
White House seeks $10 billion for COVID, $37.7 billion for Ukraine from Congress
CBSN
Washington — The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to provide another $10 billion to combat COVID-19 and other infectious diseases amid an emergence of new subvariants and expected winter surge in infections, as well as an additional $37.7 billion in support for Ukraine to defend itself from Russia's ongoing aggression.
Shalanda Young, the head of the White House budget office, made the emergency supplemental funding request to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and called for the priorities to be addressed as part of a bipartisan agreement in the coming weeks.
The White House will also seek more money for disaster response and rebuilding in Florida, Puerto Rico and other communities impacted by extreme weather events. Officials are working to "refine the estimates of funding needs" to address the recent natural disasters, Young wrote in a letter to Pelosi.

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.