Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Study finds more restaurant-goers among COVID-19 patients – StarTribune.com

Surveying 314 people who sought outpatient treatment for respiratory symptoms, the researchers found those who tested positive for COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to have been places in the prior two weeks where food and drinks were served compared with those whose symptoms weren’t related to the pandemic.

The two groups were similar in rates of shopping, attending churches and going to gyms, suggesting an independent risk for people who inevitably had to take off masks while eating and drinking at establishments, said Dr. Heidi Erickson, a co-author of the study and a pulmonary and critical care specialist at HCMC in Minneapolis.

“In these places where people can’t necessarily wear their masks, where they’re eating and drinking, it’s not surprising to me at all that there would be increased transmission,” Erickson said Thursday.

 

Source: Study finds more restaurant-goers among COVID-19 patients – StarTribune.com

NYT reporter removed from Trump rally in Michigan | TheHill

A New York Times reporter claims she was removed from President Trump’s campaign rally in Freeland, Mich., on Thursday after campaign staff located her using images she posted on Twitter.

As the rally was getting started, Kathy Gray noted on Twitter that out of the thousands of people who were at the rally, “maybe 10% have masks.” Gray then posted a photo of Air Force One with the caption “And so it begins” shortly before the president began speaking at the rally.

“I’ve just been kicked out of the trump rally,” Gray tweeted less than 15 minutes later.

 

Source: NYT reporter removed from Trump rally in Michigan | TheHill

Whitmer says Trump denied request to fully fund National Guard in Michigan | TheHill

Whitmer said the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Doug Hoelscher, left a voicemail for her chief of staff rejecting Whitmer’s request to fully fund the federal service in Michigan.  The White House reportedly settled on providing 75 percent federal cost share through the end of the year, according to WNEM.

Source: Whitmer says Trump denied request to fully fund National Guard in Michigan | TheHill

Trump screamed at Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch in “humongous blowup” over “unfair” coverage: report

Individuals close to Murdoch told Sherman that the Fox Corporation co-chair believes Trump will lose in November. Murdoch seems more concerned with navigating his empire through a post-Trump political world, according to Sherman.

“This is about business for Rupert,” one source told Vanity Fair.

Murdoch’s son, James, and daughter-in-law, Kathryn, each gave $615,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in June, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The next month, James stepped down from the family’s News Corp. media empire, citing editorial disagreements.

Source: Trump screamed at Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch in “humongous blowup” over “unfair” coverage: report

Federal court blocks Trump effort to exclude undocumented immigrants when congressional seats are divvied up

A three-judge federal panel in New York has ruled that the Trump administration cannot keep undocumented immigrants from being counted when lawmakers reapportion congressional districts next year — an effort that could have potentially cost Texas several seats in Congress.
A protester holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court where the court ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration did not give an adequate explanation for its plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, delivering a victory to New York state and others challenging the proposal in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A panel of federal judges deemed the Trump push to exclude undocumented immigrants from the base population used to distribute seats in Congress was an “unlawful exercise of authority granted to the President.”

Credit: Carlos Barria/REUTERS

A three-judge federal panel in New York has ruled that the Trump administration cannot keep undocumented immigrants from being counted when lawmakers reapportion congressional districts next year — an effort that could have potentially cost Texas several seats in Congress.

In a significant departure from the way representation is typically divided up, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum in July directing Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to exclude undocumented immigrants from the base population used to distribute seats in Congress. But in its Thursday ruling, the panel of judges deemed the memo an “unlawful exercise of authority granted to the President.”

The constitutionally mandated count each 10 years of every person residing in the country is used to determine congressional representation from each state. Excluding undocumented residents from the counts used to parcel out congressional districts would likely lead to a drastic realignment of political power throughout Texas.

Trump pursued the change by arguing that the U.S. Constitution does not define “which persons must be included” in that base population. But the New York panel of judges blocked Ross, who oversees the census, from providing any information on the number of undocumented people in each state.

Texas has 36 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, in districts that are supposed to be drawn to nearly equal population. Recent estimates indicate the size of the undocumented population in Texas has reached nearly 1.8 million. The state is projected to gain several more seats in the next redistricting round based on population growth — but that depends on achieving an accurate count in the ongoing census.

The memo marked the latest push by Trump to differentiate between citizens and noncitizens when states redraw political districts to account for growth. The courts shot down his attempt to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. His July memo raised questions about what data lawmakers would use to determine how to exclude undocumented residents from the census totals.

The issue could still be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Stanford Medical faculty lambaste former colleague and Trump coronavirus advisor Dr. Scott Atlas

“Many of his opinions and statements run counter to establish science, and, by doing so, undermine public-health authorities and the credible science that guides effective public health policy,” reads the letter addressed to colleagues on Wednesday. It lists a series of bullet-points, highlighting the importance of public health interventions like wearing masks and social distancing. The authors also point out that testing asymptomatic people is important, and children of all ages can be infected with the virus.

Source: Stanford Medical faculty lambaste former colleague and Trump coronavirus advisor Dr. Scott Atlas