a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. here s what s happening just a minute past 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific. we have more breaking news related to that hostage standoff at a synagogue in texas. the fbi has released the identity. president biden is giving some new details after talking with attorney general merrick garland. and we are also hearing from the suspect s family. let s go to msnbc s sam brock. i think it was his brother that spoke, sam? reporter: that s correct, alex. the suspect s owner brother expressing heartache and also suggesting that mental health issues may have played a role here. now, there s been a lot of developments over the course of the afternoon, alex, including, as you said, the revealing of the identity of the suspect. that came from the fbi s dallas office here just within the last couple of hours. his name is malik faisal akram, 44 years old, a british
of removing unsafe cladding in england sparing flat owners. reports the prime minister is working on a plan for how the uk will live with covid by march. also a pudding fit for a queen a new nationwide competition to mark the platinum jubilee. hello, a very good morning to you and welcome to bbc news. the tennis world number one, novak djokovic, has won his court battle to stay in australia and defend his grand slam title but ministers have threatened that they might exercise powers to cancel his visa anyway. there are reports of a significant police presence at the office of his lawyers in melbourne. earlier, a judge in melbourne ruled that he must be released immediately from immigration detention. djokovic arrived at the airport last week to defend his australian open title, which begins next monday. he was initally granted an exemption from covid vaccination rules, after recovering from the virus last month. djokovic s lawyers argued that cancellation was unreas
been canceled since wednesday meaning kids are stuck at home learning nothing. in georgia, public school teachers and staff who test positive for covid no longer have to isolate before returning to work if they are asymptomatic and wearing a mask. no contract tracing is required. why that may seem counterintuitive, official guidance from the cdc hasn t been clear. white house aides and sicientiss are frus ttrated by the directo. nadia, this latest omicron surge is reaching all corners of society and you have different parts of the country responding differently right now. that s just the way it is. you re right, jim. we re seeing issues with school districts in new york city all the way to the bay area. san francisco and oakland. here in atlanta, they were back to remote learning all last week. they re hoping to head back to the classroom on monday and that will mean mandatory testing for teachers at least twice a week and students in the atlanta public schools district can
sandra: thursday. john: chicago public schools shut down for a second straight day as teachers stay home, like groundhog day, kids are left further behind. i m john roberts. sandra, good to spend thursday with you. sandra: friday eve you usually call it. billions to keep necessary resources to keep the schools open, improved ventilation and other safety measures. that does not seem to be stopping some school leaders from shutting their doors. john: hi, gillian. gillian: public schools taken $130 billion, to keep schools open during the pandemic but a lot of schools are shuttered. chicago, $1.8 billion in federal covid funding, milwaukee 504 million, atlanta, over 200 million and detroit, almost 800 million. all these school districts currently closed to students citing the omicron surge. on president biden s first day in office he said that $130 billion he would send schools via the american rescue plan would allow them to reopen. so, not only are those recipient sc