CBS News
Harris speaks about abortion in Georgia, highlighting deaths of two Georgia women
Atlanta – Vice President Kamala Harris‘ visit to Georgia Friday is centered around one thing: women’s reproductive rights.
The visit by Harris follows ProPublica’s investigation into two women who recently died in the state. It found their deaths could have been prevented, but their medical care was hindered by Georgia’s six-week abortion ban. Harris highlighted the stories of Candi Miller and Amber Nicole Thurman, the two women at the center of ProPublica’s report, and argued cases like theirs would intensify if former President Donald Trump is reelected.
Thurman’s family met with Harris at her “Unite for America” rally Thursday with Oprah Winfrey in Michigan. On Friday, Harris talked about her conversation with Thurman’s mother and sisters. She said they told her about “how terribly they miss her.”
“Their pain is heartbreaking,” Harris said. She added that Thurman’s mother said that she “can’t stop thinking” about the word “preventable” because “medical experts have now determined that Amber’s death was preventable.”
According to ProPublica, Thurman, who was pregnant, took abortion pills, but did not expel all of the fetal tissue from her body, a rare complication. She needed a routine dilation and curettage to remove the tissue, but the procedure was now a felony in Georgia. A doctor who performed the procedure could be prosecuted and sentenced to prison. ProPublica reported that doctors monitored “her infection spreading, her blood pressure sinking and her organs beginning to fail.” By the time they operated, it was too late.
Harris also said she promised Thurman’s mother she’d make sure her daughter is not remembered “just as a statistic.”
In Michigan Thursday, Harris reminded voters that “Trump chose three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would [undo] the protections of Roe v Wade, and they did as he intended.”
Anti-abortion rights group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America accused Harris of attempting to use these stories to “score political points.”
“We mourn the senseless loss of Amber, Candi, and their unborn children. We agree their deaths were preventable. But let’s be absolutely clear: Georgia’s law and every pro-life state law calls on doctors to act in circumstances just like theirs. If abortion advocates weren’t spreading misinformation and confusion to score political points, it’s possible the outcome would have been different,” said Katie Daniel, the group’s state policy director.
In Atlanta, Harris also called out Trump’s plans to vote as a Florida citizen against a state ballot measure that would protect abortion rights and restore the limits set under Roe v. Wade. Like Georgia, Florida has a six-week abortion ban in place.
“And now, Donald Trump says he will personally cast his vote in Florida, which is where he now lives, to support their extreme abortion ban, just like the one that is here in Georgia,” she said.
Asked about his vote during the September debate between Harris and Trump, Trump falsely claimed Democratic-run states and Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, support abortion in the ninth month, and argued there was wide bipartisan support for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“[Abortion access is] the vote of the people now. It’s not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it,” he said during the debate. “And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it. And I give tremendous credit to those six justices.”
One Harris campaign official said its work in Georgia has focused on tying reproductive rights to the state’s Black maternal mortality rate.
Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates for Black women according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Both Thurman and Miller were black.
This is Harris’ third trip to the state as a presidential candidate, and her eighth this year as vice president, according to a CBS News tracker.
A number of her trips have been focused on women’s reproductive rights. Surrogates for the campaign are currently on a “Reproductive Freedom Tour” that began in Florida and is passing through the swing states. Throughout her vice presidency, Harris has traveled to states that were imposing abortion restrictions or bans, such as Arizona, Indiana and Iowa.
In March, she became the first vice president to visit an abortion provider when she made a trip to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota.
CBS News
New York confirms its first case of EEE since 2015. Here’s what to know about the mosquito-borne virus.
NEW YORK — A New York resident has tested positive for the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus, the state health department said Friday. It’s the first human case of EEE in the state in nearly 10 years.
The patient lives in Ulster County and is currently hospitalized, state health officials said. The Ulster County Department of Health is investigating. Earlier this summer, a horse in Ulster County also tested positive for the virus, according to health officials.
The last time there was a human case of EEE in New York state was in 2015.
There have been at least 10 cases of EEE reported across the United States this year, including one case in New Jersey and a deadly case in New Hampshire.
What is EEE?
According to the state health department, EEE is a rare but severe viral disease spread by infected mosquitoes.
Most people who are infected with EEE will not develop symptoms, health experts say, but early symptoms of severe cases include headache, high fever, chills and vomiting. It is deadly in approximately 30% of cases, and those who survive may suffer neurological impairment.
There is no vaccine for EEE.
Health officials urge New Yorkers to continue taking efforts to protect themselves from mosquito bites, such as wearing long sleeves and pants when outdoors, using insect repellents, putting screens in windows and doors, and getting rid of any standing water around yards and homes.
CBS News
Arizona Supreme Court rules that 98,000 people without confirmed citizenship docs can still vote in state races
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that nearly 98,000 people whose citizenship documents hadn’t been confirmed can vote in state and local races.
The court’s decision comes after officials uncovered a database error that for two decades mistakenly designated the voters as having access to the full ballot.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, and Stephen Richer, the Republican Maricopa County recorder, had disagreed on what status the voters should hold. Richer asked the high court to weigh in, saying Fontes ignored state law by advising county officials to let affected voters cast full ballots.
Fontes said not allowing the voters who believed they had satisfied voting requirements access to the full ballot would raise equal protection and due process concerns.
The high court agreed with Fontes. It said county officials lack the authority to change the voters’ statuses because those voters registered long ago and had attested under the penalty of law that they are citizens. The justices also said the voters were not at fault for the database error and also mentioned the little time that’s left before the Nov. 5 general election.
“We are unwilling on these facts to disenfranchise voters en masse from participating in state contests,” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer stated in the ruling.
Arizona is unique among states in that it requires voters to prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races. Voters can demonstrate citizenship by providing a driver’s license or tribal ID number, or they can attach a copy of a birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents.
Arizona considers drivers’ licenses issued after October 1996 to be valid proof of citizenship. However, a system coding error marked nearly 98,000 voters who obtained licenses before 1996 — roughly 2.5% of all registered voters — as full-ballot voters, state officials said.
The error between the state’s voter registration database and the Motor Vehicle Division would not have impacted the presidential race. But that number of votes could tip the scales in hotly contested races in the state Legislature, where Republicans have a slim majority in both chambers.
It also could affect ballot measures, including the constitutional right to abortion and criminalizing noncitizens for entering Arizona through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry.
In a post on the social platform X, Richer thanked the court for quickly reviewing the case and Fontes for partnering with him to address the error.
Vienna, Virginia — It started as a friendship outside the weight room of James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia, between a group of sophomore football players and the school custodian, Francis Apraku.
“If we had a bad day, he’d be the first guy to be like, ‘Hey, are you OK?'” student Bennett Hibshman said. “And we’re like, hey, let’s do something nice for him. No one else is going to.”
One day, the group asked Apraku, if he could have one splurge, what would it be?
“My heart’s desire is a Jeep Wrangler,” Apraku told CBS News. “That’s why I’ve tried to work hard.”
Owning a Wrangler was a pipe dream for Apraku, who regularly sends money to his relatives in Ghana. So, the students started a fundraising campaign that brought in about $22,000 in four months. With the money, they purchased a 2015 Jeep Wrangler and surprised him with it earlier this month.
When Apraku saw the Wrangler in the school parking lot, he said the gesture brought him to his knees.
“My leg started shaking,” Apraku said. “I can’t stand, I can’t stand. I was panicking! and I had to get myself on the floor and I was crying.”
He was so surprised to see his new set of wheels, he started actually rolling on the ground.
“It got a little to the point where it was like, is he OK? Making sure he’s OK, and we helped him up,” student Logan Georgelas said.
The students said that when they finally got him to the car, he was in disbelief.
“I will never, ever forget today,” Apraku said. Not because of the car, but because of the kids.
“I can’t believe this in America, only in America,” he added.
Jeep was also moved by the story and told CBS News it will be gifting Apraku a package that will cover his oil changes and tire rotations for the next six years at his local dealership.
contributed to this report.
New York confirms its first case of EEE since 2015. Here’s what to know about the mosquito-borne virus.
YMCA of the North announces layoff of 69 workers
Arizona Supreme Court rules that 98,000 people without confirmed citizenship docs can still vote in state races
New York confirms its first case of EEE since 2015. Here’s what to know about the mosquito-borne virus.
YMCA of the North announces layoff of 69 workers