AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

Doping hearing to decide Russian skater’s Olympic fate

BEIJING (AP) — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s right to compete in the women’s event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The International Testing Agency said Friday it will lead an appeal on behalf of the IOC against a decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to lift a provisional ban — which Russian officials had imposed Tuesday — on the 15-year-old Valieva for failing a doping test in December.

Valieva is the heavy favorite in her event which begins Tuesday after setting world record scores this season and landing the first quad jump by a women at an Olympics.

The ITA confirmed reports that Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in St. Petersburg six weeks ago

The positive test was flagged by a laboratory in Sweden only on Tuesday — the day after Valieva helped the Russians win the team event and just hours before the medal ceremony, which was then postponed. Whether the Russians will lose their gold medal in the team event will be decided later.

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Records obtained by Jan. 6 panel don’t list Trump’s calls

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House call logs obtained so far by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol do not list calls made by then-President Donald Trump as he watched the violence unfold on television, nor do they list calls made directly to the president, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The lack of information about Trump’s personal calls presents a new challenge to investigators as they work to create the most comprehensive record yet of the attack, with a particular focus on what the former president was doing in the White House as hundreds of his supporters violently beat police, broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. The people were granted anonymity to discuss records that have not yet been released by the committee.

There are several possible explanations for omissions in the records, which do not reflect conversations that Trump had on Jan. 6 with multiple Republican lawmakers, for example. Trump was known to use a personal cell phone, or he could have had a phone passed to him by an aide. The committee is also continuing to receive records from the National Archives and other sources, which could produce additional information.

The gaps in the records of Trump’s calls on Jan. 6, first reported by The New York Times and CNN, come as a separate House committee said Thursday that it is investigating whether former Trump violated the Presidential Records Act after boxes of presidential records were discovered at his Florida estate.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement Thursday that she was “deeply concerned that these records were not provided to the National Archives and Records Administration promptly at the end of the Trump administration and they appear to have been removed from the White House.”

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Hirano wins Olympic halfpipe gold; White 4th in last Games

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — In Shaun White’s farewell performance on Friday, Ayumu Hirano of Japan won an elusive Olympic gold in the halfpipe with a boundary-pushing final run.

There was no doubt about the winner after Hirano’s electric performance as the last rider to go. His run included an intricate and unprecedented series of flips and spins that pushed a sport obsessed with progression to new heights. His score of 96 reflected that and the two-time Olympic silver medalist moved past Scotty James of Australia, who scored 92.50. Jan Scherrer of Switzerland took bronze.

White finished in fourth place as he fell on the final run of a career that’s seen the American star win three Olympic titles. He lifted up his goggles and waved to the crowd on his way down the halfpipe. He teared up as the sparse crowd bid adieu to the 35-year-old and fellow riders lined up to hug him.

“I wanted it,” White said. “My legs were giving out on me every hit.”

The stage was being set for some controversy after the second run. James took over the lead with his second attempt. Hirano followed with an impressive run that included the difficult-to-do triple cork but wasn’t rewarded by the judges. The crowd booed and social media was buzzing.

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Shiffrin finishes super-G in 3rd Olympic race; won’t medal

BEIJING (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin completed the super-G at the Beijing Olympics on Friday in a time way out of medal contention — but for the first time in three races at the 2022 Games, she made it to the finish.

The two-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist crossed the line at the bottom of a course known as The Rock in an unofficial time of 1 minute, 14.30 seconds. That left the 26-year-old American more than a half-second behind early leader Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland.

It also put Shiffrin in eighth place after only 11 of the 44 entrants had taken their turns down the slope.

Shiffrin never had entered a super-G at an Olympics before, although she did win a gold in the event at the 2019 world championship and a bronze at last year’s worlds.

She failed to finish her opening run in the two-run events that preceded the super-G in Beijing: the giant slalom and the slalom, both of which she won at past Olympics.

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Most vulnerable still in jeopardy as COVID precautions ease

Two years into the pandemic Jackie Hansen still left home only for doctor visits, her immune system so wrecked by cancer and lupus that COVID-19 vaccinations couldn’t take hold.

Then Hansen got a reprieve — scarce doses of the first drug that promises six months of protection for people with no other way to fend off the virus.

“This is a shot of life,” Hansen said after getting injections of Evusheld at a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center clinic. She can’t wait to “hug my grandkids without fear.”

Up to 7 million immune-compromised Americans have been left behind in the nation’s wobbly efforts to get back to normal. A weak immune system simply can’t rev up to fight the virus after vaccination like a healthy one does. Not only do these fragile patients remain at high risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19, they can harbor lengthy infections that can help spark still more variants.

With more of the country now abandoning masks and other precautions as the omicron wave ebbs, how to keep this forgotten group protected is taking on new urgency.

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Abortions in Texas fell 60% in 1st month under new limits

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Abortions in Texas fell by 60% in the first month under the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S. in decades, according to new figures that for the first time reveal a full accounting of the immediate impact.

The nearly 2,200 abortions reported by Texas providers in September came after a new law took effect that bans the procedure once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and without exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The figures were released this month by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

In August, there had been more than 5,400 abortions statewide. State health officials said more data will be released on a monthly basis.

The numbers offer a fuller picture of the sharp drop in patients that Texas doctors have described in their clinics over the past five months, during which time courts have repeatedly allowed the restrictions to stay in place. It has left some Texas patients traveling hundreds of miles to clinics in neighboring states or farther, causing a backlog of appointments in those places.

Planned Parenthood issued a statement calling the numbers “the very beginning of the devastating impact” of the law.

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Black members of Biden’s Cabinet mark Black History Month

WASHINGTON (AP) — The six Black members of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet on Thursday celebrated Black History Month by discussing their roles, some of which are historic firsts.

Actor Taraji P. Henson and athletes Sloane Stephens and Nneka Ogwumike also took part in a separate discussion on the importance of mental health and wellness among Blacks.

Cedric Richmond, a former congressman who also is Black and is a top adviser to the president, moderated a conversation about Black leadership with the Cabinet members who advise Biden on everything from the military to foreign affairs to the economy.

Michael Regan, the first Black man to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said during the livestreamed event that Black leadership is “extremely important.”

“Diverse leadership is extremely important because this is a democracy and, in order for a democracy to work, its leadership should reflect the people that it represents,” he said.

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EXPLAINER: Why US inflation is so high, and when it may ease

WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year, it was a nasty surprise. And it wasn’t supposed to last. But now, inflation has become an ongoing financial strain for millions of Americans filling up at the gas station, lined up at a grocery checkout lane, shopping for clothes, bargaining for a car or paying monthly rent.

For the 12 months ending in January, inflation amounted to 7.5% — the fastest year-over-year pace since 1982 — the Labor Department said Thursday. Even if you toss out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation jumped 6% over the past year. That was also the sharpest such jump in four decades.

Consumers felt the price squeeze in everyday routines. Over the past year, prices rose 41% for used cars and trucks, 40% for gasoline, 18% for bacon, 14% for bedroom furniture, 11% for women’s dresses.

The Federal Reserve didn’t anticipate an inflation wave this severe or this persistent. In December 2020, the Fed’s policymakers had forecast that consumer inflation would stay below their 2% annual target and end 2021 at around 1.8%.

But after having been an economic afterthought for decades, high inflation reasserted itself last year with brutal speed. In February 2021, the government’s consumer price index was running just 1.7% ahead of its level a year earlier. From there, the year-over-year price increases accelerated steadily — 2.7% in March, 4.2% in April, 4.9% in May, 5.3% in June.

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Biden doing ‘deep dive’ on ‘about 4’ high court candidates

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden appears to be narrowing his list of candidates for the Supreme Court, saying he’s looking at “about four people” as Democrats who met with him Thursday say he wants a “persuasive” nominee in the mold of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.

In an interview Thursday, Biden told Lester Holt of “NBC Nightly News” the White House is doing a “deep dive” on the candidates to see if there’s anything in their background that would disqualify them. Biden has said his nominee will be a Black woman and he will decide by the end of February.

The comments came just before a meeting with 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in which he told the senators, many of them his former colleagues, that he wants to nominate a woman in the mold of Breyer who will not only be able to persuade her colleagues but will write “stirring, compelling, lasting arguments,” according to Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, one of the committee members who attended the meeting.

The senators said Biden would meet soon with candidates. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the meeting was half “friendly and light” and half serious as the president prepares to make history by nominating the first Black woman for the court.

The weekslong vetting process, and a gradual narrowing of candidates, is routine for Supreme Court nominations. In his NBC interview, Biden did not mention the names of any of the candidates but said he believes his eventual pick will get Republican votes.

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The Latest: Packers QB Aaron Rodgers wins 4th MVP award

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on NFL awards:

Give Aaron Rodgers a fourth AP Most Valuable Player Award.

The Green Bay quarterback who led the Packers to the best record in the NFL during the 2021 season, became the second player with at least four NFL MVPs; Peyton Manning won it five times.

Following offseason turmoil surrounding whether Rodgers wanted to play in Green Bay, then one of his worst career performances in an opening loss to New Orleans, Rodgers got rolling. So much so that he took his second straight award, receiving 39 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league.

Tampa Bay QB Tom Brady was second with 10 votes in balloting revealed at NFL Honors. Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, this season’s Offensive Player of the Year, received the other vote.