AP National News

The Latest: New Zealand gives tentative OK for 2nd vaccine

By The Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand medical regulators have approved use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, after earlier in the year approving the Pfizer vaccine. But New Zealand’s government intends to stick with its plan of primarily using the Pfizer vaccine to inoculate the population of 5 million. The provisional approval for the J&J vaccine by regulator Medsafe…

Virginia to soon remove statue of segregationist Byrd

AP
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by Rayos Syndication User

Work is expected to begin soon to remove a statue of Harry F. Byrd Sr., a former Virginia governor, U.S. senator and staunch segregationist. The state said that the removal of the statue from the state’s Capitol Square will start Wednesday morning. Lawmakers voted to remove the statue earlier this year, a decision that came amid a yearslong movement in history-rich Virginia to rethink who is honored in the state’s public spaces. Byrd was a Democrat who ran the state’s most powerful political machine for decades until his death in 1966. He was considered the architect of the state’s racist “massive resistance” policy to public school integration.

The Latest: COVID-19 cases grow in hard-hit area of Missouri

By The Associated Press
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Updated:

by Rayos Syndication User

MISSION, Kan. — The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients jumped by nearly 27% over the Fourth of July weekend in a hard-hit area of Missouri where immunization rates are low, leading to a temporary ventilator shortfall and a public call for help from respiratory therapists. The delta variant, first identified in India, is spreading rapidly, straining hospitals in Springfield and…