July 12, 2020

Trump vs. the Women Who Lead Michigan: A Battle With 2020 Implications

(The New York Times) LANSING, Mich. — Beyond being the women leading Michigan’s state government, Gretchen Whitmer, Dana Nessel and Jocelyn Benson have a lot in common.

All three are Democratic lawyers and part of Generation X, with long lists of accomplishments. Ms. Whitmer was the first woman to lead the Democratic caucus in the State Senate. Ms. Nessel argued before the Supreme Court and helped pave the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage. And Ms. Benson, a Harvard Law School graduate, was the dean of the Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

By 2018, the three were swept into statewide office on a wave that flipped much of Michigan’s leadership from red to blue and put three women — Ms. Whitmer, the governor; Ms. Nessel, the attorney general; and Ms. Benson, the secretary of state — in charge of running the state for the first time.

Now these women share another distinction: They’re all targets of President Trump.

Trailing in polls to Joseph R. Biden Jr. in this key battleground state, the president has taken aggressive aim at Ms. Whitmer — “that woman from Michigan,” in his words — and her counterparts, zeroing in on their mission to expand voting rights in a state where his 2016 winning margin of just 10,704 votes was the narrowest in the country. ...........(more)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/us/politics/trump-michigan-whitmer-benson-nessel.html

July 12, 2020

Florida Man Hospitalized After Iguana Runs Into Bike Causing Crash

MARATHON (CBSMiami) — A 62-year-old Marathon man required stitches to his head Thursday after an iguana ran in front his bicycle and caused him to crash.

There were no reported life-threatening injuries, except maybe to the iguana.

The collision took place on a bike path at Crane Point Hammock. ..........(more)

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/07/10/florida-man-iguana-bike-crash/

July 12, 2020

LA's mask factories shut down as hundreds of workers get sick

(Guardian UK) Francisco Tzul has worked in the Los Angeles garment industry for eight years, sewing clothing on cramped factory floors and struggling to get by on low wages. An undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, Tzul found himself out of work when the pandemic hit in March. So when he heard in May that LA Apparel, a brand run by the former CEO of American Apparel, was hiring workers to make masks, he jumped at the chance.

“Here’s an opportunity, a golden opportunity, I told myself,” he told the Guardian in Spanish. “From one day to the next I became an essential worker, with more dignified wages.”

But this “golden opportunity” nearly cost him his life. Just two and a half weeks into the job he began experiencing symptoms of Covid-19, which he says he contracted at work. He wound up hospitalized and intubated, unsure if he would survive. Tzul emerged after more than a week in the hospital to find himself homeless, kicked out by his roommates on account of his illness.

Tzul is one of the many garment workers across Los Angeles recruited to meet a booming demand for face masks. LA Protects, a scheme implemented by the city to fast-track mask production, has partnered with numerous local companies to produce protective gear for frontline workers. ..............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/11/coronavirus-los-angeles-mask-making

July 11, 2020

As the city explodes, Toronto transit feels the financial strain

ONTARIO: As the city explodes, Toronto transit feels the financial strain
As the pandemic shuts down large parts of Canada's financial capital, the number of Toronto transit passengers has collapsed, creating a revenue sinkhole.

Divya Balji
Bloomberg News (TNS)




TORONTO - Streetcar equipment that's almost 100 years old. Asbestos-lined subway tunnels. Computer systems from decades ago. Before the coronavirus hit, Toronto's public transit agency needed billions of dollars to fix and expand lines and meet the demands of the city's explosive growth.

Now, as the pandemic shuts down large parts of Canada's financial capital, the number of passengers has collapsed, creating a revenue sinkhole.

Transit authorities around the world are grappling with similar funding shortfalls, but Toronto is in a double bind. It has the fastest-growing population of any metropolitan area in the U.S. or Canada, according to researchers at Ryerson University. It also relies on passengers, rather than taxation or government subsidies, for most of its operating money _ a model that has been a losing proposition during the pandemic.

Ridership on the Toronto Transit Commission's network has plunged by about 80% over the past three months. Even with plans to cut staffing 7% from 2018 levels _ or by about 1,000 jobs _ Chief Executive Officer Rick Leary still sees a deficit of about C$400 million ($292 million) by the end of the year. .............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/news/21145609/ontario-as-the-city-explodes-toronto-transit-feels-the-financial-strain

July 10, 2020

Florida man, sons sold fake coronavirus cure, feds say

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man and his three sons are facing federal charges that they illegally sold a bleachlike chemical mixture as a miracle cure for the new coronavirus and other diseases, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The substance marketed as Miracle Mineral Solution was sold nationwide through an entity called the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing in Bradenton, Florida, according to a criminal complaint. A Miami federal judge in April ordered the self-styled church to stop selling the substance, but it was ignored.

Charged in the criminal complaint are Mark Grenon, 62, and his sons, Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32. They are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and criminal contempt. ............(more)

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/07/08/florida-man-sons-sold-fake-coronavirus-cure-feds-say/

July 10, 2020

Texas border county had 'model' Covid-19 response - then the governor stepped in

Texas border county had 'model' Covid-19 response – then the governor stepped in
Officials in Latino Starr county say Greg Abbott’s reopening orders have rendered them toothless, and cases are surging


(Guardian UK) Five residents from Starr county on Texas’s southern border died on a single day last week after contracting Covid-19. New infections in the rural border community of around 65,000 people have soared in recent weeks, and two intubated patients had to be airlifted to Dallas and San Antonio when overwhelmed local hospitals couldn’t care for them.

Texas has become one of the US’s new coronavirus hotspots, with new confirmed cases surging to around 14% of the country’s total, when measured by a seven-day average. Elective surgeries were paused this week as the state tries to free up hospital beds for increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients.

But Starr county’s public officials knew months ago that is was especially vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic: roughly one in three residents lives in poverty, a sizable slice of the population doesn’t have health insurance, and risk factors such as diabetes and obesity prevail. To protect their constituents, who are more than 99% Latino, they acted fast to curtail the contagion.

They developed what officials said was at the time the only drive-through testing site south of San Antonio. They closed schools. They implemented a stay-at-home order, curfew and mandatory face coverings. Only when necessary, they flexed their authority to fine and even jail anyone who flouted the law. ...........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/10/texas-starr-county-covid-19-model-greg-abbott

July 10, 2020

Who had "Tropical Storm Hits the Northeast" for July?

The sixth named system of the young Atlantic hurricane season formed Thursday afternoon just east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Tropical Storm Fay breaks the record for earliest sixth named storm in the Atlantic basin by almost two weeks.

The biggest impact will be very heavy rainfall moving northward through Friday night along the East Coast from Virginia to New England. ..........(more)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tropical-storm-fay-east-coast-rain-wind/?fbclid=IwAR2hrg0mNvuuC1vvoX8s4kEGl9SpiwZB9BFS1GBW3H6Q571pL4HdbNUUByk

July 10, 2020

Florida Man is taking no chances......

You have the right to remain protected from the coronavirus.

A Florida defense lawyer turned heads this week when he showed up to a federal courthouse in a full hazmat suit complete with gloves, a respirator mask and face shield, reports said Wednesday.

“I don’t blame you, man!” court officers and marshals said to Samuel J. Rabin Jr. as he entered the courthouse, according to Law.com.

“Is there something we should be worrying about?” a pair of cops initially asked the attorney. ......(more)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2020/07/08/florida-man-wears-hazmat-suit-to-court-amid-coronavirus-surge/amp/

July 9, 2020

DeVos: Defund public schools, then reopen them

DeVos: Defund public schools, then reopen them
Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press


What planet has Betsy DeVos been quarantining on?

And why is she beating up, yet again, on the public school districts her U.S. Department of Education was created to help?

In case you've been in a coma since the man who began his career by defrauding the Educational Testing Service became president, DeVos is the high-net-worth individual Donald Trump tapped to be his Secretary of Education back in 2017, or about 19,127 false or misleading claims ago.

She lives on Planet MAGA, working from her gated estate in an exclusive enclave of sycophantic billionaires not far from White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's cold water walk-up in the planet's industrial district. DeVos' oblivious disinterest in the circumstances of ordinary Americans — she is to white entitlement what Ru Paul is to drag — may account for her unfamiliarity with the pandemic crisis in which most of native country is mired.

Back here on Planet Earth, public school administrators are spending their own summers trying to figure out how they're going to keep classrooms staffed and COVID-free at a time when the tax revenues their districts rely on are shrinking. ..........(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/brian-dickerson/2020/07/09/betsy-devos-part-time-school/5398699002/?fbclid=IwAR2kNV50DCRlzf2v2RMI1D3U6ATtuyD8QfrgERMovr-dbo-v2lUDAESktyI

July 9, 2020

Ocean Water Is Hurricane 'Fuel' - It's Currently High Octane

(Forbes) Are you paying attention to the heat in Florida right now? According to the National Weather Service - Key West, July 1st marked the 46th daily warm minimum temperature record that was tied with or set during the first half of 2020. The same office also tweeted on July 2nd, “It also marks the 10th consecutive such record — with this morning's low (84°) on track to tie again.” On the same day, University of Miami meteorologist Brian McNoldy tweeted, “And we now have an 11th consecutive day with a 103°+ heat index in #Miami. #heatwave #flwx.” Much of the country will get to experience extreme heat during 4th of July weekend so be careful. The temperature records are certainly jaw-dropping, but another Tweet by McNoldy caught my eye. He pointed out that the water temperature at Virginia Key, Florida on July 2nd was the hottest recorded at that site (92.5 degrees F). When I saw that statistic, my immediate thought was that the Atlantic hurricane season “fuel” is currently high octane.



Let’s review some basic information about hurricane season. One of the most important pre-conditions for tropical cyclone development is that the ocean waters must be at least 26 degrees C (or 79 degrees F). That’s the low octane stuff. You read a few seconds ago that some water temperatures are being measured at above 90 degrees F. The map of current sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic basin show temperatures in the 28 to 30 degrees C (82.4 to 86 degrees F) range with pockets of even hotter water. There is a particularly warm swath of water in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Currently there is no significant tropical activity in the Atlantic basin. Even if there was a storm, the “belches of dust” coming off of the African coast might suppress development. The graphic below is a climatology of where tropical cyclone development typically occurs in July, August, and September. In July, the most favorable locations coincide with where some of the hottest waters are currently located. As the season progresses, the location of origin extends further eastward as the Cape Verde season ramps up. ............(more)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2020/07/03/ocean-water-is-hurricane-fuelits-currently-high-octane/?fbclid=IwAR2LVP8TZ8APErNwKWOphOT2y7LwP-9xw8Yjbq-esGf-m4dbTO5t66PL8ro#bbd94666ea99