(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 11 things you need to know this Monday – April 18, 2022

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California delays COVID-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren until 2023 – California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren will not happen until at least the summer of next year.

In 2021, the Golden State was the first to announce that it would require all school-aged children to receive the vaccine. The mandate would allow exemptions for medical reasons and personal beliefs. – READ MORE

Pfizer, BioNTech will ask FDA to authorize COVID booster for healthy kids ages 5-11 –Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday that they would ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize a booster dose of their coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in healthy kids ages 5 to 11.

The vaccine makers said new data shows children in that age group could benefit from another shot. – READ MORE

Vaccinated people with mental health issues more likely to suffer a breakthrough COVID infection – Your mental health may determine how well the coronavirus vaccine protects you from COVID. A new study reveals vaccinated people who deal with mental health disorders have a significantly higher risk of suffering a breakthrough case of COVID-19.

Specifically, those with psychiatric conditions, a history of substance abuse, and those over the age of 65 have a 24-percent increased risk of a breakthrough infection. These problems include bipolar disorder, anxiety, psychosis, and depressive symptoms. Younger individuals with similar problems are 11 percent more prone. – READ MORE

Experts Recommend Anxiety Screening For Young Kids – Recent data proves what many people have suspected: Rates of anxiety and depression in children and teens rose during the pandemic. This has prompted first-time guidance calling for anxiety screening in children as young as eight years old.

The new guidance comes from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is a group of volunteer experts from various health fields, and is the same group that makes recommendations for things such as cancer and diabetes screenings. The guidance suggests that all kids, eight years old and up, get screened for anxiety. – READ MORE

Report: Fatal Drug Overdoses Among Teens Up 94% – A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that the number of fatal overdose deaths among teenagers rose from 492 in 2019 to 954 in 2020, an increase of 94%.

“For decades, we’ve seen overdose rates rising among adults, and teens have been insulated from that,” said Joe Friedman, a public health researcher at the University of California-Los Angeles, as reported by NPR. “And now, for the first time, the overdose crisis is reaching teens as well.” – READ MORE

The Biden administration resumes oil and gas leases on federal land but in a reduced capacity and with steeper fees – This past Friday, the Biden administration announced that it would resume granting lease sales for the drilling of oil and natural gas on federal lands.

However, as the Washington Examiner reported, the Biden administration intends to drastically decrease the amount of federal land available for drilling and plans to increase the royalty it charges companies to produce oil on federal lands. – READ MORE

Reports: JetBlue Experiences Staff Shortages, Scales Back Summer Schedule – JetBlue intends to scale back its summer schedule as they are “staffing constrained,” according to reports. The reports follow consecutive weekends of flight cancellations and delays.

Citing staffing issues, the airline said it would be adjusting the rest of its April schedule, and more cuts are slated for next month and through the summer, NBC reported. – READ MORE

Mobster Whitey Bulger’s nephew played pivotal role in Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings, emails show – The nephew of infamous mobster James “Whitey” Bulger played a pivotal role in Chinese business ventures with Hunter Biden, according to emails.

Jim Bulger – the nephew of the organized crime boss – was the chairman and co-founder of Boston-based Thornton Group LLC. Bulger’s advisory firm worked with the Rosemont Seneca investment firm on Chinese business dealings. The firm was founded by Biden, Christopher Heinz, and Devon Archer. – READ MORE

100 people with rare cancers who attended same NJ high school demand answers – A single New Jersey man has uncovered a medical mystery apparently linking 100 people diagnosed with rare cancers to a Woodbridge high school.

In 1999, when he was just 27, Al Lupiano was diagnosed with a “very rare” and abnormally large brain tumor for someone his age called Acoustic Neuroma (AN). Last summer, Lupiano’s wife and now-deceased sister were diagnosed with rare forms of brain cancer on the same day. His wife was similarly diagnosed with an abnormally large AN tumor, and his sister was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), which has an incident rate of 30 out of every 1 million people, Lupiano explained in a Facebook post that he has been updating since March 7. – READ MORE

FBI Memos Suggest Agency Had Moles In Media – Investigator Roger Charles was combing through records of the FBI’s Oklahoma City bombing investigation more than a decade ago, when he discovered a memo suggesting that someone working at ABC News provided a tip to the bureau a day after the deadly April 19, 1995, domestic terrorist attack.

It appeared that a senior ABC News journalist had been doubling as an FBI informant. The memo made a few headlines in 2011, but quickly passed through the news cycle with little impact and hardly any coverage by major outlets. – READ MORE