted that they "have been cooperating with local and federal law enforcement to understand how this could have happened."

"Our heart goes out to our son's teacher and we pray for her healing in the aftermath of such an unimaginable tragedy as she selflessly served our son and the children in the school," they added. "She has worked diligently and compassionately to support our family as we sought the best education and learning environment for our son. We thank her for her courage, grace and sacrifice."

ABC News' Meredith Deliso, Caroline Guthrie, Davone Morales, Emily Shapiro and Ben Siu contributed to this report.

Teacher shot by 6-year-old says school was warned 4 times, announces lawsuit originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

U.S. Senator blocks bid to close EV tax window

Tesla electric vehicles are shown at a sales and service center in Vista, California

Thu, January 26, 2023 
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Debbie Stabenow thwarted a bid on Thursday by fellow Democrat Joe Manchin to pass a measure that would block some electric vehicles from receiving a $7,500 tax credit.

The $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act passed in August restricts the $7,500 consumer tax credits to North American-made EVs and imposes new battery sourcing rules and again made General Motors and Tesla eligible for EV tax credits.

The U.S. Treasury in December said it would not issue proposed guidance on battery sourcing rules until March, effectively giving some EVs not meeting new requirements a few months of eligibility in 2023 before the battery rules take effect.

That drew Manchin's ire, who proposed legislation on Wednesday to make the battery tax credit requirements retroactive to Jan. 1. Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, wants to shift the U.S. battery supply chain away from China.

"China has cornered the electric vehicle supply chain market," Manchin said. Treasury is "now continuing to let the $7,500 credit go without any concerns at all about the critical mineral requirements."

Manchin, joined by Republican Senator Mike Braun, sought unanimous consent to pass the proposal but Stabenow objected.

The EV credit is "complicated, it doesn't work for several years for American companies," Stabenow said. Automakers need more time to meet battery sourcing requirements, she said.

"It is not unreasonable what Treasury is doing ... they have been given an incredibly complicated task to try to figure out how this consumer credit will work," Stabenow said.

In a Reuters interview, Stabenow said Manchin's bill "would literally take away credits from people who are buying cars today ... Fundamentally, (Manchin) is not a fan of EVs."

The Treasury did not comment on Manchin's bill but said it did not act to give car companies a window of eligibility. The "March target release date for battery sourcing guidance reflects the time that has been needed to work through significant complexities."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Grant McCool)

Sen. Joe Manchin bill would cut off $7,500 EV tax credits allowed by loophole

He's angry that the battery sourcing requirement won't kick in until March

JOEL STOCKSDALE
Jan 25th 2023 at 11:03AM
15comments



Senator Joe Manchin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has made it quite clear that he's upset about some of the loopholes left in the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) EV tax credit sections. And he's going to try to close them. His first bill is being proposed today, and it targets the rules about battery sourcing.

Part of the IRA's plug-in vehicle tax credit requirements stipulate that a certain amount of battery materials must be sourced from North America, in amounts that will go up over the next few years. But the U.S. Treasury has not yet written its rules pertaining to this part of the IRA, saying that it will issue those rules in March. This means that until March, plug-in cars otherwise meeting the battery size and price requirements are still eligible for the full $7,500 tax credit, even if their batteries were sourced overseas. Many of these vehicles would otherwise only be eligible for half of that $7,500 amount, as half is for final assembly in the U.S. and the other half is for North American battery content.

Manchin's proposed bill would amend the battery requirement section of the IRA to make the date for compliance January 1 of this year. As a result, any cars currently qualifying for the whole credit would have the battery requirement part revoked — potentially resulting in some much smaller credits for anyone who has already bought a car under current rules, or who is about to in the next couple of months.

In a statement accompanying the bill, Manchin said:

“It is unacceptable that the U.S. Treasury has failed to issue updated guidance for the 30D electric vehicle tax credits and continues to make the full $7,500 credits available without meeting all of the clear requirements included in the Inflation Reduction Act. The Treasury Department failed to meet the statutory deadline of December 31, 2022, to release guidance for the 30D credit and have created an opportunity to circumvent stringent supply chain requirements included in the IRA.


"The IRA is first-and-foremost an energy security bill, and the EV tax credits were designed to grow domestic manufacturing and reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains for the critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries. The United States is the birthplace of Henry Ford who revolutionized the automotive industry with the Model T. Being an automotive powerhouse is in our blood, which is why it is shameful that we rely so heavily on foreign suppliers, particularly China, for the batteries that power our electric vehicles.

"We cannot continue down this path. I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating that we can’t have national security without energy security and energy independence. The IRA and the EV tax credits must be implemented according to the Congressional intent to ensure the United States, as the superpower of the world, is not beholden to countries that don’t share our values."

The proposed bill doesn't apply to anything related to the other big loophole, which is around car leasing. That one allows foreign-built vehicles to still qualify for the full $7,500 credit as long as they're leased, not purchased outright. But considering Manchin's strong opposition to both the delayed battery rule making and the broad leasing interpretation, we bet he will introduce a bill to close the lease loophole, too.

Related video:

Trinidad offers to pay for Venezuelan gas with humanitarian supplies


A view of the Aban Pearl gas rig in the Caribbean sea, along the Venezuelan coast

Wed, January 25, 2023 
By Curtis Williams

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago would pay Venezuela for natural gas produced at an offshore development with humanitarian supplies like food and medicine, Prime Minister Keith Rowley said, to comply with a U.S. license prohibiting cash payments to the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a license allowing Trinidad to co-develop the Dragon gas field, which holds 4.2 trillion cubic feet of reserves on the Venezuelan side of the maritime border with Trinidad. The project would have Trinidad import the gas and turn it into exportable liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"We have done that before. So we buy the gas and we pay for it in a variety of ways," Rowley told journalists late on Tuesday. Trinidad previously supplied Venezuela with about $50 million in humanitarian goods, he said.

Venezuela has resorted to swaps to make its economy work amid stiff U.S. sanctions prohibiting financial transactions or the use of dollars to pay Venezuela or the country's state companies.

Maduro has been pressing Washington and other governments to free over $3 billion frozen in foreign bank accounts - money which could be used to import food, medicine and other goods.

The United Nations has been called to administrate a fund that would be financed with those resources, but there has been no agreement between Maduro, the United States and the country's political opposition on how to implement it. The opposition controls most of the country's foreign assets.

NEW OPERATOR

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA owns and operated the Dragon gas project when it was last active about a decade ago. A new operator would have to be appointed to bring new investment, said Latin American energy expert Francisco Monaldi.

"From the perspective of opportunities, PDVSA does not have better options at this time to sell that gas under sanctions," even if it means relinquishing operations, he said.

Shell, which operates the neighboring Hibiscus field in Trinidad, ideally could become the operator, said Trinidad's Rowley.

Trinidad and Venezuela would have to decide on how to compensate PDVSA for past exploration and infrastructure, said Monaldi, a director at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. Shell declined to comment.

(Reporting by Curtis Williams, writing by Marianna Parraga, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

U.S. Grants License To Trinidad And Tobago To Develop Venezuelan Gas Field

Editor OilPrice.com
Wed, January 25, 2023 

The U.S. Treasury has granted a license to Trinidad and Tobago, allowing the Caribbean nation to develop a gas field offshore Venezuela and do business related to the gas field with Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA, Reuters reports, quoting officials from the U.S. and Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago asked for a license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the middle of 2022, and the exemption was recently granted by the U.S. Administration.

Trinidad and Tobago expects to gain access to around 350 million cubic feet of gas per day from the offshore field Dragon, Prime Minister Keith Rowley told a news conference, as carried by Reuters.

Despite the license, the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro will not receive any cash payments from the project, and all remaining U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s energy industry will be left unchanged, an anonymous senior U.S. official told Reuters.

The license is aimed at boosting the energy security in the Caribbean basin and is another small step in the easing of the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas industry.

The Biden Administration has recently eased part of the sanctions imposed on Venezuela – initially slapped by former President Donald Trump – including granting U.S. supermajor Chevron, the only American company still operating in Venezuela, a six-month license that allows Chevron to import some Venezuelan crude oil to the United States for sale to U.S. refiners.

Earlier this month, reports had it that Chevron Corp recently sold 500,000 barrels of heavy Hamaca grade to U.S. refiner Phillips 66 to be used in its Sweeny, Texas refinery, anonymous sources told Bloomberg. It would be the first such sale since the United States sanctioned Venezuela’s crude oil. Venezuela’s heavy crude oil is prized by U.S. refiners, who, until recently, looked to Russia’s heavy crude to replace it. In December, it was reported that several refiners were hitting up Chevron to get their hands on the rare Venezuelan crude oil.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ex-chief of Venezuela’s highest court charged with diverting millions in bribes to Miami



Jay Weaver
Thu, January 26, 2023 

The former chief of Venezuela’s highest court was indicted Thursday in Miami federal court on charges of granting legal favors in exchange for bribery payments that he diverted through local bank accounts and spent on chartered private jets, expensive watches, luxury goods and real estate in South Florida.

Maikel Moreno, who was president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice from 2017 to 2022, is charged with laundering money and related offenses stemming from $10 million in bribes that prosecutors say he accepted from politically connected white-collar defendants who sought breaks in their high-stakes fraud and financial cases in Venezuela.

Moreno, who remains a supreme court justice and is living in Venezuela, was initially charged by a criminal complaint in Miami in March 2020 — the same day that President Nicolás Maduro and others were charged in New York with narco-terrorism.

Federal prosecutors portrayed Moreno in court papers as a crooked judge who deployed his power to enrich himself at the expense of justice. Moreno spent millions of dollars in alleged bribery payments on luxury properties in Venezuela, Miami, the Dominican Republic and Tuscany, Italy, according to court records.

A prior affidavit filed in Moreno’s case said the judge spent $1 million on private jets and pilots in travel from Venezuela to Miami and other destinations, $600,000 in credit card purchases for Prada, Ferragamo and other designer goods at Bal Harbour Shops, $50,000 at a luxury watch repair shop in Aventura, and a $40,000 payment to a Venezuelan beauty pageant director.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Berger and agents with Homeland Security Investigations began focusing on Moreno’s alleged misconduct after digging into kickback and money-laundering schemes between officials with Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA, and contractors based in Miami and elsewhere. When Moreno once applied for a U.S. visa in 2016, he reported that he made $12,000 a year from his job in the Venezuela judicial system. But investigators with HSI’s El Dorado Task Force South later discovered that he had received about $3 million in his Bank of America account in Miami between 2012 and 2016.

According to the HSI affidavit filed in 2020, an unidentified Venezuelan described as a former criminal defense attorney who owned a TV media company in Caracas made two wire transfers into Moreno’s Miami account — the first for $500,000 from a Swiss bank and the second for $300,000 from an Austrian bank.

The Miami Herald learned that the person who wired the money was Raúl Gorrín, an influential businessman close to Maduro and to his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez. Gorrín is wanted in a separate 2018 money-laundering case in Miami on charges of bribing the former national treasurer, Alejandro Andrade, to embezzle hundreds of millions from Venezuela’s government. Andrade pleaded guilty in federal court in South Florida, paid a financial penalty of more than $250 million and served three years based on his cooperation with U.S. authorities.

In 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department froze Moreno’s bank account and other assets in the United States after the supreme court in Venezuela stripped away authority from the nation’s legislature. Two cooperating witnesses — an associate of Moreno’s and an attorney in Venezuela — told federal investigators that the chief justice accepted bribes in dozens of instances from parties in both criminal and civil cases, according to the affidavit.

In one civil case between a General Motors plant and Venezuelan GM auto dealers in 2017, Moreno ruled in favor of closing the $100 million GM facility rather than keeping it open for thousands of workers, the affidavit said. In exchange, he was promised by the auto dealers’ attorney a “significant percentage of the proceeds” from the eventual sale of the GM plant after its seizure.

A white-collar defendant had his criminal case dismissed by Moreno after he gave the judge a “luxurious residence” in the affluent neighborhood of Alto Hatillo in Caracas, according to the affidavit. The judge kept his watch collection in the house, including one timepiece worth $1 million, the affidavit said.

Although the defendant in the Venezuelan case was not identified, the Herald has learned he was Francisco Convit. He is the lead defendant in a $1 billion money-laundering case in Miami, accusing him and several others of making sham loans to the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and receiving astronomical sums from the government in return. Most of the money was moved to Europe, but some ended up in U.S. bank accounts and Miami real estate.

Both cooperating witnesses told federal investigators that Moreno received $1 million in a bribe payment from Miami to ensure the release of an oil contractor from custody who was charged in a PDVSA corruption case in Venezuela, according to the affidavit.

Israeli justice reforms spark tech investor flight fears




Protests against Israel's right-wing government in Tel Aviv


Fri, January 27, 2023 
By Steven Scheer and Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Barak Eilam, a former Israeli intelligence officer who now heads cloud-based software provider NICE, says he has never had problems selling Israel as an investment destination.

But on a call last week, Eilam sensed this may be changing when major investors he had partnered with for years began asking pointed questions about a judicial overhaul.

"For now, they're not pulling out any investment but they are kind of watching it carefully," the 47-year-old said.

The proposals by the new hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strengthen political control over judicial appointments while weakening the Supreme Court's ability to overturn legislation or rule against government action, have brought tens of thousands onto the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities. They fear the changes will politicize the judiciary and compromise its independence.

Yoav Tzruya, general partner at venture capital fund JVP, said investors were mainly worried about stability, corruption and a reliable judicial system.

"I think there will be some investors that, given concerns about stability about corruption or whatever might put more hurdles in front of especially a new fund manager," he said.

This week, an open letter from a group of more than 270 business and economy experts, including former central bank officials and Netanyahu advisers, said the judicial reforms represented "a danger to Israel's economy".

Netanyahu's office declined to comment to Reuters on Friday, but during a meeting with senior businessmen, he said the reforms would boost growth by cutting lengthy legal procedures, while the judiciary would remain independent.

"Not only will the reform not harm the economy, it will jumpstart it," he said, according to a spokesman.

An S&P Global Ratings analyst this month told Reuters that the planned changes could pressure Israel's sovereign credit rating.

On Friday, Moody's credit rating agency pointed Reuters to its Nov. 3 research report, published two days after Netanyahu's election victory. It noted some of the proposed judicial changes that are now being discussed in parliament.

"Implementation of such changes would clearly be negative for our assessment of the strength of institutions and governance, which we have so far considered to be a positive feature of Israel's sovereign credit profile," the reports said.

For Israel's tech companies, an independent legal system is crucial to protecting their main asset, intellectual property (IP), with some executives saying they may consider domiciling abroad as a result of the Netanyahu government's plans.

On Thursday, a day after Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed concerns that the proposals would harm the economy, Eynat Guez CEO of Papaya Global announced she was taking her payroll systems group's money out of Israel.

"Everybody knows Israel is never on safe ground because of the complicated diplomatic issues," Guez told Reuters. "But now we're adding this reform which is ultimately emerging as harming democracy, that's a fatal blow."

Netanyahu's administration says the overhaul is needed to rein in activist judges who it says have encroached into political decision making.

"Nobody will harm intellectual property rights and the honouring of agreements, values which are sacred to us and which are the critical test," Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

Hillel Fuld, a start-up marketing adviser, also dismissed the outcry as "unnecessary hysteria".

"We are still building the best tech in the world. Israeli tech isn't going anywhere. If people pull money then it's their loss, not ours", he said.

Israel's shekel, which weakened 1.1% against the dollar on Friday, is still 2.1% higher against the U.S. currency so far in 2023.

FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY

In a country rife with divisions over the conflict with the Palestinians and matters of synagogue and state, Israel's tech sector has generally stayed out of sensitive political debates.

But for many in an industry that accounts for 15% of the country's overall economic output, 10% of its workforce, more than half of its exports and a quarter of its tax income, the judicial reform proposals have created palpable alarm.

"We worked really, really hard so that Israel is considered a top place to invest and it's not because of any government policy, or tax treatment, it was the entrepreneurs themselves," said Adam Fisher, a partner at investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. "That can be lost very quickly."

Since 2015, globally-oriented Israeli high-tech firms have raised some $77 billion, mostly from foreign investors. Of that, $51 billion came between 2020 and 2022, with a record year of $26 billion in 2021.

Fisher said he worried a government that controlled the bench could defy world opinion, harm Israel's reputation abroad and make life less friendly at home for some.

There is also a deeper unease about the widening divisions between liberal Tel Aviv with its fast-paced style and plethora of tech start ups and the nationalist tone of the new government and its pro-settler and religious parties.

Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges which he denies, was forced this week by the Supreme Court to sack the interior minister over a tax conviction.

For some of those running tech businesses in Israel the judicial reforms plans may have tipped the scales.

"I care very much about Israel," said Eilam, explaining the unease which prompted him to write to NICE's 8,500-strong workforce outlining his fears. But he added: "I have a fiduciary responsibility to my shareholders."

"If needed, we'll assess the situation and decide to do what's right for the company," Eilam added.

(Additional reporting by Rami Amichay and Emily Rose in Tel Aviv; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by James Mackenzie and Alexander Smith)