There is a possibility we’ll see a federal gas tax holiday this summer.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday that House Democrats intend to pass legislation addressing high gas prices in the coming weeks.

“it's a day-to-day or week-to-week, certainly a month-to-month expense. and it's going to require a comprehensive response. That comprehensive response is in the works. And the sooner we can get it done, the better, hopefully over the next few weeks,” Jeffries said.

When asked about a possible gas tax holiday, Jeffries said, “It’s part of the discussion, and the discussion is ongoing.”

However, last month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said a gas tax suspension was not plausible, as there is no way to ensure gas companies will pass the savings on to customers.

Democrats will likely try to address gas prices in other forms,

Jeffries suggested Wednesday that it is possible there will be a vote on gas price legislation by the end of May before Congress takes a recess for Memorial Day. But they’ll need cooperation from Senate Republicans for that to happen.

Moderna on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of tots by summer.

Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s littlest kids as all around them people shed masks and other public health precautions -- even though highly contagious coronavirus mutants continue to spread.

Moderna submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration that it hopes will prove two low-dose shots can protect babies, toddlers and preschoolers -- albeit not as effectively during the omicron surge as earlier in the pandemic.

“There is an important unmet medical need here with these youngest kids,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna's chief medical officer, told The Associated Press. Two kid-size shots “will safely protect them. I think it is likely that over time they will need additional doses. But we're working on that.”

Now, only children ages 5 or older can be vaccinated in the U.S., using rival Pfizer’s vaccine, leaving 18 million younger tots unprotected.

Moderna's vaccine isn't the only one in the race. Pfizer is soon expected to announce if three of its even smaller-dose shots work for the littlest kids, months after the disappointing discovery that two doses weren’t quite strong enough.

Whether it’s one company’s shots or both, FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said the agency will “move quickly without sacrificing our standards” in deciding if tot-sized doses are safe and effective.

While questions are swirling about what's taking so long, Marks pointedly told lawmakers this week that the FDA can't evaluate a product until a manufacturer completes its application. FDA will publicly debate the evidence with its scientific advisers before making a decision, and Marks said multiple meetings would be set to cover several expected applications.

“It’s critically important that we have the proper evaluation so that parents will have trust in any vaccines that we authorize,” Marks told a Senate committee.

If FDA clears vaccinations for the littlest, next the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have to recommend who needs them -- all tots or just those at higher risk from COVID-19.

Many parents are desperate for whichever vaccine gets to the scientific finish line first.

“We’ve been kind of left behind as everybody else moves on,” said Meagan Dunphy-Daly, a Duke University marine biologist whose 6-year-old daughter is vaccinated -- but whose 3-year-old and 18-month-old sons are part of Pfizer’s trial.

The family continues to mask and take other precautions until it’s clear if the boys got real vaccine or dummy shots. If it turns out they weren't protected in the Pfizer study and Moderna's shots are cleared first, Dunphy-Daly said she'd seek them for her sons.

“I will feel such a sense of relief when I know my boys are vaccinated and that the risk of them getting a serious infection is so low,” she said.

Some parents even have urged the government to let families choose shots before all the evidence is in.

“This strain of COVID feels almost impossible to dodge," Dana Walker, a mother of an 8-month-old, tearfully told a CDC meeting last week. “Cut red tape and allow parents to protect their kids.”

The FDA will face some complex questions.

In a study of kids ages 6 months through 5 years, two Moderna shots — each a quarter of the regular dose — triggered high levels of virus-fighting antibodies, the same amount proven to protect young adults, Burton said. There were no serious side effects, and the shots triggered fewer fevers than other routine vaccinations.

But the vaccine proved between about 40% and 50% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 during the trial. Burton blamed the omicron variant's ability to partially evade vaccine immunity, noting that unboosted adults showed similarly less effectiveness against milder omicron infections. While no children became severely ill during the study, he said high antibody levels are a proxy for protection against more serious illness — and the company will test a child booster dose.

Another issue: So far in the U.S., Moderna's vaccine is restricted to adults. Other countries have expanded the shot to kids as young as 6. But months ago the FDA cited concern about a rare side effect, heart inflammation, in teen boys, and it hasn't ruled on Moderna's earlier pediatric applications.

Burton said the FDA may consider its vaccine for children of all ages — but also might open it first to the youngest kids who have no other option. He said safety data from millions of older children given Moderna vaccinations abroad should help reassure parents.

While COVID-19 generally isn’t as dangerous in youngsters as adults, some do become severely ill or even die. About 475 children younger than 5 have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic’s start, according to the CDC, and child hospitalizations soared at omicron's peak.

Yet it’s not clear how many parents intend to vaccinate the youngest kids. Less than a third of children ages 5 to 11 have had two vaccinations, and 58% of those ages 12 to 17.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

      

      

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A proposed law would completely criminalize abortion without exemptions for rape and incest. The bill states it would make an exemption for saving the life of the pregnant person, but that was debated at the Statehouse on Wednesday.

The Human Life Protection Act, House Bill 598, is a trigger ban. If this bill passes the Legislature and Gov. Mike DeWine signs it, it would only come into effect if the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) "wholly or partially upholds a state’s authority to prohibit abortion." For this, the bill would require either an issuance of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion or an adoption of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Roe v. Wade was the 1973 landmark decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that the constitution protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion. The Supreme Court is set to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — which is Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban.

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade by upholding Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, then HB 598 would immediately begin.

The bill's sponsor Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican from Loveland, gave her sponsor testimony and answered questions for an hour.

The bill

• Prohibits a person from purposely causing an abortion by using a "substance" or an "instrument" or other means.
• Makes criminal abortion a felony in the fourth degree.
• Prohibits any person from making, selling or advertising tools to cause an abortion.
• Makes "promoting" abortion a first-degree misdemeanor.
• Creates the crime of abortion manslaughter, which is when a person takes the life of a child born from an attempted abortion who is alive when removed from the pregnant person's uterus.
• Makes abortion manslaughter a felony of the first degree.

The penalties

• Minimum of four to seven years and a maximum of 25 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000 for abortion manslaughter.
• Minimum of one-half to two years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $2,500 for criminal abortion.

However, the bill does grant immunity from prosecution for abortion manslaughter, criminal abortion or promoting abortion to the person who attempted an abortion or succeeded in an abortion. This individual would also be able to sue for wrongful death for violation of crimes of abortion manslaughter, criminal abortion or promoting abortion.

The bill also allows for an affirmative defense to a criminal abortion charge, but only if the physician performed or induced the abortion, or attempted to do so, under the determination that it was necessary to prevent the individual’s death or a serious risk to the pregnant individual.

This would be an "exemption," according to Schmidt. In the case of a medical emergency for the pregnant person, two doctors not professionally related must sign off on the abortion. Unless it is determined the mother is at risk of death or injury, they must take every precaution to save "both the child and the mother." If the premature child is alive, the doctors must provide care for it.

"The goal is to save both lives and treat both patients," Schmidt said in her testimony.

Democrats were ready to ask questions, with most of them coming from Reps. Richard Brown (D-Canal Winchester), Dr. Beth Liston (D-Dublin) and Tavia Galonski (D-Akron). However, Majority Floor Leader Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) jumped in.

The intense back and forth between Brown and Schmidt revolved around the lack of exemptions for rape and incest.

"So under this bill, if a 13-year-old girl, let's say, was raped by a serial rapist, broke into her house, or maybe more likely raped by a family member, which occurs frequently — unfortunately, this bill would require this 13-year-old to carry this felons fetus to term, regardless of any emotional or psychological damage or trauma that may be inflicted upon this 13-year-old girl to deliver this, felons a fetus. Is that right?" he asked.

Schmidt responded and said that rape is a difficult issue.

"It's a shame that it happens, but there's an opportunity for that woman, no matter how young or old she is," she said.

The opportunity — which would be the only option — is to deliver that baby.

"She can choose to raise the child, she can choose to give that child to a loving family member or to give it to someone else — and that child can grow up and be something magnificent, a wonderful family person, cure cancer," she said. "Just because you have emotional scars doesn't give you the right, right to take the life."

Brown followed up.

"You earlier said every life is important — the life of a 13-year-old girl in my hypothetical is important," he added.

He then brings up the pregnant juvenile going to middle school, saying that kids are "mean, they're evil and they're going to say all kinds of bad things to their classmate about her condition."

"I think this girl has rights every bit as much as the zygote that has rights under your bill," he said. "This girl has rights, and I don't believe we can lose sight of the rights of the person who was raped."

Supporters of the bill, like Ohio Right to Life, say just because someone commits a crime, doesn't mean we should have the right to “purposely” end a life.

"They can live a dignified life that shows them that they can overcome certain circumstances," said Elizabeth Whitmarsh, a spokesperson for the organization. "That might seem impossible in the moment, but they're able to get through it."

Pro-Choice Ohio, who was also at the hearing, said everyone should be entitled to make their own health care decisions without government mandates.

"It doesn't matter what that person's reason is for having an abortion, they need to have access to abortion in their community without stigma, judgment or delay," said Jaime Miracle, deputy director for the group. "They need the abortion that they have decided is best for them and their family."

Another argument that was brought up by legislators on each side was how the bill was too open for interpretation.

Liston, a physician, lead the questioning on the medical concerns. She started by bringing up the language in the bill surrounding the "exemption" for an individual whose health is in danger.

"How I read this is that a physician could defend themselves against a murder charge with what's called an affirmative defense, in the case of it being life-threatening if they follow provisions A, B, C, D, E and F, which includes a lot of different things, made a lot of documentation, a lot of provisions on what's available at a facility," the doctor said. "Physicians cannot terminate a pregnancy — period. They can defend themselves from it, from a charge in the setting of life-threatening complications if they follow these specific steps is."

Schmidt didn't answer the question, but rather reiterated the language in the bill.

Liston continued on to give examples of different circumstances in pregnancy that will result in the death of a pregnant person, such as partial or incomplete molar pregnancies, severe preeclampsia and ectopic pregnancies.

"The longer one waits before terminating the pregnancy, the more risk there is to a woman," she said. "There's no good outcome here — there's no live birth."

Liston then brings up how there are no non-ICUs in the world that can resuscitate before 22 weeks. For extreme preemies, there are only three in Ohio — Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

That, mixed with needing to get two different doctors that aren't affiliated with each other, can make this incredibly difficult to actually get an abortion, Liston said.

"The three hospitals that you mentioned are level one trauma centers," Schmidt said. "When you are a traumatic patient, it is the obligation of the rescue unit to take you to the most appropriate place and those would be, in certain cases, level one centers."

Liston said they don't want it to get to the level of an emergency life flight.

"That is a really difficult gray line that's being created with the threat of jail to doctors that are working with their patients," she said.

She then raises a hypothetical about breast cancer patients and how she wouldn't be able to get treatment because the interacting drugs could be seen as "abortion" drugs.

"Representative Liston, I'm not a doctor," Schmidt said. "But I have read stories of women that have had breast cancer, gone through the treatment and have had normal children. So I can't answer that."

The other main line of questioning was bipartisan confusion on what the trigger for the bill actually was.

Brown and Seitz went back and forth, agreeing on the same question to ask for clarification. Brown had asked a question about what happens when SCOTUS doesn't totally overturn Roe v. Wade, but still makes an assertion on it.

"Ranking member Brown and I don't often agree on very much, but I want to go back to his question," Seitz said. "So, if the Supreme Court says only that the 15-week ban imposed by Mississippi is constitutional and Mississippi can ban abortions after 15 weeks — I think Representative Brown's question, and I kind of agree with him if this is what it means, I would say that your bill would kick in to ban all abortions, even those at less than 15 weeks."

He continued that Ohio has already banned abortion after a heartbeat can be detected at six weeks. He then asked if Schmidt was following his logic, and she said: "in part."

"If the Supreme Court, in part, returns to the states the question of whether to ban abortion after 15 weeks, then your bill should be clarified to say the trigger has not been met," he said. "Would you agree with that?"

"I would be amenable to that kind of an amendment if that clarification is needed," she said.

DeWine's spokesperson said the governor agreed to sign this bill, or a bill similar to this, in a campaign survey to Ohio Right to Life. His team reiterated he is pro-life but has already signed the six-week abortion ban, so he would rather legislators stop putting this type of legislation out until the SCOTUS decision is finalized.

Follow statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

NEW ALBANY, Ind. —

A former Indiana state trooper cleared of killing his wife and their two children at a third trial after spending 13 years in prison will receive $4.6 million from the state to settle a federal lawsuit, his attorneys said Wednesday.

David Camm's settlement was reached in January, entered into court in February and confirmed Wednesday by his attorneys.

“There is not enough money in the world to compensate David Camm for what he has been through,” one of the attorneys, Garry Adams, said in a statement.

Camm, 58, was convicted by two different juries in the shooting deaths of his wife, Kim, 35, and his children, Brad, 7, and Jill, 5, on Sept. 28, 2000, in the garage at their Georgetown, Indiana, home in Floyd County. Both times he won appeals that sent his case back for retrial. The jury at his third trial in 2013 acquitted him.

Camm has always maintained he was playing basketball at a church during the slayings. At least 11 witnesses corroborate his story, but prosecutors said Camm raced home, committed the crimes and returned.

The federal lawsuit alleged several investigators falsified evidence and relied on the opinion of unqualified experts. It named as defendants the lead Indiana State Police investigator in the case and two blood stain pattern analysis expert witnesses.

According to the lawsuit, a state police photographer who had never been to a fresh blood scene determined that the splatter on Camm’s shirt meant he was present when the shots were fired.

As part of the federal settlement, Camm agreed not to bring any further legal action against the defendants, the state, the Indiana State Police, and the estate of Stan Faith, the original prosecutor.

Camm was awarded $450,000 in a settlement with Floyd County in 2016. He also has received an undisclosed amount from insurance carriers for expert witnesses who testified against him, Adams said.

Another man - Charles Boney - was arrested in 2005 and convicted of murder and conspiracy after DNA evidence linked him to the crime scene. Prosecutors maintained that Boney helped with the killings, but that Camm actually pulled the trigger.

Before his arrest in the slayings, Boney had a lengthy criminal record, including attacks on women, and had been represented by Faith in previous cases.

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office, which represented the state, did not respond to a request for comment.

Camm left the Indiana State Police about four months before the slayings.

      

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma House has given final approval to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.

The bill passed Thursday by the GOP-led House now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days.

The bill prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in the fetus.

Experts say that’s typically about six weeks into a pregnancy, which is before many women know they are pregnant.

Like Texas, the bill allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000.

Stitt has said that he wants to "outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.” Earlier this month, he signed a bill that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Oklahoma's battle against abortion is likely to face legal challenges.

BOONVILLE, Ind. —

A southern Indiana couple faces murder charges after they allegedly failed to regularly feed their infant son and the newborn starved to death.

Caylin Monroe, 23, and Jakob Scott, 22, were denied bond Tuesday during their initial hearings on charges of murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death. They are being held at the Warrick County Jail.

Their two-month-old son, Silas Scott, died in February and a final autopsy report by the county coroner found the infant died due to neglect in the form of malnourishment and starvation.

The autopsy showed the infant had nothing in his stomach at the time of his death.

A probable cause affidavit states that Monroe said her son was born healthy, but she admitted to skipping his feedings, and said she would sometimes forget about him if he was quiet.

Monroe told officers that the last time she remembered feeding the baby was after she got off work the afternoon before he died, WFIE-TV reported.

Scott told detectives that the baby did not eat if he didn’t cry, and he could not remember if his son had been fed on the day of his death.

The affidavit shows child-welfare officials had previously investigated Monroe because of an incident with another child, after which she was required to keep a feeding log.

A message seeking comment was left Thursday by The Associated Press for Monroe and Scott's public defenders.

Friends of Denny Rahtz who run the Flying Pig Marathon Sunday will have a special moment when they run through the intersection of Fourth and Scott streets in Covington.

Rahtz died at that intersection March 10 when he was struck by a vehicle during a run. Rahtz, 38, had run the Flying Pig five times and was training to run in the Boston Marathon April 18 for the first time.

The Boston Marathon is very difficult to qualify for and a bucket-list goal for any serious marathon runner. Runners need to meet a fast time standard but that doesn’t guarantee they will get an open spot.

More:Everything you need to know to get ready for the Flying Pig Marathon, Paycor Half Marathon

More:What will the weather be like for the Flying Pig this weekend? See forecasts here.

Are you ready to vote in Ohio's May 3 primary?

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Ohioans will be choosing party nominees for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and a host of other state and county offices.  Primaries for state legislative races will be held later. 

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SIDE OF THAT AND YOU DON’T THINK YOU’RE GOING TO GET OUT OF IT. ATWH AN INTERESTING THING THAT IS. LET’S BRING IN KEVIN ROBINSON. HE’S GOING TO TALK ABOUT A LITTLE RAIN COMING OUR WAY THIS WEEKEND. HOPEFULLY SOME DRY TIMES, TOO. KEN:VI FOR ALL THE TALK OF RAIN AND SEREVE WEATHER SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY MORNING, ITS I POSSIBLE WHERE IT WORKS OUT THAT THE ACTUAL EVENTS, THE BIG RACES ARNDOU TOWN, HAVE MINIMAL IMPACT FROM THE WET WEATHER. LET’S KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED. ON A WEEKEND LIKE THIS, IT IS ALL ABOUT TIMING. WE KNOW FOR SUREHE TRE WILL BE RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS, BUT AT THIS POINT, I WILL SHOW YOU WHY I THINK THINGS MAY WORK OUT IN OUR FAVOR. WE HAVE HAD MESO SHOWERS AND SPRINKLES, MORE SPRINKLES BEEN SHOWERS, AROUND THE AREA THIS EVENING. THIS INITIAL WAVE HAS BEEN FIGHTING A LOT OF DRY AIR. EVEN NOW, A LOT OF WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT REACHING THE GROUND. I WAS ARNDOU DINNERTIME, I ENCOUNTERED A BRIEF SPRINKLE. ENOUGH THAT IF YOU LOOK ON YOUR WINDSHIELD YOU COULD SEE IT. NOT MUCH. MAYBE MORE SUBSTANTIAL SPRINKLE AND SHOWER ACTIVITY ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST INDIANA, PARTS OF NORTHERN KENTUCKY. EVEN HERE IT HAS BEEN LIGHT, BUT TOWARD HER SIDE, >> FIL AND, THERE COULBED LEFTOVER --BU T TORDWA BRECKSVILLE AND V ERSAILS,LE SPRINKLES. AS THE WARM FRONT ARRIVES TOMORROW NIGHT, WE COULD HAVE AN UPTICK IN RAIN. TONIGHT, GENERALLY QUIET THE REST OF THE NIGHT, MAYBE DAYS BRENGLE HERE WERE THE.RE TEMPERATURES GET DOWN IN THE UPPER -- SPRINKLE HERE WERE THERE. TEMPERATURES GET DNOW IN -- SOME PEAKS AT THE SUN TOMORROW, ALSO CLOUDS, BUT MOSTLY DRY. LET’S LOOK INTO ETH WEEKEND, WE STARTED TELLING YOU LAST NIGHT ABOUT HOW I SAW A STORMY WEATHER PATTERN GETTING TO DEVELOP FOR ABOUT THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO. AS THINGS START TO LOOK MORE LIKE MAY, THAT IS THE CASE GOING INTOHE T NIGHT SATURYDA INTO EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. I AM WATCHING MAYBE WLDOU COULD BE OUR FIRST POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS IN THERE. WE WILL BREAK THAT DOWN IN A MOMENT, BUT HOW ABOUT THE RAIN? A 50 MILE WEST RACE TOMORROW, THERE WILL BE RAIN TOMORROW EVENING BUT AT ETH CLOCK, IT IS STILL DRY. LITTLETON NO IMPACT. THE TOYOTA 10K IS WHAT I’M WATCHING MORE CLOSELY. I DO THINK THERE IS RAIN THAT ENDS EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. THIS IS AT 7:00 A.M.. THE PAVEMENT MAY BE RIGHT -- WET BUT RAIN IS TAPERING OFF. AUBETIFUL BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON, WARM AND BREEZ AY, LITTLE HUMID, GOOD FOR THE FLYING FIRM. AND FOR SUNYDA MORNING, STORMY CLOSE TO RACE TIME AND THEN STORMS ARE OUT. CLOUDS TOMORROW, MOST OF THE DAY’S DRIVE, SIX CLOCK P.M. IT IS STILL DRY. AFTER 6:00, TRANSFER SHOWERS GO UP BUT IT LOOKS TO BE CLOSER TO MIDNIGHT BEFORE IT TURNS WET. 7:00 A.,.M RAIN WRAPPING UP SATURDAY MORNING SO THAT BY AFTERNOON, 5:30, WE ARE NICE AND DRY, WARM AND BREEZY. SATUAYRD EVENING LOOKS GOOD, OVERNIGHT SATURDAY IS A DIFFERENT STORY. WE RUN THE RISK OF STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS, IT WILL AT THE LEAST ETH NOISY BY 6:30, RIGHT CLOSE TO RACE TIME, THE WEATHER IS CLEARING OUT AND WE SET UP FOR A BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY INHE T END. HERE WE ARE TONIGHT, 56. MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES, MOST OF US ST ILL IN THE 50’S. TEMPERATURES WLIL DROP MUCH MORE OVERNIGHT, WE WILL GET DOWN TO THE MID UPPER 40’S MORNING, MAYBE A PASSING SPRINKLE. BETTER CHANCE FOR RAIN CLOSER TO MIDNIGHT, BUT THERE COULD BE A BRIEF SHOWER AS EARLY AS THE EVENING. YOUR SEVEN-DAY FORECAST SHAKING OUT LIKE THIS, MIKE AND SHEREE, THE FIT RSTHREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER SATURDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAYOR MNING, THEN WE CATCH OUR BREATH MONDAY. BUT IT LOOKS BUSY NEXT WEEK, TUESYDA COULD BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF POTENT STORMS. IT I

Warmer and stormier this weekend.

CINCINNATI —

Warmer and stormier this weekend.