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Newly elected Executives of GSA call on D-G of NSA – BusinessGhana

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

The newly elected Executive Committee members of the Ghana Scrabble Association (GSA) on Wednesday, July 8, called on the Director-General of the National Sports Authority to introduce themselves to the NSA.

The NSA on June 3, 2020, held online elections to elect a five-member executive committee to steer the affairs of the GSA for the next four years.

Professor Peter Twumasi the Director-General of the NSA expressed satisfaction with the electoral process especially during the pandemic and congratulated the elected executives for their success in the elections.

He advised them to work in partnership with the NSA to move the association to a professional status.

Professor Twumasi also asked them to work on a comprehensive constitution which would be a legal document to guide the associations activities.

Mr.

Haruna Adamu newly elected president expressed appreciation to the Director-General for his warm reception.

He said the new executives would work in partnership with the NSA to ensure their progress.

The newly elected officials are; Haruma Adamu - President, Mohamed Rashad - Vice President, Carlos Otoo -Treasurer, David Akpor Adjei - National Organiser, Henry Adotey Akagbor - Marketing Officer, and Christiana Ashley - Secretary-General.

Newly elected Executives of GSA call on D-G of NSA - BusinessGhana

Kayakers overturned trying to avoid Grand Forks dam – Grand Forks Herald

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

A group of four kayakers two pairs of people each in a two-person boat headed downstream from a boathouse run by Ground Up Adventures, an outdoorsy nonprofit, near the Sorlie Bridge. That took them toward the Riverside Dam, and one of the kayaks overturned as they tried to avoid going over the dam.

A bystander called 911 and sheriffs deputies in a boat came to help. Nearby, another group of three kayakers one person in a single kayak and two in a two-person craft noticed the deputies boat and asked for help, too. Grand Forks police officers drove the four-person group back to the launch, and deputies took the three-person group back on their boat.

All seven people were wearing life jackets, according to Sgt. Thomas Inocencio, who heads the sheriffs departments water operations team.

I think that was probably a largely contributing factor that prevented anybody from getting injured, Inocencio said.

Sheriffs deputies are called to the Red River 20 to 30 times each year, and about two or three of those calls are to help people in similar straits, Inocencio said.

He said neither group was particularly familiar with the river, and both said they didnt know the dam was there. Inocencio also chalked the incident up to a strong current. He said he wasnt sure if fatigue was a factor.

The river is reportedly flowing at least marginally faster and stronger than normal. Inocencio said the Reds current is significantly stronger than usual, but Jim Grijalva, who chairs Ground Up Adventures board of directors, said it was only a bit stronger.

Deputies were called at 5:25 p.m. Sunday. The river was about 20.07 feet high and flowing at a rate of 8,790 cubic feet per second 10 minutes before then, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Staff at the National Weather Services Grand Forks office also said those figures were higher than normal, but didnt pin a specific normal figure. Survey data indicates that, since June of 2019, the river has always flowed faster than the 75th percentile of previously recorded rates.

Its hard to say what normal is, Grijalva told the Herald. The river is still safe, but, like always, you have to wear your life jacket and be cognizant of where you are in the river.

Staff at the boathouse encourage people who rent kayaks to paddle upstream at first, toward Lincoln Park, and then head back with the current to reach the launch and return their kayak. Its easier, the thinking goes, to go downstream on the back end of a trip than it is to go upstream, when fatigue would be an increasingly important factor.

If you get tired, its easy to turn around and float back to the boathouse, Grijalva explained.

Boathouse staff usually tell renters that the return trip downstream takes about half the time as the paddle upstream.

The kayakers on Sunday went downstream first, Grijalva said. They were paddling sit on top-style kayaks, which are different from sit in ones that can be rolled rightside up by an experienced user.

Theres this kind of myth that goes around the community that the Red River has these mysterious undertow currents, that if you get in the water it could pull you under, and its a complete myth, Grijalva said, stressing that no renters have been injured and the rescues on Sunday were the first incidents of their kind.

He said that 99.9% of the time its fun and everybody has a good time.

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Kayakers overturned trying to avoid Grand Forks dam - Grand Forks Herald

Albon expects Mercedes to be tough to beat when racing heads to Hungary – GPblog.com

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Alexander Albon scored his first points of the season on Sunday afternoon. The gap to Mercedes was large, but the Red Bull Racing driver is in any case happy to have finished in the points at the Red Bull Ring.

"I was having Lewis flashbacks," Albon said to Sky Sports.

"It was okay.. it was a good race. This weekend we lacked a bit of pace, so we just need to check where to find the time. I think we know. It's good to get some points after last week."

Formula 1 heads to Hungary next weekend but the Red Bull driver expects a tough weekend when it comes to battling the Mercedes

"I think it will be hard to beat them [MER] now. They are strong in the high-speed long corners which is kind of like Hungary. We just need to work on that. I think Max & I both know the areas where the car is weak and we just need to address it."

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Albon expects Mercedes to be tough to beat when racing heads to Hungary - GPblog.com

Seeing red, white and blue: Robbo thrilled as Roosters dominate poll – NRL.COM

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

The remarkable resurgences of Daniel Tupou and the Morris twins at Bondi have helped the Roosters dominate the NRL Players' Poll team of 2020 with a stunning seven Tricolours stars dubbed the best in their positions by their peers.

Coach Trent Robinson has also pinched Craig Bellamy's crown as the NRL's best clipboard carrier according to the 150 players surveyed across all 16 clubs by NRL.com in conjunction with the Sydney Morning Herald.

As a result, the annual poll has been painted red, white and blue as the premiers boast representation that has never been seen before from one club.

Bona fide superstars James Tedesco and Luke Keary have been dubbed the best fullback and five-eighth respectively by the players, while captain Boyd Cordner also came in second behind Viliame Kikau for second-row honours.

Those results barely raise an eyebrow given their form en route to back-to-back titles and regular representative appearances.

So too the acknowledgement of Cameron Smith as the game's best No.9 according to his peers and Jason Taumalolo its top lock, with both winning the polls for the third straight year.

Mitchell Pearce edged out Nathan Clearly for halfback, and Manly's polarising prop Addin Fonua-Blake being regarded as the best big man by his opponents caught the eye out of the 2020 poll.

But it's the sheer dominance from the Roosters outside men that is this year's biggest take-away leading into their grand final rematch with Canberra.

Pearce, a Tricolours premiership-winner and favourite son until Cooper Cronk's signing forced him to Newcastle, is the only member of the Players' Poll backline not plying his trade under Robinson.

Tupou hasn't played for NSW since 2015 but was in career-best touch this season before being floored with a two-month syndesmosis injury against Melbourne.

Players across the code were surveyed in the week leading into that game, with results leaning toward those turning heads in the here and now.

Incumbent Kangaroos winger Josh Addo-Carr not cracking the top five flyers is case-in-point.

Still, considering neither Tupou or the Morris twins rank anywhere near the best-paid players in the positions, and Joey Manu has usurped ex-Rooster Latrell Mitchell as the game's best centre, the acknowledgement from their peers is well deserved in Robinson's eyes.

"I think it's a really nice show of respect to guys who have been at the top of their game consistently for a decent amount of time," Robinson told NRL.com.

"I think players respect their opposition in that they know they're dangerous to play against and know that if they're given any opportunity, they can ice a key moment.

"It's a nice show of respect from their peers."

The spotlight rarely finds its way to Tupou amid the glamour that players like Tedesco and Keary bring at the Roosters.

The 29-year-old beanpole would have it no other way, having honed his game to become far more than a lofty aerial target on the left flank.

"I think he's found a real balance between hardness and finesse," Robinson said.

"He does both very well. He loves the new-age, tough elements of being a winger. But he's still got the finesse to finish off any chance he gets.

"Wingers these days more and more, when everyone's getting back onside, they're often called on to take a carry where they're vulnerable, where they've got three and four defenders gunning for them and they're the only ones there to take that carry.

"That's their role these days, and Toops has been doing that better and better year after year."

The Morris brothers meanwhile have landed at the Roosters for a steal, understood to be each earning less than $300,000 in 2020.

Canterbury let them go from their heavily back-ended deals two years ago, while the Dragons missed out on Brett and Cronulla ended up releasing Josh as he pushed to link with his brother at Bondi.

Were they to reverse their respective Origin retirements, Blues coach Brad Fittler would have serious food for thought based on their recent form.

The twins turn 34 in August and are managing "old man injuries" like calf, groin and back niggles on a weekly basis, but still leaving younger opponents for dead every weekend.

In turn their influence at the Roosters is telling for Robinson, who can see Manu (who cleaned up 43% of votes for best centre) thriving under the Morris stewardship.

"Josh and Brett, they know their role in the game," Robinson said.

"They take that role, to teach their teammates and pass on their knowledge, very seriously. What's great is they can express themselves so well to younger players.

"You don't always get that with players with great know-how, they can't always communicate the way they want. Those two are very good at it.

"You look for quality players at the market, that's the first thing. Then you consider how they will fit, whether their style works for what your after, how they will go with the players around them and the standards you want at your club.

"It doesn't always work that way, you don't always get a choice or a chance at players like those two. It's a pleasure and an honour to have them."

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Seeing red, white and blue: Robbo thrilled as Roosters dominate poll - NRL.COM

Sats sinks $6.3 million into the red in Q4 – The Straits Times

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Ground handler and caterer Sats sank into the red for the three months to March 31, the first quarter the company is reporting its financials since the coronavirus hit the world.

The listed company recorded a net loss of S$6.3 million for the fourth quarter of FY 2020, against earnings of S$49.9 million a year ago, going by the financial results filed with the Singapore Exchange on Thursday.

Sats said in a statement: "The group's performance for the quarter was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic across the region, which led to a significant drop in global demand for air travel. This in turn created substantial adverse impact on revenue and profitability."

Revenue dropped 8.1 per cent year on year to S$433.1 million, despite higher contribution from the food-solutions segment. Its gateway services contributed 17.8 per cent less in revenue as a result of the pandemic. By contrast, its food-solutions revenue was marginally higher by 0.8 per cent.

The share of results from associates and joint ventures fell S$40.1 million, registering a loss of S$31.2 million, compared to an S$8.9 million profit in the previous corresponding quarter.

Loss per share stood at 0.6 Singapore cent for the quarter.

Sats' net profit declined 32.2 per cent to S$168.4 million for the full year, with earnings per share at 15.1 cents.

Revenue rose 6.2 per cent to S$1.9 billion, while net asset value per share as at end-March was S$1.45, down from S$1.48 a year ago.

No final dividend has been proposed; the full year total dividend is therefore six cents. This will allow the company to preserve more jobs and capabilities to support its customers as aviation volumes resume, and to pursue opportunities outside of aviation, Sats said in the statement.

Alex Hungate, its chief executive officer, flagged that the operating environment in the next financial year will be challenging for its aviation related businesses.

Sats shares ended at S$2.88 or S$0.01 down on Thursday, before the financial results went public.

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Sats sinks $6.3 million into the red in Q4 - The Straits Times

How is COVID-19 affecting House oversight efforts? – Brookings Institution

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives has been, since mid-March, trying to adapt to new ways of doing businessincluding the efforts by committees to oversee actions by the Trump administration. Weve been tracking oversight activity during this periodboth related to the pandemic itself and beyondusing the Brookings House Oversight Tracker, and heres what weve learned.

1. Many committees are involved in COVID-19-related oversight.

COVID-19 has greatly increased both the supply of and demand for oversight activity within the House Democratic caucus.

Unlike the impeachment inquiry, where six committees were given specific investigatory powers and the lions share of the work was done by two (Intelligence and Judiciary), COVID-19 investigations have been less coordinated. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a creation of the CARES Act that was meant to play a central role in the House oversight efforts, was slow to start investigations.[1] While the subcommittees investigative work has since increased, the Democratic members also hold the gavels of separate committees or subcommittees, and many are continuing to pursue COVID-19-related investigations within their own jurisdictions.[2]

Demand for oversight activity is also high with members seeking opportunities to demonstrate to their constituents that they have taken deliberate action to combat the damaging effects of the virus. As of July 2, 34 committees and subcommittees had held an oversight hearing or sent an investigative letter on a topic related to COVID-19. The impressive number of committees participating in oversight activity can also be attributed to the wide scope of issues encompassed by the crisis.

2. Committees are continuing preexisting oversight investigations but using COVID-19 to frame requests.

House committees are also exploring the implications of COVID-19 for policy areas in which they were engaging in oversight before the pandemic. The Judiciary Committee, for example, has increased its scrutiny of the administrations family separation policy, arguing that the administration is exploiting the crisis to pursue unlawful and inhumane immigration policies. In a separate letter, the Committee also scrutinized the preparedness of detention sites for coronavirus outbreaks and their general sanitation. Similarly, the Committees on Homeland Security, Natural Resources, and Oversight and Reform have all sought answers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on its preparation for a threatening hurricane season. In their letters, the committees use COVID-19 as a reason to follow up on previous investigations into disaster preparedness.

3. Fewer hearings may be pushing rank-and-file House members, and Democratic Senators, to sign more letters.

Since March 13, the House has held 26 oversight hearings, a 76% reduction from the comparable period last year. As opportunities to participate in hearings have declined, rank-and-file members appear to be increasing their engagement with oversight letters in response. Although these additional signatures are not legally significant, they provide members with a way to signal their positions on issues. Prior to March 13, 2020, when representatives largely vacated the Hill over coronavirus concerns, 19% of oversight letters included signatures from members other than the relevant committee or subcommittee chair. Since that date, however, 29% of oversight letters have been signed by at least one rank-and-file member, and the average number of additional signatures per letter more than doubled from 1.29 to 2.63.

With Senate oversight at its weakest point in the last twelve years by one measure, senators have increased engagement with the House oversight letter process. The average number of Senators signatures on House oversight letters has jumped by 50% to 0.21 from 0.14 during the same time period last year. A May 27 letter from the Committee on Natural Resources to the FEMA Administrator regarding the preparedness of U.S. territories for both the hurricane season and coronavirus infections, for example, garnered 41 non-chair signatories, including 14 senators.

4. Letters are making fewer oversight requests.

Since vacating Capitol Hill in mid-March, committees have been more likely to send letters urging a change in administration policy, such as expanding authorities under the Defense Production Act for medical supplies, as opposed to making an oversight request.

Since March 13, only 51% of all letters sent by House committees involved oversight requests compared to 64% of letters prior to that date. Of letters addressed to executive branch officials specifically, that share only dropped slightly from 73% to 71%. While there are several potential explanations for this change, one involves legislators shifting their strategy for influencing the executive branch in a time of fewer hearings and less legislating.

With the House likely to continue a significant amount of remote operations in the coming months and emerging pressure to investigate issues like structural racism in police departments on the agenda, members will have to continue to adaptas they have so farto the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[1] The Select Subcommittee had only launched two formal oversight investigations as of June 19th into COVID-19 deaths in Nursing Homes and the Disbursement of PPP funds.

[2] Chairwoman Maxine Waters (Committee on Financial Services), Chairwoman Carolyn (Committee on Oversight and Reform), Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez (Committee on Small Business) and Chairman Jamie Raskin (Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties) have all overseen COVID-19 related oversight actions within their own committees.

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How is COVID-19 affecting House oversight efforts? - Brookings Institution

COVID-19 UPDATE: Gov. Justice reduces social gathering limit; closes fairs, festivals, and concerts statewide; closes bars in Monongalia County – West…

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

FREE TESTING: BARBOUR, BERKELEY, HARRISON, JEFFERSON, AND MERCER COUNTIES Gov. Justice also announced that the next round of free community COVID-19 testing will continue through this week at various dates and times in Barbour, Berkeley, Harrison, Jefferson, and Mercer counties.

The effort is part of a plan to provide free optional testing to all residents in several counties that are experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 transmission. It targets residents who have struggled to be seen by a physician or do not have insurance to pay for testing. However, other residents, including those who are asymptomatic are welcome to be tested.

Testing is scheduled as follows:

Barbour County Thursday, July 16 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Philip Barbour High School: 99 Horseshoe Drive, Philippi, WV

Berkeley County Friday, July 17 & Saturday, July 18 7 a.m. 2 p.m. Patriot Antique Center and Flea Market:615 King Street, Martinsburg, WV

Harrison County Tuesday, July 14 12 p.m. 7 p.m. Robert C. Byrd High School: 1 Eagle Way, Clarksburg, WV

Jefferson County Friday, July 17 & Saturday, July 18 7 a.m. 3 p.m. Ranson Civic Center: 432 W. 2nd Avenue, Ranson, WV

Mercer County Friday, July 17 9:30 a.m. 4 p.m. Mercer County Health Department: 978 Blue Prince Road, Bluefield, WV

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COVID-19 UPDATE: Gov. Justice reduces social gathering limit; closes fairs, festivals, and concerts statewide; closes bars in Monongalia County - West...

Updates: Continuing Covid-19 pandemic in Washington state – KUOW News and Information

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

This post will be updated with information about the coronavirus pandemic in Washington state. Scroll down for older information.

As of Monday, July 13, the Washington State Department of Health reports:

Versin en espaol aqu / Read KUOW's coronavirus coverage in Spanish

UW data indicates low levels of Covid-19 among frontline medical staff

10 a.m. -- Testing done by UW Medicine's Virology Lab shows a 3% positive rate among medical staff. The Virology Lab tested staff for novel coronavirus antibodies, indicating they have already been infected.

The 3% positive rate for antibodies among UW Medicine staff is below the rate for the general public.

The low overall rate of past infections in workers directly interacting with and caring for COVID-19 patients is a testament to our preparedness efforts and continued commitment to keeping employees safe, said UW Medicines Dr. John B. Lynch, medical director, Infection Prevention at Harborview Medical Center. Our preventative measures included early access to testing, extensive personal protective equipment and using highly trained units specifically dedicated to COVID-19.

According to a statement from UW Medicine: These early results indicate that there is not a significantly higher risk among the UW Medicines frontline healthcare population than in the population at large. Antibody testing involves performing clinical blood tests to check for the presence of antibodies that indicate past infections of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

--Dyer Oxley

Paid parking resumes in Seattle

8 a.m. -- Paid parking on Seattle streets resumes Monday, but at a reduced rate in many places.

It'll cost you 50 cents an hour to park and the city will keep that price in place for at least a month while managers review people's parking activity

Other cities like Tacoma and Redmond have already reinstated paid parking. Also, hourly time-limited parking will be re-enforced starting Monday.

For the first two weeks, they will be focused on education and voluntary compliance of paid parking as customers return to our neighborhood businesses.

Parking enforcement was halted as the pandemic initially struck the Seattle area.

--Angela King

UW cancels home opener football game

8:30 a.m. -- The UW football team's home opener against Michigan on September 5 has been canceled. The Big Ten conference announced Thursday that its teams won't be playing any non-conference games --maybe no games at all this fall because of the pandemic.

The University of Washington says this is the only change to the 2020 football season as of now. The Pac-12 Conference will likely move to conference-only season, according to ESPN.

--Angela King

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Updates: Continuing Covid-19 pandemic in Washington state - KUOW News and Information

COVID-19 Return to Work Guidance | SRHD – Spokane Regional Health

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

For employers and employees, knowing when its safe to return to work after having COVID-19 can be difficult. Spokane Regional Health District has developed guidance for non-healthcare personnel to help employers and employees make informed decisions about testing, quarantine or isolation and when its appropriate to return to work.

This guidance includes three COVID-19 workplace scenarios for the following situations:

This document also provides information about return to work practices and work restrictions and provides an overview of a time-based strategy for determining when an employee can return to work. Spokane Regional Health District does not recommend a test-based strategy (requiring two negative tests at least 24 hours apart) for returning to work after COVID-19 infection.

Download the Download the Testing, Quarantine, and Return to Work Guidance document.

Looking for specific guidance for food establishments and taverns? Please visit the COVID-19 Food Establishment Guidance Page.

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COVID-19 Return to Work Guidance | SRHD - Spokane Regional Health

More than 40 test positive for COVID-19 after Saline house party – The Detroit News

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

More than 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County have been traced to an early Julyhouse party inSaline, according to the county's health department on Monday.

The health department said a large uptick in the area's overall cases includes a majority of people between 15 and 25 and is believed to beassociated with the July 2-3 house party in the Saline area.

So far, health department officials have traced 43 cases and 66 exposed close contacts outside the family members of those who tested positive.

The health department believes at least 50 people were in attendance at the house party, said Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, a spokeswoman for the health department. Ringler-Cerniglia declined to disclose the location of the house party since it was a private residence.

The health department is defining a close contact as an individual who hadface-to-face contact for at least 15 minuteswith someone who later tested positive.The department is attempting to reach all those believed to have had close contact.

This is a very clear example of how quickly this virus spreads and how many people can be impacted in a very short amount of time, Washtenaw County health officer Jimena Loveluck said.

We cannot hope to accomplish our goal of containing COVID-19 and preventing additional cases, hospitalizations and deaths without full community support and cooperation.

The health department has seen a steady increase in confirmed cases last week, reaching a peak of 28 new cases on Wednesday, according to county data. The last time a higher number of new daily cases were recorded in Washtenaw County was May 5, when the county reported 30 cases.

Overall, the county has reported a total of 1,647 confirmed cases, 1,348 of which, or about 82%, are considered recovered. The county has reported 107 deaths linked tothe virus.

Related: Several test positive for virus after Torch Lake Fourth of July celebration

Among those exposed after the event by people who attended the party are employees or clients at area restaurants, clubs, camps, sports teams, retail stores, canoe liveries and a retirement community, according to the health department. People from the party have exposed others in other counties and one other state.

People who attended the party are being encouraged to quarantine and monitor for symptoms for 14 days.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/07/13/more-than-40-test-positive-covid-19-after-saline-house-party/5427054002/

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More than 40 test positive for COVID-19 after Saline house party - The Detroit News

2020 Watch: How many more Americans will die from COVID-19? – The Associated Press

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Presidential politics move fast. What were watching heading into a new week on the 2020 campaign:

Days to general election: 113

___

THE NARRATIVE

These are among the darkest days of President Donald Trumps presidency. Coronavirus infections are exploding, the economic recovery is in jeopardy and Trump may have undermined his own law and order message by commuting the prison sentence of his friend and political adviser.

Emboldened Democrats are trying to guard against overconfidence, even as they see real opportunities to expand Joe Bidens path to the White House in states like Georgia, Iowa and Ohio. And Bidens slow-and-steady approach is winning praise from Democrats everywhere as Trumps string of unforced errors and divisive rhetoric continues.

Theres less time for Republicans to turn things around than theyd like. Early voting across several swing states is set to begin in little more than two months.

___

THE BIG QUESTIONS

How many more Americans will die?

The number of Americans dying from COVID-19 is surging again. The daily death toll began falling in mid-April, and it continued to fall until about a week ago. Daily reported deaths in the U.S. have increased from 578 two weeks ago to 664 on July 10, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins Universitys seven-day rolling average. Thats still well below the heights hit in April, but researchers are expecting deaths to rise for at least some weeks still as infections soar.

Overall, more than 135,000 people in America have died as a result of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins. As a reminder, Trump in April predicted a death toll of substantially below 100,000. In May, he predicted deaths could reach 100,000. And now, the CDCs latest model forecasts as many as 160,000 deaths by the end of August.

The Trump administration has yet to offer any kind of comprehensive, coordinated federal response. There was one noteworthy change over the weekend, however: The president wore a face mask in public for the first time.

Is law and order tainted?

Trump went where Richard Nixon would not when he commuted the sentence of longtime friend and political adviser Roger Stone, who had been convicted of multiple felony charges for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation involving Trump himself. Legal experts were aghast, and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney called it an act of unprecedented historic corruption.

The decision came as the president touts law and order as a central message in his reelection campaign. Another Republican, Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, called the Stone commutation a mistake.

Will the criticism from his own party grow? It will be especially difficult for Senate Republicans in tough reelection campaigns to stand by the president on this one. They wont want to address it, but Democrats will make it difficult for incumbents like Sens. Martha McSally, Cory Gardner, Susan Collins and Tom Tillis to stay silent.

Is it time to cancel the conventions?

Democrats have already embraced a dramatically scaled-down national convention in Milwaukee next month. Even a series of smaller Democratic watch parties across the country is in jeopardy as coronavirus infections surge.

Yet Trumps desire to project stability has fueled intense pressure on Republicans to host a large-scale convention of some sort in Florida, which has suddenly emerged as the unofficial epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. Florida officials on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,299 Floridians tested positive. Thats significantly higher than the previous records in California and New York, which didnt crack 12,000. How much time does Floridas Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis have to get things under control? The Republican National Convention is officially scheduled to begin in Florida in 42 days.

Besides public health concerns, were also hearing that convention officials are struggling to raise funding for the high-profile event. While Trump could certainly benefit from a post-convention bump, the potential costs may be beginning to outweigh the benefits.

Will Bidens progressive populism resonate?

Biden offered new details for his long-awaited jobs plan last week that he hopes will shift the balance of the high-stakes economic debate. Trumps numbers have been weak on most issues, yet voters have not been willing to give the presumptive Democratic nominee a clear advantage on the economy.

Biden released a New Deal-like economic agenda that he touted as the most aggressive government investment in the U.S. economy since World War II. He plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to reinvigorate the U.S. manufacturing and technology sectors while tightening current Buy American laws intended to benefit U.S. firms. He also emphasized previous pledges to establish a $15-per-hour minimum wage, strengthen workers collective bargaining rights and repeal Republican-backed tax breaks for U.S. corporations that move jobs overseas.

Trumps inability to contain the pandemic will make it harder and harder to maintain any kind of advantage on the economy. The question is whether Biden can convince voters his brand of progressive populism is better.

___

THE FINAL THOUGHT

Its later than you think. Nov. 3 may feel like a lifetime away, but early voting in a series of battleground states is little more than two months away. Mid-September will feature the first votes cast in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia. Two weeks later come Iowa, Maine, Ohio and New Mexico.

Theres a lot of money left to be spent, we dont know who Bidens running mate will be and we havent seen any debates, but the window to change the direction of the presidential contest is shrinking quickly.

___

2020 Watch runs every Monday and provides a look at the week ahead in the 2020 election.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.

Continued here:

2020 Watch: How many more Americans will die from COVID-19? - The Associated Press

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-8-2020 – 10 AM – West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR)reports as of 10:00 a.m., on July 8, 2020, there have been 192,849 totalconfirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 3,615 total cases and 95 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASES PER COUNTY (Caseconfirmed by lab test/Probable case): Barbour(17/0), Berkeley (483/18), Boone (28/0), Braxton (3/0), Brooke (14/1), Cabell(167/6), Calhoun (4/0), Clay (11/0), Fayette (76/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant (15/1),Greenbrier (67/0), Hampshire (42/0), Hancock (30/3), Hardy (44/1), Harrison(85/0), Jackson (146/0), Jefferson (245/5), Kanawha (354/10), Lewis (19/1),Lincoln (9/0), Logan (30/0), Marion (91/3), Marshall (46/1), Mason (21/0),McDowell (6/0), Mercer (58/0), Mineral (58/2), Mingo (20/2), Monongalia(354/14), Monroe (14/1), Morgan (20/1), Nicholas (14/1), Ohio (112/1),Pendleton (13/1), Pleasants (4/1), Pocahontas (36/1), Preston (74/16), Putnam(71/1), Raleigh (63/1), Randolph (169/2), Ritchie (2/0), Roane (11/0), Summers(2/0), Taylor (18/1), Tucker (6/0), Tyler (6/0), Upshur (21/1), Wayne (119/1),Webster (1/0), Wetzel (25/0), Wirt (5/0), Wood (139/8), Wyoming (8/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Raleigh County in this report.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-8-2020 - 10 AM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

COVID-19 turned college towns into ghost towns and businesses are struggling to survive – NBC News

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

AMHERST, Mass. For more than a century, the office supply store A.J. Hastings has opened its doors to the public every day without fail, a community staple in a quintessential college town.

That streak endured through the 1918 flu and world wars, national holidays and even a move. Through thick and thin, said Sharon Povinelli, who co-owns the store with her wife, Mary Broll.

Located in the heart of Amherst, the store has been a mainstay for students at Amherst College and Hampshire College, and the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts.

Weve been here almost as long as the universities here, Povinelli said.

The third-generation-owned business never broke its opening streak until the coronavirus pandemic hit. A.J. Hastings, along with millions of other businesses across the country, closed in March to curb the spread of COVID-19, while colleges shut down their campuses and turned to remote learning.

Since closing its doors to customers, the store has transitioned to curbside pickup and internet sales while the physical location goes through renovations to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Financial strain from COVID-19 has been especially acute for college towns like Amherst, where the loss of students has meant the loss of money they poured into local economies. Undergraduate students about 25,000 at the three schools combined made up nearly three-quarters of Amhersts total population. That population largely left Amherst when the campuses closed.

What were seeing now is a kind of ghost town, said Gabrielle Gould, executive director at the Amherst Business Improvement District. It was like a light switch turned off.

Along with COVID-19, college towns suffered major losses in income, employment and population.

When a university sneezes, the town gets pneumonia. Now when the university has pneumonia, what does that mean for the town? Stephen Gavazzi, professor of human sciences at Ohio State University, said. College towns have shops, bars, restaurants, hotels and apartments entirely dependent on students.

Now, as campuses are unveiling their reopening plans to only hold a fraction of their usual capacity this fall, college towns face an existential threat.

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As of July 10, 58 percent of colleges will offer in-person instruction, 9 percent are providing strictly online classes and 27 percent are proposing a hybrid model for the fall, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which is tracking college reopening plans. Experts say most teaching will be remote as classrooms will reduce occupancy to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Economies of college towns follow the ebb and flow of students. When students return for the fall semester, they rent apartments, buy books and school supplies, eat at restaurants and, if theyre of legal age, drink at bars. Sporting events and social gatherings bring in enormous crowds and increase revenue for the local economy.

While college towns plan for periods of decline during the winter and summer when many students are away from campus, those slowdowns were always seen as an exception no one could have predicted a prematurely ended spring semester or a fall without students.

Many universities lost revenue they were initially banking on from graduation, alumni and sports events, Gavazzi said. Now, its wildly optimistic that universities will offer in-person instruction for a long time. Its my belief that students will have trouble following health protocols, and well have to revert back to online learning, he said.

Without a doubt, college towns are going to hurt regardless.

In Ithaca, located in New Yorks Finger Lakes region, just about everyone has some connection to the towns campuses, Cornell University and Ithaca College. Mayor Svante Myrick said he was prepared to cut $14 million from the citys $70 million budget and has already furloughed a quarter of employees. Last month, the city passed a resolution asking the state to allow Myrick to cancel rent for three months.

University of Michigan students contribute almost $95 million a year in discretionary spending to the local economy in Ann Arbor, according to the university.

Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingermans, an iconic deli company that owns multiple operations throughout Ann Arbor, said he has furloughed almost a third of its staff from 700 to 450, and estimated that sales were 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

There are many businesses that are doing much worse, Weinzweig said.

The restaurant Logan, an Ann Arbor fixture, closed down after 16 years. Aut Bar, an LGBTQ mainstay, is shutting down after 25 years. And after 60 years of operation, Treasure Mart, a popular antique store, is closing its doors permanently.

Its only going to get worse because nobody, not even really the school, knows how many students will come back to school, Weinzweig said.

In Amherst, where the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts is offering almost all remote classes, Gould said she expects 30% of businesses to shut down within the next year. A.J. Hastings saw an 80 percent decrease in sales between the months of March and June, compared to the same time frame last year. Amherst Books, a locally owned, independent bookstore, makes almost 60 percent of its annual sales in September a number it doesn't expect to come close to this fall.

Because there isnt a way to get an accurate headcount of returning students, its uncertain how universities and college towns alike will compensate for their losses this fall. But for schools, towns and businesses, one thing remains clear: None of them expect to fully recover any time soon.

The census is another cause for concern. Every decade, the national headcount determines the number of seats each state sends to the U.S. House of Representatives and how much federal funding is distributed throughout local and state governments. College towns reported a significant undercount because students leaving campus early happened to coincide at the same time as the response window for this years U.S. census.

In Athens, Ohio, students at Ohio University make up three quarters of the population. A census without this population could slash the official headcount from 24,000 down to 6,000 people. For Ithaca, a remote college town, half of the population consists of students meaning the population count minus students could shrink from 31,000 to as few as 15,500.

If we dont get a good headcount of those students, we could lose $40 million over the course of 10 years, Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said. Those grants fund community development, family and senior services and school systems.

To mitigate the economic harm caused by the pandemic and remote learning, Patterson said Athens is creating new mountain trails in the Wayne National Forest to diversify the local economy and increase tourism independent of Ohio University.

We really have to think creatively and differently in these communities where the university is our only main source of revenue, he said. Patterson said he understood that the uptick in coronavirus cases across the country was a growing concern, but any attempt to bolster the local economy was a silver lining.

Gould expressed similar sentiments, saying that ultimately, since a COVID-19 vaccine remains too far to be seen, small businesses and college towns need more help from the federal government. Back in April, some businesses were able to secure a Paycheck Protection Program loan an emergency fund for small businesses with fewer than 500 employees but for many, that money has already dried up.

In early May, Gould set up a micro-grant nonprofit organization, the Downtown Amherst Foundation, to help cover the financial losses small businesses had suffered from the pandemic. Since its inception, the nonprofit has raised more than $300,000 to distribute to over 60 small businesses, including PPE and outdoor dining infrastructure expenses.

Were resilient, and were doing the best we can to help each other as a community under these circumstances, Gould said. Its like plugging holes with chewing gum on a sinking boat.

Thankfully, no businesses have permanently closed, but with much fewer students returning, I dont know how much longer we can survive, she said.

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COVID-19 turned college towns into ghost towns and businesses are struggling to survive - NBC News

COVID-19 forced teleworking and Utah lawmakers are looking at ways to make it permanent – fox13now.com

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

SALT LAKE CITY Like a lot of his constituents, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Sen. Lincoln Fillmore to work from home.

"I think what were finding is that by being forced to do this by a virus, companies have really learned how to do this more creatively," he said in an interview Monday with FOX 13.

He's among many lawmakers looking to make something positive out of a pandemic. He's drafting a resolution that encourages Utah businesses to categorize their employees by whether they can telework or not.

"What Im looking to do is capitalize on the positive result. Cleaner air, fewer cars on the road, less traffic without the whole economic shutdown," said Sen. Fillmore, R-South Jordan.

A similar bill is being run by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, which would designate state government employees the same way. The lawmakers argue it's not only good for the Wasatch Front's troubled air quality, but it would save taxpayers money on everything from fuel to road repairs.

"If we can find a way to move employees away from population centers, I think we can find a way to have strong economic growth spread evenly across the state instead of concentrated along the Wasatch Front," Sen. Fillmore said.

In the past, the state has offered incentives to employers who are willing to hire workers explicitly to telework as a way of expanding job opportunities in rural Utah. Air quality advocates have also championed teleworking.

Last year, Utah was starting to experiment with state employees teleworking. The COVID-19 pandemic forced them -- and a lot of other Utahns -- to join in whether they wanted to or not. Company meetings are held over Zoom and classrooms are conducted online.

But internet connectivity isn't available for all, said Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City.

"We have reached a point in our society where access to the internet is a right, because we have set up our very society based on internet access," she told FOX 13 on Monday. "Its almost impossible to open without a business without being able to file online."

Rep. Dailey-Provost is drafting a bill to expand internet access across the state. She's seeking to create an office in state government to focus on getting underserved areas -- including low-income and rural parts of the state -- connected with private companies for internet. The bill was introduced in the tail end of the 2020 legislative session, but has taken on new importance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Access to the internet has become so ubiquitous we barely even think about how to get or where to get it or that it will be accessible. We need to remember that we built so much of our society around that access, we need to be reminded especially now that those barriers exist," Rep. Dailey-Provost said.

Some bills may be considered during an upcoming special session of the Utah State Legislature, as lawmakers deal with the ongoing impacts of the virus. Other bills are not expected to be taken up until the 2021 legislative session in January.

For Portland Police, Indiscriminate Use of Tear Gas During Protests Is Unavoidable – The Portland Mercury

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Mathieu Lewis-Rolland

According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), this is the safest way to stop criminal acts being committed by a few individuals in the crowd.

Fragrance set to play a more powerful role in personal care as well-being comes to forefront – CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Increasing stress levels related to urbanisation and global instabilities like the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have awakened a strong need for well-being.

With the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical and mental well-being have become a priority for consumers. Products that are able to create moments of relaxation and well-being are on-trend, leading to what we have defined as mindful hedonism, said Ben Webb, Givaudans regional head of fragrances, APAC.

At the same time, the consumers notion of well-being is evolving and becoming more complex, he added.

People are more and more aware of the importance of their holistic well-being, and especially the emotional side of well-being. The majority of them are more likely to buy products and services from companies that effectively engage in well-being.

Webb noted that our sense of smell played a significant role in well-being as it has direct access to the emotion and memory processing regions of the brain.

This enables fragrances to create a rich and vivid representation in your mind, more than just a chemical or molecular representation. Attractive odours or odours associated with positive memories can immediately influence a person's emotional state and this is why fragrance has a significant and positive influence on an individual's mood and well-being.

As such, fragrances are becoming more crucial into manufactures looking to forge an emotional connection between its products and the consumers.

Asia Pacific is going through several stages of poised growth as the next economic global powerhouse which entails urbanisation and a more sophisticated way of life. This has created more expectation from their daily use of personal care products and more interest in leisure and well-being, said Webb.

With the COVID-19 outbreak, these trends are set to accelerate swiftly and remain long even after the crisis blows over.

Frustrated by several weeks of lockdown, consumers will luxuriate in simple joys of product and treatment, using beauty for escapism. This desire for feel good products consumption will last even after the crisis, said Webb.

To mark Global Wellness day, Givaudan announced that it has developed Vivascentz, a tool to help guide developers to develop fragrances with well-being benefits scientifically.

The technology was developed by Givaudans Health and Well-being Centre of Excellence in Ashford in collaboration with a renowned research academic partner.

The technology leverages on the Swiss firms 30 years of expertise in neuroscience to build a metric that measures overall well-being, covering the psychological, physiological and social dimensions in a fragrance context

The tool was validated by rigorous tests carried out by more than 2,000 consumers, which concluded that it was possible to demonstrate that fragrances created with the VivaScentz technology were able to positively impact the users overall state of well-being

Thanks to VivaScentz technology, our perfumers have the knowledge to create tailor made fragrances and Oral Care flavours that delight consumers while enhancing their well-being, covering a wide range of olfactive areas, said Webb.

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Fragrance set to play a more powerful role in personal care as well-being comes to forefront - CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com

We’re Doing This COVID-19 Mask Thing All Wrong – gvwire.com

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Agoston Haraszthy didnt hesitate to wear masks. A Hungarian immigrant, he became San Diegos first sheriff by portraying himself as a military colonel. Then, he sold himself as a metallurgist to win a top job at the San Franciscos first U.S. Mint office. He billed himself as royaltyCount Haraszthywhen he established the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma.

Joe Mathews

Opinion

By 1864, The Count was in trouble. The Civil War and mounting debts strained his wine business. Hed planted the vines too close together, and his attempt to create a sparkling California champagne literally fizzled. To stay afloat, he sold off pieces of the estate.

Despite all these troubles, County Haraszthy hosted a lavish Masquerade Ball, touted as the first in California history. The costumes and wine technologies drew enough of a crowd for the event to endure. It was held most recently in 2019.

Todays Californians, so wary of face coverings, might consider what The Count knew: Masks are about fun and finding light in darkness. What better time to don a mask than when your whole world is falling down around you?

Californias scolds, who use shame to force mask compliance, miss this point. They tell us, with considerable scientific justification, that we must wear masks to be good. But the true virtue of masks is that they allow us to be bad.

Behind masks, we cant be easily shamed. We can try on new identities and deviate from the norms of good citizenship. In this cultural moment, when we are surrounded by so much coerced and performative goodness, might more people want to wear masks if we emphasized their darker and more subversive appeal? Instead of framing face-coverings as solemn obligation, might the public health be better protected if we reimagined this moment as a lavish, statewide masquerade?

A man with a face mask reading COVID 19 waits at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

The current, highly polarized debate over masks is much too dumb and dull when you consider the history of our use of masks. Our modern conception of masking owes a debt to the Republic of Venice, where a mask-wearing culture endured for centuries. The Venetian devotion to masks was rooted in desirefor hedonism and equality. With identities shielded, people could do as they wished. Without faces, all had voices.

In the 18th century, the Venetian passion reached America. Of course, in this Puritan country, mask-wearing produced backlashes, with moralists claiming that masquerades were a foreign and immoral influence. By the second half of the 19th century and through the 1960s, major California municipalities from Los Angeles to San Francisco had laws barring public disguise and cross-dressing. Scholars have described those discriminatory ordinances as forerunners of todays so-called bathroom bills that target the transgendered.

Fortunately, the transgressive act of masking has won the cultural warFreddy Krueger has the box office receipts to prove it. Masquerade in California, from costume superstores to Comic-Con, is now big business. In L.A., the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball, first held in 1997, has thousands of attendees and an ongoing story line with newly invented characters and mythologies. Shawn Strider, its host, told me the balls are great levelers in status-conscious L.A., with regular Angelenos and A-list stars attending together, without learning each others true identities.

The appeal of masks in an age such as ours isnt hard to see. When everyone wants you to pick a side, the masquerade offers glorious ambiguity. When people are reduced to their political or racial identities, and digital surveillance seems all, masks provide anonymity, and the possibility of being our full selves.

For all these reasons, it makes little sense to turn masks into a symbol of compliance in the pandemic. Itd be wiser to use COVID to celebrate masks. Instead of enforcement, let government strike teams give out cash prizes for the most beautiful, funny or inventive masks that they see. Public kiosks outside grocery stores and food banks could help Californians make their own masks. And if people must gather, lets hold small, outdoor, socially distanced masquerades.

In other words, lets find ways to savor a difficult time as best we canlike Count Haraszthy did. Just two years after his 1864 masquerade, he was fired from his own wine company for extravagance and unfaithfulness. He declared bankruptcy and escaped to Nicaragua.

But one day in 1869, he disappeared, forever, into a river full of reptiles, leaving behind a lasting lesson. Wear all the masks you canbecause you never know when the alligators will swallow you whole.

About the Author

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zcalo Public Square.

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We're Doing This COVID-19 Mask Thing All Wrong - gvwire.com

What’s your story? – Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Ive been indulging in a lot of screen time recently. I know Im not alone in this. But it somehow seems odd to spend so much of my time passively watching as history is happening right before our eyes. For a multitude of reasons, this year may turn out to be the most consequential year in modern world history, certainly in American history; and that thought is stressing me out. So, in search of answers, I have begun watching and reading about how other people have responded to crises throughout history.

There is currently a 24-part lecture series on Prime TV entitled The Black Death, and yes, it is about the plague that originated in China, and beginning in 1347, it devastated not only half of the entire population of Europe, but also its ruling institutions, including feudalism and the Catholic Church. But what fascinated me were the first-hand accounts, in both writing and art, as told by those who were living in the midst of it. Those who cared for the sick and then succumbed themselves; those who turned to prayer and self-flagellation, those who turned to hedonism or violence, those who were scapegoated for being Jewish, and those who tried to restore order and government.

During the next ten years, 75 million people perished. That is a staggering number. But it doesnt tell us about the human story of that pandemic. We can only begin to understand the meaning of such events by opening ourselves to the accounts of those who lived and died or survived in such times.

Such traumatic experiences are not the only stories of interest to historians. Other stories, of a gentler sort, fascinate as well. Perhaps because they stand out in relief against the larger backdrop of social upheaval.

I recently watched Anne Frank: Parallel Stories, in which Helen Mirren reads from Annes diary, which is filled with what we might call the normal preoccupations of an adolescent girl in the 1940s. She writes freely and imaginatively of friendship, isolation, love, romance, having her first period and her desire to improve the world. Her death in a Nazi concentration camp at the sweet age of 15 is what makes her story so poignant and so tragic.

When such stories are intertwined with those of other victims and survivors, we feel the true significance of the Holocaust. The weight of those stories has helped to stiffen my own resolve to resist any movement toward a world in which such evil could ever exist again. Engaging with history and realizing that our own stories are part of the entire human experience can really help put things in perspective.

Today, we are living through our own historical moment facing a worldwide pandemic; political upheaval; social unrest; continued racial injustice toward our own species and man-made environmental catastrophes that threaten to extinguish life itself.

So, how are we dealing with all this?

We all have stories about the disease that is crippling our society, keeping us in isolation, with little or no employment, unable to attend school, unable to make new friends or to date. Are your relationships stressed? Has the Black Lives Matter movement made a difference to you? Did you participate in the protests? How has your world changed? Are you worried about your health or that of your loved ones? Do you watch a lot of news coverage like I do, or post more on social media? Do you feel that youre actively engaged and are trying to make a difference?

The most important question for me is, What will I tell my granddaughter when she grows up?

There are so many stories that when taken together will inform future generations, as well as scholars, about how we survived here on Vashon-Maury Island, while so many in other places did not.

Now is a good time to think about sharing your own experiences. The Vashon Heritage Museum, our island equivalent of the Smithsonian, has begun what it calls the Vashon COVID-19 Archive Project. A team led by historian Bruce Haulman has begun collecting such stories for a future exhibit. Working in collaboration with Voice of Vashon, they will be conducting video and audio interviews at several locations around Vashon-Maury throughout the month of July. Participants only need to be willing to share their stories, but artifacts such as masks and photos, even screenshots of social media posts may also be of interest.

For more information visit vashonheritagemuseum.org/covidarchive. Also, check Vashon Heritage Museums Facebook page for updates on the location for the interviews.

Be part of history.

Art Chippendale has lived on Vashon for 24 years with his wife Tania Kinnear. He has been active in community organizations and co-founded the group Unifying for Democracy.

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What's your story? - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Not so random acts: Science finds that being kind pays off |870 AM 97.7FM News Talk WHCU – whcuradio.com

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science WriterActs of kindness may not be that random after all. Science says being kind pays off.Research shows that acts of kindness make us feel better and healthier. Kindness is also key to how we evolved and survived as a species, scientists say. We are hard-wired to be kind.Kindness is as bred in our bones as our anger or our lust or our grief or as our desire for revenge, said University of California San Diego psychologist Michael McCullough, author of the forthcoming book Kindness of Strangers. Its also, he said, the main feature we take for granted.Scientific research is booming into human kindness and what scientists have found so far speaks well of us.Kindness is much older than religion. It does seem to be universal, said University of Oxford anthropologist Oliver Curry, research director at Kindlab. The basic reason why people are kind is that we are social animals.We prize kindness over any other value. When psychologists lumped values into ten categories and asked people what was more important, benevolence or kindness, comes out on top, beating hedonism, having an exciting life, creativity, ambition, tradition, security, obedience, seeking social justice and seeking power, said University of London psychologist Anat Bardi, who studies value systems.Were kind because under the right circumstances we all benefit from kindness, Oxfords Curry said.When it comes to a species survival kindness pays, friendliness pays, said Duke University evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare, author of the new book Survival of the Friendliest.Kindness and cooperation work for many species, whether its bacteria, flowers or our fellow primate bonobos. The more friends you have, the more individuals you help, the more successful you are, Hare said.For example, Hare, who studies bonobos and other primates, compares aggressive chimpanzees, which attack outsiders, to bonobos where the animals dont kill but help out strangers. Male bonobos are far more successful at mating than their male chimp counterparts, Hare said.McCullough sees bonobos as more the exceptions. Most animals arent kind or helpful to strangers, just close relatives so in that way it is one of the traits that separate us from other species, he said. And that, he said, is because of the human ability to reason.Humans realize that theres not much difference between our close relatives and strangers and that someday strangers can help us if we are kind to them, McCullough said.Reasoning is the secret ingredient, which is why we donate blood when there are disasters and why most industrialized nations spend at least 20% of their money on social programs, such as housing and education, McCullough said.Dukes Hare also points to mama bears to understand the evolution and biology of kindness and its aggressive nasty flip side. He said studies point to certain areas of the brain, the medial prefrontal cortex, temporal parietal junction and other spots as either activated or dampened by emotional activity. The same places give us the ability to nurture and love, but also dehumanize and exclude, he said.When mother bears are feeding and nurturing their cubs, these areas in the brain are activated and it allows them to be generous and loving, Hare said. But if someone comes near the mother bear at that time, it sets of the brains threat mechanisms in the same places. The same bear becomes its most aggressive and dangerous.Hare said he sees this in humans. Some of the same people who are generous to family and close friends, when they feel threatened by outsiders become angrier. He points to the current polarization of the world.More isolated groups are more likely to be feel threatened by others and they are more likely to morally exclude, dehumanize, Hare said. And that opens the door to cruelty.But overall our bodies arent just programmed to be nice, they reward us for being kind, scientists said.Doing kindness makes you happier and being happier makes you do kind acts, said labor economist Richard Layard, who studies happiness at the London School of Economics and wrote the new book Can We Be Happier?University of California Riverside psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky has put that concept to the test in numerous experiments over 20 years and repeatedly found that people feel better when they are kind to others, even more than when they are kind to themselves.Acts of kindness are very powerful, Lyubomirsky said.In one experiment, she asked subjects to do an extra three acts of kindness for other people a week and asked a different group to do three acts of self-kindness. They could be small, like opening a door for someone, or big. But the people who were kind to others became happier and felt more connected to the world.The same occurred with money, using it to help others versus helping yourself. Lyubomirsky said she thinks it is because people spend too much time thinking and worrying about themselves and when they think of others while doing acts of kindness, it redirects them away from their own problems.Oxfords Curry analyzed peer-reviewed research like Lyubomirskys and found at least 27 studies showing the same thing: Being kind makes people feel better emotionally.But its not just emotional. Its physical.Lyubomirsky said a study of people with multiple sclerosis and found they felt better physically when helping others. She also found that in people doing more acts of kindness that the genes that trigger inflammation were turned down more than in people who dont.And she said in upcoming studies, shes found more antiviral genes in people who performed acts of kindness.___Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears .___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Not so random acts: Science finds that being kind pays off |870 AM 97.7FM News Talk WHCU - whcuradio.com

Review: Synetic Theater’s The Decameron, Day 4. – DC Theatre Scene

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Day 4 of Synetic Theaters series of short pieces devised by members of the companys roster of artists shows much of the same agility and demonstrable translation into forms of physical theater from a classic text that marks the Synetic style. One has to ask, however, whether the individuals are really going as deeply into text as they might to find what has special resonance for todays audience and the current situation.

The Decameron is not, I would argue, simply a string of olios or short diversions. Underneath, it is a test of a group of friends staying isolated and socially distanced to survive a terrifying plague and a time to examine peoples values and what is of importance. Theres a lot of meat in the original text. Some of these short works, however, stay more as showcases for the language of stage combat, dance, and mime without much real attention to the emotional depth of Boccaccios intentions.

When seen live, the scores of resident composer Constantine Lortkipanidze blare at you, nailing you into the back of your seat. Whether you like his electronic pop/techno compositions or not, they are part of the immersive experience. Two of todays pieces incorporate his music and the scores feel more like sketches without helping advance the story in true music-theatre fashion.

Joshua Cole Lucas is a relatively new member of Synetic but has already shown his clown and mimetic abilities in a work like The Tempest, where he played the part of Trinculo. He chose well a scenario for his piece, based on Day 6, Story 4. It reads like a clown act with just enough scenario to create a conflict, reversal, and resolution without getting bogged down in complicated plot or character.

A cook, Chichibo, prepares a dinner for his master of a fine rare fowl his master has shot. The first scene update shows Lucas in conventional mime white face, assembling a chicken to roast, but the chicken prop seems to have other ideas. A quite amusing scene, Lucas wrestles with the fowl and tucks around the bird, made-vertical, potatoes and rosemary sprigs in its armpits. Almost immediately, however we have a continuity problem. The bird being delivered from the oven is on its side, and Voila! no rosemary. If that were not enough, in comes another figure and looks longingly at the succulent bird and demands a leg, which, reluctantly, Chichibo carves for him. But not before the two characters pass this roasting pan, presumably scalding hot from the oven, back and forth sans oven mitts.

Lucas plays not only Chichibo but the other two characters in the story, the eater of the chicken leg (who is another servant in the household although this is not made entirely clear; I thought maybe they were lovers or spouses,) and the lord of the manor. The filmed action deals cleverly enough with the triple casting, by having the three walking into and exiting the frame. But the punchline never did anything more than fizzle. Boccaccios biting retort in the original had the wily Chichibo supposedly convincing his master that birds, like the crane, only have one leg. Whatever might have been shown about the more serious relationship about the unequal power between master and servant went unexplored.

Nutsa Tediashvili took her inspiration from Day 7, Story 9, where, we are told, a woman takes control and embraces her own desire. I like that she poses the work as a question she wanted to explore: what is left then in the aftermath? This comes closer to current day needs to examine our own (often selfish) actions and the hurt we cause in our boredom and headlong rush of hedonism.

Tediashvili titles her piece I Did Things for Love. She is a beautiful and expressive performer on the small screen. Using her face in close-up, her relationship with the camera seduces us. As the woman who takes and takes, she is flanked in her performance by company members Phillip Fletcher and Alex Mills. Her husband is less decrepit than in Boccaccios story: hes more of a couch potato, more interested in whatever hes glued to on the small screen than his wifes insatiable appetites.Tediashvili also includes some nice cinematic elements to tell the story, including a scene shot in violet light where the physical action in silhouette gets quite stylized.

However, playing an old husband as a cuckolded fool may have been screamingly funny in 1347, and indeed was the stuff of many a commedia delArte scenario, but watching the young woman pull from her husbands mouth a perfectly good tooth, pulling out his beard, and grabbing his necklace (a bandana,) was torturous.

My favorite scene in the short film is a tango to Lortkipanidzes techno score. Complete with the triangle involving the sharing and devouring of a pear, it may not be quite the mouth-watering eating scene from Tom Jones the film, but it comes close. But Tediashvilis film abruptly ends, and I feel cheated; the piece never deals satisfactorily with its premise: what is the aftermath?

Karen Morales-Chacana has taken on one of the most complex and plot-driven stories in Boccaccios The Decameron. It is both a revenge tale and one that features gender switching.

Morales-Chacana has created a dual-language tale and that at first grabbed my attention. The setup of a wager was cleverly translated into a contemporary boozy deal made over a billiard table. In helping to further the story, Morales-Chacana uses repeatedly a gift box in close up, first delivered to the husband that reveals Frederick of Hollywood-style lingerie. (However, Im not sure if most viewers would get that a womans personal things serves as evidence to the husband that his wife has cheated on him unless one has read Boccaccio.)

I got a little befuddled trying to follow how Morales-Chacana handled the shifting plot points. I am not sure why the creator didnt follow the trail of that more interesting aspect of how this character, to escape her jealous and dangerous husband and on the run for six years, lived as a man. I also did not get the tone attempted in the subtitle, Revenge is truly a tastier plate when served cool.

Why do I continue to have trouble when Synetic actors speak? No me mat. Dont kill me. suddenly takes us into cinematic melodrama. Take your clothes off. I need all your clothes devolves the piece further and really isnt necessary. We see what is happening through the action in the film. Besides in such a short piece, with unisex fashion being ubiquitous, the scene doesnt tell us anything about her dramatic transformation. Shortly thereafter, the story jumps four years, and just when I might have re-engaged, as I said, where the character lives in a new society as a man, I get instead the banality, An invitation from the king. Wow!

Cut to movie music that sounds like Hitchcock, and were back on track, I think, with a nail-biting psycho-horror-and-revenge drama. But by the end, the whole thing devolves to reconciliation through spoken word, with the husband saying Forgive me, my love, Ill never doubt you again. Here was a magnificent opportunity, much like the character Paulinas bringing back to life the queen in Shakespeares The Winters Tale, to confront a jealous husband through tableaux vivants and pull off a tale of forgiveness and moral largesse (both of which we are much in need of today.) Its there in Boccaccio.

Day 4 of Synetics buffet-on-Boccaccio reminds us of the companys strength in movement-styled silent storytelling. Dealing with text demands rigor and serious time to excavate as the company has done in its best works.

Day 4 of Synetic Theaters The Decameron debuted July 13, 2020.

Tickets to watch The Decameronseries start at just $10 and are available now.

DCTS reviewsThe Decameron

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Review: Synetic Theater's The Decameron, Day 4. - DC Theatre Scene

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