Tag: COVID-19

Gallagher Reintroduces Bill Demanding Biden Administration Declassify Docs on COVID and Wuhan Lab

M.D. Kittle

In the wake of growing support for the idea that COVID-19 originated in a lab in China, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) is reintroducing a bill requiring the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the pandemic. 

Gallagher’s COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 comes back as the U.S. Department of Energy concludes at least with some confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak. The agency came to that conclusion based on a classified intelligence report provided to the White House and certain members of Congress.

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Gallagher Calls on Biden Administration to Declassify Intelligence on Origins of COVID-19

M.D. Kittle

It’s time to open up the classified pandemic files, says U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. 

With revelations the U.S. Department of Energy now believes a lab leak was the likely cause of the COVID-19 outbreak, Gallagher is calling on the Biden administration to declassify the intelligence surrounding the origins of the deadly coronavirus. 

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Researchers: City-Wide Vaccine Mandates Did Nothing to Stop the Spread of COVID-19

The Center Square

A slew of city-wide vaccine mandates announced in 2021 across parts of the U.S. made virtually no difference in stopping the spread of COVID-19, newly released research found.

“These mandates imposed severe restrictions on the lives of many citizens and business owners,” the study, conducted through George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, says. “Yet, we find no evidence that the mandates were effective in their intended goals of reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths.”

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Despite Comprehensive Study Showing Masks Ineffective Against COVID and Flu, CDC Director Tells Congress, ‘Our Masking Guidance Doesn’t Really Change with Time’

Susan Berry, PhD

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky testified during a recent House committee hearing that, despite the recent release of an international research review that found masks are ineffective against COVID-19 and the flu, her agency’s masking guidance “doesn’t really change with time.”

During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) asked Walensky to explain how the CDC uses evidence to update or change its guidance.

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Ohio Congressman Wenstrup Starts Probe of Wuhan Institute of Virology Funding and COVID Origins

Bradley Vasoli

Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2) this week commenced a House of Representatives investigation concerning the genesis of the novel coronavirus that hit U.S. shores in winter 2020.

As the new chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the southern-Ohio legislator formally requested an on-the-record conversation with former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci and other senior federal health administrators as well as security officials. Wenstrup’s subcommittee is working on the matter alongside House Committee on Oversight and Accountability which is chaired by James Comer (R-KY-1) who last month made initial requests for federal documents pertaining to COVID-19’s origins.

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Arizona Senate Committee on Director Nominations Rejects Hobbs’ ‘Extreme’ Choice to Lead the Department of Health

Rachel Alexander

The newly formed Arizona Senate Committee on Director Nominations held a hearing Thursday to consider whether to accept Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ nominee for director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, Dr. Theresa Cullen. Chaired by Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who characterized Cullen as “extreme,” the committee interviewed the former director of the Pima County Department of Public Health then voted down party lines, 3-2, to stop her nomination from going forward to the whole Senate for a vote.

Cullen tried to repeatedly distance herself from the Pima County Supervisors’ decisions regarding COVID-19. At one point, Cullen said she did not attend their meetings. But Hoffman pulled up a photo of her at one of the meetings. While she was sworn to tell the truth at the hearing, the legislature generally does not take action when speakers perjure themselves. 

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Fauci Paper Suggests Feds Knew COVID Vaccines Were Doomed from the Start: ‘Decidedly Suboptimal’

Just the News

Anthony Fauci knows why COVID-19 vaccines have been so unreliable at halting infection and transmission beyond a few months. He waited until he stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to publicly explain it.

Elsevier’s medical journal Cell Host and Microbe published a “perspective” led by Fauci’s office last month that shows NIAID had good reason to believe COVID vaccines would fail even before they were authorized, based on research spanning Fauci’s 38-year tenure leading NIAID.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Proposes Bill Letting Small Businesses Operate During Emergencies

Bradley Vasoli

State Representative Brad Roae (R-PA-Meadville) this week proposed legislation to permit small businesses to continue operating during potential future states of emergency in Pennsylvania. 

His bill, a version of a measure he sponsored in 2020, would permit small businesses to serve one customer at a time during such periods. The earlier legislation passed the House with nearly all Republicans and some Democrats in support but the Senate did not vote on it. 

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Ohio U.S. Rep. Joyce Proposes End to Head Start Vaccine Requirement

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representatives Dave Joyce (R-OH-14) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-1) are seeking an end to the COVID-19-vaccine mandate affecting workers at Head Start facilities. 

The federal Head Start program was founded in 1965 and provides numerous early-learning, wellness and parenting-support services to families with children ages five and younger who receive public assistance or have incomes below the poverty line. The program serves more than 800,000 children nationwide including 33,241 in Ohio and roughly 1,500 in Joyce’s district. 

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Massive Mask Meta-Study Undermines Remaining COVID Mandates

Just the News

An international research collaboration that reviewed several dozen rigorous studies of “physical interventions” against influenza and COVID-19 through last year failed to find even a modest effect on infection or illness rates from masks of all qualities.

Published in the peer-reviewed Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, run by the British evidence-based medicine charity Cochrane, the study raises new doubts about ongoing mask mandates and public health recommendations worldwide.

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TennCare to Spend $500M Because of Enrollment from COVID-19 Pandemic

The Center Square

TennCare currently has $1.1 billion in its reserves and expects it to cost $500 million of those reserves over the next year as it redetermines Medicaid eligibility for those additional 500,000 members who joined the plan over the past three years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, states were not allowed to remove those who are no longer eligible for the program as previous. Starting on April 1, states must start that redetermination process and will have a year to complete it.

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Medical Student Calls for Profession to ‘Admit We Were Wrong About COVID’

Susan Berry, PhD

A 7th year medical student from Texas is calling upon those who consider themselves to be part of the “scientific community” to “admit we were wrong about COVID,” and acknowledge the policies encouraged regarding the vaccines, masks, school closures, etc., all “cost lives.”

In an op-ed published Monday at Newsweek, Kevin Bass, M.S., an M.D./Ph.D. student, admitted he “staunchly supported the efforts of the public health authorities when it came to COVID-19.”

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Senator Joni Ernst Commentary: EcoHealth Can’t Be Trusted with Taxpayer Money – or Bats

Admin

Nearly two years ago, I requested an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) into EcoHealth Alliance —the shady organization that funneled taxpayer money into China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to conduct risky research on coronaviruses.

The investigation came after we learned that EcoHealth was spending our tax dollars on dangerous experiments in Wuhan, China, and was not disclosing information about those projects to the public, as required by law.

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Wisconsin Senator Johnson Presses FAA on Vaccine Effects

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is asking the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide information about the effects that COVID-19 vaccines may have had on numerous aviation professionals and the agency’s response to those effects. 

Johnson wrote a letter to FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen and Office of Aerospace Medicine Federal Air Surgeon Susan Northrup last week requesting an investigation into the conditions of commercial pilots Greg Pierson, Bob Snow and Wil Wolfe. The three were all in their 50s or 60s and the latter two received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while Pierson got the Pfizer shot. The senator also wants investigations to determine vaccine effects on agricultural pilot Cody Flint and air-traffic controller Hayley Lopez, respectively 33 and 29, who both obtained the Pfizer jab. 

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Sen. Marco Rubio Cites Project Veritas Undercover Video in Letter to Pfizer CEO on Alleged Gain-of-Function Research

Susan Berry, PhD

Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R) cited the most recent undercover investigation released by Project Veritas (PV) in a letter to Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, and noted that, according to the PV video, Pfizer may be conducting gain-of-function research to mutate the COVID virus to create additional variants and vaccines to combat them for profit.

Rubio’s office noted that, in the PV exposé, Pfizer executive Jordon Trishton Walker claimed the drug company is considering the possibility of mutating the COVID virus itself via “directed evolution” in order to keep profiting off a continued stream of vaccines – which he later said would be a “cash cow” for the company.

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Pfizer Executive Heard Claiming Company Considering Mutating COVID Virus Itself to Continue Profiting Off Vaccines, Later Seen Assaulting Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe

Susan Berry, PhD

A top-level Pfizer executive revealed to an undercover Project Veritas (PV) journalist that the pharmaceutical giant is considering the possibility of mutating the COVID virus itself via “directed evolution” in order to keep profiting off a continued stream of vaccines. Following the release of the first video, which was published Wednesday, Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations – mRNA Scientific Planner, is seen in a second video assaulting PV founder James O’Keefe and his staff in a restaurant, and destroying the iPad showing the undercover video recordings.

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Wall Street Journal Rips Vaccine Makers: ‘Designed Studies to Get the Results They Wanted’

Susan Berry, PhD

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial board member Allysia Finley took to task both the federal government and the pharmaceutical giants profiting from the sale of their COVID mRNA booster shots for a “deceptive advertising” push for Americans to continue taking boosters without proof of their safety or effectiveness.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its health and regulatory agencies are engaged in a “deceptive advertising” campaign, wrote Finley Sunday, suggesting the pressure tactics “shouldn’t come as a surprise,” since the federal government “took the unprecedented step of ordering vaccine makers to produce them and recommending them without data supporting their safety or efficacy.”

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Poll Finds Majority of Voters Want Congress to Investigate Fauci

M.D. Kittle

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s questionable work leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic and his equally questionable actions in managing the pandemic have raised a lot of eyebrows. 

Now, a majority of voters believe congress should investigate the former longtime medical adviser to the White House and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to a new poll by Convention of States Action.

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DOJ: Atlanta Man Recruited 10 Others for $3 Million Paycheck Protection Program Loan Scheme

Eric Burk

Eleven men have been sentenced after a scheme to obtain $3 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans; Atlanta man Rodericque Thompson recruited nine business owners to obtain $300,000 loans with fraudulent applications according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

“The CARES Act and the PPP designated funds to aid struggling businesses during a pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said in a press release. “American businesses needed these funds to keep their companies and employees afloat during a national emergency and world-wide pandemic. These defendants took advantage of that program to obtain money to which they were not lawfully entitled. We will continue investigating and prosecuting those who attempt to steal these critical funds.”

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Emails: Fauci Was Part of Group Aiming to ‘Disprove’ Lab Leak Theory

Admin
Anthony Fauci

Newly unearthed emails reveal that former head of the National Institute of Allergy Infectious Disease (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci, was part of a group of scientists assembled for the sole purpose of “disproving” the COVID-19 origin theory claiming that the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.

According to the Daily Caller, others in the group besides Fauci included Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome Trust; Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research; and Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, among others. The emails revealing the collaborative effort were uncovered by journalist Jimmy Tobias after a prolonged legal battle with the NIH.

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New Senate Bill Proposes Ban on Vaccine Mandates in Pennsylvania

The Center Square

An impending proposal in the Pennsylvania Senate takes aim at vaccine mandates.

“The fight for medical freedom continues into the new legislative session,” said prime sponsor Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Chambersburg, in a Jan. 4 press release.

Mastriano first introduced the measure, called the Medical Freedom Act, in December 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both versions of the legislation would shield residents from adverse employment actions or discrimination for refusing vaccination while working for state agencies or political entities.

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Unvaccinated Military Members Still Facing Repercussions Despite Rescinded COVID-19 Mandate

Admin

Despite the Department of Defense rescinding the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, unvaccinated military members are still facing repercussions, including denied benefits, ineligibility for promotion, being non-deployable, and potentially diminished employment prospects for those already discharged.

On Dec. 23, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $858 billion defense spending bill that included a measure repealing the mandate. On Dec. 29, the Defense Department followed suit, rescinding the mandate that has frayed military morale and resulted in the discharge of over 8,000 service members who refused the vaccine.

In rescinding the vaccine mandate, the DOD acknowledged the NDAA requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind his Aug. 24, 2021 memo issuing the sweeping order.

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Pennsylvania Republicans Propose Bill Preventing California Air Resources Board Emission Rule

Bradley Vasoli

Four Republican state senators are encouraging their colleagues to join them in legislating to keep a new requirement from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from going into effect in Pennsylvania. 

Two decades ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) began requiring that heavy-duty diesel-vehicle engines receive CARB certification as part of the agency’s Heavy-Duty Diesel Emissions Control Program. 

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World Health Organization Admits to China Covering Up COVID-19 Information

Admin

On Wednesday, after a meeting between representatives of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO finally issued a statement condemning China for its suppression of information regarding the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Daily Caller, the WHO issued the statement after the meeting on Tuesday, declaring that it would “continue to closely monitor the situation in the People’s Republic of China,” while adding that there was a “critical need for and importance of additional analysis as well as sharing of sequence data.”

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Clyde Explains Vote for McCarthy as Speaker

Eric Burk

U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) was one of fifteen hold-out Republicans to flip on Friday and vote in favor of Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) to be Speaker of the House, paving the way for McCarthy’s late Friday win after a week of falling short by about 20 votes.

“My fight has never been about personalities — it has always been about restoring the People’s voice in the People’s House,” Clyde explained in a Friday social media statement. “I voted for Kevin McCarthy based on an agreement to a framework that creates significant historic institutional change. I look forward to helping implement these changes, which will hold the Speaker accountable to the People.”

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Boston May Bring Back Mask Mandates for Kids

Admin

Boston Public Schools is considering reinstating a mask mandate after the holiday break to minimize absenteeism from COVID-19, the mayor stated in a Wednesday announcement.

The decision is currently under consideration by city officials who fear a rise in COVID-19 cases once students return to the classroom in the new year, NBC Boston reported. Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu stated that a decision would be finalized by the end of the week.

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TennCare Costs Will Increase as Emergency COVID Waiver Ends

The Center Square

Throughout the federal COVID-19 emergency, Tennessee’s Medicaid service TennCare and programs like it across the country have been barred from removing those who initially qualified for services.

Starting on April 1, however, the emergency will end and so will the federal matching dollars that went into the program. TennCare served 1.4 million residents in early 2020 and, after hitting a projected peak of 1.7 million members this spring, expects TennCare enrollment to go back down to 1.4 million by April 2025.

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Florida COVID-19 Committee Members Emphasize Importance of Restoring Public Trust Related to Vaccine

The Center Square

In response to Gov. Ron DeSantis creating a new Public Health Integrity Committee and filing a petition for a statewide grand jury to investigate potential crimes related to the COVID-19 vaccine, seven doctors on the committee expressed their support for the only governor in America taking such a stand.

The members of the new committee include Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, Martin Kuldorff, PhD, Tracy Beth Høeg, MD, PhD, Joseph Fraiman, MD, Christine Stabell Benn, MD, PhD, Bret Weinstein, PhD, and Steven Templeton, PhD.

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Supreme Court Hands Border States Big Win, Orders Title 42 to Remain in Place During Legal Challenge

Just the News

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that a COVID-19 era immigration order remain in place.

Title 42 is an order allowing border authorities to swiftly deport migrants if they hail from a country known to host a communicable disease such as COVID-19. Border officials have deported an estimated 2.5 million migrants under the order since its implementation. Many detractors of the Biden administration’s approach fear that its end could prompt an even greater surge.

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Though the Military Vaccine Mandate Is Overturned, Unvaccinated Troops Still Risk Reprisal

Admin

While the Biden administration has officially reversed the military COVID-19 vaccination mandate, servicemembers who escaped discharge for refusing the vaccine still risk retaliation and could be booted anyway, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Ongoing class action lawsuits thwarted the military’s efforts to discharge thousands of troops who objected to the mandate before the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law Friday, overturned it. However, servicemembers may risk reprisal even after the deadline passes for the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement the repeal, staining the records of thousands of servicemembers for the remainder of their careers, experts explained to the DCNF.

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Supreme Court Delays End of Title 42 Immigration Rule

Just the News

The Supreme Court on Monday delayed the termination of the Title 42 immigration rule that was set to expire this week.

Chief Justice John Roberts issued the temporary hold in response to an appeal from Republican-led states seeking to keep the order in place, according to NBC News. Roberts gave the Department of Homeland Security, which had sought to end the order until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to respond to the Republican appeal, per the New York Post.

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House Republicans Launch Investigation into COVID-19 Origins, Demand Answers from 40 Officials

Admin

The soon-to-be chairmen of the House Oversight and Reform and Judiciary committees announced on Wednesday that they are launching an investigation into the origins of  COVID-19, and will be requesting transcribed interviews with 40 individuals.

Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said they will be pressing senior Biden administration officials; Dr. Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance; and several virologists for information pertinent to their investigation.

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State Senators Propose Pennsylvania Law Against Social Media Censorship

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania State Senators Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) and Scott Hutchinson (R-Oil City) Thursday announced they would reintroduce a bill proposed in the last legislative session designed to prevent social media platforms from censoring Pennsylvanians. 

Mastriano and Hutchinson introduced the original measure in May 2021. They secured the cosponsorship of four other senators, all Republicans, but the bill did not receive a vote in the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. The two lawmakers said new developments impelled them to try again in the new session. They cited the recently released “Twitter files,” internal documents pertaining largely to the social-media company’s decision in late 2020 to deny users access to a New York Post story concerning Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s personal computer.

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Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo: mRNA COVID-19 Shots ‘Far Less Safe Than Any Vaccines Widely Used’

Susan Berry, PhD

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo continues to draw attention to studies that indicate the COVID mRNA shots have significant health safety concerns even as the federal government still presses Americans to take them.

Ladapo commented on social media regarding a study published in November at Clinical Research in Cardiology examined autopsies of 35 individuals who died unexpectedly within 20 days post-COVID-19 vaccination.

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Doctors Allege Corruption and Mismanagement of COVID Pandemic Leaving Americans at High Risk for Vaccine Injury and Death

Susan Berry, PhD

Doctors and scientists who participated in Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s (R) COVID-19 roundtable Wednesday shared their personal experiences of the federal government’s alleged corruption and mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic that they say have likely caused many more examples of serious vaccine injury for which Americans have no recourse.

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China-Linked Hackers Stole Millions in COVID-19 Relief Funds, Secret Service Says

Admin

Foreign hackers linked to the Chinese government allegedly stole at least $20 million in COVID-19 relief funds, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

The China-linked hackers, known as APT41, are “a notable player” among the 1,000-plus investigations into criminals defrauding public benefits programs, according to an NBC News report confirmed by the Secret Service to the Daily Caller News Foundation. It is unknown whether the Chinese government directed APT41 to steal taxpayer funds or simply looked the other way, but the threat is  “dangerous” and has serious national security implications, an anonymous senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official told NBC News.

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U.S. Department of Education Finds Fairfax Schools Didn’t Provide Necessary Services to Students with Disabilities During Remote Learning

Eric Burk

The U.S. Department of Education found that Fairfax County Public Schools didn’t take needed steps to ensure that students with disabilities received a legally-guaranteed free appropriate public education (FAPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Based on the evidence obtained through the Division’s documents and data, as well as interviews of administrators, OCR [Office for Civil Rights] found that the Division failed or was unable to provide a FAPE to thousands of qualified students with disabilities in violation of Section 504,” OCR District of Columbia Regional Director Emily Frangos wrote in a Wednesday letter to FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid.

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