Coronavirus has hit Capitol Hill, as the first members of Congress have tested positive for the virus.
Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Ben McAdams (D-Utah) announced diagnoses late Wednesday. Diaz-Balart’s office said he had developed symptoms Saturday evening and was notified Wednesday of a positive test. Both had voted on the House floor as recently as Saturday morning, to pass the coronavirus relief bill.
Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah (Left), Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. (Right)
At least five other members of Congress are quarantining because they had contact with the lawmakers, including Rep. Steve Scalise, the second-highest ranking Republican in the House.
Some lawmakers had been pushing for ways to vote remotely, particularly since congressional members are disproportionately in higher-risk categories for coronavirus complications. Forty-eight senators are over the age of 65, the age at which some states have recommended individuals to stay inside their homes.
Senator Dick Durban (D-Ill.) has said “it’s time for the Senate to wake up to the 21st century and make sure we’re using technology that allows us to communicate with each other without any danger or risk to public health.”
Camden, N.J., which disbanded and instituted a county-wide police force in 2013, has become an example for some reform activists in the wake of the George Floyd protests, but locals have a complicated view of what happened in the South Jersey city over the last seven years.
Also called Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth Independence Day, Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States But this second independence day is not a national holiday and most Americans have never even heard of it. Years of systematic racism, segregation, and the oppression of Black Americans have diminished and stamped out efforts to make what should undoubtedly be an American National Holiday.
The director of "Selma,""13th," and "When They See Us," Ava DuVernay, is working to empower other artists to create works to keep law enforcement accountable as police brutality protests have gathered steam throughout the world.
