
Supreme Court to hear challenges to Biden's COVID-19 vaccine rules for health care workers, large companies
CBSN
Washington — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up legal challenges to President Biden's COVID-19 vaccine requirements for health care workers and large businesses with at least 100 workers.
In a pair of orders, the court scheduled oral arguments in two sets of cases for January 7, setting a special expedited session for the disputes as the nation confronts a spike in new COVID-19 infections driven by the new, highly transmissible Omicron variant.
One set of challenges was brought by business associations and Republican-led states, which sought emergency action from the Supreme Court over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) requirements for large businesses, after a divided panel of judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the rules. The states, led by Ohio, and business groups, led by the National Federation of Independent Business, argued OSHA lacks the power to issue the vaccine requirement.

Santa Fe, New Mexico — A representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, especially photographs and police body-camera video related to the recent deaths of Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa after their partially mummified bodies were discovered at their New Mexico home in February.

In the past year, over 135 million passengers traveled to the U.S. from other countries. To infectious disease experts, that represents 135 million chances for an outbreak to begin. To identify and stop the next potential pandemic, government disease detectives have been discreetly searching for viral pathogens in wastewater from airplanes. Experts are worried that these efforts may not be enough.