What do you think? Leave a respectful comment.

News Wrap: New York mandates COVID vaccines for all health care workers

Correction: During the story about water shortages, Judy Woodruff mis-spoke and said the state of New Mexico would be subject to water allocation cuts, when in fact it was the country of Mexico. NewsHour regrets the error.

In our news wrap Monday, New York state will now require all health care workers, including staff at long-term care facilities, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 27. Tropical Storm Fred regained strength with winds up to 65 miles per hour as it barreled into the Florida Gulf Coast. The Biden administration is permanently boosting food stamp benefits by 25% over pre-pandemic levels.

Read the Full Transcript

  • Judy Woodruff:

    In the day's other news: The death toll from Saturday's 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti soared to more than 1, 400 people; 6,000 others were injured.

    The quake's epicenter was about 80 miles West of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Rescue crews raced to extract survivors and victims from the rubble before Tropical Depression Grace inundated the area with heavy rain.

    Haiti's prime minister appealed for an organized humanitarian aid operation.

  • Ariel Henry (through translator):

    In this crisis, we want more appropriate responses than those we received after the 2010 earthquake. All aid that will come from outside the country must go through civil protection. I do not want aid to arrive in a disorderly manner, where everyone decides what they want.

  • Judy Woodruff:

    And we will get the latest on the devastation in Haiti right after the news summary.

    Tropical Storm Fred regained strength with winds up to 65 miles per hour as it barreled into the Florida Gulf Coast today. Flooding was seen along the shoreline in St. George Island before the storm made its way into Panama City. The National Hurricane Center warned of heavy rainfall and flash floods across Southeastern states as it moves farther inland this week.

    On the pandemic, New York state will now require all health care workers, including staff at long-term care facilities, to be vaccinated against COVID by September 27. That comes as New York City's vaccination mandate for indoor activities officially goes into effect tomorrow.

    Mayor Bill de Blasio warned anyone using fake vaccination cards will face consequences.

  • Bill De Blasio (D):

    That literally could result in prison time, as much of seven years. So I want people to understand that is not something to play around with. This is — we are in the middle of a pandemic. The vaccination card is a pretty sacred document to tell us who is vaccinated and who not.

  • Judy Woodruff:

    Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court moved late Sunday to temporarily block a mask mandate that was issued in two of its largest counties. Infections have skyrocketed in the state in recent weeks.

    The Biden administration is permanently boosting food stamp benefits by 25 percent over pre-pandemic levels. That's the largest single increase in the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps provide healthy food for low-income families. The new increase goes into effect in October for all 42 million SNAP beneficiaries.

    Nearly 15,000 structures in Northern California are still under threat tonight by the Dixie Fire. More than 6,000 firefighters are working to contain the month-old inferno, which is 31 percent contained. It's one of about 100 wildfires burning in more than a dozen Western states fueled by hot, dry, gusty weather.

    For the first time ever, U.S. officials have declared a water shortage from the Colorado River, amid an historic drought. The waterway serves around 40 million people in the West. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation warned that record low water levels at the river's Lake Mead Reservoir will trigger water allocation cuts to Arizona and Nevada and Mexico beginning — or New Mexico — beginning in October.

    Stocks were mixed on Wall Street today, as investors awaited major retail earnings reports this week. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 110 points to close at 35625, a record closing high. The Nasdaq fell 29 points. And the S&P 500 added 12 to also notch a record high.

    And federal regulators are investigating Tesla's automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles at crash scenes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identified 11 such crashes since 2018. One person died and 17 others were injured. The probe covers some 765,000 Tesla vehicles from model years 2014 to 2021.

Listen to this Segment