Plus, the Dow takes the biggest one-day point drop in history.
Lawmakers say coronavirus whistleblower faced retaliation
Federal health employees deployed to California military bases to tend to Americans quarantined for coronavirus were not properly trained, had inadequate protections, and mingled freely with the general population, a senior leader at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families wrote in a complaint to Congress. The employees who were deployed were not trained medical professionals, they alleged. The official raised concerns to their superiors but is being reassigned. House Democrats said on Thursday that the whistleblower was facing retaliation.
Dow takes biggest one-day point drop in history
The Dow index dropped 1,191 points Thursday, a historic plunge, following other global markets amid fears of the coronavirus spreading. The trend is creating an economic pandemic ahead of a medical one, as the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500, plus Japan’s, South Korea’s, and Europe’s indexes have also crashed.
Faction of superdelegates hope to block a Sanders nomination
If Sen. Bernie Sanders wins a majority of pledged delegates during the Democratic primaries but falls short of the 1,991 needed to clinch the nomination, a group of superdelegates said they will attempt to block his progress at the convention. Of the total 770 superdelegates, 84 confirmed that if there is no majority winner, they would be open to a brokered convention in which, under new rules passed in 2018, pledged delegates and superdelegates vote on a second ballot and more if needed, until one candidate emerges with a majority. The process is messy, as all delegates are automatically up for grabs again after the first vote, and deals are made and broken on the floor. The last brokered Democratic National Convention to go to multiple votes took place in 1952.
Iowa recount finds Buttigieg retaining lead
The Iowa State Democratic Party’s partial recount of the Feb. 3 caucuses finds Pete Buttigieg retaining an infinitesimal lead, about four hundredths of a percentage point, over Sen. Bernie Sanders. The party will finalize the results Saturday, the day of South Carolina’s primary, but if unchanged will allocate 14 delegates to Buttigieg and 12 to Sanders. Sanders has held onto the popular vote, and his campaign has asked the Democratic National Committee to conduct a review of Iowa’s process.
Emiene Wright Emiene Wright is associate editor at Cardinal & PIne. Before that she was on the 24-hour news desk of the Miami Herald and the Detroit Free Press, and her writing has been featured in Crisis, the Charlotte Observer, and Our State magazine.
