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COVID-19: Researcher Discovers 'Deltacron' Strain Combining Parts Of Both Variants COVID-19: Researcher Discovers 'Deltacron' Strain Combining Parts Of Both Variants
Covid-19: Researcher Discovers 'Deltacron' Strain Combining Parts Of Both Variants A COVID-19 strain that combines both the Omicron and Delta variants has been discovered by a researcher, according to a brand-new report. The strain has been labeled “Deltacron” by the researcher, Leondios Kostrikis, a biological sciences professor at the University of Cyprus because of its omicron-like genetic signatures within the delta genomes, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, Jan. 8. Kostrikis told Sigma TV that "we will see in the future if this strain is more pathological or more contagious or if it will prevail” over Delta and Omicron. To date, 25 cases of Deltacron have been identif…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
TikTok School-Shooting Threats Aren't Credible, Authorities Say TikTok School-Shooting Threats Aren't Credible, Authorities Say
TikTok School-Shooting Threats Aren't Credible, Authorities Say Several schools across the United States closed on Friday while others issued warnings and boosted security following what authorities said were unfounded threats on TikTok of a school shooting. The anonymous TikTok "challenges" -- which apparently originated in Arizona and didn't specify any school or area -- frightened parents from one end of the country to the other. Many said they were keeping their children home on Friday, despite assurances that they had nothing to worry about. Law enforcement agencies nonetheless boosted their presence at and around schools if for no other reason tha…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Nigerian Man Named 'Godspower' Stole $1.89 Mil From Pennsylvania Women: USDOJ Nigerian Man Named 'Godspower' Stole $1.89 Mil From Pennsylvania Women: USDOJ
Nigerian Man Named 'Godspower' Stole $1.89 Mil From Pennsylvania Women: Usdoj A Nigerian man has been sentenced after being found guilty of laundering $1.89 million in a mail and wire fraud scheme that targeted Pennsylvania women, according to a release by the US Department of Justice. Jabin Godspower Okpako, 36, and his wife, Christine Bradley Okpako, 54, of Sayre, Pennsylvania, used three bank accounts in Nigeria to transfer funds out of the United States, prosecutors say according to the release. The couple targeted women, ranging in age from 55 to 85, using Instagram, Facebook, Words with Friends, and What’s App, according to the release. After cultivating onlin…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Former PA Health Sec. Dr. Rachel Levine Becomes First Openly Transgender 4-Star Admiral Former PA Health Sec. Dr. Rachel Levine Becomes First Openly Transgender 4-Star Admiral
Former PA Health Sec. Dr. Rachel Levine Becomes First Openly Transgender 4-Star Admiral Dr. Rachel Levine was ceremonially sworn-in as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. on Tuesday. This new status makes Levine the first openly transgender four-star officer across any of the uniformed services of the United States.  Admiral Rachel Levine.US Department of Health and Human Services Levine formerly served as the Pennsylvania health secretary under Gov. Tom Wolf from 2017 until she started her new role in President Joe Biden's administration in 2021. When Levine became the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health she became the top ranking of…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months
Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months UPDATE: A Peruvian woman was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for trying to smuggle nearly 15½ pounds of cocaine hidden in chocolate candy through Newark Airport. Yolanda Fonseca Melgarejo, 60, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Peru, was nabbed after flying in from Lima in March 2019. She had seven kilos of coke "concealed within wrapped chocolate candy in her luggage," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Malgarejo took a deal from the government rather than risk trial, pleading guilty this past June to a single count of importing controlled s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Indian NJ Dad Who Abducted Son Four Years Ago Captured In England, Extradited To US Indian NJ Dad Who Abducted Son Four Years Ago Captured In England, Extradited To US
Indian NJ Dad Who Abducted Son Four Years Ago Captured In England, Extradited To US A federal magistrate judge on Friday ordered the detention of a former New Jersey resident who was captured in England after kidnapping his son four years ago. Amitkumar Kanubhai Patel, 38, “obstructed the parental rights of his child’s mother by kidnapping the child and failing to return him to the United States when ordered to do so,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. He even told the mother that he was “never bringing the child back to the United States,” Honig said. Patel, most recently of Vadodara, India, had lived with the Cherry Hill woman from August 2015 through Ju…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Weather
New Forecast: Huge Hurricane Larry Churning In Atlantic; Latest Projected Path New Forecast: Huge Hurricane Larry Churning In Atlantic; Latest Projected Path
New Forecast: Huge Hurricane Larry Churning In Atlantic; Latest Projected Path Forecasters are watching powerful Hurricane Larry churning in the Atlantic Basin, warning it could wind up being an even stronger storm than Ida, which left a trail of destruction through multiple states. The latest projected track for the Category 3 storm, packed with 115 mile-per-hour winds, still keeps it well off the US coast. But impacts from Larry "will be far-reaching even though the storm may stay hundreds of miles away from the Atlantic beaches from Florida to Maine, AccuWeather says. Potential for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding across parts of the Northeast on Wednes…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
COVID-19: Unvaccinated Are More Than Twice As Likely To Get Virus A Second Time, CDC Says COVID-19: Unvaccinated Are More Than Twice As Likely To Get Virus A Second Time, CDC Says
Covid-19: Unvaccinated Are More Than Twice As Likely To Get Virus A Second Time, CDC Says A new study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that COVID-19 vaccines offer better and more protection against reinfection of the virus than just natural immunity among those who already have been infected. On Friday, Aug. 6, the CDC released the findings of a new study of nearly 1,000 Americans who previously tested positive for COVID-19 but remained unvaccinated. According to the study, those who were unvaccinated proved to be more than twice as likely to become infected for a second time than those who were fully vaccinated against the virus. Researchers …

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by Zak Failla
News
Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports
Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports Call it a statistical oddity: Despite an historic spike in drug overdose deaths across the United States last year, the total reported for New Jersey ticked up barely 1% over 2019 – compared with an increase of more than 32% in New York, over 17% in Pennsylvania and more than 10% in Connecticut, the CDC reported. More than 93,000 people across the country died from drug overdoses amid last year’s COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. That total represented a 29.4% increase from the 72,151 deaths projected nationwide for 2019, according to an annual…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
CDC: COVID Vaccinated Students, Teachers Don't Need To Wear Masks In Classroom CDC: COVID Vaccinated Students, Teachers Don't Need To Wear Masks In Classroom
CDC: COVID Vaccinated Students, Teachers Don't Need To Wear Masks In Classroom Fully vaccinated teachers and students do not have to wear masks while in the classroom starting this fall under brand-new COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday, July 9. The updated recommendation comes as more than 55 percent of the United States' population has received at least one vaccine dose, including more than 47 percent who are fully vaccinated.  Children under the age of 12 are not currently eligible to receive any of the three COVID-19 vaccines in the nation. The CDC's updated guidance recommends that individuals who are no…

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by Nicole Valinote
News
Somerset Man Who Flew To Philippines For Sex With Minor Sentenced To 9 Years In Fed Pen Somerset Man Who Flew To Philippines For Sex With Minor Sentenced To 9 Years In Fed Pen
Somerset Man Who Flew To Philippines For Sex With Minor Sentenced To 9 Years In Fed Pen A Somerset County man who flew to the Philippines to have sex with a minor he met online is headed to federal prison for nine years. James A. Diggs, 45, of Somerville, told a U.S. District Court judge earlier this year that he used a messaging app to “persuade, induce, entice, and coerce” the victim into having sex with him during what became an October 2018 visit to the Southeast Asian country. He headed there out of JFK Airport in Queens at least seven times over four years, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachel A. Honig said. Rather than go to trial, Diggs took a deal from the gove…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Jamaican Man, Peruvian Woman Admit Smuggling 22 Pounds Of Cocaine Into Newark Airport Jamaican Man, Peruvian Woman Admit Smuggling 22 Pounds Of Cocaine Into Newark Airport
Jamaican Man, Peruvian Woman Admit Smuggling 22 Pounds Of Cocaine Into Newark Airport Two people in two days this week admitted smuggling more than 22 pounds of cocaine combined into Newark Airport. Perez Omar Gibbs, 38, of Jamaica told a federal judge in Newark via videoconference that he hid more than six pounds of coke in two bags of coffee and four picture frames aboard a flight from Montego Bay, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. In an unrelated case, Honig said, Yolanda Fonseca Melgarejo, 59, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Peru, told another judge in Newark that she concealed more than 15 pounds in chocolate candy on a flight …

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by Jerry DeMarco