Las Notis is a daily news column that gets you up to speed on the political, media + other goings-on in the United States, Latin America, and the diaspora—all in one quick digest.
Here’s your glimpse at what’s going on today:
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- Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. has officially begun its rollout, giving priority to high-risk care workers. [NYT]
- Immigrant rights groups, such as the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, Movimiento Cosecha and United We Dream, are urging the Biden administration to do more to counter Donald Trump’s damaging immigration policies and go beyond Obama in terms of prioritizing the undocumented. Biden has said as president, he will pause deportations for 100 days, restore DACA, and eliminate restrictions on asylum-seekers.[NPR]
- With the virus leaving severe entry restrictions for Americans who want to go to other countries, more than half a million flocked to Mexico in October, sparking debate about how they might be affecting the spread of COVID-19 in tourist areas. The influx of tourists may help the country’s economy, but officials have also had to grapple with a growing death toll, which just last week surpassed 113,000. [LA Times]
- Brazil’s government, which has faced criticism for its handling of the pandemic, continues to stoke anger as leaders struggle with effective ways to roll out a vaccine. The country has suffered the second-largest number of deaths because of COVID-19, but political infighting, messy planning and a growing anti-vaccine movement are causing questions about how safely it will get vaccines to citizens.[NYT]
- After two hurricanes and an economy battered by the pandemic, Hondurans have tried to form a migrant caravan bound for the U.S. However, they’ve been confronted by Honduran authorities, who have demanded to see travel documents and COVID tests, none of which many of the hundreds of people starting the caravan have.[Aljazeera]
- Telemundo news anchor Edgardo del Villar, known for his work on the Spanish-language WNJU station serving the New York and New Jersey area, died this week after a public battle with brain cancer. He co-anchored the evening newscasts of “Noticiero 47 Telemundo” for about three years until August when he left for health reasons. [NBC Latino]
- Colombian star Juanes will fund The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Prodigy Scholarship, which fully covers one student’s bachelor’s degree in music at Berklee School of Music starting in the Fall 2021. “It took me back to when I was just getting out of high school and I was obsessed with music but I didn’t have the money to study music,” Juanes said. [Billboard]