John Hanno – Page 148 – The Tarbabys Blog

Clarence Thomas failed to fully repay $267,000 loan for luxury RV, inquiry finds

The Guardian

Clarence Thomas failed to fully repay $267,000 loan for luxury RV, inquiry finds

Martin Pengelly in Washington – October 25, 2023

The US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas failed to repay much – or possibly all – of a “sweetheart deal” to borrow more than $267,000 to buy a luxury motor home, a Senate committee found.

The existence of the $267,230 loan, made by the businessman Anthony Welters in 1999 and forgiven in 2008, was first reported by the New York Times. On Wednesday, the Times quoted Michael Hamersley, a tax lawyer and congressional expert witness, as saying “‘this was, in short, a sweetheart deal’ that made no logical sense from a business perspective”.

The original RV story came amid a torrent of reports, many by ProPublica, about alleged ethical lapses by Thomas, a conservative appointed in 1991 who has failed to declare numerous lavish gifts from rightwing donors.

Thomas denies wrongdoing but the reports, particularly concerning the mega-donor Harlan Crow, alongside stories about other justices’ undeclared gifts and windfalls, have prompted questions about impartiality on the conservative-dominated court and calls for ethics reform.

Senate Democrats have proposed such reform but it has little chance of success, given Republican opposition. The chief justice, John Roberts, has resisted calls to testify.

Supreme court justices are nominally subject to the same ethics rules as all federal judges but in practice govern themselves.

In the case of the luxury RV – a Prevost Marathon Le Mirage XL – Welters loaned Thomas the money in 1999. The businessman told the Times: “I loaned a friend money, as I have other friends and family. We’ve all been on one side or the other of that equation.”

But on Wednesday the Senate finance committee said it had now seen documents that showed an annual interest rate of 7.5% but no obligation to pay down the principal, only annual interest payments of $20,042. The committee also said it had seen a note from Thomas promising to abide by the terms.

“None of the documents reviewed by committee staff indicated that Thomas ever made payments to Welters in excess of the annual interest on the loan,” the panel said.

As described by the Times, when the loan came due, in 2004, Welters granted a 10-year extension “despite the fact that the previous year Justice Thomas had collected $500,000 of a $1.5m advance for his autobiography, according to his financial disclosures. Then, in late 2008, Mr Welters simply forgave the balance of the loan, according to the committee’s report.”

A contemporaneous note, the committee said, showed Welters saying Thomas’s “interest only” payments exceeded the value of the RV. But evidence did not back up this claim, with Welters having given investigators only one copy of a canceled check from Thomas, for the annual interest amount.

Hamersley told the Times: “No bank behaving in a commercially reasonable, arms-length manner would have given that loan in the first place. And a bank doesn’t just say, ‘Oh gee, you’ve paid a lot in interest – we’re good, no need to pay back what you actually owe.’”

Hamersley also said the Internal Revenue Service would treat any such gift as taxable income.

Ron Wyden, the Democratic chair of the Senate finance committee, said: “Now we know that Justice Thomas had up to $267,230 in debt forgiven and never reported it on his ethics forms.

“Regular Americans don’t get wealthy friends to forgive huge amounts of debt … Justice Thomas should inform the committee exactly how much debt was forgiven and whether he properly reported the loan forgiveness on his tax returns and paid all taxes owed.”

Calls for Thomas to resign, or to be impeached and removed, have proliferated. Such outcomes remain vastly unlikely but on Wednesday Caroline Ciccone, president of the watchdog Accountable.US, said Thomas had reached “a new low”, the justice going “about business as usual on the supreme court while skirting all ethics standards to cash in on his wealthy friends – to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Justice Thomas clearly views his position on our nation’s highest court as a chance to upgrade his own lifestyle with no consequences. As becomes more clear by the day, he is unfit to serve on our high court. Justice Thomas must resign.”

Clarence Thomas never paid back a $267,230 loan from a rich friend used to buy a luxury RV, Senate committee finds

Insider

Clarence Thomas never paid back a $267,230 loan from a rich friend used to buy a luxury RV, Senate committee finds

Kelsey Vlamis – October 25, 2023

The Senate Finance Committee found Clarence Thomas never paid back a $267,230 loan from a rich friend.
The New York Times previously reported Thomas used the loan to buy a luxury RV.
The committee said Thomas never reported the forgiven loan on ethics filings.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spent $267,230 on a luxury RV with a loan from a wealthy friend, but never fully paid it back, the Senate Finance Committee said Wednesday.

The New York Times first reported on the loan in August, revealing Thomas paid $267,230 for a Prevost Marathon RV in 1999, or eight years after he was appointed to the Supreme Court. The Times found that while Thomas had told people he had saved up to make the purchase, it was actually financed, in part, by Anthony Welters, a wealthy healthcare industry executive and close friend of the justice.

The Senate Finance Committee launched an inquiry following the Times’ reporting and published its findings on Wednesday. The committee said Thomas paid interest payments on the loan but never paid a “substantial portion” of the loan, and possibly never paid back any portion of the principal.

Documents reviewed by the committee included a handwritten note from 2008 in which Welters told Thomas he would no longer seek further payments on the loan. The committee said the note also said Thomas had only made interest payments on the loan.

While the committee said additional documents related to the loan may exist, nothing they reviewed suggested Thomas ever made payments that exceeded the annual interest.

“Justice Thomas did not disclose this forgiven debt on his ethics filings, raising questions as to whether Thomas properly reported the associated income on his tax returns,” the committee staff said.

A representative for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

In a statement provided to Insider, Welters acknowledged the loan and said he believed it had been “satisfied.”

“Because the loan was made 25 years ago and completed 15 years ago, bank statements – which I sought – no longer exist. While not a tangible record, I continue to put stock in my contemporaneous belief,” Welters said.

“As anyone who has borrowed from or lent to family or friends, it’s simply not the same as a bank,” he added. “Bottom line, I lent a friend money. The loan was properly papered. The loan, I felt, was satisfactorily repaid.”

Welters previously told the Times the loan had been “satisfied” and acknowledged that Thomas used the money to “buy a recreational vehicle, which is a passion of his.” He did not answer additional questions about how much Thomas had paid back on the loan.

Editors note: This story has been updated to include comment received from Anthony Welters after publication.

Most of Justice Thomas’ $267,000 loan for an RV seems to have been forgiven, Senate Democrats say

Associated Press

Most of Justice Thomas’ $267,000 loan for an RV seems to have been forgiven, Senate Democrats say

Mark Sherman – October 25, 2023

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas joins other members of the Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. All or most of a $267,000 loan obtained by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to buy a high-end motorcoach appears to have been forgiven, raising tax and ethics questions, according to a new report by Senate Democrats. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — All or most of a $267,000 loan obtained by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to buy a high-end motorcoach appears to have been forgiven, raising tax and ethics questions, according to a new report by Senate Democrats.

Anthony “Tony” Welters, a longtime friend of Thomas who made the loan in 1999, forgave the debt after nine years of what he called interest-only payments, says the report, which was released Wednesday by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee.

The loan’s existence was first reported during the summer by the New York Times. Committee Democrats undertook their inquiry following the Times’ story.

Thomas, 75, has been at the center of a heightened focus on ethics at the Supreme Court over his undisclosed travel and other ties with wealthy conservative supporters. The court, the only part of the federal judiciary with a formal code of conduct, is debating whether to adopt an ethics code and, in recent months, three justices have voiced their support for such a move.

Thomas borrowed the money from Welters, a healthcare executive, to buy a 40-foot refitted tour bus in which he tours the country with his wife, Ginni. Thomas has talked about staying in Walmart parking lots and RV parks, which are “what the neighborhoods used to be like.”

At the time of the loan, Thomas said in a handwritten note on his Supreme Court letterhead that agreements to pay interest of 7.5% a year and repay the money in five years, the report says. In 2004, the time to repay the loan was extended until 2014.

Documents voluntarily provided by Welters to the committee show that he forgave the loan in 2008, the report says. Welters gave the committee a copy of just one payment of $20,042 that Thomas made, in 2000.

“Welters forgave the balance of the loan to Thomas in recognition of the payments made by Thomas which Welters characterized as interest only payments that exceeded the amount of the original loan,” the report says. Nine years of interest-only payments would total roughly $180,000, considerably less than the loan amount. Welters did not explain the discrepancy.

Forgiven or canceled debt counts as income for tax purposes, the report says. In addition, Thomas has never included forgiven debt in his annual financial disclosures.

“Justice Thomas should inform the committee exactly how much debt was forgiven and whether he properly reported the loan forgiveness on his tax returns and paid all taxes owed,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the committee chairman, said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from Thomas to a request made through a court spokeswoman.

A series of reports from the investigative news site ProPublica revealed that Thomas has for years accepted, but not disclosed, luxury trips and other hospitality from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.

Crow also purchased the house in Georgia where Thomas’s mother continues to live and paid for two years of private school tuition for a child raised by the Thomases.

Earlier this year, Thomas did report three private trips he took at Crow’s expense in 2022, after the federal judiciary changed its guidelines for reporting travel. He did not report travel from earlier years.

ProPublica reported that Justice Samuel Alito also failed to disclose a private trip to Alaska he took in 2008 that was paid for by two wealthy Republican donors, one of whom repeatedly had interests before the court.

The Associated Press also reported in July that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade.

Coppins: ‘What we’re seeing on the House floor’ is ‘a symptom of a deeply rotten political system’

NBC Universal

Coppins: ‘What we’re seeing on the House floor’ is ‘a symptom of a deeply rotten political system’

NBC – October 25, 2023

In his new book “Romney: A Reckoning,” McKay Coppins details the timeline of Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) opposition to former President Donald Trump and Trump’s hold on the Republican Party. Coppins joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss his book and weigh in on the current infighting between allies of the former president and more traditional conservatives. “What we’ve seen in Congress right now is just an example of the last 15 years of the Republican establishment allowing the kind of more extreme forces of their party to take over by indulging them and flirting with them and appeasing them. Eventually, those forces took control,” Coppins says. He adds that his book, which features journal entries and interviews with Romney, is “a warning that what we’re seeing on the House floor today and the last few weeks is just a symptom of a deeply rotten political system.”

Republicans’ New Speaker Pick Led Effort to Overturn 2020 Election

The New Republic

Republicans’ New Speaker Pick Led Effort to Overturn 2020 Election

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling – October 25, 2023

It’s Day 22, and the House still doesn’t have a speaker, though the GOP selected another designee out of an apparent carousel of contenders late Tuesday.

Republican Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson, a four-term congressman representing Louisiana, is the latest of the batch to try to unify the divided caucus. Johnson’s beliefs are a sweet spot for many GOP members: He’s anti-LGBT and rallied against Roe v. Wade. And when it comes to the 2020 election, he’s just a less dumb version of Jim Jordan, who played a close role in January 6 but failed to secure the speaker’s gavel earlier this month.

In the days following the 2020 presidential election, Johnson played a more subtle but still key part: He led the amicus brief signed by more than 100 Republicans that sought to overturn election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Then, on January 6, 2021, 139 Republican representatives voted to dispute the Electoral College results, in large part thanks to a loophole nitpicked by Johnson, who The New York Times described as the “most important architect of the Electoral College objections.”

According to the Times, it was Johnson’s lawyerly nuance that made him dangerous.

Offering possible objections based on what he described as “constitutional infirmity,” Johnson claimed there were grounds to reject the election results from states that permitted pandemic-induced state modifications to mail-in ballots and early voting systems that bypassed the approval of state legislatures.

Ultimately, it was Johnson’s work that allowed Republicans to seize on the events of January 6 for political profit, helping them transform their brand from dangers to democracy to defenders of electoral integrity, and garner grassroots support and donations from corporate backers who had once denounced them.

According to a leaflet from Johnson’s office obtained by Punchbowl News, Johnson’s core principles include: individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity—though none of those seemed to conflict with his belief in overturning the 2020 presidential election results.

Only a few GOP members have indicated so far that they will not support him in a floor vote. His endorsers include Majority Leader Steve Scalise, fellow contender Representative Kevin Hern, and perhaps most critical, Donald Trump.

The Michael Scott look-alike is the second person to snag the speaker nomination in just one day, after Majority Whip Tom Emmer resigned mere hours after his own nomination.

New House Speaker Once Blamed Abortions for Social Security, Medicare Cuts

The New Republic

New House Speaker Once Blamed Abortions for Social Security, Medicare Cuts

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling – October 25, 2023

The new House speaker, Mike Johnson, has touted some extremely controversial opinions as a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus—but few as unsavory as his apparent hatred for a woman’s right to choose, sizing a woman’s worth up as her ability to create more workers for American businesses.

In a clip that surfaced Tuesday, Johnson put the onus of Republican cuts to essential programs on unborn children, claiming that if American women were producing more bodies to churn the economy then Republicans wouldn’t have to cut essential social programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

“Roe v. Wade gave constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America,” Johnson said, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

“You think about the implications of that on the economy; we’re all struggling here to cover the bases of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest. If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy, we wouldn’t be going upside down and toppling over like this,” he added.

Johnson has also co-sponsored at least three bills hoping to ban abortion at a nationwide level, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children From Late-Term Abortions Act, and the Heartbeat Protection Act of 2021, all of which carry criminal penalties of up to five years in prison for physicians who perform abortions.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson Wants Women to Pop Out ‘Able-Bodied Workers’ to Fund Social Security

Jezebel

New House Speaker Mike Johnson Wants Women to Pop Out ‘Able-Bodied Workers’ to Fund Social Security

Kylie Cheung – October 25, 2023

Dear reader, with a heavy heart, I regret to introduce you to our new House Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.). After three long weeks of House Republicans debasing themselves (and debasing former Speaker nominees Steve Scalise (R-La.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)) to find a new Speaker, the caucus went with Johnson late Tuesday night, and voted him into the position Wednesday afternoon after a single ballot.

Where previous nominees flailed around, caucus support for Johnson was resounding. Scalise and Jordan were both Speaker nominees for a number of odd days before it became clear there was no path forward; Jordan saw massive rifts form in his relationships with a handful of his caucus after they received a slew of death and other threats in his name. Emmer was the nominee for just over the run-time of Avengers: Endgame. But when Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) nominated Johnson on the House floor, caucus members reportedly cheered and chanted, “Mike! Mike! Mike!”

In his remarks, not only does Johnson claim Roe “gave constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children,” but he rails against the imagined economic detriments of abortion, pushing his caucus’ outlandish claim that by depleting a hypothetical workforce, abortion has defunded social security: “Think about the implications of that on the economy. We’re all struggling here to cover the bases of social security and Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest,” Johnson says. “If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy we wouldn’t be going upside down and toppling over like this… Roe was a terrible corruption.” Mind you, social security and health care have been gutted in the last several years by Republican lawmakers, not people who choose to end a pregnancy.

Alas, this is the man who will be presiding over the House moving forward as the threat of another government shutdown looms. This is the man who will be relied on to forge the bipartisan agreements necessary to pass a budget and keep the wheels of our government in motion. You’ll have to excuse me if I’m not feeling overly optimistic about things right now.

Covid shots may slightly increase risk of stroke in older adults, particularly when administered with certain flu vaccines

CNN

Covid shots may slightly increase risk of stroke in older adults, particularly when administered with certain flu vaccines

Brenda Goodman, CNN – October 25, 2023

Vaccines for Covid-19 and influenza may slightly increase the risk of strokes caused by blood clots in the brains of seniors, particularly when the two vaccines are given at the same time and when they are given to adults who are age 85 and older, according to a new study.

The safety signal was detected by experts at the US Food and Drug Administration who analyzed data from Medicare claims.

It is the second study to find an elevated risk of stroke for seniors after Covid-19 and flu vaccinations given together. The US Centers for Disease Control and FDA issued a public communication in January explaining that one of their near real-time vaccine safety monitoring studies—called the Vaccine Safety Datalink–had picked up a small and uncertain risk of stroke for older adults who received a dose of Pfizer’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccine and a high-dose or adjuvanted flu shot on the same day. That study triggered the FDA’s broader look at strokes after vaccination noted in the medical records of seniors on Medicare.

That said, the risk identified in the FDA’s study appears to be very small—roughly 3 strokes or transient ischemic attacks for every 100,000 doses given–and the study found it may be primarily driven by the high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccines, which are specially designed to rev up the immune system so it mounts a stronger response to the shot.

In additional analysis of the Medicare claims data, the FDA researchers found a very slightly increased risk of stroke in adults ages 65 and older who’d only gotten a high dose flu shot. In absolute terms, the extra risk from high-dose flu shots amounted to 1-2 strokes for every 100,000 doses.

“The absolute risk is miniscule,” said Dr. Steve Nissen, a cardiologist and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “I mean it is trivial in comparison to the risk for people over 85 of dying from Covid.”

At least five other recent studies—many launched to try to tease out this link, have not found any additional risk of stroke after vaccination for Covid-19, influenza or both.

“Available data do not provide clear and consistent evidence of a safety problem for ischemic stroke with bivalent mRNA Covid-19 vaccines when given alone or given simultaneously with influenza vaccines,” said Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, director of the Immunization Safety Office at the CDC in a public presentation of the data on Wednesday to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Researchers say they are continuing to probe the possible link, but in the meantime, they say everyone should still get vaccinated since any tiny increase in risk of a stroke after vaccination is dwarfed by the increased risk of stroke or other serious outcomes following either a flu or Covid-19 infection.

“The risk of serious disease associated with both influenza and Covid for the population at highest risk, which is of course, older persons, is so much greater than the potential increased risk associated with a vaccine,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.

“That’s a hard equation for the average person to do,” Schaffner said.

Spread out your shots?

Schaffner said people who are worried could consider getting each shot at different times rather than together.

“That’s a reasonable thing to do,” he said.

Schaffner, who is in his mid-80s, said he got both his Covid and flu vaccines at the same time, in the same arm, and had very little reaction afterwards.

A few weeks ago, however, Dr. Peter Marks, head of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said he was planning to get his Covid-19 vaccine first, followed by his influenza vaccine about two weeks later.

“If you want to minimize the chance of interactions and minimize confusing the side effects from one with another, you wait about two weeks between the vaccines,” Marks said on an FDA stakeholder call in September.

Other experts said they hoped the information wouldn’t confuse people or deter them from getting their vaccines, since the benefits of getting them still greatly outweigh the risks.

“The bottom line is that these are small signals. We’re not entirely sure whether they are valid, and they certainly do not lead themselves to any change in the recommendations for people getting either Covid or influenza vaccines at the present time,” Schaffner said.

For the study, FDA investigators looked at the medical claims of more than 5.3 million adults ages 65 and older who were enrolled in Medicare and received a bivalent Covid-19 vaccine made by Pfizer or Moderna. They saw no increased risk of stroke in the overall group after Covid-19 vaccination.

When they looked at adults ages 85 and older, they found an elevated risk of strokes caused by blood clots in those who’d had Pfizer vaccines, but not in those who got Moderna shots.

Seniors ages 65 and older who got a bivalent vaccine and high-dose or adjuvanted flu shot at the same time also had an increased risk of blood clots in their brains.

The study is observational, meaning it can only show associations, it can’t prove cause and effect. It was also posted as a preprint ahead of peer review by outside experts and publication in a medical journal.

Study sees link to seizures in young kids

A separate FDA investigation of more than 4 million records from three large commercial insurance databases, found a very small and tenuous link between seizures in children between the ages of 2 and 5 and Covid-19 vaccination. Children this age appeared to be slightly more likely to have seizures after Covid-19 vaccination compared to background seizure rates in the general population in 2020—a year when infectious diseases were lower in kids because of masks and social distancing.

The signal disappeared, however, when researchers compared it to background rates of seizures reported in US children in 2022, a year when infections in kids rebounded.

That study was also posted as a preprint.

The study authors said their findings should be interpreted with caution, since most were associated with fevers, which are common in kids. Vaccination can also cause kids to run fevers.

They said they hoped their findings would be investigated in a more robust epidemiological study.

About 4% of children experience seizures triggered by fevers, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Dr. Phillip Yang, a cardiologist at Stanford Health Care, said the findings didn’t look particularly concerning.

“It’s not unusual after Covid vaccine that we have little bit of a fever that could trigger a seizure, and kids who are more susceptible to it. So again, it’s not a surprising finding,” Yang said.

Flu shots may protect against the risk of Alzheimer’s, related dementias

The Washington Post

Flu shots may protect against the risk of Alzheimer’s, related dementias

Marlene Cimons, Special to The Washington Post – October 25, 2023

There are many good reasons to get a flu shot this fall, but here’s one that might surprise you: It could protect your brain.

Recent research suggests that regular vaccinations against influenza and other infectious diseases such as shingles, pneumococcal pneumonia, and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

“Vaccines are the great public health success story of our generation,” said Paul E. Schulz, professor of neurology and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, who led several of the studies. “They keep you safe from any number of infections, many of which can be life-threatening. And now it appears there is another tremendous benefit, this one against a disease that is among the most feared.”

What the research says

A number of studies have found that people receiving vaccinations for flu and several other infectious diseases appear less likely than the unvaccinated to develop dementia, although scientists aren’t sure why. Some believe that infectious agents play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and that vaccinations help by preventing or reducing the likelihood of getting these infections.

Alternatively, Schulz speculates that vaccines may curb an immune system reaction to amyloid plaque, a naturally occurring protein found in abnormally high levels in Alzheimer’s. The immune system sees plaque as a foreign invader and attacks it, causing chronic brain inflammation and the death of nearby neurons, which contribute to dementia, he said.

In quelling the immune response to amyloid, vaccines may save brain cells that the body’s immune system might otherwise kill, he said. It’s also possible that vaccines strengthen the immune system’s ability to get rid of plaque. “Fewer plaques lead to less inflammation and less brain cell loss,” Schulz said, adding: “We aren’t sure yet exactly what the mechanism is, but something is going on with the brain and the immune system that seems to make a big difference.”

Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said the studies “suggest long-term benefits from immunizations with vaccines that may go beyond the intended direct benefits.”

It is unclear why vaccinations may slow or prevent dementia, Hotez said. “In some cases, they may prevent viruses from causing direct neurological involvement, especially for neurotropic viruses, or indirectly through brain inflammation that can result from pathogens,” he said. “In other cases, they may stimulate innate immune mechanisms that may be protective against the sequence of events leading to dementia.”

Schulz led a recent study that found a statistically significant difference in the incidence of Alzheimer’s after following two groups – one vaccinated against flu, the other unvaccinated – for up to eight years.

In the flu study, the researchers took participants from a national patient database, two groups of 935,887 each, one group vaccinated, the other not. To avoid the potential influence of various factors that could affect the results, the scientists ensured that each group shared many of the same characteristics, such as age, gender, how frequently they went to the doctor, and certain medical conditions, such as high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.

Schulz and his colleagues found that an annual flu vaccination for three consecutive years reduced the dementia risk 20 percent over the next four to eight years, while six shots doubled it to a 40-percent reduction.

There were 47,889 cases of dementia in the vaccinated group, compared with 79,630 in the unvaccinated participants – a difference of more than 30,000 cases, Schulz said.

Mass shootimg hits multiple locations in Lewiston, Maine

ABC News

Mass shooting hits multiple locations in Lewiston, Maine

Jolie Lash and Riley Hoffman – October 25, 2023

At least 20 people are believed to be dead and dozens more have been injured after a bowling alley came under fire in Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday evening, law enforcement sources confirmed to ABC News.

There are also reports of shots fired at additional locations, including a local bar, according to law enforcement sources briefed on the situation.

PHOTO: Law enforcement vehicles are shown at a scene of a shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 25, 2023. (Nichoel Wyman Arel)

A nurse at Maine Medical Center told ABC News the shooting unfolded at a bowling alley during its youth night.

“Maine Medical is on lockdown right now awaiting Lewiston patients,” the nurse said. “They just called for [emergency department] nurses and critical care nurses to come in, set up three stretchers to each single critical care bay. They just got their first two patients — both gunshot wounds to their thighs.”

A suspect is not yet in custody and an active manhunt is underway. Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office shared a photo of the alleged gunman on Facebook Wednesday evening, asking for identification help via messenger or email.

PHOTO: PHOTO In this image posted to the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office, a suspect in an active shooter event is shown in Oct. 25, 2023. (Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office) — PHOTO In this image posted to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, a suspect in an active shooter event is shown in Oct. 25, 2023. (Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office)

The White House said Wednesday evening, “The President has been briefed on what’s known so far about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine and will continue to receive updates.”

Governor Janet Mills posted on X that she was aware of the situation and urging “all people in the area to follow the direction of State and local enforcement. I will continue to monitor the situation and remain in close contact with public safety officials.”

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.