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Justice looks back at 'hard' 2020, expresses optimism for 2021 Parkersburg News The Link Lonk
Orchard Park, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott has a decision to make before Sunday’s home finale against the Miami Dolphins:
Should he play his starters and if so, for how long?
McDermott said on Thursday that there is a plan for how the Bills are going to utilize their roster on Sunday, he’s just not going to give it away before kick off.
Bills safety Micah Hyde, who’s celebrating his 30th birthday today, was asked what he thought about the possibility of sitting out this weekend.
“Honestly, it’s just nothing but competitive fire right now, for myself personally. I want to play,” Hyde said. “Whatever decisions obviously (that are made), I have no control over that. But I want to play and I want to go out there and compete. I feel like, it’s crazy that I’m saying this, it’s year eight (for me) and Week 17 and I still feel like I still have stuff to work on. I’m trying to go out there, compete and get better, and get some momentum rolling into the playoffs.”
The Bills have currently hold the no. 2 seed in the AFC and can lock it up officially with a win or a loss on Sunday. But that all depends on the Pittsburgh Steelers. If they win and the Bills lose, Buffalo will fall to the no. 3 seed. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin announced earlier this week that Ben Roethlisberger and some other notable starters will sit out against the Cleveland Browns, who are playing for their playoff lives. Those two factors could make the decision to sit certain players easier for McDermott, but Hyde still wants to play.
“You can come up with a whole bunch of different outcomes and scenarios of what might happen or whatever in this game. But ultimately as players and competitors, we want to play,” he said. “I want to be able to go out there and make plays and have that confidence going into the playoffs. Whatever decision is made and whatever we do, I’m sure Sean’s gonna have our backs for whatever the decision is.”
The Bills are going to face rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the first time this season. Ryan Fitzpatrick tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and has been ruled out for the game.
Hyde called Tagovailoa a good decision maker and said the goal is to make things difficult for the rookie on Sunday. The Bills are allowing just 16.8 points per game during their current five-game win streak. Tagovailoa has been benched twice this season since taking over the starting job from Fitzpatrick.
“He doesn’t force throws. He gets to his read and can check the ball down or whatever it may be and find open guys. Good arm and accurate. He puts the ball on the money when he throws it,” Hyde said. “It’s just something where we have to try and go out there and make it hard for him. Make the looks hard. Any young quarterback in this league not having the Tom Brady experience, you go out there and you try and make stuff sticky for him.”
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The Link Lonk
Nearly 1,400 small businesses in Massachusetts are slated to receive more than $60 million as part of the second round of grants from a state program that aims to assist companies hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Thursday.
Through the COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program, the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) has awarded 1,366 small businesses $67.4 in awards, according to a statement from Gov. Charlie Baker’s office.
The announcement comes a week after the governor announced the first round of payments from the grant program: nearly $49 million to 1,158 small businesses.
The governor’s office also announced Thursday it will start accepting applications from businesses that have been most impacted by COVID-19 for aid from the new Sector-Specific Small Business Relief Grant Program, which is also run by the MGCC.
Both the small business and sector-specific programs are part of a $668 million relief package the state unveiled last week. The fund seeks to help restaurants, retailers and other businesses hurt by the ongoing public health crisis.
“The commonwealth will begin awarding millions of dollars in new funding to restaurants, retailers and other small businesses as soon as next week,” Baker said after introducing the relief package on Dec. 23.
Roughly half of the small businesses that were notified of their successful grant applications Thursday are owned by minorities, and 48% are owned by women, the governor’s office noted in its statement.
The top sectors receiving relief from the second round of grants include restaurants and bars, beauty and personal services, health care and retail, according to the statement.
The MGCC is continuing to review existing applications for the small business grant program and will announce additional awards in the coming weeks to companies, the statement said.
Targeting industries experiencing the most economic hardship from the pandemic, the state’s sector-specific program is expected to offer grants of up to $75,000, but no more than three months of operating expenses. The funds may be used for payroll and employee benefit costs, mortgage interest, rent, utilities and interest on other debts, according to the commonwealth.
The online application portal for the program opened Thursday and will close Friday, Jan. 15. Awards are expected to be announced in February, the governor’s office said.
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The Link LonkBy Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) — For every athlete in every sport, it all ends eventually. Everybody knows this.
Everybody also knows that a few months shy of his 44th birthday, Zdeno Chara is much, much closer to that end than he’s ever been. There are surely no grandiose visions of a Norris-caliber season forthcoming from the NHL veteran of 22 seasons over 23 years.
Yet even accepting all of that, it’s truly difficult to make sense of the Bruins opting to dump their captain after 14 years of admirable leadership and play — especially when the captain was willing to basically play for free.
Yes, for the first since 2006, Zdeno Chara is not on the Bruins. He’s on the Capitals after signing a $795,000 contract, with salary that can rise as high as $1.525 million with bonuses. Of that bonus money, $480,000 of it would be considered likely to be earned, as Chara can earn $250,000 by playing 10 games and another $230,000 if the Capitals make the playoffs.
So call it a $1.275 million contract. For a veteran with Chara’s experience, that amounts to playing for free.
But the Bruins clearly didn’t want Chara anymore, if a $1.275 million contract was too rich for their blood.
Under different circumstances, this could be easy to understand. If, say, the Bruins had a wealth of young, left-shot defensemen who are ready to take on significant roles at the NHL level, one could see why the front office decided it was time for the young players to have their day. Or if the Bruins had already used Chara sparingly last year, or if the Bruins had a down year thanks in large part to a rapidly declining Chara, then a change would be painful but necessary.
But none of that is really true. And the Bruins’ decision to move on without Chara in their plans in any way remains a bit baffling for several reasons.
Kevan Miller Was Prioritized
Kevan Miller, Zdeno Chara (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Kevan Miller has played in 39 games since the start of the 2018-19 season. He missed the entire 2019 playoff run. He’s played in zero games since the start of last season. And when he has been healthy in his career, he’s been a third-pairing defenseman who brings an element of toughness to the lineup but not a tremendous amount more than that.
Yet on the very first day of free agency in October, general manager Don Sweeney made his first move of the offseason by … signing Kevan Miller. That deal was for $1.25 million, and he could make up to $2 million in bonuses.
In a vacuum, a $1.25 million cap hit for Kevan Miller is hardly noteworthy. But when the 14-year captain has to leave town and take a deal worth less, it certainly stands out as a rather strange priority for the Bruins to have made back in the beginning of October.
Chara Played A LOT For A Presidents’ Trophy-Winning Team
Sidney Crosby, Zdeno Chara (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
In life before the bubble, the Bruins were the NHL’s best team. The Bruins were the only team to record 100 points in the standings prior to the shutdown, six more than St. Louis, and eight more than Colorado and the eventual Cup winners in Tampa Bay.
The 2019-20 Bruins were very, very good.
And Zdeno Chara played a lot.
Despite the significant treadwear, Chara ranked second on the team in average time on ice, skating over 21 minutes in his 68 games played.
Only one player — Charlie McAvoy, who was Chara’s D pair — skated more minutes per night.
And only four skaters — David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Charlie Cole and Sean Kuraly — played in more games.
The Chara-McAvoy pairing was deployed consistently against opposing team’s top lines.
Chara had a 64.3 percent defensive zone start rate, indicating that Bruce Cassidy trusted Chara more than anyone else to defend the end of the ice for the team that allowed the fewest goals in the entire NHL.
For comparison, McAvoy’s defensive zone start rate was 50.4 percent, and he ranked second on the team among D-men.
Chara also led the team with 216 minutes played on the penalty kill, which was the third-best unit at killing penalties in the NHL. Only Brandon Carlo (3:07 shorthanded time on ice per game) was close to Chara’s 3:11 per game; McAvoy averaged 1:49, and Matt Grzelcyk averaged 1:01.
Once again, when Cassidy really needed a lockdown D-man, he had just one place to look.
The point of all of this is to say that Zdeno Chara was a critical piece of the Bruins’ defensive game last season, when they allowed the fewest goals in the NHL. And he did it for a $2 million base salary and $3.5 million overall.
Strictly in terms of on-ice performance, he was a tremendous value in 2019-2020.
Play The Young Guys? Which Ones?
Urho Vaakanainen (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
There’s an idea going around that Chara was blocking a path to the NHL for younger players who are ready to make the leap. It’ll be interesting to hear which players Sweeney identifies in this group, because it’s not immediately clear on its own.
John Moore, who inexplicably made $2.25 million to play in just 24 games last season, figures to get a boost in playing time. He’s a 30-year-old for whom Sweeney overpaid in the summer of 2018. The Bruins have not had a tremendous need for him in the past two years, and that doesn’t change now.
Among actual young players to get a chance, the Bruins have Jeremy Lauzon (23 years old), Urho Vaakanainen (22 years old), and Jakub Zboril (23 years old). They may be ready to make jumps — and in the case of Zboril (two career NHL games played) and Vaakanainen (seven games), they would be massive jumps — but generally championship-caliber teams take care to ease young D-men into the picture, rather than leaning heavily on them right out of the gate.
The Timing Stinks
Zdeno Chara is introduced prior to Game 7 of the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Final. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
When the Bruins were eliminated from the playoffs on Aug. 31, broadcast legend Doc Emrick immediately began the conversation about Chara’s time in Boston possibly being over. Chara was asked about it after the game and said that he hadn’t made any decisions just yet.
Yet given the work that Chara puts in every offseason, it’s fair to assume that the extreme worker made his decision to play some time before Dec. 30. Nevertheless, it seems as though the Bruins didn’t key Chara in to their plans until very, very late in the game.
Add in all of the charity work and the community work that Chara does in and around Boston, and the father of three might have preferred to have his life sorted out during a pandemic sooner than the day before New Year’s Eve.
If the Bruins wanted to move on from Chara, then that is obviously their prerogative. If they didn’t let him know until late December, they simply owed more to the man who led their team for a decade and a half.
Yes, professional sports is a business. But it’s still possible to do the right thing for somebody who deserves it.
Culture Shock
Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Zdeno Chara has been a captain since 2006. He played a significant role in helping to elevate the Bruins from the NHL’s basement to the class of the league. He may not have been the stereotypical vocal leader in the locker room, but he was a fierce and intense leader who set a certain tone and maintained a standard that remained a common thread from the Bruins’ steady rise from 2007-10 all the way through his final season in Boston.
Losing a leader like Chara may not be quantifiable, but it’s certainly no small thing.
The Bruins also lost a captain-in-the-making in Torey Krug this offseason. Krug earned the captaincy at Michigan State as a sophomore, and he was a two-year captain in East Lansing before joining the Bruins. On a team overflowing with quality leadership, Krug didn’t wear a letter in Boston. But he carried himself as a well-liked teammate and consummate pro.
Now that the Bruins have moved on from both players without really trying to sign them, it’s fair to expect some type of dip in locker room morale. While such a matter may get pooh-poohed from an analytics standpoint, the fact is that in a sport as emotional as hockey, leadership matters. And in a year where arenas are expected to be empty, teams are going to rely on their energy and spirit now more than ever.
Having a guy who was willing to play in a Stanley Cup Final game with his jaw wired shut, when he couldn’t open his mouth to speak or eat? A guy who could skate a three-minute shift and finish it off with a fist fight … in his 40s? That’s something that could prove useful to have in the upcoming, unprecedented season.
Patrice Bergeron surely can be a great captain, as he’s been leading as the alternate captain in his own quiet way for as long as anyone can remember. (Seriously, was Bergeron born with the A sewn on his sweater? It actually first appeared way back in 2006, Chara’s first year as captain. How fitting.)
Yet even if the plan to play less experienced D-men pays off in spades, there’s no way to downplay the loss of both Chara and Krug in a single offseason will have on the team — on and off the ice.
Again, there comes a time for every player’s tenure with a team to end. Sometimes it makes more sense than others. In this case, despite the player being leaned on significantly last season and despite the enormous impact the player has had on the team and the Boston community, Sweeney has decided that Chara’s time has come.
If the GM isn’t right, and things go sideways for a team that dominated the NHL last season before the shutdown? Well, Sweeney will just have to hope that doesn’t happen. The effect of multiple poor signings and a decision as monumental as this one will certainly catch up to him if that is indeed the case.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
The Link Lonk
Just hours before the UK was to complete its break from the 27-nation bloc, Madrid and London clinched an agreement in principle.
An 11th-hour breakthrough in protracted negotiations will keep open Gibraltar’s crucial border with Spain following the United Kingdom’s full departure from the European Union, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya announced Thursday.
Just hours before the UK was to complete its break from the 27-nation bloc, Madrid and London clinched “an agreement in principle” that means people in the speck of British territory on Spain’s southern tip “can breathe a sigh of relief,” González Laya said.
The key to the deal is that The Rock, whose sovereignty is disputed by Spain and Britain, will remain subject to rules in use in Europe’s Schengen area, she said.
That area consists of about two dozen nations that have agreed to eliminate general travel checks among them. Britain is not in the Schengen group.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement the negotiating teams wanted to “ensure border fluidity, which is clearly in the best interests of the people living on both sides.”
The compromise agreement between Spain and the UK will be sent to Brussels, where the European Commission will enter into negotiations with London to turn it into a treaty, González Laya said.
She said she expected the treaty to be signed within six months.
González Laya said the agreement’s technical details, such as how Gibraltar’s port and airport will be policed, will be published in the new year. A major hurdle in the negotiations was whether EU representatives could be stationed in the British territory.
Spain is to ensure that Gibraltar abides by Schengen rules.
In the UK’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96 percent of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. They faced the possibility of entering the new year with tight new controls on what for decades has been an open border with the bloc through Spain.
A lot was riding on the outcome for Gibraltar, which needs access to the EU market for its tiny economy. The territory is home to around 34,000 people.
More than 15,000 people live in Spain and work in Gibraltar, making up about 50 percent of its labor market.
Gibraltar wasn’t part of the Brexit trade deal between the EU and the UK, which was announced on Christmas Eve.
The territory was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain maintains its claim to sovereignty over it. That dispute has occasionally flared.
Sitting next to a fan on a hot, November day, Benito Encinas was trying to help a potential customer track down a lawnmower.
“They didn’t give you a price?” he asked the man.
But no one had what the customer was looking for at a local flea market in the Sonoran capital Hermosillo.
Normally such items are in ample supply. But since the pandemic, fewer people have been going to buy or sell, in part because restocking has become much more difficult.
“It was in March, like the fifteenth,” Encinas said, recollecting the last time he crossed into the United States.
Encinas is a tianguista, that means he sells goods at a flea market. He makes his living buying used goods at U.S. garage sales, and selling them back in Mexico. But most tianguistas haven’t been able to cross to restock since March, when pandemic restrictions went into effect for northbound border crossers. While U.S. citizens have largely been able to cross back and forth without issue, Encinas and his colleagues have been cut off from their supply.
That’s a unique hardship in his business, but many in Mexico’s broader informal economy have had a turbulent time during the pandemic.
“In Mexico before the pandemic, the informal sector was about 56%” of the workforce, said economist Norma Samaniego, who specializes in labor markets.
It’s a diverse group that includes street food vendors, domestic workers, unregistered small businesses and many others. What they share is low pay and few benefits, according to Samaniego.
“The informal sector fell hard,” she said of the impact of early pandemic control measures.
In a recent paper, she estimated that more than 90% of job losses in April were informal positions.
Despite the scale of economic hardship across the country, she said Mexico hasn’t offered much financial assistance to workers and businesses, and that the government could do more.
In mid-October, dozens of tianguistas and other informal workers protested in front of the Congress of Sonora, eventually forcing their way in, as captured by local news outlet Diario Valor.
According to the union representing Sonoran tianguistas, activists have since met with state leaders to discuss their demands, like including financial support for workers in the budget. But there’s been little progress on their demand to be able to cross the border.
And that has Encinas worried.
“We’re going to run out of merchandise, and we’re going to have to close down here,” he said, adding that the majority of his fellow tianguistas are in a similarly tight spot.
A version of this story originally ran in Fronteras on Nov. 30, 2020.
Which essential workers should be prioritized for vaccines?
Front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities are getting the shots first, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. Essential workers will be considered next, but with limited vaccine doses and a lot of workers considered essential, the jockeying has already started over which ones should go to the front of the line: meatpacking workers, pilots, bankers and ride-share drivers among them. The CDC will continue to consider how to best distribute the vaccine, but ultimately it’s up to each state to decide who gets the shots when.
Could relaxing patents help poorer countries get vaccines faster?
The world’s poorest countries may not be able to get any vaccine at all until 2024, by one estimate. To deliver vaccines to the world’s poor sooner that, some global health activists want to waive intellectual property protections on vaccines, medicines and diagnostics. India, South Africa and Kenya have asked the World Trade Organization to allow pharmaceutical plants in the developing world to manufacture patented drugs without having to worry about lawsuits. The United States, Britain and the European Union, have repeatedly rejected the proposal at the WTO.
The Pfizer vaccine has to be kept in extreme cold at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. And keeping it that cold requires dry ice. Where does that dry ice come from?
Also, is there enough of it to go around? And how much is it going to cost? The demand for dry ice is about to spike, and a whole bunch of industries are worried. Now, dry ice sells for $1 to $3 a pound. While the vaccine gets priority, smaller businesses and nonessential industries may end up losing out.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A mutant variant of the coronavirus that appears to be more contagious has been found in Southern California, where the state’s most populous county recorded more than 10,000 deaths and authorities warned they will be patrolling streets to shut down large New Year’s Eve gatherings that could spread the infection.
Los Angeles County reached a “terrible milestone” with 274 additional deaths in 24 hours for a record toll of 10,056 deaths, Los Angeles County Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced Wednesday.
The COVID-19 daily death toll over 14 days has averaged about 150 people, or “about equal to the number of deaths from all other causes, which is about 170,” said Ferrer. “Most heartbreaking is that if we had done a better job reducing transmission of the virus, many of these deaths would not have happened.”
The county, which has had about 40% of the state’s virus deaths, is one of nearly two dozen in Southern California and the agricultural San Joaquin Valley area where hospital intensive care units have technically run out of room, although ICU patients are being placed in other hospital areas under “surge” procedures.
Meanwhile, California became the second state after Colorado to report finding a new strain of the virus that was first confirmed in the United Kingdom.
The patient, who developed symptoms on Dec. 27, is a 30-year-old San Diego County man who didn’t have any history of travel, which could indicate that someone else already had brought the new strain into the state, officials said.
It is common for viruses to undergo minor changes as they reproduce and move through a population. Scientists have found no evidence that the variant is more lethal or causes more severe illness, and they believe the vaccines now being dispensed will be effective against it. But the fear is that mutations at some point will become significant enough to defeat the vaccines.
Also, a faster-spreading virus could swamp hospitals with seriously ill patients.
In L.A. County, more than 1 in 4 COVID-19 patients sent to hospitals are winding up in ICUs, according to county figures. The struggle to find places for the most seriously ill means “it’s not just the virus that’s proving fatal, but also the nightmare scenario of Angelenos dying because they cannot get the appropriate care from overwhelmed ICUs,” Ferrer said.
The cases triggered a host of questions about how the version circulating in England arrived in the U.S. and whether it is too late to stop it now, with top experts saying it is probably already spreading elsewhere in the United States.
Public health officials also began warning of stricter enforcement of stay-home orders that aim to reduce COVID-19 spread by keeping people from mingling outside of their households. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said hospitalizations and deaths linked to Christmas gatherings may show up in two or three weeks because of the infection’s lag time, and any New Year’s Eve gatherings could start to overwhelm hospitals later in January in a third virus surge.
“If you mix and mingle with people outside your household, it’s likely medical care will not be available when it’s needed in a few weeks,” Garcetti said. “We will feel it in our homes, in our ICU units, and in our morgues.”
Garcetti said police will be out enforcing public health rules that prohibit large gatherings and the city had disconnected utilities on Tuesday at a “chronic party house” in the Hollywood Hills.
Hours after the new COVID-19 variant was detected Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order directing stricter enforcement of state and local public health rules.
Gloria said he had asked police and the city attorney to pursue fines “and potentially other enforcement actions” against those who are “blatantly and egregiously” defying health orders.
Gloria praised residents who follow the rules, stay home as much as possible and wear masks when outside.
“Many have sacrificed their social lives for the greater good. Others have treated this with a sickening level of apathy as their neighbors died,” he said.
___
Thompson reported from Sacramento.
A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus
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New Year’s Day is a common time for people to look back at their lives and to make a commitment to
resolving to live some aspect of life differently. But a fresh start in 2021 might be more challenging than in the past.
Changing behavior often requires adjusting the environment and the people we spend time with, but the pandemic, which is likely to be with us for some months, will make it hard to change those aspects. In addition, inspiration to do new things often requires coming into contact with new people and new ideas — something that the pandemic makes difficult.
There are things people can do despite this pandemic to make sure they accomplish their goals.
The first is to reevaluate our time. The anxiety and uncertainty of the pandemic have led people to engage in comforting behaviors. Early in the pandemic, that meant eating. Now, many people have settled into routines that involve a lot of distraction, such as binge-watching, doomscrolling or playing video games.
Time is precious. We need to ask ourselves: How much time are we spending on social media? How many television shows are we watching?
Chances are that a few hours a day could be reclaimed to do something that will expand our perspective. Extra time at home is also an opportunity to improve a skill, whether it is learning to play an instrument, engaging in artistic pursuits or picking up a hobby. The point is, we can do all that and still keep up with our favorite television show.
We also need to make sure we foster relationships with others. During the pandemic, many of our social relationships have become superficial. There aren’t many chances to visit with friends.
Calling a friend on the phone can also seem unappealing. For one thing, the volume of Zoom meetings can make anyone want to avoid talking when the work day is done. For another, it can be difficult to coordinate schedules with other people, particularly if they are dealing with family care responsibilities.
One thought: Consider going old-school. Make a list of friends. Then, write them each a letter. Fill them in on what you have been doing, what you’re thinking about, and what you remember about them. Not only will you brighten their day when they receive it, you may just find that your own mail deliveries contain something other than bills and junk.
But perhaps the most important thing to do is to disrupt the daily routine. The reason routines are so comforting is that people engage in them without thinking. The time of day and the environment remind us of the next thing to do. Changing that routine requires explicit intervention.
Simple changes are the best. For instance, buy a vegetable you haven’t eaten before and then look for a recipe that includes it. Swap music recommendations with a friend. Try a new exercise. Pick at least one thing each week to do differently. Over time, those little changes distinguish between the days and foster hope.
We are living through history. As endless as these days may seem right now, a few things can help for the new year, and someday, you’ll be glad that you captured how you felt during the pandemic of 2020.
Art Markman is executive director of the IC2 Institute and a professor of psychology human dimensions of organizations and marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the author of “Smart Change.”
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John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Gordon all practiced today for the first time since being forced to quarantine after an ill-fated haircut last week, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The Rockets‘ Dec. 23 season opener was canceled because they didn’t have enough active players, and they were short-handed for the two games that followed.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Wall said. “All I did was get a haircut in my apartment. And one of the teammates tested positive and the next four or five tests I had all came back negative. So, I was like ‘Oh, it was me and three people can’t get a haircut.’ I’d rather get a haircut in my apartment than be in a barbershop somewhere where random people are coming in constantly. Even the barber tested negative. That was a frustrating thing.”
Assuming no more setbacks, Wall will play his first game in more than two years on Thursday. He and Cousins, who responded to the quarantine with an online post of an angry emoji, will both make their debuts with the Rockets.
“It’s tough in general to be sitting around for seven days, no type of activity,” Cousins said. “It’s tough for any person, but especially for a professional athlete, sitting at home for seven days straight then jumping back in a full-speed practice or game. There’s not a lot of positive on that side.”
There’s more from Houston:
As he learned on Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had blocked a proposal to provide $2,000 in direct pandemic-relief, James Beard award-winning chef Chris Shepherd’s first thought was for hospitality workers who “are going to get crushed.”
The $600 that was included in the Coronavirus Relief Package is “not even close” to what many of these workers need, Shepherd says. “That’s sad.”
Shepherd, executive chef and owner of the restaurant group Underbelly Hospitality in Houston, has been doing what he can for all types of workers in the food and beverage industry suffering as a result of Covid-19 through his foundation, Southern Smoke.
Founded more than five years ago to raise money for a friend stricken with Multiple Sclerosis, Southern Smoke evolved to provide emergency relief in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Texas in 2017. “When Covid showed its face, we were set up to be able to [respond],” Shepherd says.
This year, the foundation has received more than 32,000 applications for relief, and has granted $4.3 million to 2,200 individuals across the country. To date, the fund has raised about $10 million, including $3.3 million from the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation and $1 million donated by chef David Chang from his winnings on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in late November.
Chang’s gift will help ensure the foundation starts the year out strong, which Shepherd believes will be necessary as more and more restaurants will be unable to open amid indoor dining restrictions.
“The need will be driving really hard pretty soon,” Shepherd says. In cities like Chicago, New York, and Boston, which currently don’t allow indoor dining, the impact will be devastating, he says.
Southern Smoke will take requests for aid from any worker in the food and beverage industry—whether a busser, dishwasher, waiter, or bartender. Even farmers, distillery, and winery workers, and food and alcohol delivery drivers who have proof of being in the industry for a minimum of six months and an average of 30 hours per week, can qualify.
Grants have ranged from a few hundred dollars to close to $10,000, depending on need. Each application is evaluated by a case manager—Southern Smoke has hired about 30 since the pandemic began, all former restaurant workers. Some workers need funding for medication they can no longer afford, while others are trying to ward off eviction. The case managers argue for each of their applicants before an awards committee once a day, says Lindsey Brown, co-founder of the foundation.
In Chicago, Southern Smoke is also overseeing the Chicago Restaurant Workers Relief Fund, dedicated specifically to restaurant, bar, and coffee shop employees, and funded with $4 million from a single private donor. Shepherd says he has “no idea who it is.”
So far, however, few workers have applied, but Brown notes that it took awhile for the word to get out on the funding available in Houston.
Shepherd’s own restaurants, which include Georgia James, One/Fifth, and UB Preserve, are running at only 45% capacity now, but he doesn’t know when his own employees seek aid from the foundation. That’s by design—it’s “strategic for me not to know,” he says, because he would immediately say “I know that person—take care of them.”
LAREDO, Texas—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge seized methamphetamine that totaled over $2.5 million in street value in one enforcement action.
“While drug trafficking organizations employ a variety of methods to smuggle their illicit product, CBP officers continue to utilize high-tech tools coupled with inspection experience to interdict these narcotics and keep our communities safe,” said Acting Port Director Eugene Crawford, Laredo Port of Entry.
The seizure occurred on Monday, December 28th, when a CBP officer assigned to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge referred a 2013 Kia Optima for secondary inspection. The vehicle was driven by a 19-year-old male U.S. citizen traveling from Mexico. CBP officers examined the vehicle utilizing a non-intrusive imaging system examination, resulting in the discovery of 100 packages totaling 128.83 pounds of methamphetamine hidden within the vehicle.
The narcotics have an estimated street value of $2,576,736.
CBP officers seized the narcotics and vehicle. The driver was arrested and the case was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) special agents for further investigation.
For more information about CBP, please click on the attached link.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Laredo Field Office on Twitter at @DFOLaredo and on Instagram at @dfolaredo for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos.
The Link Lonk
State public health officials are expected to brief reporters at 11 a.m.
Hope and uncertainty are the best words to describe Minnesota’s COVID-19 data this week.
Tuesday’s report marked the first time since early October that new daily case counts fell below 1,000, but it came on low testing, making it difficult to draw any conclusions.
The death toll, however, continues to climb.
Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:
5,196 deaths (36 more)
411,110 positive cases (988 new), 393,506 off isolation (96 percent)
5.5 million tests, 3 million people tested (about 52 percent of the population)
6.3 percent seven-day positive test rate (officials find 5 percent concerning)
The count of known, active cases in Minnesota fell below 13,000 for the first time since late October, part of an overall slowdown in caseloads since their late November, early December peak.
Hospitalization trends have also improved significantly over the past two weeks. As of Monday, 966 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 in Minnesota, with 214 needing intensive care.
Overall, the path remains hard to chart. Holiday week statistics are making it hard to say how Minnesota’s COVID-19 outbreak is changing.
State health officials have warned that the improving picture could change dramatically if people don’t stay vigilant. They continue to implore people to wear masks in indoor gathering spaces, socially distance and take other measures to help stem the spread of COVID-19.
People in their 20s still make up the age bracket with the state’s largest number of confirmed cases — more than 78,000 since the pandemic began, including nearly 42,000 among people ages 20 to 24.
The number of high school-age youth confirmed with the disease has also grown, with nearly 32,000 total cases among those ages 15 to 19 since the pandemic began.
Although less likely to feel the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts worry youth and young adults will spread it to grandparents and other vulnerable populations.
It’s especially concerning because people can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they don’t have symptoms.
Central and western Minnesota drove much of the increase in new cases over the past two months, while Hennepin and Ramsey counties showed some of the slowest case growth in the state.
Cases continue to fall statewide, with most regions dipping down to levels before the state’s COVID-19 surge that hit in November and early December.
Hot spots continue to pop up in rural counties relative to their population.
In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 has hit communities of color disproportionately hard in both cases and deaths. That’s been especially true for Minnesotans of Hispanic descent for much of the pandemic.
Even as new case counts ease from their peak a few weeks ago, the data shows people of color continue to be hit hardest.
Distrust of the government, together with deeply rooted health and economic disparities, have hampered efforts to boost testing among communities of color, officials say, especially among unauthorized immigrants who fear their personal information may be used to deport them.
Similar trends have been seen among Minnesota’s Indigenous residents. Counts among Indigenous people jumped in October relative to population.
Nearly two weeks into Minnesota's vaccine distribution program, about 38,000 people have received their first shots.
Many hospitals started vaccinating their front-line workers the week of Dec. 21, with a few starting days before that. Long-term care providers started vaccinating residents this week, with nearly 600 given so far.
The state has so far received nearly 80,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and nearly 95,000 of the Moderna vaccine. That vaccine is mostly being used to inoculate people living and working in skilled nursing facilities.
The state is on track to get 250,000 doses by the end of the year.
After initially saying it would update numbers weekly, the Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday it will be updating vaccination counts daily.
Minneapolis firefighters and emergency personnel have started to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
Dozens lined up to get their shots at the city's emergency operations training center Tuesday morning.
Up first was Minneapolis Fire Chief Bryan Tyner.
"I don't feel like as chiefs we can ask people to do something that we're not willing to do ourselves," Tyner said.
Firefighters will be followed by city and Metro Transit police. The city is working through which employees will need the vaccine next.
”We're going to make sure that that all city employees who want to get vaccinated are able to, but we're definitely going to take care of the ones who are higher risk first,” said Toni Hauser, the emergency preparedness manager for the Minneapolis Health Department.
Hauser said the city is weighing factors such as close regular contact with the public and how essential the employees’ jobs are.
Emergency personnel are included in the same priority group as frontline health care workers and nursing home residents.
— Peter Cox | MPR News
Minnesota student athletes must wear masks at all practices and games — even during high-exertion sports such as hockey and basketball, state officials said Monday.
There are exceptions for swimmers while they're in the water, as well as wrestlers, and certain gymnastics and cheerleading routines.
The regulations came as part of the new COVID-19 guidance for youth winter sports. In November, Gov. Tim Walz ordered a “pause” on prep sports as part of a larger effort to minimize public gatherings to stop the disease’s spread.
Under the new guidance, teams can conditionally begin games and scrimmages with other teams starting Jan. 14. Practices, which can start next Monday, may not include more than 25 people.
— Matt Sepic | MPR News
As state COVID-19 relief goes out, some will miss out: Initial state aid payments for businesses that will be sent out soon won't help some Minnesota restaurants struggling with the latest round of COVID-19 restrictions because of how they fared when regulations were loosened earlier.
Amid ongoing pandemic, another state legislative session looms on Zoom: Lawmakers have been working remotely for months due to the pandemic, but the increased workload of a budget session presents new challenges that still need to be worked out, including how members of the public can interact with lawmakers.
Little Falls bus driver who delivered meals now awaits students' return: Back in March, when COVID-19 forced schools to shut down, Melanie Van Alst delivered meals — and sometimes homework — to homebound students who attend Little Falls Community Schools. But in November, when COVID-19 cases spiked in the region, the district switched to distance learning, and bus drivers were no longer needed.
First reported U.S. case of COVID-19 variant found in Colorado: The first reported U.S. case of the COVID-19 variant that’s been seen in the United Kingdom has been discovered in Colorado. The state’s Gov. Jared Polis and health officials announced Tuesday that the case was found in a man in his 20s who's in isolation and has no travel history.
Trump's $2,000 checks stalls in Senate as GOP blocks vote: President Donald Trump's push for bigger $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks stalled out Tuesday in the Senate as Republicans blocked a swift vote proposed by Democrats and split within their own ranks over whether to boost spending or defy the White House.
COVID vaccinations ramp up in Minn. long-term care: Staff and residents in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities across the state began getting their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Monday, a hopeful sign in an industry hard-hit by the virus.
Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health's cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at the Health Department website.
You make MPR News possible. Individual donations are behind the clarity in coverage from our reporters across the state, stories that connect us, and conversations that provide perspectives. Help ensure MPR remains a resource that brings Minnesotans together.
Jewell Myers felt the first “boom” from her next-door neighbor’s living room.
She leapt from her seat. The walls quaked. Glass shattered.
“That’s my house,” the 81-year-old said aloud, walking outside to find a plume of black smoke billowing from a pile of burning debris, where her home once stood at 6063 Doulton Drive.
A gas leak on Sunday ignited a massive explosion at Myers’ residence of nearly 50 years, nestled in a vast residential neighborhood in southeast Houston. A series of blasts knocked the home off its foundation, launched debris into neighbors’ yards and ignited fires at the adjacent properties.
Luckily, no one was injured. A strong gaseous odor inside the home prompted Myers to call CenterPoint’s emergency line and take refuge with the neighbor. Her husband, DeLover Burns, 81, waited in a car in the driveway as the home went up in flames.
“I just thank God that all of this stuff can be replaced in time,” said Myers. “But my life and his life couldn’t have been replaced.”
Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Michael Mire said it was “extremely fortunate” no one was injured or killed, and that the impact was mostly contained to three houses.
A spokesperson for CenterPoint said the cause of the gas leak remains under investigation.
Myers said she first smelled the gas Sunday morning from her bathroom. She went to the kitchen to take her medication and turned on the stove to make tea. A flame shot up from the burner with smoke emanating from the top.
“We need to get out of here,” she recalls saying.
The home exploded around 11 a.m., one hour after she called CenterPoint. She said the stove had not been left on. She guessed that it could have been caused by a malfunction on the appliance.
Since the blast, Myers has been trying to stay positive. She can’t help but cry when she thinks of all family mementos lost in the blaze, as well as her medication and clothes and furniture.
“It’s just hard to even look at,” she said.
She raised all of her six kids there. When she bought the home in 1971, her oldest was 13 and youngest was 3. She remembers the whole family sitting at a table, finishing schoolwork while she completed her work from nursing school.
“I grew up with my kids,” said Myers, who worked most of her life as a registered nurse.
On Tuesday, several of Myers’ children and grandchildren sifted through the charred remains. They recovered a few photos from a desk and an urn that protected the ashes of Myers’ second-oldest child. A Christmas Day ham was shoveled from a blackened freezer. Only the stove and the wooden shell of a room were left standing.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Myers and Burns recuperate. The couple is staying with her daughter in Missouri City until they can find a temporary place to live.
The loss devastated multiple generations of the family. Nicholas Mitchell, Myers’ 26-year-old grandson, visited the home Christmas Day with his mother for a typical holiday get-together.
He said he lived there for a time, and he fondly remembers watching fireworks from the roof.
“She had a perfect view of the city,” he said.
Joe Briscoe, Myers’ son-in-law, who lives in Georgia, recalls Myers’ skillful cooking and abundant meals.
“Talk about having a cook, she could do it — anything they wanted,” he said. “Just a beautiful time.”
Myers’ youngest daughter, Yvette Vanison, said they will cherish those memories forever.
“Most of all, (I’ll miss) the times we shared growing up in this house,” she said.
julian.gill@chron.com
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