The coronavirus pandemic has changed how most retail businesses in the St. Louis region operate.

Businesses face limits on how many people can be inside their buildings. And stores across the region are adapting to mask mandates, social distancing measures and sanitizing routines.

These changes have disrupted the normal operational flow for Goodwill stores in the region, said Mark Kahrs, executive vice president of retail at MERS/Goodwill. He explained that stores have seen around 10% more donations than they did last year at this time because people have spending more time at home.

“We expected a very large increase in donations,” Kahrs said. “We were isolating those donations, not digging through them.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/economy-business/2020-08-27/retailers-continue-to-adjust-to-survive-during-a-pandemic?

Been around since 2006 so it took awhile. But generally enjoy the forum and the exchanges here!

Quietly doing her job, knocking on the doors of those who had not bothered to do the 3 minutes of civic duty online in the Spring. I was able to guess just about every house at which she would stop based upon my knowledge of the neighborhood, there was the guy across the street who regularly has folks over for BBQs in a pandemic, the elderly couple who seems to have way too many “family” living with them for the size of the house that rotate over the years, the family that seems to always have trouble keeping their grass cut and a few others that came as no surprise.

I just found it sad that people are just too damn lazy to take care of such an important task.

The St. Louis County health department on Friday toughened its order requiring face masks, in an effort to keep the coronavirus from spreading.

Starting Monday, businesses won’t be able to serve people who aren't wearing masks, and children over age 5 will have to wear them in school. People will also need to wear masks at indoor and outdoor businesses.

Health officials cited an increasing number of coronavirus cases and the growing risk of transmission among schoolchildren.

“As face-to-face interactions increase, and as scientific evidence indicates that COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals, it is critical that all individuals wear face coverings in public settings, including children in school settings,” health officials said in Friday’s order.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2020-08-21/st-louis-county-tightens-mask-rules-for-businesses-children?

CHAMPAIGN – A saliva-based COVID-19 test created by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA emergency use authorization was granted to the U of I’s test on the basis that it performs at least as well as a recently approved saliva-testing protocol developed at Yale University, setting a precedent that could allow other labs to follow suit.

The announcement was made at a press conference held by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in Chicago Wednesday.As tens of thousands of students return this week for the start of the fall semester, labs on the Urbana campus have been operating around-the-clock, now running upwards of 10,000 tests per day, says U of I chemist Paul Hergenrother, who led the team that developed the saliva test.

Pritzker says he wants to see the test expanded across the state.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/2020-08-20/u-of-is-saliva-based-covid-19-test-receives-fda-emergency-authorization

Ordinary red bricks can now be transformed into energy storage units, with a little help from a team of chemists and engineers at Washington University.

The bricks, which cost about $3 to make, are powerful enough to illuminate an LED light bulb — and could someday provide a new way to store renewable energy.

The technology hinges on the reddish pigment known as iron oxide, or rust, that gives bricks their color. Scientists pumped the bricks with several gases that react with the rust and produce a special, microscopic plastic capable of conducting electricity.

This network of plastic fibers coats the tiny pores inside the brick, said Julio D’Arcy, Washington University assistant professor of chemistry and study co-author.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2020-08-20/st-louis-scientists-develop-smart-bricks-that-can-store-electricity?

Ordinary red bricks can now be transformed into energy storage units, with a little help from a team of chemists and engineers at Washington University.

The bricks, which cost about $3 to make, are powerful enough to illuminate an LED light bulb — and could someday provide a new way to store renewable energy.

The technology hinges on the reddish pigment known as iron oxide, or rust, that gives bricks their color. Scientists pumped the bricks with several gases that react with the rust and produce a special, microscopic plastic capable of conducting electricity.

This network of plastic fibers coats the tiny pores inside the brick, said Julio D’Arcy, Washington University assistant professor of chemistry and study co-author.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2020-08-20/st-louis-scientists-develop-smart-bricks-that-can-store-electricity?

Summer temperatures in Glendale, Ariz., frequently climb to 110 degrees.

"I can go outside and scramble eggs on the sidewalk," says Glendale resident Leandra Ramirez. "That's crazy."

Air conditioning is essential. And now that she and her family are at home all day during the pandemic, Ramirez's AC is running around the clock.

With lights out in many offices and shuttered businesses, millions of people — both with and without jobs — are plugging in at home. Residential demand for power in the U.S. has soared, even as commercial and industrial use have declined.

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/17/902649824/pandemic-electric-bills-are-searing-hot-as-families-stay-home?

A Cole County judge Monday rewrote a ballot summary for a proposal repealing and replacing a state legislative redistricting process that voters approved in 2018.

If the decision is upheld, it could have a big impact on whether the plan, known as Amendment 3, passes or fails — since voters often make their decisions on initiatives based on the ballot summary language.

At issue is what is known as Clean Missouri, a constitutional amendment voters overwhelmingly approved that included state redistricting and ethics changes. Under that redistricting system, a demographer would draw House and Senate maps — with an emphasis on partisan fairness and competitiveness. Bipartisan House and Senate commissions would have a chance to overrule the demographer if 70% of members object under certain circumstances.

Amendment 3 would get rid of the demographer and instead have either bipartisan commissions or appellate judges draw the lines — and would change the criteria of what should be prioritized. It also makes small changes to some of Clean Missouri’s items not related to redistricting, including slightly lowering campaign donation limits for Senate candidates and decreasing the limit for most lobbyists' gifts from $5 to zero.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2020-08-17/judge-strikes-down-ballot-summary-for-clean-missouri-redistricting-repeal

Amendment 3 is just one more Republican legislative attempt to override the will of the people. The GOP just doesn't like when the people vote and disagree with what they want to do.

NORTH AURORA, Ill. — The family of a suburban Chicago woman who died of complications related to COVID-19 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a meatpacking plant where her husband worked and contracted the virus. The family of Esperanza Ugalde alleges in their lawsuit that Aurora Packing Co. in North Aurora failed to take steps to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the Aurora Beacon-News reported.

They also said the company failed to warn employees after it became aware that other employees at the plant were infected. The lawsuit filed in Kane County Circuit Court contends that Ricardo Ugalde, who was a butcher at the plant for 35 years, contracted the virus in late April and that his wife contracted it a short time later and died May 2 at the age of 67. The company did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Friday but its website notes that it has “taken a proactive approach to minimize the health risk of spreading the virus.”

Meatpacking plants across the U.S. have been hit hard by the virus and the Kane County Health Department said it was called to investigate Aurora Packing. A health department spokeswoman declined to provide any details, including whether the plant was closed briefly after Ricardo Ugalde contracted the virus as the Ugalde family’s attorney contends.

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/illinois-meatpacking-plant-sued-after-covid-19-death/article_be8cb48f-f80a-5867-ace0-6fe504cd5698.html