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Dr. Seuss books sales are up after people were trying to cancel the books.

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Dr. Seuss's books seem more popular than ever amid the controversy over a small selection of titles that will no longer be sold because they were deemed to have "insensitive and racist imagery."

Copies of the beloved children's author's most popular books were virtually flying out of Amazon and Barnes and Noble's warehouses, with his most popular books making up 9 out of the top 10 bestsellers on both companies' lists as of Thursday evening.

"The Cat in The Hat," "Oh, The Places You'll Go" and "Green Eggs and Ham," three of Seuss's best-known works, were all out of stock on Amazon but still available at a higher price on Barnes and Noble's website as of Thursday evening.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which preserves the author's legacy, announced this week six books - "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!," and "The Cat's Quizzer" - would no longer be printed.
6 DR. SEUSS BOOKS TO STOP BEING PUBLISHED BECAUSE OF RACIST IMAGERY
"These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong," Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator's March 2 birthday.

"Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog represents and supports all communities and families," it said.

Used copies of the now out-of-print books were being priced by independent sellers on Amazon for hundreds of dollars.

One seller had priced a "good" hardback copy of "The Cat's Quizzer" at $900.

Online marketplace eBay Inc. said it is working to prevent the resale of the six out-of-print books, although hundreds of listings were still on the website as of Thursday. Many of the listings referenced the books being "banned."

One listing was offering four of the books for $2,000.
DR. SEUSS BOOKS DEEMED OFFENSIVE WILL BE DELISTED FROM EBAY
Examples of the problematic drawings include an Asian person wearing a conical hat and holding chopsticks in "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and two bare-footed African men wearing what appear to be grass skirts with their hair tied above their heads in "If I Ran the Zoo."

The National Education Association, which hosts the "Read Across America Day," once partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises for the literary promotion event that lands on his birthday, but has recently become "independent of any one particular book, publisher, or character" because of the need to promote diverse books, according to its website.

The stepdaughter of Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, told the New York Post this week "There wasn't a racist bone in that man's body - he was so acutely aware of the world around him and cared so much."

Lark Grey Dimond-Cates said she understood the decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises and said people need to be "very gentle and thoughtful and kind with each other" because of the "painful times" we live in.

President Biden stirred some Seuss-related controversy about conservatives when he didn't utter the author's name in his "Read Across America" proclamation - a break from his two immediate predecessors.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden's statement had been written by the NEA.

Seuss remains hugely popular, making an estimated $33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $9.5 million five years ago, the company said. Forbes listed him No. 2 on its highest-paid dead celebrities of 2020, behind only the late pop star Michael Jackson.
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Within hours of Tuesday's announcement, Dr. Seuss books filled more than half of the top 20 slots on Amazon.com's bestseller list. "Mulberry Street" and "If I Ran the Zoo" were on the list, along with "Oh, the Places You'll Go!", "Green Eggs and Ham" and others still being published.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dr. Seuss book sales soar after 6 titles canceled for 'racist' imagery

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Dr. Seuss's books seem more popular than ever amid the controversy over a small selection of titles that will no longer be sold because they were deemed to have "insensitive and racist imagery."

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Countrywide peaceful protests against the coup in Myanmar continues, people also mourn those lost to police brutality and violence. It is evident that they are using shoot to kill to suppress protests. Victims include young people, even teenagers. Wednesday was the bloodiest day out of four weeks of protests. Security forces opened fire killing at least 38 people.

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myanmar: increasing evidence that military forces are shooting to kill as country mourns slain kids - cnn

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Increasing evidence that Myanmar's military forces are shooting to kill

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Zin Ko Ko Zaw, 22, killed by a bullet to the head. Ma "Angel" Kyal Sin, 19, fatally shot in the head. Nay Myo Aung, 16, killed by a bullet that pierced his lung.

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Former state department aide has been arrested for connection to the capital riot.

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A former State Department aide during the Trump administration has been arrested in connection with the pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to an FBI spokesperson and documents.

Federico Klein was arrested Thursday by the FBI in Virginia, but the agency would not discuss the charges or the case, and court documents did not appear to be online.

Politico first reported the arrest.

Government records show Klein worked on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and was hired at the State Department in January 2017.

Government files show that at least into 2020, Klein was serving as a political appointee at the State Department as a special assistant in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

An FBI spokesperson referred further questions to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

An emailed request for comment from that office was not immediately returned Thursday night.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 200 people have been charged and accused of taking part in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Federal prosecutors allege a wide range of motives and behavior, from extreme violence to apparent ignorance that what they were doing was illegal.

Some have been accused of assaulting police officers and threatening to attack lawmakers, while others are charged with the lesser offense of illegally entering a protected building.

Michael Kosnar contributed.

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Former State Department aide arrested in connection with Capitol riot

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A former State Department aide during the Trump administration has been arrested in connection with the pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to an FBI spokesperson and documents. Federico Klein was arrested Thursday by the FBI in Virginia, but the agency would not discuss the charges or the case, and court documents did not appear to be online.

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Pope Francis took his first international trip to Iraq since the beginning of the pandemic to rally.

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Pope Francis is flying to Iraq for the first ever papal visit to the country, and his first international trip since the start of the pandemic.

The four-day trip is meant to reassure Iraq's dwindling Christian community and foster inter-religious dialogue.

The Pope will meet Iraq's most revered Shia Muslim cleric, say a prayer in Mosul and celebrate Mass at a stadium.

He has insisted on travelling despite a new spike in Covid-19 infections in Iraq and concerns over his security.

About 10,000 Iraqi Security Forces personnel will be deployed to protect the Pope, while round-the-clock curfews are also being imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Hours after a rocket attack on a base hosting US troops on Wednesday, the Pope said Iraqi Christians could not be "let down for a second time".

Pope John Paul II cancelled plans for a trip at the end of 1999 after talks with then-President Saddam Hussein's government broke down.

In the two decades since then, one of the world's oldest Christian communities has seen its numbers plummet from 1.4 million to about 250,000.

Many have fled abroad to escape the religiously motivated violence that has plagued the country since the US-led invasion in 2003 that ousted Saddam.

Tens of thousands were also displaced when Islamic State (IS) militants overran northern Iraq in 2014, destroying their historic churches, seizing their property, and giving them the choice to pay a tax, convert, leave or face death.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church aims to embolden persecuted Christians and call for peace in meetings with political and other religious leaders, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen, who is travelling with him.

Addressing the Iraqi people in a video message on the eve of his trip, Pope Francis said he was "coming as a pilgrim, as a penitent pilgrim, to implore from the Lord forgiveness and reconciliation after years of war and terrorism, to beg from God the consolation of hearts and the healing of wounds".

He continued: "I am coming among you also as a pilgrim of peace... seeking fraternity and prompted by the desire to pray together and to walk together, also with our brothers and sisters of other religious traditions, in the steps of Father Abraham, who joins in one family Muslims, Jews and Christians."

The Pope told Iraqi Christians: "I want to bring you the affectionate caress of the whole Church, which is close to you and to the war-torn Middle East, and encourages you to keep moving forward."

Who are Iraq's Christians?

People in what is now Iraq embraced Christianity in the 1st Century AD

According to the US state department, Christian leaders estimate there are fewer than 250,000 Christians remaining in Iraq, with the largest population - at least 200,000 - living in the Nineveh Plain and Kurdistan Region in the north of the country

Approximately 67% of those are Chaldean Catholics, whose Eastern-rite Church retains its own liturgy and traditions but recognises the authority of the pope in Rome. Another 20% are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, believed to be the oldest in Iraq

The rest are Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, as well as Anglican, Evangelical and other Protestants

What is the Pope's schedule?

Due to security concerns and a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections, the 84-year-old pope will have limited exposure to the public, our correspondent says. But there are still fears that the trip could become a super-spreader event.

Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Friday afternoon.

He will be welcomed by Iraq's prime minister and president before meeting bishops and other clergy at a Syriac Catholic church in the capital, Our Lady of Salvation, where 52 Christians and police were killed in an attack by jihadists from a precursor group to IS in 2010.

On Saturday, the pope will fly south to the Shia holy city of Najaf, where he will visit Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The 90-year-old is the prime marja, or spiritual reference, for millions of Shia in Iraq and elsewhere.

Pope Francis will then attend an interreligious meeting at the ancient site of Ur, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham.

Sunday will see him travel to the northern city of Mosul. He will say a prayer of suffrage in Church Square for the victims of the war with IS, which left tens of thousands of civilians dead.

The Pope will also visit nearby Qaraqosh, where Christians have returned since the defeat of IS in 2017 to restore the town's church and rebuild their homes.

That afternoon, he will celebrate Mass at a stadium in Irbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, which thousands of people may attend.

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Pope Francis to begin historic Iraq visit despite virus and security risks

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Pope Francis is flying to Iraq for the first ever papal visit to the country, and his first international trip since the start of the pandemic. The four-day trip is meant to reassure Iraq's dwindling Christian community and foster inter-religious dialogue.

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jobs are opening up again due to more people getting vaccines. This could prove to be one big step to going back to normal.

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The U.S. economy added 379,000 jobs in February, evidence the labor market's recovery is gaining steam nearly one year into the pandemic as coronavirus caseloads fall nationwide and many states ease restrictions on business activity.

The unemployment rate fell slightly to 6.2% - well below the April peak of 14.7%, but about twice the pre-crisis level, the Labor Department said in its monthly payroll report, released Friday. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv expected the report to show that unemployment remained unchanged at 6.3% and the economy added 182,000 jobs.

In total, the U.S. has recovered roughly half of the 22 million jobs lost during the first two months of the pandemic. There are still about 9.5 million more Americans out of work than there one year ago, before the crisis began, the report shows. Economists

The report is a sign of renewed momentum in hiring: After a sharp contraction in March and April, the labor market quickly rebounded, adding 9.3 million jobs in the span of just three months. But in the months since then, job growth cooled dramatically, with employment falling by 306,000 in December, revised figures show. January's gains were revised higher, to 166,000 from 49,000.

Economists attributed the better-than-expected figure to more people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, a lower level of infections and warmer weather.

"Today's jobs report sets an extremely positive tone as we move into warmer months and the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations accelerates," said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank, said. "While the labor market still has a lot of ground to make up, we are in a different place than we were a year ago and the economy seems poised for a strong rebound."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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February job growth surges above expectations as coronavirus recovery picks up steam

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The U.S. economy added 379,000 jobs in February, evidence the labor market's recovery is gaining steam nearly one year into the pandemic as coronavirus caseloads fall nationwide and many states ease restrictions on business activity.

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The Unites States Capitol Police were warned of a possible militia plot to storm the Capitol on March 4th. March 4th has been so called a conspiracy as the "true inauguration day" of former President Donald Trump. It is the date presidents were inaugurated on until 1937.

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Let's talk more on the high security alert today at the capitol building and let's bring in former FBI agent and ABC news contributor Brad Garrett. Bremen and pick up on the on the intelligence. Bulletin witches says start of the US capitol remains quote an unattractive. Target unquote to talk about the threaten also pick up where Rachel left up doesn't this send a message to every not see in white supremacist is out there. That they won today the house turned tail and head of for the high. Grass. So we'll looks to start with the security that's there which is very similar to how it was constructed after. January 6. So the question is do you need a much security what does that say to your point Terry about. Groups that have made. Only some comments toward have discussions about attacking the capital they I think the bill law portion Bolton talked about the 3% here's. It also talked about Q and on. And that I never got the impression that those who worse specific threats it's just information they picked up you know the abundance of caution. They told the rest of us now. If you look at. Giving us information that's not specific consortium I guess heightening people's anxiety. In particular as you mentioned the house is not there. Is it sort of me cave into every time there's a piece of chatter about the potential assault or an attack. Congress is going to shut down the other side of that jury is it also tells us in the public. Who the law enforcement really have to rely on on tips about people about to commit for talking about committing bad axe to come forward. It's these students don't go anywhere people been sort of become numb like what's the point impasse and on meet these seem to be sort of not helpful types and information and the only news raise my anxiety. So it is sort of got spoke twice. And then redwood we have seen this kind of response three months ago or is this is this the new normal now that we've had this capital breach. But you don't. So it wouldn't have seen this response three months ago I was on a squad for. A number of years they worked all threats against congress and we just seemed that every day and there were some specific some not someone weeded out so we actually went after people arrested and prosecuted them. But it wasn't information only the public even knew about. I think January 6 now. Has so rattled people on the hill and I think it's also double Lee rattled the capital police because. All of the heat has been on them obviously as to why there was not adequate security. All on the six. So. I she'll lot of we've got to we've got to we've got to get out front on this and tell everybody what we think might be going on. But as I mentioned earlier to both of you you have to be careful. As to what signaled actually sending. Yes that's really enjoy it and we're learning more about. That attack we saw this week FBI director Chris Ray tell congress that the instructions attack on the capital was quote domestic terrorism we also saw. This is hosting the commander of the DC National Guard say former president trumps the Department of Defense he says slow walk approving an urgent request for help. While the capital was under siege. Yeah I had seems extraordinary to me what what do you take from from their testimonies. It clearly and we'll also start when general walker because I found him. So straight forward it's so honest about look. I was trying as soon as as chiefs that she for the capitol police that time came to him and said. Or in real trouble here we need help immediately. He starts crying Canada and because then you both noticed that of course the the politics and getting the National Guard where if this were staged the governor would say do it. You now have to get to secretary of the army and the secretary of defense on board to approve. That couldn't find secretary of the army apparently. I'll finally get either represented it is an of the secretary of defense. A couple of other generals got involved with they basically said well we're not sure we want you know this is image. Uniformed military the capital in the state. It 88 was so clear to the rest of this that this was a political move because it didn't want it'll look like. The seeing the people that supported president trunk. We're going to be sort of stopped in any direct way or that the G would need the military to stop them. The rescinding the wrong signal. Miss so I think clearly some version of that happened that day and as general walker pointed out teary. If it could've gotten there within a few minutes. Though the level of DM age that went on would look I think would have been significantly reduce it would've stopped all of the dozens already going on Clinton that that was a big statement as far as director rage. Thank you paint it very clear picture. It's as the top of the FBI's list of things to do every day. Which is a track domestic terrorists because let's face it that there is some version of a lot of them in almost every state and. And Brad significant events in US history have changed the way law enforcement operates 9/11 is a perfect example. Do you think that January 6 is that type of event that it's gonna create. Long term changes in a so what our day. So I think what we may create. Long term physical security situations like at the US capitol or other potential targets. Oh let's look for a couple seconds. How the FBI and others have gone after international terrorists they've done undercover operations have been wiretaps and got all sorts of things to gather information. Infiltration obviously he undercover would be part of it. Theater to see more of that in domestic terrorism situations because it's very difficult sometimes. In these isolated rural. Groups militia groups to really know what's going on with the militia somebody inside. So I think you'll see more that you're gonna see more domestic terrorism prosecutions. And that you know the key here really is to be steady at this is kinda like fighting anything it's big. You you can't dismantle it she could slow it down and naked weaker and I think that's. We'll see law enforcement do here tonight Brad Garrett great to talk as always thank you.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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Video: House cancels Thursday session after security threats

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Let's talk more on the high security alert today at the capitol building and let's bring in former FBI agent and ABC news contributor Brad Garrett. Bremen and pick up on the on the intelligence. Bulletin witches says start of the US capitol remains quote an unattractive.

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The state of Mississippi has been ordered to pay its maximum compensation amount of $500,000 to Curtis Flowers, who has spent nearly half his life behind bars for a quadruple murder he did not commit.

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The state of Mississippi has been ordered to pay its maximum compensation amount of $500,000 to Curtis Flowers, who has spent nearly half his life behind bars for a quadruple murder he did not commit.

Mississippi 5th Circuit Judge George Mitchell made the ruling on Tuesday, according to The Clarion Ledger.

The 50-year-old, a Black man from Winona, had been tried six different times between 1997 and 2010 in the shooting deaths of four people in 1996. He spent more 23 years behind bars before he was released from prison in December 2019, after the Supreme Court concluded Black people were intentionally excluded from the jury pool during his trial in 2010.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch in September said that she would not try Flowers a seventh time for the deadly shooting, which unfolded inside Tardy Furniture Store on July 16, 1996.

Curtis had worked at the Winona shop until about two weeks before the bloody incident.

The store's owner, 59-year-old Bertha Tardy, and three employees, Robert Golden, 42, Carmen Rigby, 45, and Derrick Stewart, 16, were all found shot in the head.

Flowers was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to death, but the Mississippi Supreme Court vacated that conviction three years later, citing prosecutorial misconduct. His legal saga dragged out for more than a decade, following a similar pattern until the Supreme Court intervened three years ago.

Authorities said there was very little evidence in the case and that no clear motive emerged during the investigation. Some experts also indicated there was evidence of more than one person involved in the crime, though Flowers was the only person charged.

In 2009, Mississippi enacted a law requiring it pay compensation to people who are wrongfully convicted or imprisoned, according to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. It allows such victims to be compensated $50,000 a year for every year incarcerated, with a cap at $500,000.

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Mississippi must pay $500,000 to man wrongfully incarcerated for 23 years

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The state of Mississippi has been ordered to pay its maximum compensation amount of $500,000 to Curtis Flowers, who has spent nearly half his life behind bars for a quadruple murder he did not commit. Mississippi 5th Circuit Judge George Mitchell made the ruling on Tuesday, according to The Clarion Ledger.

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Many people awaiting for the hearing of the covid relief bill. President Biden states that they have taken a jump towards it, but with a little more restrictions

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desperate americans wait as washington duels over covid-19 relief bill - cnnpolitics

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Analysis: Desperate Americans wait as Washington duels over Covid-19 relief bill

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President Joe Biden says the massive Covid-19 relief bill now on the Senate floor is crucial to finally getting a jump on a murderous pandemic. It's also a perfect metaphor for American politics in 2021.

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Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York was hiding death tolls within nursing homes. Critics are saying that this is only the beginning of allegations that are going to come out against the Governor.

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The intervention was the earliest action yet known in an effort by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that concealed how many nursing home residents died in the pandemic.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has been under increasing political pressure for obscuring the full scope of nursing home deaths in the pandemic. Credit... Cindy Schultz for The New York Times

Top aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo were alarmed: A report written by state health officials had just landed, and it included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic.

The number - more than 9,000 by that point in June - was not public, and the governor's most senior aides wanted to keep it that way. They rewrote the report to take it out, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The extraordinary intervention, which came just as Mr. Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements, was the earliest act yet known in what critics have called a monthslong effort by the governor and his aides to obscure the full scope of nursing home deaths.

After the state attorney general revealed earlier this year that thousands of deaths of nursing home residents had been undercounted, Mr. Cuomo finally released the complete data, saying he had withheld it out of concern that the Trump administration might pursue a politically motivated inquiry into the state's handling of the outbreak in nursing homes.

But Mr. Cuomo and his aides actually began concealing the numbers months earlier, as his aides were battling their own top health officials, and well before requests for data arrived from federal authorities, according to documents and interviews with six people with direct knowledge of the discussions, who requested anonymity to describe the closed-door debates.

The central role played by the governor's top aides reflected the lengths to which Mr. Cuomo has gone in the middle of a deadly pandemic to control data, brush aside public health expertise and bolster his position as a national leader in the fight against the coronavirus.

As the nursing home report was being written, the New York State Health Department's data - contained in a chart reviewed by The Times that was included in a draft - put the death toll roughly 50 percent higher than the figure then being cited publicly by the Cuomo administration.

The Health Department worked on the report with McKinsey, a consulting firm hired by Mr. Cuomo to help with the pandemic response. The chart they created compared nursing home deaths in New York with other states. New York's total of 9,250 deaths far exceeded that of the next-highest state, New Jersey, which had 6,150 at the time.

The changes sought by the governor's aides fueled bitter exchanges with health officials working on the report. The conflict punctuated an already tense and devolving relationship between Mr. Cuomo and his Health Department, one that would fuel an exodus of the state's top public health officials.

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Mr. Cuomo has faced some criticism for an order, issued early in the pandemic, that told nursing homes they could not turn away patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus. Credit... Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press

In the past week, Mr. Cuomo's once seemingly unshakable grip on power has been buffeted by a wave of scandal. Three women have accused the governor of inappropriate conduct, including workplace sexual harassment. On Wednesday, he publicly apologized for his actions, which are soon to be subjected to an independent investigation overseen by the state attorney general.

The crisis over Mr. Cuomo's behavior with women came just as his administration had been dealing with political turmoil over nursing homes. Lawmakers moved to strip him of the emergency powers he had been granted during the pandemic, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a separate investigation.

A lawyer hired to represent Mr. Cuomo and his aides, Elkan Abramowitz, has begun interviewing senior staff members in the governor's office about the nursing home report, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.

The aides who were involved in changing the report included Melissa DeRosa, the governor's top aide; Linda Lacewell, the head of the state's Department of Financial Services; and Jim Malatras, a former top adviser to Mr. Cuomo brought back to work on the pandemic. None had public health expertise.

In response to a detailed list of questions from The Times sent on Tuesday, the governor's office responded with a statement Thursday night from Beth Garvey, a special counsel, who said "the out-of-facility data was omitted after D.O.H. could not confirm it had been adequately verified." She added that the additional data did not change the conclusion of the report.

The tension over the death count dated to the early weeks of the pandemic when Mr. Cuomo issued an order preventing nursing homes from turning away people discharged from the hospital after being treated for Covid-19. The order was similar to ones issued in other states aimed at preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.

But by late spring, Republicans were suggesting that the order had caused a deadly spread of the virus in nursing homes. Mr. Cuomo disputed that it had. Still, critics and others seized on the way the state was publicly reporting deaths: Unlike other states, New York excluded residents who had been transferred to hospitals and died there, effectively cloaking how many nursing home residents had died of Covid-19.

The 33-page report, which was issued in July by the state Health Department, found Mr. Cuomo's policies were not to blame, but it became a turning point in the Albany debate over the governor's policies.

The day after the report was published, legislators began calling for hearings and requesting complete data. Public health officials criticized its approach. A think tank began seeking the data the next month, as did the Justice Department.

Health officials, nursing home operators and even some of Mr. Cuomo's aides expressed bafflement at the governor's apparent insistence on delaying the release of the data for so long, as none of the information released so far has changed the overall number of Covid-19 deaths in New York - now more than 47,000, including more than 15,000 nursing home residents.

But the July report allowed Mr. Cuomo to treat the nursing home issue as resolved last year, paving the way for him to focus on touting New York's success in controlling the virus.

"I am now thinking about writing a book about what we went through," Mr. Cuomo said four days after the report's release, his first public comments about a possible book.

Some 15,362 nursing home residents in New York have died in the pandemic. Credit... Dave Sanders for The New York Times

By that point, he was already seeking formal approval from a state ethics agency to earn outside income from book sales, according to a person with knowledge of his planning at the time.

The governor's policy to direct nursing homes to accept and readmit patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus remains a subject of intense debate. An investigation by the attorney general's office, released in January, said that Mr. Cuomo's memo to nursing homes was consistent with federal guidance, but it "may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities."

Ms. Garvey said in her statement that the governor's order did not drive nursing home deaths, a conclusion that was also reached in the Health Department report.

At the time when the report was being debated, Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, still enjoyed broad popularity for his televised news briefings.

Dr. Eleanor Adams was the Health Department's lead on the report, but her draft was substantially rewritten by Mr. Malatras, now the chancellor of the State University of New York system. He was among a number of officials and former advisers temporarily recruited by Mr. Cuomo to assist with the pandemic response.

The back-and-forth went well beyond the usual process of the governor's office suggesting edits to an agency report, and became "intense" at times, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

Health officials felt the governor's office, whose opinion was conveyed by Mr. Malatras, wanted to simplify too much. They worried it was no longer a true scientific report, but feared for their jobs if they did not go along.

Even so, an edited version prepared by Mr. Malatras did not remove the higher death toll.

That occurred later, after Ms. DeRosa and Ms. Lacewell became aware of its inclusion. It was taken out soon after.

Luis Ferré-Sadurní contributed reporting.

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Cuomo Aides Rewrote Nursing Home Report to Hide Higher Death Toll

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The intervention was the earliest action yet known in an effort by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that concealed how many nursing home residents died in the pandemic. Top aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo were alarmed: A report written by state health officials had just landed, and it included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic.

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Patients who have recieved the 2 rounds of the covid vaccine are concerned on what they can and cannot do. 82 million doses have been given out and many are looking for guidance. CDC will be releasing guidlines soon, but it is definite that it will not be going to go back to normal becuase the pandemic is not over yet with 64,000 new cases last Thursday.

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What CDC guidelines will likely say (and not say) to do if you’re vaccinated | CNN

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The CDC will soon issue guidelines for what the fully vaccinated can and cannot do. They will not be prescriptive, and people will still need to take precautions, but they should give the vaccinated some freedom.

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Five states have ended or are in the process of ending their mask mandates. These states include Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana, and North Dakota. This will make the total number of states without a mask mandate, 16. That is including the 11 states who never had a mask mandate. Alabama is also planning on ending their mask mandate. The governor says that wearing a mask will be "a matter of personal responsibility and not a government mandate."

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Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota lifted mask requirements.

Five states -- Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota -- have ended, or soon will end, statewide mask mandates, despite the looming threat of COVID-19 and highly transmissible variants.

They're joining 11 other states -- Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee -- that never required face coverings statewide.

Alabama will lift its mandate in about a month, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Thursday. She said that beginning on April 9, wearing masks will be "a matter of personal responsibility and not a government mandate."

Texas and Mississippi announced Tuesday they'd shortly be ending requirements for masks and allowing businesses to operate at full capacity, decisions President Joe Biden slammed as "Neanderthal thinking."

Ending requirements for face coverings defies Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that encourages everyone public to continue wearing masks in public and maintaining proper social distancing.

"Cases in the country are leveling off at rates just on the cusp of potential to resurge," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a Wednesday briefing on the reopenings. She added the COVID-19 variant that first emerged in the UK, known as B.1.1.7, "looms ready to hijack our successes to date."

She stressed it is "critically important" that "individuals wear a mask, socially distance and do the right thing to protect their own health."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that "Texas is OPEN 100%" and the mask mandate, in effect since July, would expire March 10. He cited lower COVID-19 hospitalizations and a virus positivity rate that has been declining for two months straight.

The Lone Star State has recorded more than 2.3 million cases of COVID-19 -- with nearly 5,000 new cases Wednesday -- and more than 43,500 fatalities since the start of the crisis, according to state data. The state is averaging 297 deaths a day, according to The Covid Tracking Project's seven-day average.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced the end of his state's mask mandate starting on March 3, citing plummeting hospitalization and case numbers and ramped up vaccine distribution.

Cases have fallen in the state since January and the percent positivity rate for the last month is 10.96%, according to Johns Hopkins University. Only 7.63% of the state's population has been vaccinated.

"Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules," Reeves said in a Facebook post. "Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!"

Iowa adopted a mask mandate in November, but in February Gov. Kim Reynolds lifted it saying, "We know what we need to do and it doesn't require a government mandate to do it."

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte allowed the state's mask rule to expire in February but said local authorities could enforce their own mandates.

North Dakota issued a mask mandate in November 2020 that expired in January. Officials didn't renew it due to a drop in cases and hospitalizations, while allowing for local safety protocols to be enacted.

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Which states have dropped mask mandates and why

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Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota lifted mask requirements. Five states -- Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota -- have ended, or soon will end, statewide mask mandates, despite the looming threat of COVID-19 and highly transmissible variants.

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On Wednesday the South African border patrol seized 2400 fake coronovirus vaccines heading strait to the US. They warned that 3600 websites online are suspected of selling counterfeit coronovirus vaccinations.

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A package of legitimate AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is shown in the German state of Brandenburg. (Hannibal Hanschke/AP)

First came the fake medical-grade masks and coronavirus tests. Now, a new threat has emerged, global police organization Interpol warns: fake doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Interpol said Wednesday that police in China and South Africa have seized thousands of doses of fake vaccines - a cache it said was just the "tip of the iceberg."

Now joining the fight against coronavirus: The world's armed rebels, drug cartels and gangs

South African authorities recently seized 400 vials, which held around 2,400 doses, of counterfeit vaccines from a warehouse outside Johannesburg, Interpol said in a report Wednesday. The illicit stash also included fake 3M masks. South African officers apprehended three Chinese citizens and one Zambian national in relation to the raid.

In China, police seized a large cache of fake vaccine and arrested about 80 suspects during a recent raid on a manufacturing site, Interpol said.

"Whilst we welcome this result, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Covid-19 vaccine related crime," said Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock in a statement. "Following our warning that criminals would target the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, both on and offline, Interpol continues to provide its full support to national authorities working to protect the health and safety of their citizens."

Two men tried to sell $317 million in N95 masks to a foreign government. The masks didn't exist, DOJ says.

In December, Interpol warned of a likely growing threat of crime related to coronavirus vaccines, "with the pandemic having already triggered unprecedented opportunistic and predatory criminal behavior," the statement said.

The report said cases of counterfeit vaccine sales had already begun.

"In addition to the dangers of ordering potentially life-threatening products, an analysis by the Interpol's Cybercrime Unit revealed that of 3,000 websites associated with online pharmacies suspected of selling illicit medicines and medical devices, around 1,700 contained cyber threats, especially phishing and spamming malware," the crime agency said.

Interpol has repeatedly stressed that coronavirus vaccines cannot be bought or sold over the Internet and has urged the public to report such cases of criminal activity.

The World Health Organization has estimated that the world's fake medication market is worth around $200 billion a year. While most of these counterfeit products originate in Asia, Interpol warned in December that the coronavirus pandemic was spurring a growth in the illicit medication trade in East Africa.

Updated March 4, 2021

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Fake coronavirus vaccine seizures in several countries are 'tip of the iceberg,' Interpol warns

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First came the fake medical-grade masks and coronavirus tests. Now, a new threat has emerged, global police organization Interpol warns: fake doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Interpol said Wednesday that police in China and South Africa have seized thousands of doses of fake vaccines - a cache it said was just the "tip of the iceberg."

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The hotel called "Voyager Station" is set to be functional in 2027. The hotel's interior would be similar to a luxury hotel on Earth. The hotel will have some stuff in other hotels such as warm suits and restaurants. Along with that, the hotel will have recreational activities fitted for space.

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(CNN) - If you're daydreaming of future travels while stuck at home during the pandemic, why fantasize about the beaches of Bali or the canals of Venice when vacationing in space could be in your future?

Back in 2019, Californian company the Gateway Foundation released plans for a cruise ship-style hotel that could one day float above the Earth's atmosphere.

Then called the Von Braun Station, this futuristic concept -- comprised of 24 modules connected by elevator shafts that make up a rotating wheel orbiting the Earth -- was scheduled to be fully operational by 2027.

Fast forward a couple years and the hotel has a new name -- Voyager Station -- and it's set to be built by Orbital Assembly Corporation, a new construction company run by former pilot John Blincow, who also heads up the Gateway Foundation.

In a recent interview with CNN Travel, Blincow explained there had been some Covid-related delays, but construction on the space hotel is expected to begin in 2026, and a sojourn in space could be a reality by 2027.

"We're trying to make the public realize that this golden age of space travel is just around the corner. It's coming. It's coming fast," said Blincow.

Renderings of what the hotel might look like suggest an interior not dissimilar to a luxury Earth-bound hotel, just with some pretty spectacular out-of-this-world views.

When the initial designs premiered a couple years ago, Tim Alatorre, senior design architect at Orbital Assembly Corporation told CNN Travel the hotel's aesthetic was a direct response to the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" -- which he called "almost a blueprint of what not to do."

"I think the goal of Stanley Kubrick was to highlight the divide between technology and humanity and so, purposefully, he made the stations and the ships very sterile and clean and alien."

Instead, Alatorre and his team want to bring a slice of earth to space via warm suites and chic bars and restaurants. Guests might be in space, but they can still enjoy regular beds and showers.

That's not to say the hotel will ignore the novelty of being in space altogether. There are plans to serve traditional "space food" -- like freeze dried ice cream -- in the hotel's restaurant.

Plus there will be recreational activities on offer that "highlight the fact that you're able to do things that you can't do on Earth," according to Alatorre.

"Because of the weightlessness and the reduced gravity, you'll be able to jump higher, be able to lift things, be able to run in ways that you can't on Earth."

So how exactly would the physics of a space hotel work?

Alatorre told CNN Travel that the rotating wheel would work to create a simulated gravity.

"The station rotates, pushing the contents of the station out to the perimeter of the station, much in the way that you can spin a bucket of water -- the water pushes out into the bucket and stays in place," he said.

Near the center of the station there's no artificial gravity, Alatorre explained, but as you move down the outside of the station, the feeling of gravity increases.

The hotel's original name was chosen because the concept was inspired by 60-year-old designs from Wernher von Braun, an aerospace engineer who pioneered rocket technology, first in Germany and later in the US.

While living in Germany, von Braun was involved in the Nazi rocket development program, so naming the space hotel after him was a controversial choice.

This was partly why the name's been changed, Blincow told CNN Travel.

"The station is not really about him. It's based on his design, and we like his contributions towards science and space," Blincow said. "But you know, Voyager Station is so much more than that. It is the stuff in the future. And we want a name that doesn't have those attachments to it."

Space tourism is becoming an increasingly hot topic, and there are several companies trying to make it happen -- from Virgin Galactic to Elon Musk's SpaceX.

SpaceX's StarShip system could help get Voyager Station off the ground.

For now, the space hotel isn't advertising a room rate, but expect it to come with a pretty hefty price tag attached.

Virgin Galactic, for example, plans to launch passengers into sub-orbital space at $250,000 per person, per trip.

However the team behind Voyager Station have said they're hoping to eventually make a stay at the hotel equivalent to "a trip on a cruise or a trip to Disneyland."

While Voyager Station is perhaps the flashiest of Orbital's designs, it's actually just one facet of their space ambitions.

The team is also hoping to build research stations, and spark space tourism and commerce opportunities.

"We're designing the tools and machines right now that can build these structures very quickly," Blincow told CNN Travel.

The team imagine government or private companies might use modules for training crews "heading to Mars, the Moon and beyond," as Alatorre outlined at the 2021 live event.

The next stage in getting the Voyager Station off the ground is bringing more investors into the mix, and continuing with tests on the ground.

The eventual goal, as Alatorre put it back in 2019, is "to create a starship culture where people are going to space, and living in space, and working in space and they want to be in space. And we believe that there's a demand for that."

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world's first space hotel voyager station scheduled to open in 2027 - cnn

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World's first space hotel scheduled to open in 2027

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(CNN) - If you're daydreaming of future travels while stuck at home during the pandemic, why fantasize about the beaches of Bali or the canals of Venice when vacationing in space could be in your future? Back in 2019, Californian company the Gateway Foundation released plans for a cruise ship-style hotel that could one day float above the Earth's atmosphere.

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A man's body was found 465 feet below the rim of the Grand Canyon. The body is believed to be a man from Kentucky's who went missing around February 23rd. His motorcycle was also found near him in the canyon.

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The body is believed to be that of John Pennington, who vanished last week.

Authorities believe they have found the body of a Kentucky man who disappeared at the Grand Canyon last week.

John Pennington, 40, of Walton, Kentucky, was thought to have entered the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on or around Feb. 23, abandoning his vehicle at the South Rim near Yaki Point.

He was believed to be traveling alone, possibly on a yellow 2005 Suzuki motorcycle, according to the National Park Service.

After days of searching the area, National Park Service personnel spotted a body and a motorcycle on Wednesday, below the South Kaibab Trailhead, south of Yaki Point.

Park rangers recovered the body, which was located approximately 465 feet below the canyon rim, according to the National Park Service.

The body was flown by helicopter to the rim and was then transferred to the Coconino County Health and Human Services Medical Examiner's Office in Flagstaff.

"Based on evidence found with the body, the individual is believed to be missing person John Pennington," the National Park Service said in a statement Thursday.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing. No additional information was immediately available.

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Body found 465 feet below Grand Canyon rim believed to be missing Kentucky man, authorities say

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The body is believed to be that of John Pennington, who vanished last week. Authorities believe they have found the body of a Kentucky man who disappeared at the Grand Canyon last week. John Pennington, 40, of Walton, Kentucky, was thought to have entered the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on or around Feb.