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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The search for a coronavirus vaccine yielded some promising results on Monday, as the vaccine developed by Oxford University researchers successfully and safely provoked an immune response in several studies.

Meanwhile, two women file a dire lawsuit against Fox News, accusing recently fired host Ed Henry of rape, and accusing both Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson of sexual harassment.

And lastly, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez introduces legislation to force federal cops to identify themselves, as a response to Portland’s semi-anonymous arrest squads.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

We are still a long way from a usable coronavirus vaccine, but researchers at Oxford University took a pretty significant step on Monday.

They claim that they’ve got a safe vaccine that can produce an immune response, based on the results of several studies. An immune response is the thing people are looking for that could mean that a vaccine can actually prevent people from being infected.

They’ve got to do a lot more testing to nail it down though -- the scientists noted that they need far wider studies to confirm the early findings and figure out if the vaccine can actually stop new infections. In the limited study, the vaccine produced an antibody response within 28 days and a T-cell response within 14 days. Most patients looked like they could fight off the virus after one dose, but researchers are recommending a two-shot treatment just in case.

The drug company AstraZeneca, who’s making this vaccine, says it can produce up to 2 billion doses. Multiple countries have already signed on to take whatever they can make if it works.

In the U.S., new outbreaks have gotten so bad that Congress is mulling another stimulus package and Trump has finally embraced wearing a mask.

The Oxford vaccine isn’t the only remedy under development, which is good because at this point we’ll need everything we can get.

Fox Anchors Face Sexual Assault Allegations

A new lawsuit levels some incredibly serious allegations against Fox News’ biggest personalities.

In a new civil suit filed in New York on Monday, Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer at Fox Business, accused recently-fired anchor Ed Henry of rape and a litany of other sexual crimes.

Meanwhile, her co-plaintiff, Cathy Areu, a regular guest on the network, filed a sexual harassment claim against Henry, as well as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Howard Kurtz.

Fox has clearly been trying to do damage control on this for weeks. The network conducted an independent investigation of Henry and fired him. And today, Salon reported that the network knew of the allegations against Carlson four days before his allegedly “pre-planned” vacation that also coincided with one of his staff members being outed as a white supremacist.

Eckhart’s allegations against Henry are shocking and graphic, detailing a horrific period of abuse and coercion. The lawsuit claims that the network knew about many of these offenses as far back as 2017, but continued to promote Henry.

Areu claims she was humiliated publicly by Hannity in front of his crew, propositioned by Carlson, and frozen out of a career at the network when she refused to sleep with anchors and executives. It’s pretty clear that the moral rot at Fox goes far beyond it’s on-air content, and didn’t stop with Roger Ailes.

AOC Cracks Down on Anonymous Feds

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Washington, D.C., Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton plan to introduce legislation this week to force federal law enforcement agents to clearly identify themselves.

The Nation got their hands on a draft of the bill, which is a direct response to the aggressive, dystopian strategy by federal officers in Portland, Oregon over the past few days. Federal agents have been involved in escalating violence against Portland’s protesters for weeks, but things came to a head last week when Customs and Border Patrol agents started throwing protesters in unmarked rental cars and detaining them with no clear reasoning.

AOC’s bill would require on-duty federal agents to display their last name, the name of their agency, and their personal identification number. All things that should be no-brainers, but somehow aren’t yet.

The bill can’t pass soon enough, because it looks like the Trump administration’s designated federal force won’t stop at Portland. On Monday, the Chicago Tribune reported that more agents are poised to deploy to Chicago, and Trump himself said he may send forces to Detroit, New

York, Philadelphia and other major cities controlled by Democrats. This is all an intimidation tactic, but as yet, it’s unclear if the leaders of these cities can do anything to stop it. Portland officials reportedly asked the DHS to please get off their streets, and acting secretary Chad Wolf flatly refused. Who knows if any other city’s leadership will put up more of a fight?

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The St. Louis couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside of their mega-mansion have been charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony, according to the area’s circuit attorney.

Florida’s largest teachers union is suing Governor Ron De Santis and members of his administration to overturn a sweeping emergency order that would require the state’s schools to open up for in-person classes five days a week in the fall.

Keep an eye on big oil over the next few days: Chevron is buying Noble Energy for $5 billion, which experts think may be the first domino in a wave of industry consolidation as the pandemic takes a heavy toll on big companies.

A new AP report suggests that John Kasich, the Republican former governor of Ohio, is expected to speak in support of Joe Biden at the DNC, which probably says all you need to know about the constituency Biden is trying to build.

That’s all for the AM Quickie today. Before we go, we’d like to talk about the rest of the Majority Report this afternoon. Yesterday we lost Michael Brooks to a sudden medical condition. All of us are devastated, and we’re going to spend the show this afternoon talking about what he meant to us, and about his constant desire to show people that the world could be a better place. We’ll see you then.

July 21, 2020 - AM Quickie

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn