NC’s reported COVID-19 case total climbs by more than 1,000

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina reported more than 1,200 new coronavirus cases Monday, and the number of hospitalized patients climbed by 50.

The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 156,396 confirmed cases of COVID-19, up 1,283 from Sunday’s total.

Fatalities rose to 2,535 statewide Monday, up four deaths from Sunday.

Reported patients with COVID-19 in hospitals statewide rose to 948, up from 898 on Sunday. DHHS reported 388 suspected cases within a 24-hour period. Available intensive-care beds fell to 580 statewide.

Testing for COVID-19 rose to 2.08 million across the state, and the rate of positive results was at 7.3%, near where it has hovered for several days. That rate is one figure DHHS watches closely to monitor the pandemic’s spread, and health officials have set 5% as a goal.

The largest segment of the state’s population to have developed COVID-19, at 43%, remains between the ages of 25 and 49.

More than half the deaths, though, have struck residents older than 75.

As of Monday, 136,630 people are presumed to have recovered from the virus, DHHS reported.

—The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

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Georgia authorities investigating 29th fatal shooting involving cop; numbers up from 2019

ATLANTA — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called to investigate nearly a dozen more officer-involved shootings so far this year — and nine more fatal incidents — than the agency was requested to investigate during the same eight-month period last year, data shows.

That is after opening its 64th investigation this year into a shooting in South Georgia on Sunday night.

According to data, the GBI was called to investigate 53 shootings involving a police officer last year, with 20 of the incidents ending in deaths. Sunday’s incident in Kingsland is the 29th fatal shooting involving a Georgia police officer this year.

Kingsland police officers were sent to an apartment in the 100 block of Gross Road after a woman was heard screaming in a 911 call. When officers arrived at the home, they looked through a window and saw a man holding a knife and a woman “in distress,” the GBI said in a news release.

Police entered the apartment and the woman ran into a bedroom, the release said. The man, identified as 47-year-old Gearil Leonard Williams, ran into the room after her and barricaded himself inside.

Officers tried to get into the room but were unsuccessful. One officer, identified as Sgt. Paul George, went outside the apartment and tried to get into the bedroom by breaking a window, the GBI said.

During the incident, George fired his service weapon, striking Williams. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Parkland shooting survivors begin voter drive aimed at young people in swing states

March For Our Lives, the anti-gun violence group started by survivors of deadly school shooting, is kicking off a voter registration drive in order to encourage young people, especially those in red and swing states, to vote in the November elections.

Vote For Our Lives: Our Power in the States will combine online rallies and stops in Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston, Phoenix, Detroit, Denver, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Raleigh, N.C., over the next several weeks to register new voters.

“Our Power in the States will feature public art interventions to raise awareness on the systemic issues that intersect with our mission of gun violence prevention, including racial injustice, immigration, healthcare and economic inequality,” the group’s website reads.

“We know that if young people vote, we can change elections and futures. We’ll be registering people online and in-person at our art interventions (while staying safe and socially distant). And we’ll make sure those folks turn out to make history, whether in-person or by mail.”

Rock the Vote, Sunrise Movement, Voto Latino, International Indigenous Youth Council and NextGen America are also participating in the venture.

The first stop was Monday in Miami, and the tour concludes Oct. 2 in Milwaukee.

The group, founded by survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018, previously held voter registration drives during rallies prior to the 2018 midterms.

—New York Daily News

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Trump tax subpoena put on hold while court weighs further delay

NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. agreed to delay enforcement of a subpoena for President Donald Trump’s tax and financial records until after a federal appeals court decides whether or not to put the request on ice for even longer.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero last week rejected Trump’s claims that the subpoena to his accounting firm Mazars USA was overbroad and issued in bad faith. Trump is challenging that ruling and seeking an order that would stay enforcement of the subpoena until his appeal is decided. The federal appeals court in New York, which rejected his request for an immediate stay Friday, will hear arguments on Sept. 1.

Vance agreed in a letter filed with the court Monday to hold off enforcing the subpoena until two days after the appeals court rules. He had previously agreed to delay enforcement of the subpoena until a week after Marrero ruled.

The Manhattan prosecutor is seeking eight years of the president’s records as part of a grand jury investigation looking into payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The case was returned to New York after the U.S. Supreme Court in July rejected Trump’s argument that, as president, he was immune to state criminal investigation.

—Bloomberg News

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