Month: August 2021

Former President Barack Obama is scaling back plans to celebrate his 60th birthday this weekend in New England due to a resurgence of COVID-19. The celebration is scheduled to take place in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on Saturday; Obama’s birthday was Wednesday.

Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama originally planned a star-studded party with guests including George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, among others. However, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said the gathering was “not a good idea” now that coronavirus cases are going back up, due mainly to the more contagious Delta variant.  Additionally, Dukes County – which includes Martha’s Vineyard – has been identified by the CDC as a “moderate” risk community. Last month, Martha’s Vineyard issued an indoor mask advisory.

Obama spokeswoman Hannah Hankins said in a statement: “Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the president and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends. He’s appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon.”

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For the second straight year, the New York International Auto Show has been cancelled. In a statement Wednesday afternoon, auto show president Michael Schienberg announced that the convention was being canceled due to spiking COVID-19 cases due to the highly-contagious delta variant.

Schienberg said, “As custodians of the 121-year-old New York Auto Show, we are committed to providing a safe environment for everyone including attendees, exhibitors, and the thousands of men and women who put the Show together. Over the past few weeks, and especially within the last few days, circumstances have changed making it more difficult to create an event at the high standard that we and our clients expect. The Covid pandemic has challenged our City, the country and the entire world, but just like the automobile industry, we know that the New York Auto Show will rebound and be bigger and better than before.”

The auto show was founded in 1900 and is one of the auto industry’s most popular conventions with more than 1 million attendees each year. This year’s event was set to begin on Aug. 20, just one day before the highly anticipated “We Love NYC” concert in Central Park. It’s not clear if organizers of that show, or other upcoming shows in NYC, will be making similar decisions to postpone or cancel events.

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President Joe Biden called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign Tuesday following an investigation by the state attorney general’s office that found he sexually harassed almost a dozen women, including employees in his office. Biden told reporters at the White House, “I think he should resign.” Biden said he has not read the report or spoken to Cuomo.

Biden’s call for Cuomo’s resignation was just the latest from Democratic members of Congress calling for Cuomo to resign. Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand released a joint statement calling the allegations against Cuomo “profoundly disturbing, inappropriate and completely unacceptable” adding that no elected official is above the law, and saying, “we continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed with the senators, saying in a statement: “Recognizing his love of New York and the respect for the office he holds, I call upon the Governor to resign.”

The state attorney general’s office found that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, nine of whom are current and former state employees. Shortly after the report was released, Cuomo denied the claims, saying, “I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.” He also suggested the investigation was tainted by “bias” and political motivations. Cuomo, a Democrat in his third term, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing since allegations against him were first made public this year.

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Three people were injured when a wall of ice collapsed at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Tennessee. The museum contains nearly 400 artifacts from the Titanic, including the ship’s china and a deck chair, as well as the iceberg wall which guests are invited to touch.

The museum’s owners, Mary Kellogg Joslyn and John Joslyn, issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that the wall collapsed Monday and the three victims were hospitalized, although information about their conditions was not immediately released.  They wrote:  “Needless to say we never would have expected an incident like this to occur as the safety of our guests and crew members are always top of mind. We take pride in the quality of our maintenance and have measures in place to ensure that appropriate safety guidelines are upheld.”

The attraction was closed following the incident Monday but reopened Tuesday. However, the museum said the iceberg wall “does not currently exist” and the affected area has been blocked off, and anticipate it will take at least four weeks for the iceberg to rebuild. The Pigeon Forge Fire Department responded to a call reporting a traumatic incident at the museum at 8:11 p.m. on Monday. One victim was airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and two others were taken by ambulance to LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/iceberg-wall-collapse-titanic-museum-tennessee-hurts-79246224

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