https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/27/china-covid-restrictions-eased/



China will relax its infamously strict coronavirus restrictions for entry into the country starting Jan. 8, according to a lengthy list of new policies issued Monday by its National Health Commission. It is the most significant move so far to reopen borders that have been all but closed for nearly three years.

Arrivals into China with negative nucleic acid tests will be able to “enter society,” in a drastic change to the current practice, which sees all entrants at airports — foreign visitors and Chinese citizens alike — tested by hazmat-clad workers and ushered onto buses headed for quarantine hotels, where they stay for several days in isolation. Arrivals who continue to test negative will not have their movements restrained by China’s digital health passes.

Air traffic is expected to increase in both directions. Restrictions on the number of flights allowed into Chinese airports will be eased, according to the policies.

Meanwhile, outbound travel for Chinese citizens, who have largely not left their country since 2020, will be “resumed in an orderly manner,” the policies said. Upon release of the news, searches for international air tickets spiked in China, with Thailand, Japan and South Korea emerging as the most popular destinations, Chinese state-affiliated media reported.

The new policies are meant to help the resumption of travel for business, study and family reunions. However, there is no word on whether China will reopen for tourism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/21/man-dressed-officer-shoots-two/

Two people were shot Tuesday in Northeast Washington by a man who apparently posed as a police officer and wore a makeshift uniform, D.C. police said.

The gunshot victims, a man and a male juvenile, were seriously wounded and taken to hospitals, police said. The shooting occurred about 3 p.m. in the 6000 block of Clay Street NE, according to the police.

The man who was impersonating an officer was allowed into a “residential facility,” about 3 p.m., police said, basing their account on preliminary investigation. After being let in, and following a brief conversation, he drew a pistol and shot the victims, according to police.

Photographs released by police show a man with what appeared to be a badge on the front of his shirt or jacket. The back of the garment bore the word “police” in capital letters.

The gunman fled in a car, and police are looking for him, they said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/04/covid-hospitalizations-increasing-after-thanksgiving/

A post-Thanksgiving uptick in covid-19 patients at U.S. hospitals is arriving even as health systems contend with waves of feverish, coughing people stricken with RSV and influenza infections.

Covid hospitalizations last week reached their highest level in three months, with more than 35,000 patients being treated, according to Washington Post data tracking. National hospitalizations had stagnated throughout fall but started rising in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. All but a few states reported per capita increases in the past week.

Public health authorities are concerned that the increase in the number of covid patients will worsen the strain on hospitals already under pressure from the effects of two other viral ailments, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, widely known as RSV.

Nearly 20,000 Americans were hospitalized with influenza during Thanksgiving week, the most for that week in more than a decade and almost double the previous week’s count.

Nancy Foster of the American Hospital Association said members are still mostly raising concerns about RSV and flu rather than covid.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/04/inflation-prices-going-down/



The price of gasoline is dropping like a rock. Chicken wings are suddenly a bargain. And retailers drowning in excess inventory are looking to make a deal.

After more than a year of high inflation, many consumers are finally starting to catch a break. Even apartment rents and car prices, two items that hammered millions of household budgets this year, are no longer spiraling out of control.

Global supply chains are finally operating normally, as more consumers spend more on in-person services like restaurant meals and less on goods like furniture and computers that come from an ocean away. The cost of sending a standard 40-foot container from China to the U.S. West Coast is $1,935 — down more than 90 percent from its September 2021 peak of $20,586, according to the online freight marketplace Freightos.

The moderation in inflation is just beginning to appear in government statistics. In October, the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge, the personal consumption expenditures index, posted its smallest monthly increase since September of last year, and is up 6 percent over the past 12 months. The better-known consumer price index is rising at an annual rate of 7.7 percent, down from 9.1 percent in June.

“The worst of the inflation is behind us,” said Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist for TS Lombard in New York. “The question is where does inflation settle?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/14/bethesda-trail-antisemetic-graffiti/

Montgomery County police are investigating antisemitic graffiti that included swastikas and hangmen discovered in Bethesda, Md., early Monday morning. The vandalism is the second incident of hate speech targeting Jews in the county in three months.

The graffiti, which also included white supremacist language, were scrawled in red spray paint on a white fence near the Bethesda Trolley Trail and a brick wall at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Tuckerman Lane. Police received a report about the vandalism around 6:30 a.m.

“I am deeply disturbed by several horrific antisemitic graffiti” incidents that recently occurred, Montgomery County Council member Andrew Friedson (D-District 1) said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Unfortunately, these are just the latest in an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents across our county and throughout the country.”

A similar incident of vandalism on the Bethesda Trolley Trail occurred in late August. Antisemitic graffiti was found on the portion of the trail that passes over Interstate 270 near Rossmore Drive. The two episodes, plus recent derogatory comments about Jews by the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and former president Donald Trump, have spurred Jewish leaders and advocates to push local officials to take a stand against antisemitic hate.

https://dcist.com/story/22/11/10/mcduffie-beats-silverman-dc-council-at-large-race/



McDuffie has emerged as the victor of the hotly contested race for an At-Large seat on the D.C. Council current held by Councilmember Elissa Silverman. While he took an early lead and remained ahead over the course of Tuesday night, McDuffie’s win was cemented on Wednesday night after a batch of 13,000 outstanding mail ballots were counted and Silverman was left with no way to overcome him.

With close to 180,000 votes counted, McDuffie, a one-time Democrat who shed the party affiliation to run for the seat, claimed just over 22% of the vote to Silverman’s 19%. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large) was further ahead with 32% of the vote, retaining her seat. (There are two At-Large seats up for grabs every two years; one has to be occupied by a non-Democrat.)

“Voters have also delivered a message: we need to take bold steps to address some of the greatest challenges facing the District. For the last ten years, I have spearheaded innovative and data-driven policies to tackle the root causes of crime, expand and invest in the city’s supply of affordable housing, address the legacy of institutional discrimination that has led to our city’s growing racial wealth gap, and help our local economy recover stronger than ever from the pandemic. And as your next At-Large Councilmember, I’ll continue to work with you and my colleagues on the DC Council to confront head-on our most pressing issues with solutions, not simply paid lip service,” he said in a statement.

McDuffie’s win marks a surprising turnaround in his political fortunes. A Ward 5 councilmember since 2012, McDuffie announced last year that he was setting his sights on the attorney general’s office. An early favorite, his candidacy fell apart earlier this year when he was found to not meet eligibility requirements that spell out how much legal experience contenders must have. But within two months of suspending that campaign, he announced that he would shed his Democratic affiliation and run as an independent for the At-Large seat held by Silverman since 2014.