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A Teachers Union Shaped CDC School Guidance. Is That a Problem?
The influence of the union has prompted debate over its role in scientific decision making. BY HANNAH THOMASY June 10, 2021 WHEN THE U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued much-anticipated guidelines for school reopening in February, some critics argued that the nation’s premier health agency had set unreasonably strict standards for schools to follow. But the two largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, long hesitant about reopening schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic, rallied in support of the document. “For the first time since the start of this pandemic, we have a rigorous road map, based on science, that our members can…
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The Freeway Flag
I was driving home today and saw a faded American flag hanging on a freeway bridge near Rancho Cucamonga. I figured it was probably from one of the local Marines that was killed last year in Kabul during our shameful exit from Afghanistan. So here’s my question: Why hasn’t anyone who played a part in this foreign policy disaster been fired? None of the high ranking military officers, cabinet secretaries, and other experienced officials were really held accountable for this debacle. Our military left billions of dollars in military equipment behind, abandoned a valuable airport, left Americans in Afghanistan, and the marines were killed on their watch. Nothing. I wonder…
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Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas
June 21, 2022 The rapid gains Republican women have made since 2018 could be a signal for how the party fares in this year’s midterms Mayra Flores was sworn in on Tuesday, becoming Texas’ first Republican Latina to join Congress. Flores’ victory also sets a new milestone: A historic high of 147 women overall and a record 41 Republican women now hold congressional seats, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University. Born in Mexico to migrant farmworkers, Flores is a first-time candidate who defeated her Democratic opponent this month in Texas’s 34th congressional district, which is historically Democratic. Flores’ addition to Congress…
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What cicadas taught me about loss, mortality
By Jordan Hernandez May 25, 2021 Billions of Brood X cicadas are above ground for the first time in 17 years. After a year of loss, distance, and personal grief, it feels especially symbolic. The first time I saw a cicada, I wanted to eat it. I was 10, and well into my second summer in North Carolina after moving there from the Midwest. I had spent the day ripping holes in my denim shorts and playing in sprinklers with the neighborhood kids, and was walking home, barefoot and tired. It looked like a piece of candy. Before I could take a bite, it crumbled between my fingertips with a…
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For Advocate of Voters With Disabilities, Polls Present Obstacles
Arlene Schulman | Tuesday, November 3,2020 Edith Prentiss wheeled across the ramp into her polling site in Washington Heights on Election Day and sighed. She pointed to the incline between the ramp and doorway of the Moriah Senior Center in Washington Heights. “This ramp,” the longtime advocate said, “is state of the art but there’s not sufficient coverage.” A voter stumbled over the ramp as he entered. Prentiss called poll workers over to inspect what might seem like a minor inconvenience but can hinder or prevent people with disabilities from entering polling sites. The Americans with Disabilities Act 2016 checklist for accessible polling places includes accommodations for parking and stresses…
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The Federal Government Gave Billions to America’s Schools for COVID-19 Relief. Where Did the Money Go?
The Education Department’s limited tracking of $190 billion in pandemic support funds sent to schools has left officials in the dark about how effective the aid has been in helping students. by Annie Waldman and Bianca FortisOct. 20, 2021, 12:30 p.m. EDT After the pandemic shut down schools across the country, the federal government provided about $190 billion in aid to help them reopen and respond to the effects of the pandemic. In the year and a half since millions of children were sent home, the Education Department has done only limited tracking of how the money has been spent. That has left officials in Washington largely in the dark…
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Why Are There Toilet Paper Shortages around the World?
Saturday, March 21, 2020 There are a few explanations for the run on toilet paper, but one basic economic lesson explains the shortage. Americans have seen scarcity, bailouts, price fluctuations, and epidemics before, but one thing seems to set the coronavirus emergency apart: The toilet paper. Shelves where the product once was stored are bare—and not just in the US. The United Kingdom has experienced similar shortages, leading consumers to purchase toilet paper substitutes (at the risk of the sewage system), and an Australian newspaper went so far as to print eight blank pages in a recent issue to be used in case of emergency for, you guessed it, toilet…
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Impending Zoom: New Exposé Shows Teachers Union Influenced CDC School Reopening Guidelines
Monday, May 3, 2021 by Kerry McDonald Backroom dealings between a powerful government agency and a powerful public sector labor union are concerning, to say the least. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was preparing to release school reopening guidelines in February suggesting that in-person learning would be acceptable even if a community had high coronavirus case rates. After a meeting with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest teachers union, the CDC allegedly backpedaled and revised their guidelines about in-person instruction, using wording provided by the AFT. The New York Post broke the story on Saturday using emails received through a Freedom of Information…
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A Boy Went to a COVID-Swamped ER. He Waited for Hours. Then His Appendix Burst.
To have so many ICU beds pressed into service for a single diagnosis is “unheard of,” said Dr. Hasan Kakli, an emergency room physician at Bellville Medical Center in Bellville, Texas, about an hour from Houston. “It’s approaching apocalyptic.”
