WHAT'S BREWING
BIDEN: 'HARD TO ENVISION' HOW THE DNC GOES AHEAD Former Vice President Joe Biden said he didn’t see how the Democratic Party could hold its national convention as scheduled in July as cases of COVID-19 continue to spike around the country. “It’s hard to envision that,” Biden, the leading Democratic candidate, told MSNBC’s Brian Williams. “Again, we should listen to the scientists.” [HuffPost]
THE ABORTION BAN IN TEXAS IS BACK ON An abortion ban in Texas during the coronavirus outbreak can temporarily continue, a federal appeals court ruled. Patients may not receive an abortion in the state unless it is medically necessary to preserve their life or health. Providers who violate the executive order could face a fine of up to $1,000 or 180 days of jail time. [HuffPost]
GOP-LED STATES LAG IN SOCIAL DISTANCING A new study has found that states with GOP governors or a majority-Republican electorate have lagged behind their Democratic counterparts by nearly three days in instituting social distancing policies amid the coronavirus pandemic. While the gap may initially appear to be small, the difference could translate into a significant number of human lives with a disease that can spread explosively in a single day. [HuffPost]
TEXAS SHERIFF TRIES TO FREE INMATES AT RISK OF COVID-19 Faced with the looming threat of the coronavirus, Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez two weeks ago issued a “compassionate release” plan to complement an arrest-reduction strategy that shrank the jail population from 9,100 to 8,500 in just a few weeks. The new plan would have removed several hundred more elderly or ill defendants from jail. But on March 20, Judge Herb Ritchie issued a general order limiting the defendants eligible for release. [HuffPost]
POLLUTION MAKES CORONAVIRUS SO MUCH MORE DANGEROUS As the SARS virus tore through China in 2003, Zuo-Feng Zhang wondered whether the country’s notoriously polluted air might be amplifying its dangers. Sifting through data from five different regions, Zhang’s team concluded that SARS patients living in the most polluted places were twice as likely to die from the disease as those in the cleanest areas. The implications for the current pandemic are dire. [Huff-Post]
SHE BEGGED FOR MERCY, BUT HER PARENTS' POWER GOT CUT Angela Haislip begged the power company not to cut off service to her elderly mother and stepfather, both stroke victims who depend on oxygen machines and nebulizers to breathe. In more than 20 years, her parents had “never, ever, ever missed a payment” to the Halifax Electric Membership Corp., the power cooperative that serves rural Warren County, North Carolina, she said. But amid the pandemic, they fell behind. [HuffPost] | 
0 comments:
Post a Comment