PD Editorial: A history-making choice for senator pressdemocrat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressdemocrat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Even as the coronavirus pandemic rages, the U.S. drug overdose epidemic is surging, largely unnoticed but heading toward record levels in a year already marked by 300,000 covid-19 deaths.
After a plateau that stretched from early 2018 to early 2019, overdose deaths resumed their rise in the second half of last year and are accelerating, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In April, they approached a rate of almost 80,000 annually, a 12.3% increase over a year earlier.
The coronavirus vaccines now being shipped across the United States promise to curb the nationâs most imminent public health crisis. But the next one awaits the incoming president, Joe Biden.
Dec. 23, 2020 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON Over 40 prominent pro-life leaders called on the U.S. Senate Dec. 21 to reject President-elect Joe Biden s nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Becerra carries a national reputation for his vehement, unwavering support for abortion, including in the ninth month, his staunch convictions in opposition to conscience rights for medical professionals, and his hostile opinions regarding the freedoms of religious organizations, among other issues that are of major concern to us, the leaders said in a letter to senators. Becerra, who was nominated by Biden Dec. 7, must be confirmed by the Senate. He would be the first Latino to be HHS secretary and would be Biden s chief health care officer.
California governor taps Secretary of State Alex Padilla to replace Kamala Harris in US Senate Published December 22, 2020
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2019, file photo, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla talks during a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, as the state s next U.S. senator to fill the seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
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Print article SACRAMENTO, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom selected Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Tuesday as the state’s next U.S. senator, a historic pick that sends a Latino to the Senate for the first time in the state’s history.