Billionaire businessman and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson died at age 87 on Monday night from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, his company Las Vegas Sands announced Tuesday.
The big picture: Adelson and his wife, Miriam, were President Trump's largest donors. Adelson has donated more than $250 million to Republican candidates and super PACs since 2015, according to AP.
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President Biden urged immediate actions on climate change on Wednesday, saying "[w]e can't wait any longer to deal with climate crisis" during an event promoting his Build Back Better agenda
Driving the news: The U.S. is currently facing an extreme heat wave and heavy wildfires in the West, a deadly drought and the the earliest fifth-named Atlantic tropical storm on record currently going through the Southeast.
Latin America and the Caribbeanhave the highest weekly death rate per capita of any region in the world, and it could climb, with vaccinations difficult to come by and hospitals still short on staff and equipment like ventilators and oxygen tanks.
Why it matters: Fewer than 10% of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since immunization campaigns started in December, mostly due to the low availability of doses.
What they’re saying: “The region is an epicenter for COVID-19 suffering. It should be an epicenter for vaccination, too,” says Carissa Etienne, head of the Pan American Health Organization.
Details: Latin America and the Caribbean mostly depend on vaccine donations and purchasing the more affordable and easier-to-store Chinese, Russian and AstraZeneca vaccines.
The intrigue: Vaccination campaigns in Chile and Uruguay have managed to get at least a first dose to more than 50% of their populations, making their programs some of the most successful in the world, yet contagion per capita in those countries remains high.
State of play: Many wealthier Latin Americans have skirted the lack of vaccines in their countries by traveling to the U.S. for immunization, so-called vaccine tourism.
The latest: Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Honduras, Guatemala, Brazil and Uruguay have now reported cases of black fungus or mucormycosis, an infection that can make COVID-19 cases deadlier.
Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers held a press conference in D.C. on Tuesday to urge Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation, one day after they fled Texas to block the Republican-led legislature from passing restrictive new voting laws.
Driving the news: The lawmakers acknowledged that the gambit to prevent the Texas House from achieving quorum is only a temporary solution, noting they "are living right now on borrowed time in Texas."
Three in 10 immigrants in U.S. detention centers are saying no to the COVID-19 vaccine, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Vaccine hesitancy among detained immigrants has added an unlikely twist to the challenges of a pandemic-era increase in border migration.
