News Wrap: 28 percent of U.S. population fully vaccinated as infections continue rising

• Judy Woodruff:

  In the day's other news, a police chase in Georgia left three officers wounded and an Alabama man dead.

  The man's brother was taken into custody. The chase began outside Atlanta, when state troopers pulled a car going 111 miles an hour. They say the driver took off again, and the other man opened fire on pursuing police.

  Shooting erupted this afternoon at a high school in Knoxville, Tennessee. Police say one male student was killed and an officer was wounded when he confronted an apparently armed suspect. That person was arrested. There is no word on a motive.

  On the pandemic, new numbers of 28 percent of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated for COVID-19. At the same time, infections are rising again, with Michigan running the highest rate.

  Governor Gretchen Whitmer is pressing for more vaccine doses. But, today, the CDC said that won't solve the problem.

• Dr. Rochelle Walensky:

  When you have an acute situation, extraordinary number of cases like we have in Michigan, the answer is not necessarily to give vaccine. In fact, we know that the vaccine will have a delayed response.

  The answer to that is to really close things down, to go back to our basics, to go back to where we were last spring, last summer, and to shut things down.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Meanwhile, the drugmaker Regeneron reported that its antibody cocktail is 72 percent effective against COVID infections in the first week, and 93 percent after that. The company is seeking U.S. regulatory approval.

  In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office complained today that Russia is ignoring his request for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian officials now estimate Russia has massed more than 40,000 troops along the frontier between the two countries, with another 40,000 in neighboring Crimea.

  President Biden ramped up his push today for a $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure package. He met with bipartisan lawmakers and said he's open to compromise with Republicans who've criticized the plan's spending and tax hikes.

• Pres. Joe Biden:

  I'm prepared to negotiate as to how — the extent of my infrastructure project, as well as how we pay for it.

  But I think we're going to get in a serious conversation about how to do that. I think everyone acknowledges we need significant increase in infrastructure.

• Judy Woodruff:

  We will go deeper into the politics and prospects of the plan later in the program.

  The Treasury Department reports the federal deficit hit $1.7 trillion for the first six months of this budget year. That's nearly twice the old record. It's fueled by pandemic relief spending.

  President Biden has issued a raft of new nominations to top government jobs. The police chief of Tucson, Arizona, Chris Magnus, is the pick for commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Former Pentagon official Christine Wormuth will be the first woman tapped for secretary of the Army. And Anne Milgram is being nominated to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.

  And on Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 55 points to close at 33745. The Nasdaq fell 50 points, and the S&P 500 slipped a fraction.

from:pbs