Spiegel Stuff: The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations - US opens to vaccinated visitors as FDA panel discusses boosters

The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations

NEWS THIS MORNING

Come one, come all — bring that vax card!:

Via Reuters’s David Shepardson, fully vaccinated foreign visitors will be allowed to travel into the United States beginning on Nov. 8, the White House announced this morning. https://reut.rs/3pkq1O3

Which mode of travel does this apply?: Both air travel and at the U.S. land borders

For context: “The United States had lagged many other countries in lifting such restrictions, and allies welcomed the move.

Everything we know: https://reut.rs/3pkq1O3

It’s Friday! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.

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A MESSAGE FROM THE CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENTS

GETTING TRACTION

Adele is back — and better than ever:

Watch: https://bit.ly/3lHIoKd

LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

Happening today — I picture lab coats, goggles, mad scientists with wild hair and smokey vials of vaccines:

^ Not specifically you, Harry, but you get the point ;)

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel is meeting today to discuss whether to recommend a booster shot for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine — and whether to suggest mixing and matching companies’ vaccines for the best efficacy.

What to expect, from The Washington Post: https://wapo.st/3aGYxcK

A THUMBS UP FOR MODERNA:

Via The New York Times’s Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, “[An FDA panel] on Thursday unanimously recommended Moderna booster shots for many of those who had received the company’s coronavirus vaccine, paving the way to sharply expand the number of people eligible for an additional shot in the United States.” https://nyti.ms/3lHXrnd

CASE NUMBERS:

Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 44,770,874

U.S. death toll: 721,582

Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y

VACCINATION NUMBERS:

Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 405 million shots have been given.

Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 835,492 doses

For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.

Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH

IN CONGRESS

Welcome to the Manchinema show! I’m your host, Joe Biden!:

Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, “A growing number of Senate Democrats are getting impatient with President Biden’s kid-love approach to negotiating with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).” https://bit.ly/3ALbAEo

Biden’s approach: “Biden’s approach has involved a lot of facetime and personal attention, but little in the way of public concessions or discernible movement.”

But there still doesn’t seem to be much progress between Manchinema and Dems: “This is fueling frustration among senators who see this Congress as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass bold reforms as the House and possibly the Senate are in danger of flipping to Republicans in the 2022 midterm election.”

IN TEXAS

The stakes of tug-of-war game feel similar to the Squid Game:

Via The New York Times’s Katie Benner, “A federal appeals court said on Thursday that a near-total ban on abortions in Texas can remain in effect while the courts decide whether the law violates the Constitution.” https://nyti.ms/2YQZlZQ

Timing of the ruling: A federal judge blocked the law last week. A few days later, the appeals court reinstated the law. Now this ruling stands while the case goes through the courts.

Will the Supreme Court get involved?: “The decision, which was 2 to 1 by a three-judge panel, is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.”

The full story: https://nyti.ms/2YQZlZQ

BREAKING — THE DOJ IS ASKING THE SUPREME COURT FOR HELP:

Via The Washington Post’s Ann E. Marimow and Robert Barnes, “The Department of Justice said Friday that it will go back to the Supreme Court to request that it put on hold Texas’s restrictive abortion law while legal battles continue.” https://wapo.st/3AKQ7eQ

Details: “In a different case, the Supreme Court last month allowed the law to go into effect on a divisive 5 to 4 vote. The DOJ has filed a separate challenge to halt the law, which bars abortion as early as six weeks into the pregnancy and makes no exceptions for rape or incest, with mixed results.”

Choose your player, Texas or the White House:

Via The Hill’s Alex Gangitano, “The fight over vaccine mandates between the White House and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is putting businesses in the middle. But many are picking the White House’s preferred policy.” https://bit.ly/3vfdz2Q

How so?: “American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, which are both based in the Lone Star State, say they will defy Abbott’s order that no business in the state can impose a vaccine mandate on employees or customers and comply with President Biden’s mandate that all companies with at least 100 employees require vaccines or weekly testing for employees.”

“Other companies based in Texas have already imposed vaccine mandates and have given no indication they will change their positions in the wake of Abbott’s executive order.”

How this could play out: https://bit.ly/3vfdz2Q

A MESSAGE FROM THE CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENTS

IN OTHER NEWS

Oh my gosh:

Via The New York Times’s John Yoon and Vjosa Isai, “Meteorite crashes through ceiling and lands on woman’s bed: After a fireball streaked through the Canadian sky, Ruth Hamilton, of British Columbia, found a 2.8-pound rock the size of a large man’s fist near her pillow.” https://nyti.ms/3aLqQXi

“The 2.8-pound rock the size of a large man’s fist had barely missed Ms. Hamilton’s head, leaving ‘drywall debris all over my face,’ she said.”

How do you even sleep after that?: Well, she didn’t. “Ms. Hamilton did not sleep the rest of that night, she said, and sat in a chair, sipping tea as the meteorite sat on her bed …. [She] also told her family and friends. ‘My granddaughters can say that their grandmother just almost got killed in her bed by a meteorite,’ she said.”

The full story — it’s pretty wild: https://nyti.ms/3aLqQXi

NOTABLE TWEETS:

Umm, yikes!:

Watch: https://bit.ly/2Xerycz

The sky was showing off this morning:

Photo of the U.S. Capitol during the sunrise: https://bit.ly/3lM33Nz

And another sunrise photo in D.C. because it was that spectacular: https://bit.ly/3BGBpa6

ON TAP:

The House and Senate are out. President Biden is in Connecticut for the day. Vice President Harris is in Los Angeles for the weekend.

9:30 a.m. EDT: President Biden received the President’s Daily Brief.

11 a.m. EDT: President Biden leaves for Connecticut.

7 p.m. EDT: President Biden returns to the White House.

WHAT TO WATCH:

11:50 a.m. EDT: White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One. Livestream: https://bit.ly/2YOBBWf

1:45 p.m. EDT: President Biden delivers remarks in Hartford, Conn., on his social spending plan, specifically childcare costs for working families. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3AHqziN

4 p.m. EDT: President Biden delivers remarks at the dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3AVMQd3

IN LIGHTER NEWS:

Today is National Shawarma Day and National Cheese Curd Day.If I told you McDonald’s was testing a plant-based burger, what would you guess it would be called?:

If I told you McDonald’s was testing a plant-based burger, what would you guess it would be called?:

I’m willing to bet you guessed correctly — the McPlant!

Starting in November, McDonald’s will be testing its plant-based Beyond Meat burgers at select restaurants. https://tcrn.ch/3lHfmur

Where to find the McPlant: “Irving and Carrollton, Texas, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jennings and Lake Charles, Louisiana and El Segundo and Manhattan Beach, California.”

Details: https://tcrn.ch/3lHfmur

LOL — I mean, this is a very logical reaction!: