#they opened a new medical school with about 80 seats this year and it received 6500 applications

[alveolaraspergillosis]

guys who wants to help me prepare for medical school interviews apparently this is how they're evaluating me

[theparanormalperiodical]

Top 10 Controversial Horror Films That Are Famous For All The Wrong Reasons *gags* *cries*

At the beating heart of horror is offence.

From that undeniable sense of something not being quite right, to the CGI-blood-spurtin’-adrenaline-fuelled scenes that leave us shaking in our boots, horror pivots on the knife edge of controversy.

It’s used to drive plots. It’s used to drive hype. And at the end of the month, it drives studio executives to the bank.

Horror films can be traumatic enough. But there are some films that bear the cross of controversy more than others. There are some films that have been branded as so damaging to their potential viewers that merely circulating copies of the film is illegal.

And yet their infamy has forged cult viewership. What was once shielded from us has now become ‘must see’.

Today we are going to be counting down horror’s most controversial films and what made them quite so topical.

*I’m going to star the ones that you can actually watch without getting traumatised. Some are controversial not because of their content but because some religious or political groups disagreed with them*

#10 - The Blair Witch Project (1999)*

Let’s ease in with a classic - a classic you can watch without sleeping with the light on.

In this found-footage flick we see a team of film students as they explore a local urban legend. But what they find leads them to unknown and ungodly territory.

The problem with this film is that it was marketed as a true story. No, not based on a true story, a true story. Yep, they claimed what we were seeing was real, found footage of some teens going mad as they forage deeper into mysterious woods.

IMBd went so far as to report that the actors were dead. Then, the movie studio super-charged their efforts to confirm to the public that not only was this film 100% real, the three main actors were still missing. The parents of the actors then started receiving sympathy cards.

There’s even a mocked up website that perpetuates these claims. 

#9 - Night Of The Living Dead (1968)*

Time for another not-too-disturbing film.

This is the original zombie apocalypse film saw a group of Americans attempt to survive an incoming attack of the undead while trapped in a rural farmhouse.

But the Motion Picture Association of America wasn’t too happy about it. The film rating system was yet to be in place, allowing children to also show up for an afternoon screening and be greeted by a 97 minute montage of extreme violence.

“The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying”

#8 - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

In this psychological film, we watch a random crime spree take place at the hands of a couple serial killers. Loosely based on real murderers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, its controversial reputation was founded on the gore ‘n’ guts screened in the movie.

Whilst it didn’t receive much attention from the public, various classification boards across the world ensured new versions edited with certain scenes - often involving sexual assault and necrophilia - removed for viewers.

In 2003, the BBFC (the UK classification board) finally allowed the uncut version to be released and Australia followed suit in 2005.

#7 - I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

It’s the original rape-revenge flick. And it managed to piss everyone off.

Originally titled Day of the Woman, it tells the story of a fiction writer who exacts revenge on a group of four men who gang rape her.

Despite its pro-women claim-to-fame, the 30 minute rape scene begs to differ. Furious debate surrounds its feminist label as a film that forces the audience to endure rape from a female perspective and long-winded violence against men (something which is often reserved for women in horror). Regardless, the graphic violence earned it a steady ban in Ireland, Norway, Iceland, and West Germany.

#6 - Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)*

You don’t get many controversial Christmas films. They typically stick to a cookie-cutter plot ‘n’ purpose every holiday season. But there are no strong women who need to rediscover the meaning of Christmas here.

Instead, we see a child traumatised by seeing his parents murdered on Christmas Eve go on a seasonal rampage as an adult.

A week after its release in the early 80s, it was pulled from theatres due to backlash. Marketing was focused on a Santa Claus killer with adverts often airing during family-friendly TV programmes and meant numerous children developed a phobia of Father Christmas. Large crowds protested cinemas with one notable protest involving angry families singing carols at the Interboro Quad Theater in The Bronx.

It was only in 2009 - 25 years after its original release - that a DVD of the film was first made available for purchase in the UK.

#5 - Psycho (1960)*

This legendary film follows the disappearance of a young woman after her encounter with a strange man called Norman Bates, one of horror’s most iconic figures. The controversy that would engulf this fim lay not in the violent attack on an innocent woman or even the disturbing content of the film.

Oh, no. It was because of what the leading lady was wearing.

In the opening scene of the film, we see Janet Leigh wearing nothing but a bra.

*gasp*

This racy attire was emblazoned across promotional material, meeting Hitchcock’s high standards of creating controversy around the movie. There was a no late admission policy for movie theaters, and the posters told viewers “Do not reveal the surprises!” to maintain a mysterious aura around the plot twist.

#4 - The Human Centipede (2009) (all of ‘em)

I’ve watched a lot of horror films, in case you couldn’t tell.

I’m used to watching a scary movie, shaking off the anxiety, and moving on with my life. But there are some that stayed with me. I only watched the trailer for the first movie, and it legitimately traumatised me. It gave me quite a severe, sudden bout of a depression for a solid month when I was 13.

Throughout horror’s goriest franchise, we see an evil doctor and amateur mad scientist attempt to sow several people together into a centipede-like chain from mouth to anus.

*retches*

At the heart of promoting the franchise was controversy. Tom Six, the director, forced a narrative that claimed from the first film that this was "100% medically accurate". He even alleged a Dutch doctor helped inspire the film, confirming that with an IV drip, this was entirely possible.

Although it didn’t receive furore that amounted to serious censorship or long-term banning, it was infamous for having its viewers vomiting in the cinema aisles.

The second film, however, was subject to much more severe controversy and could not legally be supplied in the UK until 2011 due to its heavy focus on sexual abuse, more graphic violence than the original film, and it’s pretty vile depiction of a murderer that was intellectually disabled.

Audiences were used to the graphic nature of the franchise by the third and final release. As the least-controversial and least-enjoyable film according to critics, it barely made a dent in the horror community.

Good riddance, I guess?

#3 - Faces Of Death (1978)

I’m not sure I’d recommend this one per se - but I will give it credit for being an interesting project.

This documentary-style film is a montage of footage of people dying in different ways. As a result of its very graphic and very real content, it was banned and censored in many countries. Only in 2003 was it released on DVD in the UK after a scene was cut featuring dogs fighting and a monkey being beaten to death.

Germany, Australia, and New Zealand followed suit, reversing their bans and releasing edited versions.

However, 7 years after its release, the media revamped its interest in the film after a maths teacher showed it to his class at a Californian high school. Two of his students claimed they were so traumatised they received a costly settlement to reimburse their emotional distress. Things took a darker turn a year later, when a 14 year old bludgeoned a classmate to death with a baseball bat; he claimed he wanted to see what it would be like to actually kill someone after watching Faces of Death.

#2 - Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This Italian film’s title alone hints towards two frightening things: flesh-eating humans and genocide. In this found-footage movie we see an anthropologist lead a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to find a group of filmmakers that went missing.

The rampant graphic content including sexual assault and animal cruelty showcased in the film (7 animals were killed during filming in some pretty horrific ways) led to it being banned in 50 countries.

Some also alleged that a handful of deaths seen in the film were real, as were the missing film crew. In fact, the actors portraying the documentarians signed contracts that stopped them appearing in motion pictures for an entire year to maintain the illusion of reality.

And only 10 days after its premiere, the director was charged with obscenity and the film confiscated. All copies were to be turned over to the authorities. There are currently a range of versions that have been edited to varying degrees and are allowed for circulation.

#1 - A Serbian Film (2010)

No.

Nope.

Don’t do it. Don’t watch this film.

A Serbian Film follows a retired porn star who agrees to feature in an “art film” for some cash. Little does he know this film will include rape, incest, pedophilia, necrophilia…

Just don’t watch it.

It is still banned in South Korea, New Zealand, Australia. It is supposedly a parody of politically correct films made in Serbia that are funded by foreign groups and allegedly speaks openly about post-war society and the struggle for survival.

*shakes head*

Off to have a 3 hour shower, brb.

If you, uhhh, liked this post please like and reblog.

And if you want to hear more about horror and the supernatural every week hit follow!

[chaletnz]

Green Card Series: US Embassy Interview

[The first of some posts I wrote about the experience of winning and obtaining a US “green card” in the 2021 DV Lottery.]

As I sat on the metro headed towards my capsule hotel for the evening, I realized that I had forgotten to buy a Letterpack envelope from a post office. In the midst of rushing to Tokyo, going to the outskirts of Shinjuku to pick up my medical report, and coordinating dinner with an ex-colleague I hadn’t seen in 5 years that one little detail had slipped my mind. Unlike Kutchan, where I could’ve ducked into a post office until 7pm on a Thursday night, everything here was closed by 5pm. The panic began to set in with my friend also unable to find an open shop to get one from, but then I found online that the Central Tokyo Post Office would open at 7am. I would have an hour before my interview to take the train down and buy one and make it back in time to gather my documents and walk to the embassy. Of course, it was raining heavily, so heavily that the day after I left there would be reports of rain-induced landslides in Shizuoka that destroyed 80 homes. In fact, the internet was wrong once again and the post office was not open until 9am but inside there was a small kiosk and he sold me a Letterpack without any problem! I clutched it close to me to keep it dry while I walked back to the station and back to my capsule to gather up my documents and make the same walk clutching the plastic folders close to me to the US embassy in Akasaka.

When I arrived one of the guards asked me the time of my appointment and placed me in the queue as he saw fit. I showed my passport and my name was checked on a list of interviewees for the day. I was whisked on to put my umbrella in the rack, and my phone in a small blue basket. As we waited to get inside the security check room I chatted with the friendly guard outside which made me feel very relaxed. My phone screen was wiped with a swab and then sent through a scanner with my folders and small bag. At the other end I took one of their ratty loan umbrellas to cross the courtyard to the actual embassy building. My passport was checked again at the entrance and I was given a list of instructions and told to take a ticket from the machine inside. I arranged my documents in order as per the instructions and borrowed a pen to write my name of the back of my photographs. I approached the counter to submit documents but I think I should’ve just waited because my number was summoned to a counter where a lady asked me for all of my documents in the folder. She asked me if I had visited any other countries in the last two weeks (COVID check), whether I was married, had kids, or had lived in any other countries where I had a criminal record. I answered no to everything and she gave me a slip to pay the visa application fee and told me to return to her with the receipt. It was $330 and I tried to pay with card but as my Japanese card does not have my name on it this was not accepted. Instead I paid cash in Japanese yen (36,300 JPY) which luckily I had withdrawn as a backup while also at the post office – actually it’s not a bad rate! I passed the receipts to the same lady and then she asked me for financial support documents or an affidavit of support. I presented bank statements from 3 of my accounts which she struggled to understand and confirm, so she wrote a note for the attention of the consular officer. Then she told me to sit and wait to be called for interview. Hilarious, because there were only about 5 chairs for 30 people standing waiting. Slowly the crowds filed out and I was able to get a seat after about an hour of standing waiting watching Japanese people get grilled in English and not understand what was happening. “How can you study in the US when you don’t speak English?” I distinctly heard one poor guy get asked.

At last my number flashed and I was summoned to counter 8. I had been telling the universe I wanted to be interviewed by the lady as the bald guy seemed very strict and harsh, and she had approved all the cases before me. She seemed like a cheerful woman in her late 30s with thin blonde hair tied up into a bun, she wore a black facemask and a green and white flowing top with a lanyard around her neck sporting a yellow button with something written on it that I couldn’t read. “Good morning” I greeted as I placed my documents on the ledge. “Morning, how are you?” She had time for pleasantries and she seemed nice.

“Firstly, I’m going to return your original documents and payment receipt. Now please raise your right hand.” I was a bit caught off guard as I had not seen any other people in the hour I was watching ever have to raise their right hand! She recited a pledge and asked me to swear to tell the truth which I did. Next my fingerprints were taken on a little scanner box on the table. Then she got stuck in with the interview.

“Why do you want to move to the US?”

“How long have you lived in Japan?”

“Have you lived in any other countries for more than a year?”

“What work do you do now?”

“Where would you go in the US, what’s your plan?”

“Tell me about your education history after leaving school.”

“A Bachelors is your highest qualification?”

“How much money do you have in savings”

“Do you think that’s enough, to start a new life?”

“Do you have anyone that can support you financially if you need it?”

The one that got me was the “do you think that’s enough [money] to start a new life?”. I hadn’t really intended to start a new life, at least for the first year or so I guess I’m planning to treat the green card like a working holiday. Work, travel, meet people. I’m not sure that I will be starting a new life right away. It also implied to me that she thought I would be living my life indefinitely in the US – is that what most winners do? Suddenly the permanence of the situation was dawning on me. I explained that it would be enough for a few months to find my feet, as an experienced traveller and backpacker primarily I was used to staying in hostels and no frills accommodation. My experience in the hospitality industry was also brought up to convince her that I would be able to support myself by working those crappy jobs no one else wants to do if I had to! By the end of the interview she seemed satisfied and told me the visa was approved and I would receive my passport back in about a week. She invited me to ask questions but I didn’t have any, instead I asked if I could give her an omiyage (a small gift) to thank her but she said she could not accept which was expected actually. That was it, I made my way out of the embassy and gave the omiyage to the friendly guard who I had chatted with earlier and he took it happily.

A brisk walk back through the torrential rain to the train station and I found myself at Harajuku Station ready to enjoy a celebratory lunch at Sarutahiko Coffee above the station entrance. I sat in a cosy corner with a pulled pork sandwich and a latte to spend an hour texting my good news to everyone and gazing longingly at the cats of the cat café across the street lounging in the window. Sarutahiko café was recommended by Paolo in Tokyo who is a big YouTuber for English speakers interested in Japan and I explained that to the cashier who seemed thrilled although, Japanese people can seem thrilled about anything even though they only understand about 10% of what you’re saying... She recommended that I try their specialty coffee beans which have a aroma and flavour like whiskey so I jumped at that! It was a little bit strange (and expensive) but a unique coffee and whiskey combination to celebrate my visa.

[loptgangandi]

OH BOY GUYS HAVE I GOT A MUN-DAY STORY FOR YOU

( tl;dr I was refused entry into my mom’s home country, spent the night in an airport terminal during a pandemic, made friends with the son of one of my mom’s colleagues who just so happened to be in the exact same situation because the universe has a sense of humor, and was eventually allowed into the country because I had understood the regulations properly and the border guards had not.)

So it all started on Thursday, when my mom -- an epidemiologist working on COVID -- told me to come home ASAP because Switzerland (where she lives) was about to close its borders and had already restricted entry to anyone from neighboring states: first Italy, then Austria, Germany, and France as well.

I had already booked tickets for early April, so I called the airline, and they helped me rebook for the end of March -- the earliest I could come without paying huge fees. 

Cut to Friday. I wake up to 4 missed calls and a zillion texts from my mom informing me that she had booked me on a flight for the following day -- Saturday.

With a layover in Germany.

As I had spent a good 40 minutes the previous day on the phone trying to avoid layovers in France and Germany, I was a little miffed. And worried. But the airline had assured my mother that:  a) the new restrictions on Germany wouldn’t go into effect until Sunday, and  b) since airport terminals are international territory, I technically would not have actually been in Germany.  After some deliberation, I agreed to come home immediately. As in, Saturday. As in, the next day. The 21st. A day before Switzerland’s travel restrictions on Germany were supposed to go into effect (according to the airline, and I’m not sure what their source was).

You might already see where this is going.

I arrived at Frankfurt airport after a frankly very surreal trip -- both the flight and the original airport, which was a ghost town -- and was told by the gate agents that I couldn’t board the plane because Swiss border control would refuse me. After a bit of back and forth -- during which I switched from English to German, which got them to be a bit more helpful -- they realized that yes, indeed, citizens and residents of Schengen countries (excluding Germany, France, Italy, and Austria) were exempted from the border restrictions. This included me, as I’m a resident of Sweden. 

They let me on the plane, but I was seriously worried -- because given the general environment of confusion, I had no faith that Swiss border control would know more than the Frankfurt gate agents. You’d assume they’d be informed on some things, but lets face it -- uniformed and armed people tend not to be very good at subtlety and legal minutiae, so who could know. 

The one thing that can be said for the overwhelming, anxious rage I felt when the Swiss border control told me I couldn’t enter the country was that it absolutely K.O’d the part of my brain that tends to overthink my language skills and inhibit my ability to speak languages I’m not fluent in -- and I made my case in very good French. I have never spoken French so well as when I was talking to the cop I’d been palmed off to and explaining to him why I was right and they were all wrong. My mom also insisted on talking to him, and after some hesitation -- which probably had less to do with touching my potentially virus-infested phone and more to do with being on the receiving end of a middle-aged mom’s wrath -- he took the call. I offered to put it on speaker and hold it so he wouldn’t have to, but he took the phone, and argued with my mom all the way through the airport. 

He seemed basically sympathetic and like he wanted to help, but his mantra was always the same: “I have my orders, I don’t know anything beyond what I’ve been told and I can’t disobey my orders.” He told mom the name of the organization to call to help out with this, but didn’t have a number for them, and couldn’t provide any other support. He was polite enough, but “polite” wasn’t going to get me home.

Where it got me was locked down tight in the airport international terminal with 10 other people who have also been turned away. 

Luckily, the terminal is massive, so there was plenty of room to maintain distance. 

The cops assured me that they would handle my suitcase and took my documents -- passport, Swedish residency card, and boarding passes from my trip (so they could make my flight reservations, they said, but there was probably more to it) -- and left me there.

An international airport at midnight during a pandemic is pretty much the definition of a liminal space. Every other seat in the gate waiting areas had a strip of red and white police tape running over it, back to front, and tied off at the top of the seat back to ensure that people would maintain proper distance and not sit next to each other. The music was on at a volume that, during the day, was probably appropriate to be unobtrusive over the ambient sounds of a living airport, but which in a locked-down terminal was unbelievably annoying. The lights were dim enough that there were still dark corners, and you could look around without your eyeballs melting out of your face. The only sounds (apart from the music) were the hum of the vending machines (our only food and drink options until the cafe opened at 5:30 the next morning) and the soft shuffling of people trying to get comfortable and get some sleep on the rock-hard, probably COVID-contaminated seat rows. 

We were given nothing. No hand sanitizer, no water (apart from what you could buy from the vending machines), no blankets or pillows. Nothing. We had access to bathrooms with hand soap, but you had to touch the dispensers with the heel of your hand. The paper towel dispensers also weren’t automatic, so you had to touch them to get the paper towels out. There was one janitor who came in around 1 AM to clean the whole terminal, which obviously wasn’t sufficient. 

I’m tough. I’ve been in some incredibly crappy situations, and at least we were warm and safe inside, and I wasn’t physically uncomfortable. I had some money to buy water, food, and later in the morning, coffee, and I figured out how to wash my hands without touching anything. But the fact that we were left in an almost certainly contaminated public space with no precautionary measures and no support for an extended amount of time -- 9 hours in my case -- was absolutely infuriating. And dangerous. And I am almost definitely going to get sick, probably because of that. 

Which only made me more determined to get home. If I was going to get sick, I was going to do it in a place where I could be taken care of and nursed back to health, instead of someone else’s apartment where I just rent a room and would have had a much larger radius of contamination (my landlady/flatmate has kids and grandkids and is still going to work). 

The issue, as the immigration cop had told me, came down to the fact that I had flown in from Germany. 

Even though I hadn’t set foot on German soil, I had been in a German airport, and that was apparently enough. If I had flown in from any other Schengen country (apart from France, Austria, or Italy), I could have entered with no problem, since I have Swedish residency. 

There was an obvious loophole there: while Sweden had no flights to that city for the following day (Sunday), Netherlands did. Brussels and Czechia did. 

So while my mom contacted the immigration authority in Bern, I booked a refundable flight for 9 PM Sunday evening from Amsterdam to my mom’s city, and would request that they send me to Amsterdam instead of Stockholm. The plan was basically to make a big loop and enter through a country they deemed acceptable. The irony wasn’t lost on me -- that I would risk further contamination by city-hopping in order to loop around and end up back where I started -- but the police had prevented me from just getting into my mom’s car and self-quarantining at her apartment, which had been the original plan, so I didn’t have much of a choice.

All that was left now was to wait -- in a non-sterile, contaminated airport terminal playing the most mediocre pop album-filler of the ‘70s and ‘80s. 

The only thing that made it bearable was that I made a friend. 

Around 1 AM, a 20-something Japanese dude in dress pants and a polo shirt shows up on our side of the terminal from the opposite end, wanting to know if we were also bothered by the music and if he should call someone about shutting it off. He wouldn’t bother if it was just him, so he wanted to see if it was collective. I agreed, and after a few failed attempts, we miraculously managed to reach someone who said they would do what they could to turn off the music. 

We got talking (and moved away from the people trying to sleep), and it turns out that it’s a small world and we were in an even smaller city, because our mothers work in the same department, were extremely close colleagues about 10 years ago, and still work together occasionally. I immediately recognized her name.

Turns out, this dude and I had both gone to school and done the IB in the same city. We both have moms working on COVID, dads living in our countries of origin (Japan for him, US for me), and younger sisters. He had also been turned away, despite having documentation that should have given him leave to enter. So there we were, stuck in that situation together, waiting to be deported and with our passports held hostage by the authorities.

We talked for six straight hours about every topic we could think of. Travel, food, relationships, siblings and family in general, COVID, electric cars, how our respective countries are reacting to COVID, racism and xenophobia (worsened by COVID -- he had an example from that same day), bosses and managers and how our offices are (and, in my case, had been) run, the pros and cons of wearing medical masks if you’re not showing symptoms of COVID, dry hands from all of the washing to avoid COVID, politics, our respective cultures and business cultures, depression and mental illness, natural disasters we had lived through, etc. “Ah fuck I’ve got COVID in my eye” became a bit of a running joke throughout the morning, as we became increasingly tired and our eyes increasingly dry, prompting runs to the bathroom to clear them out and wash our hands. We had both basically resigned ourselves to catching it -- it was just a matter of trying to pass it on to as few people as possible, preferably 0. 

Around 7 AM, my new friend -- let’s call him Mike -- points out that a guard is making a beeline towards us, and he’s not holding his passport. I look, and it’s mine, and I prepare myself to argue for them to send me to Amsterdam instead of Sweden. He tells me he had just come over to see me and make sure that I was still there (??? he had my passport where was I going to go??), and he would be back in 15 minutes to let me know whether or not I could enter Switzerland. 

I was completely baffled, because that option hadn’t even crossed my mind. I had been operating 100% on the assumption that I was going to be put on a plane. And Mike was happy for me, but also pretty miffed, because they had already booked a flight for him but our circumstances were pretty much identical. He had documentation proving extenuating circumstances, and I have Swedish residency and never set foot on German soil. The only difference between us is that he’s Japanese, and I’m white. I agreed that it was almost definitely a xenophobia thing, and told him that if I got in, I’d vouch for him. 

15 minutes later the cop (this one was very compassionate and borderline sweet compared to the ones we’d dealt with the previous night) comes back and tells me I could go through. I gather my stuff, and explain to him about Mike. The cop looks puzzled, but promises that he’ll make some calls and try to sort it out, and I should come with him. He takes me through to get my suitcase and escorts me to the exit, where he welcomes me to Switzerland with a big smile. 

I called my mom and settled in to wait for her to pick me up. Ten minutes later, Mike tells he’s also been allowed through. My mom (who had literally rolled out of bed in her pajamas, thrown on a coat and shoes, and jumped in the car) and I offered him a ride, but he had called his mom immediately and she was coming to get him. I didn’t see him again -- my mom arrived before he came through -- but we’ve been in touch, and both of us got home safe. 

Now my mom and I are completely self-quarantined with the cats, and honestly, it’s wonderful. We’re not leaving the house except for the occasional walk. I slept 12 hours last night. My mom is plying me with tea to make sure I’m hydrated as we wait for me to get sick, and I spent the 6 hours recording this whole nonsense saga for posterity.

tl;dr I was refused entry into my mom’s home country, spent the night in an airport terminal during a pandemic, and made friends with the son of one of my mom’s colleagues who just so happened to be in the exact same situation

[lgbtqueeries]

A School Project as an Ode to Larry Kramer --32 Million and Counting

TLDR; This speech was a project for a Queer Studies class that I participated in. It is a speech in the form of Larry Kramer’s speech about AIDS activism in 1983 called “1,112 and Counting”  I also wanted to bring into awareness what has changed in the 37 years since his original speech. The audience is meant to be the queer community, just like his was, but also to be open to those that would listen. Due to its nature, it encompasses public health, politics, humanity, and activism. I didn’t intend for this to be the case but as the project progressed we were diagnosed to be going through a pandemic much like that of what those in the 80s experienced. To this degree, I didn’t mean to scare but frustrate the reader, much like Larry Kramer. I wanted my speech to be uniquely mine, but be reminiscent of the effect that he garnered. I plan to post this to my Tumblrs LGBTQueeries and the-unending-kerfuffle as well as my Instagram @one_steph_from_death. I want to place this speech out into the world. Please feel free to reblog and share and comment and chat with me in the comments!

Larry Kramer started his count when the number was 1,112 and counting. In 1983. Think about that again. In 1983. Thirty-seven years ago. He screamed for help then, knowing full well we’d be obliterated as a group unless we stood up. He refused to be forced to die. 

To frame this, a former entertainment star had been elected to the most powerful political seat in government. His staunch political and religious opinions led to the death of innocent people. He could have saved them by using his voice and asserting a need for research, laws, and education, but instead, let them die impoverished and discriminated against. If the hate and violent crimes didn’t get them, the sickness creeping in would. 

Worst of all, as a community, we knew that he didn’t speak for us. We knew that this hate would kill us, yet we still remain silent. We remained silent as the hate trickled into the deepest pores of our community. We let the hate fester, building up and attaching to the difference among us until it finally separated us and dismantled us. We let the bigotry we so desperately try to run from infiltrate our ranks and break us apart into factions. 

They were treated like lepers and untouchables (Barker & Cran, 2006). Hospital workers were nearly absent, just present enough to not be liable for neglect. Visitors were few and gay lovers, if they stayed, were sent away. Imagine that, slipping away in pain as you lose your vision and ability to breathe, your body starts deteriorating as it is filled with cancer and opportunistic infections. Alone. All alone. 

And when you (inevitably) died your casket wasn’t lined in silk with cushions and roses. Yours was lined with plastic and biohazard material. Your brittle, thin body was crumpled up in the discarded sheets and hospital gowns and thrown into a garbage bag. No one was going to claim you, so no point in going to the morgue. Your toes, if you still had them, weren’t tagged, just set aside with all your other hospital belongings.

But the pain didn’t end there. Like the weekly garbage men, bags were taken to empty spaces and distributed into large, unmarked graves (Kilgannon. 2018). A secluded hole lost to history. A supposed bygone of the middle ages, but here to dispose of Jane and John Does. 

If I was to scream like Larry Kramer, to these separated groups, I’d go hoarse within hours. As of 2018, 35 years after his speech, we have lost 32 million people to HIV/AIDS (CDC, 2020).  That doesn’t include the people from the last 2 years. 

We lost 32 million innocent people. 

Yes, we lost gay men and IV drug users but they are still human. They still had the same dreams and aspirations as everyone else. They could have lived to be designers and playwrights just as well as becoming doctors and lawyers. We lost everyone one from, every walk of life. We lost painters, poets, magicians, musicians, surgeons, dentists, lawyers, physicians, firefighters, police officers, farmers, framers, parents, children. Their blood is on the hands of those that slowly took the life from them. The government is not free from their crimes. 

But honestly, that’s not where the frustration and anger ends. Our history is being erased. Purposefully and eagerly. This situation that I’ve laid before your eyes seems to be that of 1983 and the pain of Ronald Reagan. The horror sounds painfully identical to what we deal with today.

  Our current administration has continued some of these misinformed ideas and hateful actions. The Ryan White Fund, a fund specifically created to create a money source for HIV/AIDS research and treatment have received cutbacks and other plans set in motion like PEPFAR aren’t fairing well either. They are better in this term than in the past, but frankly, that’s not too comforting. This fund was the lifeblood for many organizations and they soon will be bled dry (Forsyth, n.d.). This does not take into account the other actions towards queer people in general. This takes into account only one facet of the government that is working against us. What about the judicial branch and the possibility to be tried for attempted murder for not disclosing your status to your partner (CDC, 2019)?  It’s not like you have to do the same for other STIs. “On the count of giving chlamydia to your partner without disclosing your last date of testing, how does the jury find the defendant?” This doesn’t take into account the possibility you didn’t know of your own status. 

And what if you wished to give blood? Say you’re gay and we’ll even go so far as saying you’re HIV-. They’d turn you away. They’d send you back for 12 months for not being able to prove you didn’t have sex with your male partner for 12+ months. May I remind you that lesbians and heterosexual men and women have gotten HIV and therefore can pass it along? This is possibly a law of Reagan’s 80s, but it’s still in effect TODAY (“LGBTQ Donors”, n.d.).

But I digress. The government is still not free from their crimes and institutionalized hate. I don’t wish to get too political but it is inevitable with the fact we’re all stuck in the past. Again, it’s not where my frustration lies. 

My frustration is formed in the same disappointment that Larry Kramer had. In 37 years not much has changed and that the voice that we have as a community. We gained it with protests through organizations like ACT UP but we’ve apparently been diagnosed with laryngitis because we’ve become oddly silent. HIV/AIDS is not a disease of history. We haven’t cured the earth of this disease. It’s here and stuck to us like your legs to a hot vinyl seat. It affects everyone and intersectionality can increase your risk (CDC, 2019). There’s a reason it’s no longer called “Gay Related Immune Disease”. Yet where the hell are we?

It affects the young and the old. Yet we remain silent, pretending it’s not occurring. 

We can blame it on the straight, cis majority but we are complicit in our own erasure, assimilation, and silencing. 

We let our history fall by the wayside and be covered up with rainbows and pride flags used by businesses in marketing. We let our history be encapsulated by a month handed to us by the majority. 

We let the atrocities that happened be forgotten along with many of the names. 

We isolate those now that are HIV+ from queer-friendly functions, both blatantly and subtlely.

But most importantly we lost our gusto to fight for a better future for the generations that come after us. That’s what stings the most. 

It’s important to remember that this disease is no longer a death sentence. You no longer have to feel the weight of shackles weighing you down towards the underworld. Provided, that is, you have insurance and can pay for your medications. But that is another government issue for another speech. With one pill a day, just like your Flintstones vitamins, you can live a normal life. You can date and with proper precautions, have sex and not pass it along to your partner. Undetectable = Untransmissable (UNAIDS, 2018). 

While this may be a reality for us in our modern-day. I refuse to let those that sacrificed themselves for this cause be forgotten. We lost 32 million people and while I can’t list them all here or scream them to the heavens, I’ll damn well try. Those that came before us, despite their flaws, paved the way for us and I refuse to let them slip away because our government doesn’t like it. Join me in sharing the stories. If you want to see face to face, the humans that we lost, follow accounts like @theaidsmemorial on Instagram. End our silence. If it’s painful for you, imagine how it must feel for the friends and families of those that lost someone of the 32 million. They need your help to speak up. 

We started this with 1,112 and counting. Now we’re at 32 million and counting. Let’s end the counting and start the protesting.

Works Cited

Barker, G., & Cran, W. (2006, May 30). Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/aids/ 

Centers for Disease Control. (2020, January 16). U.S. Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics 

Forsyth, A. D. (n.d.). Powerpoint presentation.

HIV and STD Criminal Laws. (2019, July 1). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/policies/law/states/exposure.html

HIV by Group. (2019, October 25). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/index.html 

Kilgannon, C. (2018, July 3). Dead of AIDS and Forgotten in Potter's Field. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/03/nyregion/hart-island-aids-new-york.html 

LGBTQ Donors. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/eligibility-requirements/lgbtq-donors.html 

UNAIDS Explainer. (2018). UNAIDS Explainer. Retrieved from https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/undetectable-untransmittable_en.pdf 

[kasienda]

Fanfiction Year in Review 2019

@floraone​ tagged me, but I was going to do it anyway! 

1. List of fics completed this year:

A Fight and Make Up (An Untitled UsaMamo Drabble) Superhero Survey (Miraculous Reveal) Last Wishes (Ladybug) Word Vomit (Sailor Moon Reveal) Kiss (Sailor Moon Reveal) The Sol of the System (Sailor Moon)

2. Number of words written:

In the year of 2019, I published 55,755 words in various stories. Not as many as last year, but under my circumstances I’m pretty proud of that number. (My 750words app says I’ve written 108k since May, but that’s not all fic writing. Though like 90% of it is. It’s also mostly not published though). 

3. Your most popular fic this year:

Last Wishes – I have no idea where this story came from. I was in a weird mood and it was haunting me and I had to get it out! And like Nightmares (and no other fic I’ve ever written), it came so easily. Wrote the whole thing in about three sittings. And apparently, it resonated with a lot of people (made a lot of people cry). And I gotta say, this Ladybug fandom is wild in that you can get like 100 kudos in a day! I’m way too addicted to that feeling. But in the Sailor Moon Fandom, my most popular fic this year was A Craving for Chocolate Milkshakes, which makes sense because really that’s the only story I’ve been somewhat consistently updating this year. Besides Last Wishes, everything I’ve published this year have been one-offs. 4. Your personal favorite this year:

I don’t know!! Why do you make me pick from my children?!

I’m insanely proud of the most recent update of Craving for Chocolate Milkshakes and the Fight/Make Up Drabble (maybe I should give it a name). 

Like, I’m so pleased with how these came out. But I also just reread Last Wishes searching for the review that touched me this year, and I’m kinda in awe. It’s just so amazing and powerful. And I’m crying! I’m not sure I believe that I wrote it. 

5. Your favorite scene:

This is an excerpt from Chapter Two of An Open Secret (which isn’t published, BUT I wrote it earlier this week so that’s 2019 right?!), which was supposed to be a one off for the ML Secret Santa Fic Exchange, and it grew into a multi-chapter fic! I just love it when that happens! “I have to tell her how I feel,” Adrien thought out loud. “Do you think she likes me?” 

“Aren’t you tired of letting Ladybug break your heart?” Plagg asked, floating lazily through the air.

“Not ladybug. Marinette!”

Plagg whipped around to hover behind Adrien’s shoulders. Sure enough, Adrien was pouring through Marinette’s Instagram feed, and not his Ladybug album. 

“Marinette? Since when? I thought Marinette was ‘just a friend.’”

“I did too, Plagg! But she’s been so different this week! She’s not nervous, and I think I love her so much.”

“What about Ladybug?”

“I’ll always love Ladybug, but she’s made it clear that she’s interested in someone else.”

Plagg was proud of himself for not laughing. 

“Do you think she likes me?” Adrien asked. 

Plagg rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you have to ask.”

“She doesn’t, does she? I mean, why would she? Why was she always so nervous around me before? Did she hate me?”

“You don’t give me enough cheese for this,” the kwami grumbled. 

6. A fic or scene that challenged you:

The Sol of the System was so hard! I was writing for someone else who seemed to really like Silver Millennium, and I love the Silver Millennium as past life baggage that informs current fears and behaviors, but as its own thing? I never really felt connected to it! And then, I tried to give it a sci-fi twist, which is also not my genre! And even once I had a concept that I thought I could do something with, I had no time to work on it!! Somehow, it magically came together. @tinacentury​ has a lot to do with that. (She’ll say that she didn’t do much, but she’s so wrong!!) So, does my husband for kinda taking the kids for the last day and a half before the deadline so I could just write! 

7. A line of writing you’re proud of:

In general, my use of parentheticals in the Fight Make Up UsaMamo Drabble makes me SO HAPPY! And I’m so sad that hardly anyone read this short!! One line doesn’t really capture the technique though, so here’s six and half paragraphs… (My husband is rolling his eyes so hard right now…) 

...

Mamoru watched her from his usual booth like he had everyday for the last week. He had no right, he knew it, but he couldn’t tear himself away. Usagi was light and he was a moth. She was morphine and he was a drug addict. It physically hurt to be in her presence when he couldn’t even speak to her, but it was somehow better than not seeing her at all.

He stared at the back of her golden head seated in a booth across the Fruit Parlor's dining room. They had progressed far enough into their break up that it was possible for them to inhabit the same room (well, a large restaurant in any case) without either of them bursting into tears or retreating completely.

But today, Usagi was stretching his tolerance. She had come in with a friend (a male friend). Though maybe friend was too strong a word as it was quickly apparent that the boy sitting across from his girlfriend (his ex-girlfriend) was an assigned partner for some school project.

But even if it had been a date with romantic intentions, Mamoru liked to think he could have handled it. He wasn't completely confident he could make that claim, but he wanted to be able to say it was true. Because, more than anything, he just wanted to see Usagi happy.

And if he had to stay away to keep her breathing, he couldn't be the one to do that. It would have been hard, but he would have forced himself to bare it, just as he had forced himself to break up with her (the best thing that had ever happened in his miserable life) so that she would be safe.

But that wasn't the situation. They were supposed to be working on the project, but the boy was too familiar with her. His head kept invading her work space, he slid closer to her so that their sides were touching, and he accidentally touched her too often to be coincidence. 

And again, it would have been fine (who was he kidding; he would have been a jealous mess) if Usagi welcomed the boy's advances. 8.  A comment that touched you:

I received this comment on my Last Wishes Fic. And spent two days and asked for lots of advice in how to respond. Then when I finally did, this person told me that this story helped them talk about how they were feeling about their loss with their family. Like guys, this isn’t why I started writing fic, but OMG it definitely keeps me going.

On a lighter note, I also kinda love it whenever one of my Sailor Moon followers comments on a Ladybug fic that I’ve written. Like to me, it’s the biggest compliment that they like my writing enough, that they’re willing to cross over to a different fandom for a bit. @beej88​ even crossed fandoms and genres for me. And whenever I’m sad about not getting reviews from my giftee, @floraone​ pops in with an essay and I feel like it doesn’t matter if my giftee never responds at all. (She may have done this twice without knowing how good her timing was… and for the record ONE of my giftees totally responded with gushing praise, so… I just gotta be more patient!)

And I especially appreciate @tinacentury​ for all the behind the scenes comments and encouragement and then also taking the time to comment on stories after the fact as well!!

9. Something that inspired your writing this year:

So, first off, my friends here have been so encouraging.

The Miraculous Ladybug Community – I’ve delved into a new fandom (blame my sister!). And man, I really like the dynamic of being in an insanely active fandom where the source material isn’t finished yet. It’s like working in a living breathing thing, and that’s so cool. Also, I get so many comments/kudos even being a pretty unknown author there and I’m very addicted to this validation. (Though I made a rec list!! I was so excited!! Thank you @alexseanchai​!!). It also makes me feel like a traitor to my Sailor Moon roots though…

750words.com – this is a little app that just made writing feel easy. It made writing a habit, and took off the pressure of getting it perfect! I feel like it’s taught me to write a lot faster and worry about perfecting it later.  This little app is what gave me the structure to keep writing when my life has been insane!

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc)

I participated in two fic exchanges this year! I’ve never done this before. And I kinda love the experience of writing for what you think someone else would like. It forced me to write in a different headspace and write to a deadline, which apparently, I’m very capable of doing. And it definitely pushed me into writing things that are different than I normally write.

Also, that I wrote and published anything at all inbetween taking care of a medically fragile four-year-old and an infant who was born in March and going back to work this past September. (Writing has only become more important to me. It’s how I recharge and deal with stress, so I’m clearly not going to stop).

11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

So many!! Probably too many! (Like always!) - I really want to finish Chocolate Milkshakes and An Open Secret in like the next 30 days! (I promise nothing!) - I really want to dive back into Coming of Age and Invisible Wounds. Like I’m SO excited about where these stories are going! - I want to polish up like four Miraculous Reveals that are each like 80% finished, so I can get some momentum going on this series. - I want to go to the library every week for two hours for writing to maybe have a chance of reaching some of these goals.

And I will tag @tinacentury​, @overworkedunderwhelmed​, @beej88​, @mikauzoran​, @cassraven​, @laadychat​, @bubbleblower​ as an invitation to participate if you want to! Not a requirement! :) You can totally do it if you’re not tagged too! 

[maealbert]

Every Breath You Take

AU Character: Team x OC (Lucy De Luca) A/N: A piece for The Liaison. Oh thanks to the 80s song ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police. It’s always given me a stalker vibe (even though that’s not the point of the song). Summary: Stalker case in Columbus, Ohio.

tag list: @idkbutspencer @literallyprentissstwin @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @cynbx @tenaciousarcadeexpert @rawritsmolly @dontshootmespence

“Stalking is when two people go on a romantic walk together but only one of them knows about it.”

Standing up from her desk she taps the files in the wooden top to organize them in a neat stack before resting them in the crook of her arm. Pulling open the door of her office she slips out in the hallway and heads to the briefing room. After receiving several email from the Columbus Police Department and the urgent sounding voicemails, it was pretty hard to push to the bottom of the stack. She hummed a little tune to herself as she placed the files around the table at each seat.

“Someone seems chipper this morning.” Emily says. “I’m surprised knowing you’d let go of coffee for the time being.” She adds resting her hand on Lucy’s tiny baby bump.

“Nope, I’m just in a happy mood.” Lucy giggles.

"Columbus? That's rare." Emily says looking through her case file.

"Rare for the BAU." Lucy responds. "Ya'll have been to Cleveland and Lower Canton, but never Central."

"They have it under control most of the time."

"Yeah.. Most of the time.. But this case is one they can't do on their own."

"Normally stalker cases last a long time." Emily says.

"Well they just got a lead this morning but they still need our help."

"Columbus." Rossi says as he steps into the room. "What brings us back to the Buckeye State?"

"Stalker." Emily states.

"Everyone else coming?" Lucy asks.

"Yes, ma'am." Rossi says nodding his head and sitting down at the table. "JJ's getting Penelope and Tara from the bathroom, Spencer is on his way up with the guys. They ran out for a quick bite for lunch."

"Good." Lucy says.

Once everyone had gathered around the table, Lucy began the briefing. "As you all know, we are heading to Columbus, Ohio. CPD has flooded my email and voicemail. Twenty-one year old, Kelly Mitchell, has had an on-going situation on campus at OSU-"

"OSU's first stalker case?" Spencer says.

"That we know of." Lucy says shrugging her shoulders. “It took a lot of reading but I didn’t find one stalker case. Students are more into getting arrested for drinking and driving than stalking another student.”

"Police can't figure out who her stalker is. Kelly's changed her schedule at least four times already to throw the person off but it hasn't been much luck. No matter what she does to throw off her stalker, he or she knows exactly where she'll be and what time." Lucy pulls up several candid photos of Kelly that had been sent to her dorm room followed by the notes that were attached to the photos. "Kelly has received over thirty notes with photos taken of her. Each note either admiring her or threatening. No traces of DNA or fingerprints of the stalker. No even the obvious return address."

"If even says that Kelly's received gifts as well. A bracelet, necklace, an engagement ring, and a few pieces of clothing." Emily lists off as she reads further into the file.

Lucy’s phone vibrated on the table. She bends down to pick it up. Finding an email from the CPD, she clicks on it. “Well.. This case just got more intense.”

“What is it?” JJ asks as she looks up at Lucy.

“Whoever this is must’ve hacked into Kelly’s laptop camera.” Sending the photos to each tablet, she lays her phone down.

“He sent her snapshots of her changing in her bedroom.” Rossi says in disgust.

“He’s never gotten this close to her.” Lucy says. “This is her personal space. And you all wonder why I have a sticker on my computer cameras.”

“Alright, when we touch down I want everyone to have their head in the game.” Emily says. “Lucy, I want you and JJ to talk to Kelly. Subtly dig into her life, on campus and off campus.” Emily as she stands up from the table.

“You think the stalker might be off campus?” Matt asks.

“We won’t know for sure.” Emily says shrugging her shoulders. “Wheels up in twenty. We don’t have time to waste.”

Watching as the airport came closer into view, Lucy takes one last drink of her water before getting up from her seat. Grabbing her bag from under the table, she straps it over her shoulder and follows the other off of the jet. “Here let me take that for you.” Matt says as he takes Lucy’s bag off of her shoulder.

“Oh, thank you.” Lucy says as she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.

“So how are you feeling?” He asks. “Because of the baby and all..”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders. “Eh.. Mood swings are all over the place, I’m always craving something weird--something I have never eaten.” Matt chuckles as he shakes his head. “And the middle of the cravings? Even I hate them. I feel bad for Spencer.”

“He’ll eventually get used to it.” Matt says. “And the Oqar situation? How have you been dealing with that?”

“Uh well... Nightmares aren’t so bad. Therapy is getting easier to talk through. And everything seems good despite not being able to take my medication while pregnant.”

“Well if you ever need anything, shoot me a phone call or text. I’m sure Kristy can give you some advice and help here and there.”

“Hey, do you have any baby stuff that are not in use?”

“I believe so,” Matt says nodding his head. “I’m sure it’s all stored up in the attic.”

The team arrives at the police department, each member climbing out of the SUV. As Lucy climbed out of the car, she saw the hoard of reporters crowding around Rossi and Emily. Emily searches for Lucy. Their connect and Lucy nods her head. “I’ll take your bag in.” Matt says as he grabs Lucy’s bag from between the seats.

“Uh excuse me!” Lucy calls over the loud voices of the reporters. They all turn to face her, Emily and Rossi quickly running for the doors. “Hi, I’m Agent De Luca with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. I will have handling all of the press for this case. And any questions will be directed towards me.”

“Agent De Luca--Tino Ramos, 10tv news. Is there any information you can give about this Kelly Mitchell’s case?” Tino says moving the mic in front of her.

“Everything you know if what you know. However, I will say this. The FBI and CPD may a potential lead. I will be sure to consult with our Unit Chief about any press releases. In the meantime, it’d be best if the doors weren’t crowded, thank you.” Lucy heads for the door and steps inside, the warm air hitting her face. Sighing in relief she makes her way through the lobby and to the elevators.

“Look at this view!” She hears Garcia chime from down the hall. Lucy follows Garcia’s voice to where the team had been set up. “Lucy! Just look at this view!” Garcia exclaims as she pulls Lucy over to the wall to ceiling windows.

“Yes, what a nice view.” Lucy says slowly nodding her head.

“Garcia, I need you to start tracking down our camera hacker.” Emily says as she turns away from the bulletin board.

“Right, right. I am now going to track down our camera hacker through the worldwide web.” Garcia says as she sits down at the table.

“Agent Prentiss, Kelly just arrived.” An officer spoke poking his head into the room.

“Good, good. Lucy, JJ..”

“We’re on it.” JJ says as she pulls Lucy out of the room.

“Who is doing this?” Kelly says as she paces the room. JJ opened her mouth to say something but she interrupted by Kelly. “I mean, I know I’m pretty but this is just down right creepy. Why do I have the stalker? Why can’t Christy Min be stalked? She’s the homecoming queen. Everyone loves her, even the--”

“Kelly, honey.” Lucy says standing up from the couch and walking over to Kelly. She places her hands on Kelly’s shoulders. “Let’s take a seat.” She says softly placing Kelly on the couch.

“Kelly do you have a boyfriend?” JJ asks.

Kelly shakes her head. “I don’t have time for a boyfriend. I’m trying to get a degree here.”

“I know you’re not in high school but... Is there anyone that might have a crush on you? Maybe your friends know of someone?” Lucy asks. “College is still like high school in some ways. Gossip still exists.”

“No,” Kelly says shaking her head again. “I don’t know anything and if my friends did, they’d never tell me, then again.. I don’t have friends so I don’t know anything.” Kelly says, slapping her hands on her thighs. “I don’t know why this person is so interested in me. I don’t get it. There’s nothing interesting about me. I’m a science nerd..” Lucy and JJ both glance at her. She did not look a nerd. “Yeah, I know. I don’t look like a nerd, I look a stupid model from a magazine cover.” Kelly rolls her eyes. “I’m a science major. I want to be a Marine Biologist. Who wants to stalk a future Marine Biologist?”

“I think maybe we should go for a walk.” JJ says standing up.

“You think it’s a good idea to go out there when some crazed-lunatic is out there waiting for me?” Kelly says raising her eyebrow.

“Not outside. Just inside. Clear your head, get something to eat, take a breather. I heard this place has a killer view.” JJ says as she directs Kelly over to the door. Standing up from the couch, Lucy rubbed her neck as she walked over to the window. Looking down at the streets below she saw a person pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. Suddenly the person lifted a camera from their chest and pointed it right at Lucy. Once they saw Lucy, they lowered the camera and took off running down the block. Spotting the hat flying off of their head, blonde hair flowed down. Rushing out of the room, Lucy runs back to the conference room.

“Everything okay?” Spencer says rushing over to her.

“I saw--I think----I could be wrong--” Lucy stammers as she tries catching her breath.

“Come, sit.” Emily says pulling her over to the table. Once she sat down, Lucy took in a deep breath.

“I think I saw Kelly’s stalker, but I could be wrong.” Lucy spit out. “She was blonde, blue-eyed I’m assuming. She was wearing a jean jacket and black leggings, a Cannon camera--”

“You know the precise camera?” Garcia questions.

“My uncle is a retired photographer from NatGeo. I think I’d know what brand a camera is was, even when from thirteen stories up.” Lucy says. “I think her hair stopped right above her butt.”

“Approximate height?” Garcia asked.

“I highly doubt she could tell how ta--” Spencer started to say before Lucy cut off him off.

“Maybe five-five? She didn’t look very tall.”

“Are we sure this could be the stalker? And not just some journalist?”

“What journalist knows what floor and what room our victim could be in?” Lucy says as she stands up from her chair.

“Maybe she’s a photographer? Taking photos of the building? It has good architecture.” Rossi says. “I would know..”

Emily rolls her eyes as she walks over to the other side of the table. She and Lucy stood behind Garcia as she searched for this new suspect. “Okay, well you my dear have a lot of people to look at. I started with current students all matching your description. Sitting back down the table, Lucy turned Garcia’s laptop to face her. Scrolling through all the photos, she stopped and pointed at the screen. “That’s her.” Clicking on the photo, she turned it for the others to see.

“I-I-I know her.” Everyone looks towards the door to find JJ and Kelly. Lucy stands up from the table and walks over to Kelly. “We don’t have any classes together but she works at The Little Donut Shop by the Union. I sometimes see her there when I go in for a quick study session before a biology meeting in the Union. We never talk because well--I’m studying. I hate being disturbed when I’m studying. It throws me completely off.”

“Do you know when she works?” Matt asks.

“She’s there every time I go in.” Kelly says. “Which is always Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and I always go in at three p.m. before my meeting.”

“Name by chance?” Tara asks hopefully.

“I saw her name tag once when I ordered. Kate, I believe.”

“Matt, Luke--” Emily says.

“We’re on it.” Luke says as he and Matt leave the room.

The floor was buzzing with officers rushing out. They ran around as if their head were cut off. Ever since Kate was picked up from her job and brought in for questioning, all of the officers were fielding calls left and right from new stations and the campus newspaper. There weren’t enough officers to cover every phone and the team was already busy with the cracking the case that they couldn’t help with the calls. Except for Lucy. She’s been taking calls and releasing information that was allowed to be given out. News stations already wanted to interview Kate and get her side of the story. But so far she was just a suspect, she wasn’t being charged yet for anything. Exhaling in relief she hang up on her last call, or so she thought. The phone rang again for the millionth time, it felt like. Groaning she goes to reach for the phone when a hand covers it preventing her from picking it up. Lifting her head she sees Luke standing over her.

“Go take a break.” He says.

“No, I’m fine.” Lucy says shaking her head.

“It wasn’t a suggestion, Luce.” He replies. “Prentiss’ orders.” Sighing and rubbing her face, Lucy gets up from the desk. Grabbing her notepad and pen off of the desk, she heads to the interrogation room where Matt and JJ were still asking Kate questions. Pulling a chair over to the window, she sits down and listens to the interview.

“I work the campus newspaper. They wanted some actions shots. But since the news reporters were getting the way, I thought maybe I could get some shots from the other side of the building.” Kate spoke. Knowing JJ, nor Matt, wrote anything down most of the time, Lucy decided to take notes for herself. The door opened and Emily stepped into the room.

“I thought I ordered you to take a break.”

���I am.” Lucy says as she keeps writing down everything Kate was saying. “I’m sitting aren’t I?”

“Why did you run away when you caught Agent De Luca looking at you?” Matt asks Kate as he leans forwards on the table.

“She looked frustrated and I thought I was going to get in trouble or something so I ran. I didn’t think that’d make me the suspect of your investigation.”

“You know what I mean, Lucy.” Emily says as she stands in front of Lucy, her arms folded over her chest. Lucy rolls her eyes as she stands up from the chair.

“Emily, I’m fine. I’ve been sitting down with a phone pressed to my ear for the past few hours. I’m fine.” She started heading towards the door when she stumbled, her vision spinning. Emily quickly grabbed hold of her.

“When did you last eat?” Emily asks.

“I don’t know.” Lucy says holding her hand to her forehead.

“Let’s get you something to eat.”

Lucy vigorously shakes her head. “I don’t think I can eat.”

“You need to--”

“Emily, I think I’m going to throw up.” Lucy says as she falls to her knees over the trash bin in the corner of the room. Springing out of her chair upon hearing Lucy’s gagging, JJ rushes out of the interrogation room.

“Jayge, go grab some water.” Emily says as she works quickly to pull Lucy’s hair out into a ponytail. Matt gets up from the table and closes the table before going back to the interview.

“Is she okay?” Kate asks.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” Matt says. “She’s pregnant.”

“Oh, I know the feeling--Well not personally.” Kate says. “My mom has thirteen kids. I’m the oldest.”

“Ah, being the older child with twelve younger siblings.” Matt noted. “Get jealous when they get all the attention?”

“Sometimes I do. I figured going to an elite, competitive college would get their attention. Nope.”

“So you turned to Kelly? You saw her one day at the coffee shop. You picked up shifts to see her more. You probably watch her over the security feeds so you don’t look weird staring at her from the counter. You feel a little hurt when she only gives you her name for her order and maybe a small smile if she’s in a good mood but that’s all the interaction the two of you share--”

“You’re way off, Agent Simmons.” Kate says shaking her head.

“I am getting somewhere.” He smirks. Kate lifts her head and meeting his gaze. “She’s so deep into her studying that she doesn’t pay attention to you when you clean off tables or walk past her hoping she would notice you.” Kate rolls her eyes. “Since none of that works, you take it a step further. You take photos of her. At first you keep them for yourself. Maybe a few on your phone or computer. But then you think that if guys can take it a step further, surely you could.” Matt could see her clenching her jaw, the anger boiling under her skin. “I bet if we were to look on your phone and computer, we’d find some interesting stuff. Maybe even letters you’ve sent to Kelly via email.”

“You have no right to go through my stuff.” Kelly snaps as she shoots forward her chair.

“I do once the judge signs off on a warrant.” Matt gets up from his chair and starts to head for the door.

“Wait!” Kate exclaims stopping him with only his hand on the doorknob. “I want to make a deal.”

“No one makes a deal with a stalker.” Matt says as he turns around to face her.

“Let me see her, a-a-and I’ll tell you everything.”

“You just did.” He says before leaving the room.

“Agent Simmons, please! I have to see her! Agent Simmons!” Kate yells at him, her shouts then being muffled as he closes the door behind him.

He entered the conference room and seeing Lucy sitting up at the table. She still looked a little flushed. “How’re you feeling?” He asks sitting down next to her.

“I’ve been better.” She sighs. “This pregnancy is kicking my ass.”

Matt chuckles. “No you’re sounding like Kristy.” Lucy smiles and rests her head on his shoulder. “You know, I’m sure Kristy and JJ can help you out, give you tips on what helped them. Some might even help with you. After three pregnancies, I look at my wife like a superhero. I mean, the labor she endured. Even with the twins. Oh boy was that a rough pregnancy.” He glances down at Lucy to find her asleep with her head still on his shoulder. Smiling he carefully lifts her head and picks her up from the chair. He brought her to the break room and laid her down on the couch. He placed the trash bin in front of the couch as a precaution. He started to back away from the couch when he noticed how her hands were curled up on her chest. He didn’t notice it before because of the dim lighting in the conference room, but sure noticed it now. He’s only seen this once with Kristy during her first pregnancy. Immediately pulling out his phone, he quickly dialed for a medic to be sent up right away. Ending the call, he ran to the door and yelled for Spencer.

Emily walked into the conference room where the team gathered to discuss new information on the case. “How’s she doing?” Matt asks.

“You caught it just in time.” Emily responds. “I just got off the phone with Spencer. Wexner has her hooked up to IVs feeding her fluids. It wasn’t something she was doing wrong. It’s apparently fairly common for women to get dehydrated. They want to keep her overnight to monitor her and the baby and hope to see her back on her feet.”

“And Spence?” JJ questions. “How is he?”

“Very anxious but hopefully now that he knows what’s going on, he can finally calm down and hopefully get some rest while he’s there with her.”

“But her hands.” Matt comments. “I’ve seen this with Kristy and it wasn’t just dehydration. Her body was experiencing an anxiety attack.”

Emily nods her head. “She was awake briefly to talk to the doctor. She said felt a little anxious after she got sick so she tried to relax a little which led to her falling asleep on Matt’s shoulder earlier. She said she still could hardly move her fingers so hopefully being stocked up on fluids and getting some rest will calm her down and she’ll go back to normal.”

“Good, good.” Rossi says. “I terrified seeing her being wheeled out of here on a stretcher. It wasn’t a good sight at all.”

“Which leads me into my next announcement.” Emily says as she walks over to the bulletin board. “We’re going to have to take on her responsibilities. The calls are starting to die down more so the officers can handle them. Garcia, I need you to dig through Kate’s phone and laptop. You can’t miss Kelly’s photos. I want them all printed off. Emails and personal notes I want printed off as well. JJ,” She says turning back to face JJ. “I want you to handle the press release once we get everything put together.” JJ nods her heads.

“Matt, you were on a roll with Kate. I want you to take Tara in with you and see where else you get. The more we get out of Kate, the further we get for this case.”

“I might have a way.” Matt says. “Is Kelly still here?”

“The Sheriff had two deputies take her back to her dorm.” Emily says. “What’s your plan?”

“Well Kate was asking to see Kelly and I think it wouldn’t hurt anyone to let her too. Obviously we’d be in the room and keep Kate cuffed under the table so she can’t touch Kelly. But with both of them face-to-face we might be able to get more information out of Kate.”

“That might just work. I’ll patch over to the deputies and have them bring Kelly back in. Just because we may have our person, we need a solid confession or else the courts will take this case.” Emily says before she leaves the room again.

The next day

Waking up to the sun shining across her bed, Lucy looked over at Spencer. He was already awake and reading a book. “Hey, how’re you feeling?” He asks noticing that she was awake. He sets his book down and moves his chair closer to the bed.

“Cold...” Lucy whispers.

“Must be the fluids. The nurses just changed your blankets for clean, warm ones. One changed your fluid bag and the other suggested warmer blankets. Whatever fluids they’re feeding you, they must be pretty cold.”

“Very..” Lucy says nodding her head. “How is the case going? Have they gotten a confession out of Kate yet?”

Spencer shakes his head. “Everything she says is basically a confession but the judge won’t take it to court unless she fully admits to stalking Kelly.”

“How stubborn can the judge be? If she’s basically admitting to stalking without giving a solid confession, that should be enough.”

“Emily tried getting the judge to accept what we got but she won’t take it.”

“Give me my phone.” Lucy says waving her hand over towards her bag.

“What do you want it for?” Spencer says bring her phone over to her.

“I’m calling the judge.” Lucy says as she starts to dial the number for the courthouse.

“Emily’s already tried.” Spencer said. “She won’t budge.”

“Well she obviously hasn’t talked to me yet.”

“You don’t think she can get the judge to sign off on it, do you?” Emily says as she pour herself fresh coffee.

“Well I think it’s going pretty good so far.” Spencer says as he paces back and forth in front of Lucy’s room door.

Emily’s phone dinged and she pulled it away from her ear to see an email notification disappearing. “Hold on, I just got an email.” She goes to her email and sees a new one sent from the judge. Clicking on it, she instantly knew that it was go. Placing her phone back to her ear, she leaves her coffee under the pot and rushes out of the room. “Spence, I don’t know what she said or how she got the judge to change her mind, but the case if officially closed. The judge is taking the case to court.”

“Luce was right.” Spencer says chuckling. “The judge hasn’t spoken to her yet.”

“Tell her that I love her. I gotta go!” Emily says before hanging up and meeting back up with the team in the conference room.

Felt like it was getting a little long and I was getting annoyed with how long it’s taken me to finish this piece, so I am ending it there.

If you liked it this one, than please be sure to leave it some love and feedback!

Thank you! :)

[berniesrevolution]

This past October, on a Saturday afternoon in a Unitarian church in Philadelphia, about 50 people were seated in a loose configuration of folding chairs, taking turns raising their hands to speak. Most were in their mid-20s; they wore jeans, sweaters, the occasional nose ring, and backpacks decorated with pins.

The gathering was an “open strategy” session of the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter to talk through DSA’s nascent Medicare for All campaign. A poster affixed to the door showed a line representing the cardiac-rhythm strip of an ECG monitor and featured a rose, an old socialist symbol that DSA has adopted as its logo. Volunteers stood up and shared their experiences knocking on doors and explaining the benefits of single-payer health care on a canvassing trip through the Philly suburbs. One said that she’d been nervous to approach strangers in their homes, but had been surprised by the friendly responses she’d received. Another reported his method of establishing common ground with the person standing in the doorway—by discussing medical problems and costs—and then trying to tie the provision of health care to “socialism as an ideological concept.”

At the front of the room was 23-year-old Melissa Naschek. Four pieces of butcher paper had been taped onto the church basement’s clapboard walls, and each time an idea was suggested, Naschek transcribed it in slanting cursive: “Reaching out to low-wage workers”; “Contact labor unions”; “Media programs”; “How to debate.” Under a category headed Ignore, the most prominent word was “Trolls.”

Naschek grew up on Long Island with two Democratic-voting professionals for parents. She has long brown hair, glasses, and a deliberate but nervous manner. At a bar around the corner after the DSA meeting, she described what she called her “radicalization.” She was in her final year at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, studying neuroscience and spending her spare time in the Ivy League Model UN Club. Until that November, she hadn’t been “very political at all”; she was what she termed “a normal liberal.” Naschek voted for Hillary Clinton in both the Democratic primary and the general election. When Donald Trump won, she started questioning the analyses she’d read in her usual media outlets. She switched from The New York Times to leftist publications like The Intercept, In These Times, and Jacobin. The narratives of American politics that she found there, she told me, were “just completely different from anything I’d seen.” Within a few months, Naschek had “denounced liberalism and begun identifying as a socialist.”

“Everyone on the left agrees that the Democratic Party...must be our main political arena.” —DSA founder Michael Harrington in 1984

She’s one of about 24,000 people—70 to 80 percent of them under 35—who have joined DSA since November 2016. After she graduated in June of that year, Naschek became a researcher and lab technician at her alma mater, a competitive job that can kick-start a career in neuroscience. She earns a little over $20,000 a year, which is enough for the essentials, including her rent, but leaves little for unexpected expenses. She had planned to go to grad school and then, most likely, into a career in academia, but since her political awakening she’s changed her mind, discouraged by how much of her field depends on funding from the pharmaceutical industry and on for-profit patents. Her decision, as she described it to me, was guided by “classic Marxism”: She was discouraged by “the way in which profit becomes this thing that is only meant to sustain itself and destroys anything that gets in the way.” She also doesn’t want to sacrifice the 20-odd hours a week she now spends organizing as co-chair of DSA’s Philadelphia chapter.

“I always really believed in the idea of a meritocracy—you know, like ‘Work hard and you’ll be fine,’” Naschek told me later. “But all of that completely eroded…once I became a Marxist.” She puts herself in the same category that she believes most new DSA members belong to: “downwardly mobile millennials.”

For most of its 35-year history, DSA was an obscure fringe group. Its founder, Michael Harrington, grew up in a Republican Irish-Catholic family and had aspired to be a poet. Then he had an epiphany in a streetcar in 1949, according to his own semi-mythological telling. As Harrington recalled it, after he graduated from college, his cousin set him up with a job in the Pupil Welfare Department of the St. Louis public-school system “without any idealistic thought on my part.” Making a home visit to a student one day, Harrington entered a shack in a post-Depression sharecropper district. In the house, he later recounted in his autobiography Fragments of the Century, he encountered “cooking smells and the stench from the broken, stopped-up toilets…. Suddenly the abstract and statistical and aesthetic outrages I had reacted to at Yale and Chicago became real and personal and insistent.” Riding the streetcar home, Harrington decided to devote his life “to putting an end to that house and all that it symbolized.”

In 1962, he published The Other America, a book on poverty that challenged the perception that America had become a middle-class country. Poverty persisted, Harrington wrote, because “the structure of the society is hostile to these people,” perpetuating disability, sickness, and self-doubt, while still “ask[ing] of the poor that they get up and act just like everyone else.” The book made Harrington famous, but it couldn’t sustain a movement. At that time and over the decades that followed, the American left was splintering, uncertain how to respond to the authoritarianism of socialist regimes abroad. Harrington joined, and subsequently quit, a handful of tiny leftist groups. To the larger US society, Harrington said, he and his fellow travelers seemed like “a small band of nuts.”

It was this irrelevance that Harrington wanted to escape when he founded Democratic Socialists of America in 1982 by weaving together the New American Movement and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, two small groups that had grown out of the antiwar movement. Harrington aimed to put aside the left’s infighting: DSA would be an independent coalition working inside and outside the Democratic Party—in other words, a kind of friendly socialist lobby.

Harrington’s slogan, “the left wing of the possible,” highlights the quixotic nature of his vision. For him, socialism in America was a direction rather than an outcome. In Harrington’s DSA, there were no revolutionary politics, but he argued that influencing Democrats could actually work, and therefore those tactics were “the most radical things we can do.”

Still, his approach rested on an optimistic view of the Democratic Party and its relationship to socialist politics. In a conversation in The New York Times Magazine in 1984, Harrington’s comrade Irving Howe asked him about DSA’s conciliatory approach and its interaction with centrists. “Time passed, tempers cooled, old disputes faded,” Harrington replied. “And by now practically everyone on the left agrees that the Democratic Party, with all its flaws, must be our main political arena”—a statement that would have been scandalous to Harrington’s friends in the Socialist Party, who lumped Republicans and Democrats together into one big self-serving ruling class.

The whole thing was “pretty much unblemished, but also it was utterly irrelevant.” —Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of ‘Jacobin’

One of Harrington’s crucial assumptions was that, having lost to a conservative Republican like Ronald Reagan, the Democrats would develop left-leaning policies to oppose him. If anything, the opposite proved true, and versions of Reagan’s policies—particularly on welfare—found their way into Democratic legislation. Even given Harrington’s moderate approach, Democrats rarely wanted anything to do with his project. “Socialism” retained a bad odor, even when modified with the word “democratic.” When Harrington died in 1989, his organization hadn’t grown much beyond the 6,000 aging members it had had at its founding.

(Continue Reading)

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/the-latest-kansas-citys-holiday-traditions-upended-world-news/

The Latest: Kansas city's holiday traditions upended | World News

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — LAWRENCE, Kan. — Holiday traditions have been upended across Kansas due to the coronavirus, forcing Santa to stay firmly on the ground in one city and transforming parades elsewhere.

In Lawrence, hundreds usually turn out on the Friday after Thanksgiving to watch firefighters use a ladder truck to rescue Santa from the top of Weaver’s Department Store.

But that’s not happening this year as the pandemic strains hospitals.

Instead, Santa will appear on the first three Saturdays of December atop a truck decked out in garlands, poinsettias and pine cones, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.

“This is our attempt at bringing Santa to the people,” said Elizabeth Sullivan, director of performing arts for the Lawrence Arts Center, which teamed up with Downtown Lawrence Inc. and Lawrence Parks & Recreation to make the free events happen in a safe manner.

The city’s hospital, Lawrence Memorial, has been converting more rooms for COVID-19 patients and 26 coronavirus patients were being treated there on Friday.

———

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Black Friday offers beacon of hope to struggling stores

— Empty seats, delivered feasts as virus changes Thanksgiving

— UK asks regulator to assess AZ-Oxford vaccine amid questions

— The pandemic is turning this into a holiday shopping season like no other. Toy companies are targeting stuck-at-home grown-ups with latte-smelling Play-Doh and Legos that turn into Warhols.

— The deluge of “Dear Santa” letters pouring into a French post office that sorts and responds to Kris Kringle’s mail offers a glimpse into the worries and hopes of children around the world awaiting a pandemic-hit Christmas.

— Greece has moved all school and university classes to a remote format. State television is making and broadcasting lessons, while teachers speak to students online from empty classrooms.

———

Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

———

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota on Friday reported 39 deaths from COVID-19, pushing the state to record more deaths in November than all other months of the pandemic combined.

The state’s tally of COVID-19 deaths stands at 888 after the Department of Health reported the death records from a two-day period stretching over the Thanksgiving holiday. The total number of deaths has more than doubled since November began, with 463 reported this month.

The state currently has a death rate of about 100.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

———

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Health has reported 101 more COVID-19 deaths, the first time the state has topped 100 single-day deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The state health department reported 5,704 new cases on Friday, putting the state at 3,476 deaths and 295,001 cases since March.

More than 1,800 patients are hospitalized, including more than 380 in intensive care, as dramatic case growth over the past month has led to increasing hospitalizations and deaths.

The figures reported on Friday reflect data acquired by the health department as of Wednesday.

———

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa has reported that 37 people died of the coronavirus in the past day.

The state Department of Public Health on Friday said the additional deaths bring the total to 2,349.

In the past 24 hours as of Friday morning, there were 1,266 new confirmed cases.

Iowa has long had some of the nation’s highest coronavirus infection rates, but in the past week its numbers have improved slightly.

———

LONDON — The World Health Organization’s top scientist says more data is needed to determine if the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca works.

Oxford and AstraZeneca reported Monday that their vaccine appeared 62% effective in people who received two doses and 90% effective when volunteers were given a half dose followed by a full dose. They later acknowledged a manufacturing issue had resulted in a half dose mistakenly being administered as the first dose to some participants.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, said at a Friday news conference that “the numbers are still too small to really come to any definitive conclusions.”

In the study, 2,741 people got a half dose followed by a full dose while 8,895 people got two full doses. None of the people in the half-dose regimen were over age 55.

“It’s very hard to compare these two groups,” Swaminathan said.

Swaminathan said the agency had heard AstraZeneca would like to conduct a full study testing the half dose followed by a full-dose regimen, noting that the other ongoing research evaluating the vaccine uses two full doses.

———

LONDON — Ireland is easing its coronavirus restrictions, with most businesses allowed to reopen next week.

For six weeks, Ireland has been under tight restrictions, with many businesses shut and people restricted to a 3-mile (5-kilometer) radius of their home.

The government says shops, hairdressers, gyms, cinemas, museums and galleries will be allowed to open starting Tuesday, and religious services can resume. Restaurants and pubs that serve food will be able to open from Dec. 4, though bars that only serve drinks have to stay shut.

Ireland plans to ease restrictions further over Christmas, allowing people to travel and up to three households to gather between Dec 18 and Jan. 6.

Ireland, with a population of almost 5 million, has recorded more than 2,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

Prime Minister Micheal Martin acknowledged the hardship many faced, but said the nation’s “sacrifices” were working and had driven down the infection rate to one of the lowest in Europe.

———

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he expects more than half of Canadians to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by next September.

Trudeau’s government is facing criticism after he said Canada will have to wait for a vaccine because the first ones that roll off assembly lines are likely to be given to citizens of the country they are made in. He noted earlier this week that the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany have mass vaccine-production facilities but Canada does not.

Trudeau says Canada has signed deals that could give it the most per capita vaccines in the world. But when Canadians will get the first doses remains an open question. Toronto is on lockdown and the country’s largest province of Ontario is reporting a record 1,855 cases on Friday.

——

GENEVA — Scientists at the World Health Organization estimate that about 60 to 70% of people in countries will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to achieve any type of herd immunity.

At a press briefing on Friday, WHO vaccines expert Dr. Kate O’Brien said it was still unclear if vaccines against COVID-19 might reduce the amount of time people are infectious or their ability to spread the virus. But she said modelling studies suggest up to 70% of the population will need to be immunized so that people are protected from the disease.

“It’s really important that we actually start to get more information about what the vaccines do, not just for preventing disease, but for actually preventing the acquisition of the virus,” said O’Brien, director of the U.N. health agency’s department of immunization, vaccines and biologicals.

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, noted that in some situations, targeting certain groups for vaccination may be more important than immunizing the entire population.

“We’ve seen in many clusters that only 20% of the cases go on to transmit to others, 80% don’t transmit to anybody else,” he said. “I think we’ll need to be much more surgical and precise in exactly who we target for vaccination. It may be much more important to target certain sections of the community.”

——

PHOENIX — Arizona has reported more than 4,000 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases for the third time in a week as related hospitalizations continued to increase during the current surge in the pandemic.

The Department of Health Services’ coronavirus dashboard Friday reported 4,314 additional cases and 20 deaths, increasing the state’s totals to 318,638 cases and 6,588 deaths.

The dashboard reported that 2,301 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Thursday, including 532 in beds in intensive-care units.

Meanwhile, a sixth member of the Arizona Legislature says he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Rep. Andrés Cano, a Democrat, announced on social media Wednesday that he is in isolation but is not symptomatic. Cano was reelected this month.

Last week, Democratic Rep. Arlando Teller of Chinle announced he also tested positive and was isolating. The most serious case involved Rep. Lorenzo Sierra, who spent several days on a ventilator after becoming ill in October. He has now recovered.

———

MILAN — Coronavirus deaths in Italy remain a stubbornly high 827, even as the number of people hospitalized and in critical care has started a downward curve.

COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped by 399 and virus-positive patients in ICU’s were down 64, as Italy recorded 28,352 new positives Friday, a narrowing of new cases by 2% from a day earlier, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

The death toll rose to 53,677, still the second-highest in Europe after Britain. Italy just completed three weeks of stricter measures, including partial lockdowns in the hardest hit regions and a nationwide 10 p.m. curfew. The government is considering some loosening as the holidays near.

———

ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s government has announced it will impose a limit on how much private medical facilities can charge for coronavirus tests.

Commerce and Consumer Protection Secretary General Panagiotis Stamboulidis said Friday that the limits would be 40 euros ($48) for PCR tests and 10 euros ($12) for rapid tests.

Private medical facilities such as clinics and hospitals had been charging about 70-120 euros ($84-$143) for PCR tests and around 40 euros for rapid tests.

Stamboulidis said the ceiling on prices was being set as tests were being used by many individuals and businesses as a means of preventing the spread of the virus.

A draft bill will be brought to parliament in coming days to allow for the change, he said.

———

OMAHA, Neb. — Seven of Nebraska’s 10 largest cities have imposed mask mandates, though Gov. Pete Ricketts has resisted ordering them to be worn throughout the state.

The cities issued the orders as the number of virus cases, hospitalizations and deaths surged over the last month.

The local mandates mean more than half of Nebraska’s 1.95 million people live in communities that require masks to be worn in indoor public settings, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

Most cities with mandates are in eastern and central Nebraska, including Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, Norfolk, Columbus and Hastings.

City officials in the more conservative western Nebraska have said they were encouraging people to wear masks but not requiring it, which is the approach Ricketts has taken.

———

SAO PAULO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he won’t take any working COVID-19 vaccine himself and calls the use of masks to limit the spread of the disease “the last taboo to fall.”

Bolsonaro’s comments, broadcast on his social media channels Thursday night, alarmed health experts who said they could undermine efforts to achieve vaccination levels essential to halting the pandemic and might scare off vaccine makers negotiating with local authorities.

Bolsonaro also said, however, that any shot that is certified by Brazil’s health agency will be available for free to the public.

The Brazilian president, who contracted the virus in July, has long resisted the advice of most scientists and health experts to restrict social and economic activity, arguing that damage from a lockdown would be worse than the pandemic.

Balsonaro says: “I tell you; I will not take (any vaccine). It is my right and I am sure that Congress will not create difficulties for whoever doesn’t want to take a vaccine.”

———

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities have reported a record number of new coronavirus cases for a second straight day.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov reported 16,218 new infections on Friday, almost 900 more than the day before and the highest daily spike in the pandemic. The previous record was set on Thursday, when officials reported 15,331 new cases.

Ukraine’s total has reached 693,407 confirmed cases, over 95,000 of which have been registered since last Friday. Ukraine has also reported 11,909 deaths in the pandemic.

The rapid rise in cases in Ukraine has started in September and put a strain on the country’s health care system. Earlier this month, the government introduced tight weekend restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. Under the measure, which is to last through the end of November, only grocery stores, pharmacies and public transport are allowed to operate on Saturdays and Sundays.

———

LISBON, Portugal — Portugal’s prime minister is repudiating a report saying that elderly people could be put at the back of the line when COVID-19 vaccinations become available.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa tweeted Friday, “There are technical criteria which can never be accepted by politicians. It is inadmissible to stop protecting life in accordance with age. Lives have no expiry date.”

Costa’s comments appeared to corroborate a report in weekly newspaper Expresso on Friday that officials tasked with drawing up the country’s vaccination plans had proposed in a draft document that healthy people over 65 would be among the last to be inoculated.

The spokesman for Portugal’s National Health Council, Jorge Torgal, told Portuguese radio station TSF the draft was drawn up at a time when scientific evidence suggested vaccines would not be effective in the elderly.

The Portuguese government has been widely criticized for its delay in drawing up its vaccine plans.

———

BERLIN — Germany has hit another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, reporting a total of more than 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The country’s disease control center said Friday that Germany’s 16 states reported 22,806 cases overnight for a national total of 1,006,394 since the start of the pandemic.

However, Germany has reported fewer virus-related deaths than many other European countries: 15,586 compared with more than 50,000 in Britain, Italy and France.

The country is almost a month in to a so-called “wave-breaker” shutdown instituted Nov. 2 after daily cases rose to new record highs. Officials say the new measures have succeeded in halting the surge.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors decided earlier this week to extend the shutdown well into December and add more restrictions to try to bring the numbers down to below 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants each week.

———

BANGKOK — Thailand has signed a deal to procure 26 million doses of the trial coronavirus vaccine developed by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University.

The doses expected to be delivered in mid-2021 would cover 13 million people in a population of about 69 million.

Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute signed a non-refundable advance market commitment contract worth 2.38 billion baht ($79 million) with AstraZeneca to reserve the supply of the vaccine candidate. Another 3.67 billion baht ($121 million) agreement for the purchase of the trial vaccine, known as AZD1222, was signed by the Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department.

A government spokesman said Friday that officials are still deciding who should receive the vaccine first. A separate deal signed in October allows a Thai company to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine. Thailand has had 3,961 confirmed cases of the coronavirus since January, including 60 deaths

———

MOSCOW — Russia has reported a sharp daily spike in coronavirus cases. Officials reported 27,543 new confirmed infections Friday, over 2,000 more than the day before.

Moscow and St, Petersburg reported record numbers of new cases, with 7,918 and 3,687, respectively. The surge brought Russia’s total in the pandemic to over 2.2 million, the fifth-highest number in the world. Russia’s coronavirus task force has also reported 38,558 virus-related deaths.

Russia has been swept by a fall resurgence of the virus. Russian authorities have rejected the idea of another nationwide lockdown.

———

MELBOURNE, Australia — From nearly 8,000 active cases in August and more than 800 deaths in the Australian state of Victoria to the elimination of the coronavirus: It’s an achievement that one Melbourne doctor says he thought was unthinkable only three months ago.

Friday marked four weeks without a new case of COVID-19 and 9,828 Victorians were tested in the past 24 hours.

Health authorities say 28 days with no new cases means the virus has been eliminated from the community, given that the time represents two 14-day incubation periods.

Victoria reached 7,880 active cases on Aug. 11. The last COVID-19 patient in a Victorian hospital was discharged on Monday, leaving the state without an active case.

The resurgence had forced a lockdown in Melbourne, an overnight curfew and travel and family gathering restrictions. Premier Daniel Andrews was criticized repeatedly over several months for his strict guidelines.

Australia’s death toll from the virus is 907 and 819 of them are from Victoria.

———

MADRID — Health Minister Salvador Illa says Spain will be able to vaccinate its 47 million residents against the coronavirus in three waves starting in January and ending “during the months of summer.”

Some 2.5 million people, including residents and personnel working in nursing homes, health workers and people with dependency, will be prioritized for the first batch of vaccines that Spain expects to administer between January and March, Illa said Friday.

He said that experts are analyzing what will be the order for vaccinating other groups in the March to June vaccination campaign and for the last batch, over the summer, depending on their risk of contagion and the availability of vaccine doses.

Spain has closed contracts to purchase 140 million doses that could cover 80 million people.

A recent decline in the number of daily coronavirus infections in Spain has given a slight respite to hospitals, where 12% of normal beds and 28% of intensive care beds are treating COVID-19 patients. But the number of daily fatalities remains high.

The country has recorded 1.6 million coronavirus infections and 44,300 deaths.

———

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Some 30 people — reportedly including doctors — have been fined a total of 165,000 kroner ($18,620) for throwing a family party in Norway that failed to respect local restrictions, a Norwegian newspaper said Friday.

Police had to stop the party held northeast of Oslo that took place in early November. Some of the participants came from Denmark a few days ahead of the party and were fined for violating the 14-day self-quarantine restriction, police spokeswoman Sikke Folgeroe told the Romerike Blad newspaper.

———

TOKYO — Japanese Emperor Naruhito and his family will not offer their New Year greetings from the palace balcony due to concerns over the country’s struggles with a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

The Imperial Household Agency said in a statement Friday that the annual greetings on Jan. 2 will not be held. The event traditionally draws tens of thousands of well-wishers to the palace garden. The greeting was last canceled in 1990 following the death of Naruhito’s grandfather.

Emperor Naruhito and his family have rarely made public appearances since the pandemic began, due to cancelation of palace events.

Tokyo reported 570 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, a new record for Japan’s capital city as the country faces a surge in infections. Nationwide, Japan had nearly 140,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths.

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[shirlleycoyle]

Rural Transit Agencies Are Keeping People Alive

A few days after Jeanne McMillin started working as a dispatcher for Little Dixie Transit in the small southeastern Oklahoma town of Hugo nearly 20 years ago, she got a call from someone she described as “a little lady.”

Unbeknownst to McMillin, this lady had been a long-time rider. But McMillin was having a hard time getting all her information down. There were three different phones, two-way radios blaring constantly, and lots of activity in the office of people coming and going. It was all so much more chaotic than she expected when she took the job at the rural public transit agency. So McMillin asked the lady two or three times for her origin and destination, just to make sure she got it right.

“She kind of laughed,” McMillin recalled, “and said, ‘honey, are you new?’” McMillin chuckled at the recollection and the good-natured way the woman responded to her difficulties adjusting to the new job. “She could just tell.”

Little DIxie Transit is a public transportation agency, like New York City Transit or the LA Metro. But the similarities end there. It doesn’t have billions of dollars to spend every year or a staff of tens of thousands to serve those riders. In 2018, Little Dixie Transit had a $2 million budget and a staff of about two dozen. Rather than moving millions of people a day, they move hundreds. And when someone has somewhere to go, they call the landline and talk to someone like McMillin.

McMillin says you can learn an awful lot about a person simply by knowing where they’re going, something that Google, Apple, and countless tech companies have since discovered. A person’s travel habits are intimate, revealing details. Of course, McMillin wasn’t out to profit off that information. But it meant riders became much more than riders to her.

When that “little lady” would call, she’d tell McMillin she needed to go to Walmart or get her hair done. They’d chat about what they were making for dinner, when the lady’s children were coming to visit, and when something around the house broke that needed fixing.

“It became personal because you knew this person, her life, her activities, what she liked to do,” McMillin said. “You always thought she was going to be there, because she had always been there.” And Little Dixie Transit was always there for her, too.

*

The coronavirus crisis has had a powerful revealing effect on all aspects of American life. Most poignantly, it has shown us what is essential to our health and well-being. In big cities, public transportation systems that get essential workers where they need to go have received deserved recognition for their critical role in managing the crisis.

But the transit agencies across the country that serve rural populations have been less recognized. In large part, this is because many people don’t even know there’s such a thing as a rural transit agency. When most people think of public transit they think of trains and buses in dense urban areas. And when they think of rural areas, they picture people in cars driving everywhere.

But these services, which typically use smaller vans that seat a maximum of 14 people, are just as critical. They may serve fewer people, but are vital lifelines for the people who rely on them. Without these rural transit agencies, old folks would have to permanently leave their homes, the sick would routinely miss medical appointments, and some people would be stranded far from grocery stores and social events.

Motherboard spoke to four administrators of rural transit agencies and two statewide directors about the role they play in their communities for this article, and all of them stressed the underappreciated aspect of their services.

“We’re not a big urban system,” said Melissa Fesler of First Capital Trolley in Guthrie, Oklahoma. “We may not impact as many lives, but we do impact the lives of those we serve.”

In 2018, America’s 1,280 rural transit agencies made more than 125 million combined trips, according to data compiled by the American Public Transportation Association. The data doesn’t break down the purposes of those trips, but the rural transit employees Motherboard spoke to said they serve a variety of purposes. Some of their riders don’t own cars either for financial or health reasons. Others are on dialysis or receiving chemotherapy that require regular trips to health centers far from their homes and don’t have anyone else to provide that transportation. A significant portion of rural transit ridership tends to be elderly, allowing those customers to live in their homes longer than they otherwise could. Many rural agencies partner with drug courts to take people with suspended licenses to their appearances. Others bring children to school or activities while their parents are at work. Basically, if you cannot drive yourself for whatever reason, rural transit fills the gaps.

Rural transit’s proponents believe it is not merely a vital lifeline in times of crisis, but a key component to any recovery. “I always say there’s two reasons people ride the bus,” said executive director of Oklahoma Transit Association Mark Nestlen, “to make money and to spend money.” Even if that’s not strictly true, it’s a decent rule-of-thumb. For that reason, Nestlen calls transit “an economic development program that happens to have quality of life benefits.”

It’s important to not put too much stock in economic impact analyses, as they’re often little more than glorified guesswork. That being said, a host of studies have consistently found public transit in both rural and urban areas pays for itself by creating jobs, saving people money, improving health care access and outcomes, and saving lives. While the exact dollar benefits range greatly, studies consistently find rural transit is worth the money.

But these rural transit experts also said recent events have underscored how federal rules and funding formulas make it difficult to provide better or expanded service to those who need it. As a result, some are worried about what the future will bring.

“I’ve never experienced anything like what we have gone through in the last couple of months in almost 20 years of doing this work,” McMillin said, “and I’m very concerned about where we’re going to be at when we come out the other side.”

*

Like their urban counterparts, many rural transit agencies didn’t shut down when their respective states issued stay-at-home orders. The managers I spoke to all recounted similar thought processes, ones reminiscent of the mutual aid networks that have sprung up around the country. They asked themselves how they can still serve their communities even if it means adhering to social distancing and putting their community first, personal finances second.

Because many of their riders use the service to get to grocery stores, several rural agencies Motherboard spoke to quickly pivoted to grocery and meal delivery. Kari Ruse, transit manager at the Nebraska Department of Transportation, said many of the rural agencies in her state are now de facto grocery delivery services, free of charge.

So too is Goose Creek Transit in Sheridan, Wyoming, which primarily serves the town’s elderly population and whose goal, according to manager Steve Ainslie, is to enable seniors to live in their homes for as long as possible. Normally, that means bringing seniors to and from the senior center, but with social distancing rules in place, Goose Creek Transit has become their go-to Walmart delivery service. Ainslie decided to waive the $2.50 fare because “it just didn’t seem like the right idea to ask” for that money.

Not only did many rural transit agencies stay open, but they are also facing expenses and various inefficiencies that are pushing their budgets. Most obviously, they had to buy personal protective equipment for their drivers—many of whom are themselves senior citizens supplementing retirement income—and gallons upon gallons of hand sanitizer and other cleaning supplies, expenses they either didn’t have before the outbreak or were much lower prior to the crisis. Fesler of First Capital Transit told Motherboard she’s been spending $80 per gallon of hand sanitizer, not to mention sanitizing all 60 vehicles between each passenger.

Image: Oklahoma Transit Association

Some rural transit agencies have it better than big city agencies that typically move millions of people, at least financially speaking. Although agencies big and small have seen ridership plummet, the CARES Act, which provided $25 billion for public transportation, will cover agency shortfalls in the 10 largest transit regions for an average of 5.4 to 8.3 months, according to an analysis by the non-profit think tank TransitCenter. For the rest of the country’s transit systems, CARES Act funding will last an average of 12.6 to 20.8 months.

This is because the CARES Act uses the same federal funding formulas as the feds do in normal times to divvy up that $25 billion, which, as Ben Fried of TransitCenter told Motherboard, “shortchange transit agencies in large cities, distributing less money relative to their share of national ridership.”

However, TransitCenter notes these are just averages, and some rural agencies are in just as dire funding straits as big city agencies due to the vagaries of these broad formulas.

In order to receive money from the feds, rural transit agencies have to scrounge up some cash on their own. For operating expenses, agencies have to match the federal contribution dollar for dollar, while administrative and capital expenses are one local dollar for every four federal ones (the CARES Act money doesn’t require a local match).

Some rural agencies get that local match from city or state tax revenues. Others raise the money on their own by providing contract services for non-emergency medical transportation, drug courts, and other local government agencies for their transportation needs.

This is a cumbersome, inexact process that works better for some rural agencies than others during normal times. Because the CARES Act uses the same basic formulas, the coronavirus crisis has therefore only exacerbated those differences, meaning those who normally struggle to put together local match funding are in even worse shape during the crisis.

First, those federal funds for rural transit agencies—which amounted to $740 million for rural transit agencies this fiscal year before the CARES Act stimulus—are appropriated based on performance metrics. The two most important metrics are how many trips the agencies provide and how many miles the vehicles travel while picking up and dropping off riders. Both of those statistics have plummeted nationwide in recent weeks.

Plus, agencies that used to transport multiple passengers at a time have changed their policies to enable social distancing. Now, they have either severely limited vehicle capacity or stopped taking multiple passengers entirely. This adds vehicle miles travelled—and the related fuel and maintenance expenses—while providing service for fewer people, making their operations appear less efficient, which hurts their federal outlay.

On top of that, those same performance measures are the ones transit administrators show to local politicians to demonstrate they’re providing a valuable service to the community. This helps justify the local match funding so they can in turn receive the federal funds. But, with tax revenues plummeting, will local or state governments continue providing that funding, especially if rural transit agency’s metrics look so bad on paper?

Even the agencies that raise their own matching funds are worried. Little Dixie Transit, for example, gets most of its matching funds through non-emergency medical transportation contracts that pay for Medicaid patients to get to their doctor’s appointments. In rural areas, those trips can take hours each way. Dialysis and chemotherapy patients are still going to their appointments because they’re medically necessary, but McMillin estimates about 75 percent of non-emergency medical trips have been cancelled. As of the end of April, she has no idea how she will make up for that lost revenue.

*

In keeping with the vagaries of federal funding formulas, some agencies are more worried about the future than others. Ruse, for example, thinks the $27 million Nebraska got through the CARES Act will help see Nebraska’s transit agencies through the difficult months ahead. Others are hoping this crisis spurs more fundamental changes in how rural transit is funded so they aren’t scrounging for dollars every year to get that federal match.

Depending on the specifics, this would likely be a great development, Nestlen believes.

“Congress never sat down at the table and said ‘let’s develop a rural transit program. What should it look like?’ They sat down at a table and said here’s the urban transit program…we’re going to have everything be the same and just put it in rural," he said. "When you do that, you’re going to put a square peg into a round hole.”

It is to their credit that the rural transit agencies do not operate like square pegs in round holes. To a person, the people interviewed for this article were proud to be serving their communities in these difficult times. Some said it reminded them why they got into this line of work to begin with. Fesler had a driver thank her for assigning her to deliver meals to seniors, because she was just grateful to be making a difference at a time where so many of us feel so isolated and powerless, the exact opposite of what a good transit system does for its passengers.

One of the people who has been reminded what she got into this line of work lately is McMillin. Seven or eight years into her tenure at Little Dixie Transit, the “little lady” who welcomed her to the new job passed away. McMillin and a half-dozen other Little Dixie Transit employees went to her funeral. After all, they spoke to her almost every day for years. They knew which days she would be calling and which days she wouldn't. It was those kinds of experiences that got McMillin hooked to the job, helping people one at a time. Never before, she said, has that been more important.

“I can’t tell you,” she added almost as an afterthought, “how many people we transport where we will be the only people they see any given day.”

Rural Transit Agencies Are Keeping People Alive syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[inside919]

This just on... http://inside919.com/business/pitt-county-makes-growth-a-group-effort/

Pitt County makes growth a group effort

Economic development is a team sport in Pitt County. Jack Pender, who is part of the East Carolina University chemistry department, created a training course for workers at nearby Mayne Pharma Group Ltd. at the request of Pitt Community College’s customized training program.

  Appeared as a sponsored section in the November 2017 issue of Business North Carolina.

By Kathy Blake

Jack Pender’s two-day, hands-on laboratory class wasn’t for students in Greenville-based East Carolina University’s chemistry department, where he’s director of pharmaceutical training and laboratory services. Instead, he designed the on-campus instruction for employees of Australia-based drugmaker Mayne Pharma Group Ltd., which has a commercial office in Raleigh and factory in Greenville.

The class covered several topics, including high-performance liquid chromatography. Mayne uses the technique, which identifies and quantifies a substance’s ingredients, at its development and analytical testing center in Greenville. “The class was requested by Mayne and administered through the customized training program at Pitt Community College,” Pender says. “ECU has offered or coordinated several short courses on relevant topics for working pharmaceutical professionals to better understand the ‘why’ behind the work they do daily.”

ECU and Winterville-based Pitt Community College’s training efforts are one collaboration that is boosting Pitt County. Industry, higher education, local government and the private sector are connecting on others. They are improving the economy by developing economic, transportation, housing and health care assets. While most of those are happening in Pitt’s county seat — Greenville — their effects are felt countywide.

The Farmville Group

East Carolina University’s GlasStation hosts glass blowing demonstrations and exhibits. It’s part of Farmville’s future, which is planted in the visual arts.

Todd Edwards lives in Farmville, about 10 miles west of Greenville. He owns a local construction company and is one of four volunteers behind The Farmville Group, which helps with economic development. He says Pitt County’s amenities and diversity create a culture in a place that is worth visiting and exploring. “The Coastal Plain of South Carolina is not that different from North Carolina. They branded themselves as the Lowcountry, and we’ve been drive-through flatland to get to the beach. But we have our barbecue and arts and our own little twist of eastern [North Carolina] culture, and together we’re creating an identity. Folks are working hard, finding reasons to shine, and it’s working. It’s changing rapidly, for the good. The cranes are the most visible part, but it extends beyond downtown Greenville. You’re seeing a renaissance.”

Cary-based Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina Inc. says the state is home to more than 600 pharmaceutical and life-sciences companies, 31% more than in 2001. Pitt County, whose economy was once almost entirely agrarian, has welcomed this industry. Mayne joins several pharmaceutical companies, including Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. In August it acquired Netherlands-based drug-ingredients provider Patheon NV and its Greenville factory in a $7.2 billion deal.

“ECU’s Pharmaceutical Development Center has already quadrupled its throughput of specialized pharmaceutical chemistry training to increase the number of personnel qualified to hire at multiple pharmaceutical companies in the region,” says Allison Danell, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in ECU’s chemistry department. “Undergraduate and graduate students are engaging in financially supported research projects in the Pharmaceutical Development Center laboratories to advance research at ECU and with industry partners. We believe these students’ engagement is being translated directly to their decisions to enter STEM-focused careers in the near future.”

ECU’s Good Manufacturing Practices for Analytical Chemists class prepares seniors and graduate students for careers in the pharmaceutical industry. “Graduates of the GMP class are highly prized by the region’s pharmaceutical companies and often have employment offers before graduation,” Pender says. “We have helped place graduates from Wilson to Wilmington. Even better, volunteers from these companies assist several weeks with coaching students on proper technique and pharmaceutical-specific documentation concepts. It is a win-win. The students get plenty of help from current practitioners. The companies get to identify strong students with an interest in pharmaceutical laboratory work and desire to work and live locally.”

ECU’s training coexists with PCC’s laboratory-based classrooms, where solid-dose manufacturing, among other things, are taught. In March, the schools received a $1.75 million grant from Rocky Mount-based Golden LEAF Foundation, which invests a portion of the state’s national tobacco settlement in economic-development projects. The money will fund more partnerships in pharmaceutical manufacturing and training such as Pender’s course.

Thomas Gould, PCC’s vice president of academic affairs, says the two schools complement each other. “We share our resources. We share our expertise, and we realize that what Pitt is doing and what ECU is doing is leading to the same end, which is to create a talented workforce attractive to business and industry. So what you’re looking at is Pitt and ECU really are training the entire spectrum. Our goal is to create a workforce pipeline so these companies not only will expand but attract other pharmaceutical companies to move to Pitt County.”

PCC dedicated its Walter and Marie Williams Building in August. The 78,000-square-foot building’s six general biology labs, microbiology lab and other labs and classrooms support its STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — programs. A $19.9 million bond approved by voters in 2013 provided funding.

ECU has undergone a rebranding since Cecil Staton was named its chancellor in July 2016. The university is focused on national and global recognition of its students’ success, public service and transformation of rural regions. With the slogan “Capture your horizon,” it offers students the choice of 85 bachelor’s degrees, 72 master’s degrees and 19 doctoral degrees. “The change allows us to broaden our reach,” says Tom Eppes, the university’s chief communications officer. “ECU has grown to almost 30,000 students from across North Carolina and from across the United States. What was once a university focused only on eastern North Carolina continues to serve the region but now serves a much larger geography and is involved in research that has national or global implications, not just regional solutions.”

ECU’s Brody School of Medicine was named the most affordable of 110 U.S. medical schools in July by Austin, Texas-based Student Loan Hero Inc., which helps students manage their debt. “Brody has gained national attention for research in cancer, diabetes and other diseases and for producing doctors who stay in North Carolina to practice primary care,” Eppes says.

Vidant Health

Vidant Health expects to open its cancer center and 96-bed tower next year.

Greenville-based Vidant Health and ECU took a big step toward changing how the region’s health care is managed. The two agreed in July to combine their 80 medical practices into one company, currently called VECU. It’s expected to be up and running next year. “The integration of the two physician groups is a critical step in bringing more comprehensive medical care that is accessible, innovative, research-driven, industry leading and above all, drives improved outcomes and results for patients,” says Vidant Health spokesman Chad Campbell. “Patients will gain access to a network of 800 physicians and specialists, as well as clinical trials and medical research. This agreement also enhances our ability to attract and retain high-performing physicians and specialists, bringing more expertise, access to clinical trials and the newest therapies, all in order to provide the best care and patient experience in the rural communities we serve.”

Other changes are stirring in Greenville. Down the street from ECU and Vidant, cranes and heavy-duty trucks are busy in a 10-by-16 block portion of downtown, where private and public investments are pushing construction at a frenzied pace. There is about $1 billion earmarked for development across the city. ECU recently issued a news release that made students, staff and faculty aware of “approximately 100 projects ongoing across the main campus, some of which will impact vehicle and pedestrian traffic and access to buildings and parking lots.”

Greenville-based Taft Development Group broke ground on The Proximity at 10th St. in August. The 609-bed student housing complex is being built on 4 acres adjacent to ECU’s main campus. Tenants will choose from fully furnished studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units and enjoy 12,000 square feet of retail shops, a parking garage, clubhouse, yoga studio, game room and 20 study rooms and lounges. Taft’s The Boundary @ West End was sold out when it opened in 2015. Its sister complex — Campus Edge — is a $54 million student housing project headed by Taft and Greenville-based Ward Holdings LLC. Its 275 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail space are expected to open in 2019.

Uptown Greenville director Bianca Shoneman says 40,000 square feet of retail and 120,000 square feet of office space are under construction downtown. It will have plenty of shoppers and workers. “In 2012, we had 545 people living uptown, and by 2019 we’ll have 2,500 people living in our urban core. We’ve caught the ‘walkability’ bug, with our commitment to infrastructure to create a more walkable Greenville. Everything is interrelated, and we’re incorporating the most creative, informative development of our generation, and it’s happening right now.”

Uptown Greenville

Buildings are going up in Greenville, most notably around Vidant Medical Center and East Carolina University. Those efforts are having an effect across Pitt County.

Ground was broken for the $8.4 million Greenville Transportation Activity Center in November 2016. When it opens early next year, it will provide a single spot for riders to transfer among city and county buses, ECU Transit, Greyhound buses and shuttles headed to the airport, medical offices and hotels. “In essence, we have a transportation center that’s connected to the university and a walkable urban area,” Shoneman says. “Like Philadelphia, you can bus to town, get to a greenway, get to everywhere and live a very successful life.”

Vidant Medical Center is building a $170 million, 418,000-square-foot cancer center and 96-bed tower. It is scheduled to open next year. “The network of Vidant-supported cancer-care services spans across eight hospitals, three joint ventures, five radiation oncology sites and numerous outpatient clinics,” Campbell says. “Highly trained cancer navigators placed throughout the region and specialized by disease types will continue to serve as personal and knowledgeable points of contact for patients as they go through their cancer journey. As the leading resource for academic medicine in eastern North Carolina, our partnerships with providers offer advanced treatment options and care plans for patients from Ahoskie to Kenansville.”

Shoneman says it’s the perfect storm. “Our city council has invested in growing our city. Our university has invested in growing its campus, and we’re excited about our future. Our university and our hospital and our downtown are employment hubs, so for us to all come together and say ‘this place matters,’ that means the recruitment and retention of the best and the brightest. And we see that all coming together with the public and private investment we have on the books right now.”

Pitt County’s prosperity isn’t limited to Greenville. It’s rippling through the county, including Ayden, home to North Carolina’s official collard festival. The sleepy town of about 5,000 residents is about to wake up, says Town Manager Steven Harrell. “We are 5 miles from the actual city limits of Greenville. When the southwest bypass that will connect I-264 to an interchange in Ayden is complete in the summer of 2019, we will be eight minutes from the hospital, and that will have a tremendous impact on our growth. As far as positive effects of being close to a large city like Greenville, without a doubt we have folks who come looking to locate here, either residence wise or business wise, knowing that just down the road … is a city of virtually 100,000.”

Ayden is working to attract businesses. Warrenton-based Quilt Lizzy US LLC, a supplier of quilting, sewing and crafts materials, is renovating a 1915 Worthington Five & Dime downtown with help from a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant from Raleigh-based N.C. Department of Commerce’s Rural Development Office. The store should open in late 2018 or early 2019. “That’s going to be our domino,” Harrell says. “Then I’m certain we’ll end up with other craft stores, eateries, a boutique hotel.”

Woodworker and furniture-maker Stuart Kent, whose handmade bowls are commissioned by the N.C. Commerce Department as gifts for executives who relocate their business to the state, opened a store in Ayden in August. “He loved our downtown business district,” Harrell says. “If you look at downtown as a wheel, with spokes going out, A Quilt Lizzy will be at the hub with the furniture store at one of the spokes. It’s really going to be a game-changer.”

Ayden recently applied for a $2.8 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant to pay for about half of the proposed 24,000-square-foot Eastern North Carolina Food Commercialization Center at its industrial park. “It will be a food hub for small farmers to bring their produce to be shipped and a training center for folks in the produce business,” Harrell says. It also will offer space for food processors and packagers and is expected to create about 250 jobs and more than $900 million of economic impact within 10 years.

Farmville, whose population is almost 5,000, recorded a 22.8% household income increase from 2010 to 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It was the most in the state during that period. “Certainly, if we were 10 or 15 miles farther from Greenville, that would not happen,” says Todd Edwards, the construction company owner. “We are living under the Greenville [N.C.] MSA umbrella. We can take advantage of what’s going on in Greenville and still keep our identity. Greenville is leading the way, but we have a lot of cool stuff going on here. Eastern North Carolina is kind of coming into its own. We’re excited to be a part of that, and we’re encouraging our neighbors to be part of that. There are some amazing things, and that’s the cool part of all this.”

Farmville isn’t giving up its identity. “Sometimes, when your borders touch, you’re absorbed into that larger community,” Edwards says. “Being on the hospital side, Farmville is a faster drive to Vidant than most of the communities near Greenville. It’s 10 minutes on a 70-miles-per-hour highway, so we’d be foolish not to try to attract those folks who want to live in a small town. We’re like a college town without a college.”

Farmville sees part of its future in the visual arts. It’s already known for The GlasStation, an ECU glass-blowing venue that hosts artists and classes in a remodeled gas station, and the East Carolina ArtSpace gallery opened in October. “The gallery is kind of a way to establish a foothold as a creative community, a platform where young artists can thrive,” Edwards says. “It will develop a flow of traffic through here, and we can have space for rent and competitive gallery commissions.”

Several investors have collaborated for Farmville’s version of Shark Tank, the television show that gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their latest and greatest ideas to investors. It welcomes proposals from prospective business owners wanting to invest in the 14-block downtown. Its initial rounds begin later this month. “There will be an actual elimination process, interview process and hopefully Farmville will get some brand-new businesses,” Edwards says. “If their business and their presentation is solid, some of the better ideas will win out.”

Edwards says Farmville is exploring adding a boutique hotel, and he recently met a Charlotte businessman who’s interested in opening a gym franchise. “He looked at our household income being on the rise and said he usually doesn’t consider places with fewer than 10,000 residents, but he completely ignored his demographics when he saw that.” Don Edwards (no relation to Todd) is known for preserving historic buildings by developing them into mixed-use space. He is eyeing Farmville projects after spending nearly 30 years in downtown Greenville. He purchased the 15,000-square-foot Farmville Hardware building to turn it into apartments and business offices, a $1.5 million project.

Click here for a PDF of the section.

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayors Edition 6319

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 3 : Mayor’s Edition

with Jacob Aere

Chipotle integrates Twitter and text for free burritos during the NBA Finals. According to Mobile Marketer, Chipotle is giving away up to $1 million in free burritos as part of a mobile promotion running around the NBA Championship. The catch is that every time any announcer – including sideline reporters – says "free" on-air during the first half of official league game coverage, the restaurant chain will offer up to 500 burritos. For the second half of games, mentions of "free" will result in 1,000 burritos up for grabs. The key to success is staying on Chipotle’s Twitter channel where the company will put out unique codes to be texted for code redemption. The giveaway is capped to the first 20 on-air mentions of "free" per game, meaning that there is potential for 20,000 burrito giveaways per game! The "Freeting" campaign also waives delivery fees for orders of $10 or more placed through Chipotle's app, website, and DoorDash. Although Chipotle is not an official NBA sponsor, the guerilla campaign is drawing hundreds of thousands of hungry basketball fans through the power of social media and “second screen viewing.”

Stanley Cup Finals seeing strong viewership. According to NBC Sports, the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues Game 1 matchup was the most-watched Stanley Cup game in four years. The matchup on NBC saw the network reel in an average Total Audience Delivery of 5.380 million viewers. It was third-most watched Game 1 since NBC began broadcasting the Stanley Cup Final in 2006 and even beat out the ever-popular “The Bachelorette.” Comparatively, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals was up 2% compared to last year and a whopping 9% compared to 2017. On NBC alone, the game delivered a 2.87 HH rating and 5.264 million TV-only viewers. The title-hungry city of St. Louis led all markets with a 29.0 local rating, NBC Sports’ highest NHL rating on record in the market, while Boston scored a 25.2 rating. The series should draw consistently high numbers considering the Cinderella story Blues are taking on the behemoth Bruins, who posted 49 regular season wins and are the favorite for most bettors to take the Cup. 

USGA increases purses for both men and women at respective U.S. Opens. According to Golf Channel, last year’s men’s winner Brooks Koepka took home $2.16 million from a $12 million purse at Shinnecock Hills. This year at Pebble Beach, the winner will look to bring home roughly $2.25 million. Meanwhile, the total purse was increased to $5.5 million for the U.S. Women's Open at Country Club of Charleston. Last year, Ariya Jutanugarn took home $900,000 for her first place finish while this year’s winner Jeongeun Lee6 will take home a seven figure number for the first time. Out of this year’s $5 million purse for the revamped, season-ending LPGA CME Group Tour Championship, the first place finisher will receive $1 million, or roughly 20% of the purse, compared to the men’s winner, who cashes in a larger number but a smaller share of total prize money at 18%. The LPGA is clearly making strides to put its athletes on a closer pay scale to that of their male counterparts.

VISA invests in women’s soccer on the eve of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. According to Forbes, VISA revealed it would partner with both the Women’s and Men’s U.S. National Teams eight days before the Women’s World Cup begins in France. The terms of the deal ensured “at least 50%” of the investment would fund the U.S. Women’s National Team and women’s soccer programs and surrounding marketing efforts, meaning the deal will provide a much-needed spotlight on the stellar U.S. women's team.  The deal will see VISA become the presenting sponsor of the SheBelieves Cup, an annual four-team international invitational tournament in the U.S. Additionally, a new U.S. marketing campaign from VISA will feature World Cup squad members Adrianna Franch, Jessica Mcdonald, Rose Lavelle, Abby Dahlkemper, and Becky Sauerbrunn. USWNT co-captain Megan Rapinoe will join VISA’s roster of athletes and the financial services brand will be the first brand partner of the Player of the Match award at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. After U.S. women’s soccer players sued U.S. Soccer over gender inequality in pay this March, VISA is providing a helping hand for the three-time world champion USWNT.

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation unveiled a multisport, synthetic turf Youth Development Park on May 28 in Chicago’s Dunning neighborhood. Read-Dunning Park is lined for youth baseball/softball and soccer play and is now complete with a digital scoreboard, backstop, dugouts, and fencing. Chicago Parks District will manage and maintain the field and work closely with the Ripken Foundation to create programs to engage at-risk young people. The programs will address a variety of youth development needs, including character development, health, physical education, culture, and history. Read-Dunning Park was made in part by a generous $5 million donation to the Ripken Foundation from Group1001 and its CEO Dan Towriss, used to build a total of 10 Youth Development Parks over five years in 10 cities across the country. It is also supported by Chicago Cubs Charities and other local donors. To date, the Ripken Foundation has completed 84 multipurpose synthetic turf facilities in 22 states and Washington D.C. Read-Dunning Park is the second Ripken Foundation Youth Development Park, joining Freedom Field at Marquette Park located near Chicago’s South Side. The facility will be featured on a future episode of our monthly “Power of Sports” program, which explores Detroit in June.

Publisher Meredith Corp. sells Sports Illustrated to Authentic Brands Group for $110 million. Authentic Brands Group is the brand-development company that manages Juicy Couture, Nautica, and elements of the Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley estates. Meredith took on Sports Illustrated as part of its purchase of Time Inc. in January, 2018 for $1.85 billion plus debt. According to Variety, Authentic Brands now owns the rights to market, develop, and license Sports Illustrated and its kids edition, swimsuit edition, “Sportsperson of the Year,” and the magazine's sports archive. In a wide-ranging discussion, CEO of Authentic Brands Jamie Salter said that he envisioned possibilities ranging from SI medical clinics and sports-skills training classes to a gambling business and better use of the magazine’s vast photo library. The sale moves Meredith close to the end of its effort to sell various Time Inc. assets and allows SI to reinvent itself for the digital age to compete with companies like The Ringer, Bleacher Report, and Barstool Sports.

NBC and Indianapolis 500 see TV viewership gains in their first year. NBC drew a total audience delivery of 5.446 million viewers for Simon Pagenaud's win in the Indianapolis 500, the first time the net had broadcast rights to the race. According to SportsBusiness Journal, last year’s race was a record low on ABC TV which averaged 4.913 million viewers. The 2019 audience peaked at 6.7 million viewers in the final quarter hour of the race, and drew a TV-only number of 5.414 million viewers and marks the most-watched Sunday afternoon sporting event on NBC since the Eagles-Bears NFC Wild Card game on January 6. NBC is in the first year of a multiyear broadcasting contract with Indy and significantly increased advertising efforts for the Indy 500 compared to ABC’s handling of the race in recent years. These are the baby steps for NBC and Indy, which are looking to attract younger audiences in a sport that has seen heavy viewership regression in recent years.

Las Vegas Raiders tickets selling well enough to add $40 million to stadium. Las Vegas Stadium COO Don Webb said that about $40 million more will be put into the stadium as the team has sold many personal seat licenses, stadium suites, club seats, and sponsorships. The additional money will help finance more suites, exterior restrooms, increased plaza security, and press areas and an enhanced stadium communications system. One of the enhanced areas will be a 26,000-square-foot "south end zone club space that would hold around 800 fans,” according to Las Vegas Stadium COO Don Webb. SportsBusiness Journal reports that the Raiders are in the final stages of completing a comprehensive transportation plan that will boost available parking significantly as the team has been acquiring nearby real estate to turn into more parking availability for fans. The Vegas Raiders will play in a $1.8 billion dome that sports a transparent roof, black glass exterior, and retractable doors to frame an 80-foot-tall and 215-foot wide view of the casinos on the strip, making it one of the most visually stunning North American stadiums to date.

“Jeopardy!” champion and pro sports bettor starts donating his wins to charity. With 31 wins in his column so far, “Jeopardy!” champion and pro sports bettor James Holzhauer has started donating his winnings to charity. According to CNN, the 35-year-old professional gambler from Las Vegas recently became the second Jeopardy contestant ever to hit $2 million in winnings. With his total of $2,382,580 earned in 31 days, he's closing in on Ken Jennings' record haul of $2,520,700 won in 74 games. Earlier this month, Holzhauer and his wife gave $10,000 to Project 150, which is a charity that helps homeless students in Las Vegas by distributing school supplies, meals, and clothes. The Holzhauers also donated $10,000 to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, and the couple’s most recent donation is $10,000 towards an educational charity called Communities in Schools of Nevada, a state branch of a national organization that works to prevent students from dropping out of school. Through all of his “Jeopardy!” success, Holzhauer has become one of Las Vegas' most celebrated citizens, receiving a key to the Las Vegas Strip and having Clark County officials declare May 2 "James Holzhauer Day.”

The second annual AO1 Charity Softball Game raised $500,000 in Philadelphia. Carson Wentz’ charity softball game and its overwhelming fundraising may hint at a new golden age for Philadelphia sports. After the Eagles’ quarterback led his team to a Super Bowl title this past February and Bryce Harper joined the Phillies, sports in Philly are looking up. Although he did not play in the softball game, Wentz was working in his food truck, Thy Kingdom Crumb, to distribute free shrimp po’ boys and pulled pork sandwiches to ticket holders – something it does normally as the charitable food truck has delivered more than 8,000 free meals to those in need. According to Billy Penn, more than 15,000 fans came out to watch football players hit softballs, all in support of Wentz’s AO1 Foundation’s mission of “uplifting individuals and communities around the world by demonstrating God’s love for His people.” Playing at Citizens Bank Park, the quarterback also announced Camp Conquerors, an outdoor ministry program that introduces hunting and fishing to in-need children. Between Carson Wentz and the now-retired Chris Long, the Eagles have one of the most charitable presences among all American sports teams.

[tsgmobilebayalabama]

April Scouted Calendar

With spring in full swing, our calendars are filling up with garden-themed events, outdoor festivals, and more. Here, we’ve compiled a few of the activities in the Mobile area that we’re looking forward to in April. 

Haley Dermatology April Specials

Fillers $100 off each syringe Ogai skincare 15% off Microneedling buy 2 get 1 free

Learn More

$5 Yoga on Tap

April 2nd | 6:00pm | Fairhope Brewing Company

Soul Shine Yoga’s Hoppy Hour meets at the Fairhope Brewing Company. It’s a fun 60 minute Vinyasa Flow class for all levels. Come for the yoga, stay for the outstanding local beer! Bring a mat and a friend. (All levels, unheated) | Learn More

Art & Rug Show

April 4th | 10:00am-2:00pm & 5:00pm-8:00pm | Details Design Studio

Add that layer of color and texture your home needs with Sarah Otts Art and Oushak Chic Rugs. Learn More

La Bella Donna Make Up Event

April 4th | 9:00am-4:00pm | Haley Dermatology

Refresh your look this spring with mineral makeup that is proven to protect and nurture your skin throughout the day. Complimentary makeovers with our La Bella Donna makeup artist, Christa Ramirez. Receive a free gift with $75 purchase! Learn More

Live Music on the Patio

Reocurring every Friday and Saturday | 5:30pm-8:00pm | GrandHotel Golf Resort & Spa’s Bayside Grill

Join Bayside Grill for live music on the patio every Friday & Saturday night from 5:30pm-8:30pm  Learn More

Mobtown Mac’n Cheese Fest

April 6th | 12:00pm | Cathedral Square

United Cerebral Palsy is excited to introduce the Mobtown Mac ‘n Cheese Fest to Mobile, Alabama. Join in the endeavor to determine who has the best Mac ‘n Cheese in town! All proceeds benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Mobile. Learn More

The Marshall Tucker Band

April 6th | 7:30pm | Saenger Theatre

In the early fall of 1973, The Marshall Tucker Band was still a young and hungry group out to prove themselves every time they hit the stage. “We were a bunch of young guys who didn’t know any boundaries,” says founding member and longtime lead singer Doug Gray. As it turned out, the collective talents of The Marshall Tucker Band took them very far indeed. Learn More 

Big Walk

April 6th | 9:00am | The Bluegill Restaurant

The BIG Walk is Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Alabama's largest annual fundraiser and plays a vital role in carrying out their completely donor-supported mission year round. Your financial support directly effects their ability to professionally create new mentoring relationships in 2019. Let's take bold steps in igniting and defending the potential of the youth in our community. Learn More

Power Vinyasa Master Class

April 6th | 8:00am | Soul Shine Yoga

Join Joy and LaSarah for an intense 90 minute Baptiste style flow. Soul Shine Master's class is suited for intermediate and advanced yogis or anyone who has taken at least 10 vinyasa classes. + bring yoga mat and water + at 265 Young St. + $15 per person, not included in packages or unlimited. Learn More 

Prenatel Yoga + 3 Week Series

April 7th | 4:30-5:30pm | Soul Shine Yoga

Prenatal yoga gives a woman energy to enjoy her pregnancy, serenity to build a deeper intimacy with her own body and baby, and the presence of mind to expect the unexpected and be present. The benefits are numerous: release stress, enhance the ability to relax, boost physical strength, increase flexibility, improve balance, ease discomforts of pregnancy, open hips and pelvis, strengthen pelvic floor, build confidence, and expand a woman’s circle of community support. Take this time to foster a deeper connection to your self, to your body, to your baby. Learn More

Harvest Jewels Trunk Show

April 11th | 1:00pm-7:00pm | 207 Woodlands Ave

Shop the entire line of Harvest Jewels and fill your gift list. Easter Baskets, Mothers Day, Graduation gifts or a treat for yourself! Wine and hors d’oeuvres. Learn More

Tasting with Good People Brewing

April 11th | 6:00pm-7:30pm | Bayside Grill, Gand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa

Learn about Good People Brewing and taste a variety of beers presented by Missy Roll. Tasting includes appetizers provided by Bayside Grill. Learn More

Tasting Menu MuChaCho IPA Brown Ale Coffee Oatmeal Stout

Bay Awakening

April 12th | 11:00am | RSA Battle House

Bay Awakening is an annual luncheon benefiting Mobile Bay Keeper’s work for clean water, clean air, and healthy communities. This year's guest speakers as Julian and Kim MacQueen, owners for Innisfree Hotels, which took flight with their first hotel in Mobile in 1985. Julian is a lover of aviation and he and Kim recently flew their HondaJet from port city to port city during a trip "Around The World in 80 Stays." Their travels broke boundaries and world records while discovering new ways to be hospitable, philanthropic, and exploring the vast waterways that connect our world. Learn More 

SouthSounds Music Festival

April 12th-14th | Downtown Mobile

Founded in 2011, SouthSounds Music & Arts Festival is the first festival in the country dedicated to showcasing the best emerging and independent Southern music and art. SouthSounds is held annually on the second weekend in April in various music venues and on outdoor public stages throughout Downtown Mobile, Alabama. Watch over 84 shows in 15 different venues over a 3-day period. Musical artists spanned an array of musical genres (including Americana, indie, country, bluegrass, rock, alternative, metal, soul, funk, jazz, brass band, blues, R&B and hip-hop) and came from throughout the Southeast, with at least 9 different states being represented. SouthSounds Mission Statement: • To be the first and most successful festival in the country dedicated to showcasing new Southern music and art • To help Southern musicians and artists form professional connections to advance their careers    • To create an outstanding cultural and community-building event for Southern Alabama and the Gulf Coast Learn More

SouthSounds Arts & Crafts Market

April 13th| 11:00am | Cathedral Square

The Mobile Arts Council is coordinating an arts and crafts market with the SouthSounds Music Festival, surrounding the main music stage in Cathedral Square. This market is free to attend and will feature one-of-a-kind products created by local artisans, as well as live art demonstrations by ceramicists and glassblowers! Vendors are required to bring their own 10x10 tent, table and chair(s). Learn More

Food Truck Friday

April 12th| 4:00pm-9:00pm  | Fairhope Brewing Company

Learn More

32nd Baldwin County Strawberry Festival 

April 13th | 9:00am | Loxley Municipal Park

Family fun event with strawberry shortcake, entertainment, crafts, carnival, car show and tractor show. Come and support ARC of Baldwin County and Loxley Elementary School. Learn More

Hot Yoga 26/2

April 14th| 6:00pm-7:00pm | Soul Shine Daphne

This sequence is offered in 60 and 90 minute classes. 60-minute class is sure to get you sweating. 90-minute classes offers more instruction, meditation, time with the asanas and stillness between postures. Everyone is welcome to sweat, stretch and heal in this foundational class. There is much evidence both scientific and anecdotal to support the benefits of Hot Yoga when practiced regularly. Problems of alignment, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, insomnia, high and low blood pressure, and so many other medical problems have shown much improvement for so many with regular practice. There is no doubt that practicing this amazing series 3 or more times a week has incredible results that go way beyond the physical! Learn More

Willie Nelson & Family

April 8th |7:00pm | Saenger Theatre

With a six-decade career and 200 plus albums, this iconic Texan is the creative genius behind the historic recordings of Crazy, Red Headed Stranger, and Stardust. Willie Nelson has earned every conceivable award as a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor, and activist. He continues to thrive as a relevant and progressive musical and cultural force. Learn More

Paint Party

April 16th | 7:00pm-9:00pm | Fairhope Brewing Company

Join Paint Art Live At Fairhope Brewing Co. for a step by step painting party! Start with a completely bare canvas and create a memory AND a masterpiece. All art supplies are included in the price of the class. Preregistration is suggested, as this class has a limited number of seats. Paintings will be completed on a 16x20 canvas and will be ready to take home that evening! Class is two hours and will start at 7pm, so please arrive 15 minutes early to get settled before we start to paint. Learn More

Beverage Academy: Intro to Gin

April 19th | 5:30pm-7:00pm | Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa

Each month, the Beverage Team at the Grand Hotel will be teaching classes at the resorts’ Beverage Academy. The classes are aimed at expanding the participants’ knowledge of beverage basics while also incorporating more advanced techniques. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, the classes are fun, hands-on experiences that will have people raving about your beverage skills. In each Grand Beverage Academy, you will receive a one- hour beverage demonstration, recipes and beverage sampling. Gin has a long and special history in the spirits world from the highs of “Dutch Courage” to the lows of “Mother’s Ruin”. Gin was the most popular spirit in the U.S. until the 1970’s, come learn how to create a few classic gin cocktails including a French 75 and a Bramble. Learn More

Easter in the Square

April 20th | 10:30am | Bienville Square

Free Family Fun in Bienville Square! 10:30am to 12:30pm (Easter Egg Hunt promptly at noon) Children's Craft Activities Balloon Art Face Painting Kids Karoke Easter Egg Hunt (for children 8 and younger) Prizes for Best Costumed Pet and Best Decorated Stroller or Wagon. Learn More

Culinary Academy: Grilling Bascis

April 20th | 10:00am | Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa

Each month, a Chef at the Grand Hotel will be teaching classes at the Resort’s Culinary Academy. These classes focus on expanding the participants’ knowledge of the culinary basics while also incorporating techniques that are more advanced. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, the Chef’s classes are fun, hands-on experiences that will have people raving about your culinary skills. In each Grand Culinary Academy, you will receive an in depth cooking demonstration, recipes, food sampling and a diploma. Prepare yourself for the summer grilling season. A Grand Chef will instruct you on the techniques of grilling meat, poultry and fish. Grilling can be a way to enhance flavors while also reducing calories. This is a great class for couples. Learn More

Easter Brunch

April 21st  | 10:30am-1:30pm | Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa

Celebrate Easter with a delicious buffet at the Grand Hotel. Reservations are required. Learn More

Leon Bridges

April 22nd | 7:00pm | Saenger Theatre

On his sophomore album Good Thing, Leon Bridges’ voice breaks into the debut single “Bad Bad News” in much the same way the artist broke into the public eye in 2015 – forcefully, honestly, and all at once. “They tell me I was born to lose,” he sings with characteristic soulfulness, “but I made a good, good thing out of bad, bad news. Learn More

Jimmy Buffet

April 23rd  | 8:00pm | The Wharf

Kenny Chesney

April 27th | 7:00pm | The Wharf

Bear with Me 

April 28th | 2:00pm-5:00pm | Fairhope Brewing Company

Bear With Me performing live at Fairhope Brewing Company.  Learn More

Taco Takedown

April 28th |12:00pm | Cathedral Square

The Mobile Arts Council (MAC) is planning Mobile’s first-ever Taco Takedown –a day filled with tacos, tequila, talent and tons of fun! For the love of tacos and a good time, this new event will highlight local food vendors for their unique take on the versatile taco. The event will take place Sunday, April 28 from noon until 3:30 P.M. in Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile. Entertainment and live music will be provided. Learn More

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

30On Tuesday, primary voters in three states decide who will take on some of the nation’s most vulnerable incumbents. In Colorado, Sen. Cory Gardner is generally considered an underdog in November, but would he be replaced by a moderate Democrat or someone further left? And in Oklahoma and Utah, Republicans pretty much have to defeat Reps. Kendra Horn and Ben McAdams if they have any hope of taking back the House. Whom will the GOP nominate? We hope to bring you the answers tomorrow — depending on how fast we get results — as well as the long-awaited results from Kentucky and New York.

Colorado

Remember John Hickenlooper? After he dropped out of the Democratic presidential race in August 2019, the former Colorado governor announced he would instead run for U.S. Senate at the behest of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. His entry into the race mostly cleared what had been a crowded primary field, with attention soon turning to whether Hickenlooper could beat Gardner in the general election. (The answer seems to be yes.)

But Hickenlooper still faces a primary challenge from one high-profile candidate: former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. While Romanoff had a fairly centrist record in the legislature, he has recently embraced progressive policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal in an effort to position himself to the left of Hickenlooper, who governed and ran for president as a moderate.

Hickenlooper outspent Romanoff $6.7 million to $2.2 million through June 10, but as the campaign has drawn to a close, Hickenlooper has run into trouble. On June 5, the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission ruled that two trips he took as governor paid for by corporations had violated a state law prohibiting elected officials from receiving gifts. Hickenlooper also drew bad headlines when the commission initially held him in contempt for defying a subpoena to testify in the case (he quickly changed his mind). In addition, Hickenlooper stumbled over answers to questions about racial justice, saying “every life matters” and referencing the “shooting of George Floyd” (a Minneapolis police officer killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes). He also had to apologize for a video from 2014 in which he compared the relationship between a politician and a scheduling staffer to that of a slave and a master.

Romanoff is now cleverly using a new TV commercial that riffs off a well-known Hickenlooper ad from 2010 to attack Hickenlooper on these very issues, and Republicans have started their negative ad campaigns early too, which could redound to Romanoff’s benefit in the primary. But the cavalry has recently come to Hickenlooper’s rescue: A mysterious new PAC has dropped more than $1 million on TV ads attacking Romanoff for overseeing the passage of strict anti-immigration laws in the legislature, and the last two weeks have seen $1.1 million in TV ad spending from Hickenlooper’s campaign and at least $1.6 million from his allies at Senate Majority PAC.

At the end of the day, Hickenlooper’s money and name recognition may be too much for Romanoff to overcome: The latest poll, conducted June 19-24 by SurveyUSA for KUSA-TV, gave Hickenlooper a 58 percent to 28 percent lead.

Oklahoma

It’s not a primary, but the biggest race on Oklahoma’s ballot today is arguably State Question 802, a ballot measure that would expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Currently, Oklahoma is one of 14 states that has not expanded Medicaid, and supporters of the measure say that it would make about 200,000 Oklahomans eligible for Medicaid benefits. Medicaid expansion generally polls pretty well, even in red states (three of them passed it at the ballot box in 2018), and early on at least, Oklahoma’s proposal was no exception: A February poll by Change Research found that 67 percent supported expanding Medicaid in Oklahoma. (However, there are two pretty big caveats: The poll was paid for the Yes on 802 campaign and ballot measures tend to lose support over the course of the campaign.)

In terms of actual primaries, there’s one we’ll be keeping a close eye on: the GOP primary in Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District. It was a huge shock on election night 2018 when Democrat Kendra Horn flipped this district that voted for President Trump by 13 points in 2016. Now, sensing an opening, nine Republicans are lining up to face Horn in this Oklahoma City-based district. For a party that has struggled to elect female members of Congress, it’s notable that three of the four most serious candidates are women: state Sen. Stephanie Bice, businesswoman Terry Neese and former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi.

Bice has spent the most money on the race ($854,946 as of June 10) and enjoys the endorsement of two groups trying to elect more Republican women, but she’s also been on the receiving end of some nasty attack ads by the Club for Growth, including one obliquely tying her to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein. With the help of $450,000 of her own money, Neese has spent the second-most, at $629,419. Barresi has also almost entirely self-funded her campaign, but a fourth contender, businessman David Hill, has narrowly outspent her, $389,047 to $383,718.

On paper, Bice has the strongest chance to beat Horn, as she’s an elected official who already represents part of the district and ran ahead of Trump’s 2016 vote share in her 2018 reelection campaign. Someone like Barresi may have a harder time: During her one term as state schools chief, she faced a revolt over the adoption of new educational standards (she initially supported, then backed away from, Common Core) and lost reelection in the primary. Local political observers told Bloomberg Government that some suburban voters may still hold her tenure against her. Barresi is also the only one of the top four candidates not identified by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” program as a potentially competitive contender.

If no candidate wins a majority today, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff on Aug. 25.

Utah

Utah Republicans, meanwhile, are abuzz over three competitive Republican primaries. Two races — one for the governor’s mansion, one for a House seat — have major consequences for November, given the jurisdictions’ deep-red hues, while the third is liable to be competitive.

The GOP primary for Utah governor is shaping up to be a close race between Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and former Gov. Jon Huntsman, though former state House Speaker Greg Hughes is also in the mix.

Huntsman has been targeted for his connection to former President Barack Obama, which could play poorly in the conservative state. An outside group, Protecting Our Constitution, has sent mailers to voters attacking Huntsman for leaving Utah to become Obama’s ambassador to China, arguing that Utah needs a leader “who will be there for us.” (Huntsman later served as President Trump’s ambassador to Russia.) Still, Huntsman was quite popular during his time as governor, as his job approval sometimes topped 80 percent. However, Cox has the backing of popular Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, who took over for Huntsman, as well as many business leaders in the state. Hughes, the contest’s third man, has tried to run to the right of Cox and Huntsman as head of the self-proclaimed “conservative ticket” for governor.

Recent public surveys show a race that is too close to predict. Last week, a poll by Dan Jones & Associates, sponsored by Salt Lake City’s chamber of commerce, found Cox at 30 percent and Huntsman at 29 percent, while a Y2 Analytics survey from the week prior put Huntsman up 4 points, 34 percent to 30 percent. These are largely in line with surveys over the last couple of months, though Hughes was within shouting distance in the most recent polls, garnering between 15 and 26 percent support, so he could pull off a surprise upset. There is a fourth contender in the race — former state GOP chair Thomas Wright — but he’s mostly polled in the single digits.

We’re also keeping an eye on who wins the Republican primary in Utah’s 1st Congressional District, as like the gubernatorial race, they will likely win in November — no Democrat has won more than 30 percent of the vote here in recent years. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that there’s a crowded Republican race to replace outgoing Rep. Rob Bishop, who is now running for lieutenant governor on Wright’s ticket. All four candidates appear to have a chance, too, but the race has offered plenty of negative headlines. Kaysville Mayor Katie Witt was censured by her city council because she supported hosting a public concert aimed at protesting coronavirus-related restrictions. Meanwhile, businessman Blake Moore has drawn accusations of being a carpetbagger, as he does not live in this northern Utah district. Former Weber County Commissioner Kerry Gibson has attracted controversy over the years, including accusations of helping a company win a state contract to grow medical marijuana while he was Utah’s agricultural commissioner and misappropriating funds as a county commissioner.

These controversies might be good news for Davis County Commissioner Bob Stevenson, who led in the most recent public poll of the race not sponsored by a campaign: In late May, a Y2 Analytics survey found Stevenson at 38 percent, followed by Witt at 26 percent, Gibson at 20 percent and Moore at 16 percent, but the poll had a very small sample size (just 127 respondents) and a big margin of error. A more recent internal poll from Moore’s campaign found him and Stevenson tied with 16 percent, with Gibson at 13 percent, Witt at 7 percent and a whopping 48 percent of respondents undecided. (But since this was from an internal poll, we should be cautious about reading too much into it.) As no single candidate has dominated the fundraising game, the money figures also point to an uncertain outcome. Moore and Stevenson have raised a bit more than Witt or Gibson, but not by much.

Lastly, Utah’s 4th Congressional District is one of the few elections in the state that will be really competitive in November. And on Tuesday, Republicans decide who will face Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams in this swing seat. There’s a crowded four-way primary race here, too.

Former NFL player Burgess Owens, a regular guest on Fox News, has raised the most money. But state Rep. Kim Coleman isn’t that far behind Owens, and she’s also earned the endorsement of former Rep. Mia Love, who narrowly lost to McAdams in 2018. Owens and Coleman both qualified for the primary through the party convention process in April, suggesting they may have the most ardent conservative support. But don’t discount the other two contenders in the race. Former radio host Jay Mcfarland (who goes by “JayMac”) came up short at the convention but he still gathered enough signatures to make the primary ballot, and while he hasn’t attracted as much financial support, he may have a fair bit of name recognition from his time on the airwaves. Nonprofit CEO Trent Christensen is also in the race, though he hasn’t raised much money.

The only public poll we have here is, like in the 1st District, a small-sample survey (148 respondents) from Y2 Analytics that put Owens at 36 percent, McFarland at 28 percent, Coleman at 23 percent and Christensen at 13 percent. Whoever wins will take on McAdams in the least Republican seat in Utah, which Trump won with 39 percent to Hillary Clinton’s 32 percent in 2016 (independent Evan McMullin garnered 22 percent of the vote).

So there’s a lot to keep an eye on today, including results from elections that happened last week in Kentucky and New York. We’ll be back on Wednesday with quick reactions to the available results and what they might mean for November.

[ibilenews]

Coronavirus and Travel: What You Should Know

Health experts are asking Americans to avoid all nonessential travel, and transportation systems are being disrupted nationwide during the coronavirus outbreak. Some people have essential travel, however, including Northerners heading home after winters in the South; people who need to help family members during the crisis; and Americans abroad who have been asked by the State Department to return immediately.

If you do have essential travel that requires you to fly during the outbreak — to assist a family member with medical care, for instance — “there’s no way you can do it in a way that’s risk free,” says Robert Murphy, M.D., professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. And you should also take precautions if a long road trip is necessary.

Here’s what to expect and how to at least lower your risk.

At the Airport

“Bring some alcohol wipes with you and wipe down anything you’re going to touch,” says Murphy.

Meanwhile, airports have ramped up their cleaning procedures. At Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, “janitorial staff is conducting additional cleanings in frequently touched areas throughout the terminal, like hand rails, door handles and other hard surfaces,” says airport spokesperson Erin Burns. “Hand sanitizing stations are available in high-traffic areas throughout the terminal.”

Some food vendors are still open, Burns says; those that are “have restricted access to some tables and chairs to ensure adequate spacing between guests.” At Washington, D.C.-area airports Reagan National and Dulles International, sit-down restaurants are closed to seated dining to comply with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s call for no more than 10 patrons at dining establishments; there are still carryout options available, according to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

The major airlines report they are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for sanitizing public interfaces at the airport: cleaning with disinfectant all check-in kiosks, ticket counters, gate seating — among other frequently touched areas — multiple times a day, and providing hand sanitizers throughout ticket and boarding areas.

United says that it’s cleaning and sanitizing its wheelchairs, “wiping down all touch-points including push bar, brake handle, armrests, seat cushion and foot bar with wipes after every use,” and spraying a sanitizing disinfectant on all surfaces.

The TSA is asking travelers to use enhanced precautions during airport screening, including not using the security bins; putting personal items such as wallets, phones and keys into carry-on bags instead of plastic bins; and washing hands before and after going through screening.

It’s also allowing passengers to bring liquid hand sanitizer up to 12 oz. in carry-on bags; previously liquids could be in containers of no more than 3 oz.

On the Plane

“Wipe the area down where you’re going to be sitting and the armrests and the tray table — anything you touch,” says Murphy. “If there’s a touchscreen or control or something, you need to clean that before you touch it.”

He adds, “If anybody around you is sick. Get off the airplane.”

The airlines are doing what they can: All of the major U.S. airlines’ planes “are equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which clean the air,” according to the industry advocacy organization Airlines for America, which details each airline’s cleaning protocols. It notes, for instance, that “Southwest aircraft receive more than six hours of cleaning every night.”

United says it’s using “an effective, high-grade disinfectant and multipurpose cleaner” on all touch points in cabins, and if it learns that a passenger or employee who’d flown on the plane is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, “that aircraft is taken out of service and sent through a full decontamination process that includes our standard cleaning procedures plus washing ceilings and overhead bins and scrubbing the interior.” On April 24 it began requiring all on-duty flight attendants to wear masks.

Delta reports that it’s doubled down on its regular cleaning program and added a fogging process to disinfect many international flights. Its site explains, “The fogging procedure uses a high-grade, EPA-registered disinfectant and virucide that is highly effective against many communicable diseases, including coronaviruses.”

Changing/Canceling Trips

Providers are trying to address travelers’ concerns about upcoming trips by introducing temporary reprieves on change or cancellation penalties. They’re also working hard to encourage new bookings by allowing no-fee changes and cancellations on future travel, as well as steep discounts.

Many tour operators, including Road Scholar, Collette and Tauck, are suspending most trips scheduled through June. With health officials issuing strong warnings against cruise travel, the major U.S. cruise lines have suspended operations through mid-June; some lines (Princess, for instance, which has canceled cruises through June 30, as well as many of its Alaskan voyages planned for this summer) are offering the choice of full refunds for voyages they cancel or credits for future cruises; others are only giving prospective travelers the latter.

Hotel chains are also loosening their cancellation policies, waiving change and cancellation fees that would normally apply to nonrefundable rates. 

Amtrak is waiving change fees for reservations made before May 31, 2020; you can make changes online, but for cancellations and refunds, you need to call 800-USA-RAIL. Amtrak has reduced its train service due to lowered demand — it’s reported a 95 percent ridership drop during the outbreak — is reducing ticket sales to 50 percent of capacity to allow for physical distancing on less crowded trains, and allows only cashless transactions in stations and trains.

The major airlines have a range of policies. Note that they are experiencing very high call volumes, so they recommend that customers make changes online (many have made it very easy to do so). And be aware that if an airline cancels or significantly delays your flight, you are entitled to a refund, as mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Alaska in most cases, is allowing customers who bought tickets on or before Feb. 26 for travel before May 31 to change their trips without a fee to a date on or before Feb. 28, 2021. Tickets bought between Feb. 27, 2020, and April 30, 2020, for travel on or before Feb. 28, 2021, can be rescheduled (now or later) within that same time period. It’s reduced its flight schedule by about 80 percent through May; if a flight is cancelled, the airline says it will reschedule passengers to the next available flight. If the change is more than an hour from the original flight, passengers can reschedule, or cancel and receive either a credit for future travel or a refund (as long as the passenger didn’t cancel before the airline cancelled).

American Airlines won’t charge a penalty for changes to flights purchased before April 7 for travel through Sept. 30, 2021; customers who cancel can apply the money toward a future flight completed by Dec. 31, 2021. Customers who buy a new ticket before May 31, 2020, for travel before May 31, 2020, will also not incur a fee if they reschedule.

British Airways (an AARP member benefit provider) is waiving fees for changes to flights on all new bookings made from March 3 through May 31, 2020. Travelers who choose to cancel any existing flights departing through Dec. 31, 2020, will receive a voucher toward a future flight within 12 months of the original departure date.

Delta is waiving change fees for customers who cancel travel from March through September 2020; you’ll be given an eCredit that can be used through September 2022 (that new deadline applies to people who’ve already received eCredits for flights canceled during the outbreak). If you bought a ticket in March, April or May, you can change your flight without a fee for up to a year from the purchase date.

JetBlue is suspending change fees for customers traveling through June 30; flights can be rebooked up to Jan. 4, 2021. Funds from canceled flights will be issued as a travel credit you can use within 18 months. There are also no cancellation or change fees on new bookings made between March 27, 2020, and April 30, 2020, for travel through Jan. 4, 2021.

Southwest is allowing passengers scheduled to travel between today and April 30 to change their travel “to a date 60 days from the original date of travel without paying any difference in fare if you are traveling between the same origin and destination.” You can do this online by visiting Southwest.com/rebook. Funds from canceled flights can be used for rebooking, within a year, though it’s delaying expiration dates for travel credits expiring soon.

Spirit is allowing customers who “must alter their travel plans” due to COVID-19 to request a credit for the full value of their flight, which must be used within six months (including for flights beyond that time frame). To make changes, visit Spirit’s online reservation credit form. If Spirit cancels a flight, you will automatically get a credit; if you want a refund, you need to do so through their site.

United is waiving change fees for tickets purchased on or before March 2 for travel June 1 through Dec. 31, 2020, if changes are made by April 30, 2020; travelers can apply the funds (now or later) to a flight of equal or lesser value for travel up to 12 months from the original ticket issue date. New flights booked between March 3 and April 30 also can be changed for flights within 12 months of the original ticket’s issue date.

[vsplusonline]

Seattle-area nursing home showed few signs it prepared for deadly outbreak

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/seattle-area-nursing-home-showed-few-signs-it-prepared-for-deadly-outbreak/

Seattle-area nursing home showed few signs it prepared for deadly outbreak

KIRKLAND, WASH. — In the days before the Life Care Center nursing home became ground zero for coronavirus deaths in the U.S., there were few signs it was girding against an illness spreading rapidly around the world.

Visitors came in as they always did, sometimes without signing in. Staffers had only recently begun wearing face masks, but the frail residents and those who came to see them were not asked to do so. And organized events went on as planned, including a purple- and gold-festooned Mardi Gras party last week, where dozens of residents and visitors packed into a common room, passed plates of sausage, rice and king cake, and sang as a Dixieland band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

“We were all eating, drinking, singing and clapping to the music,” said Pat McCauley, who was there visiting a friend. “In hindsight, it was a real germ-fest.”

That was just three days before last Saturday’s announcement that a Life Care health care worker in her 40s and a resident in her 70s had been diagnosed with the new virus. The news would be followed over the next few days by the first resident deaths: two men in their 70s, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 80s.

Of the 14 deaths across the nation as of Friday, at least 10 have been linked to the Seattle-area nursing home, along with dozens of other infections among residents, staff and family members.

A man in his 60s who died Thursday had been a visitor to the nursing home in Kirkland, public health officials announced late Friday.

As disease detectives try to solve the mystery of how exactly the coronavirus got inside Life Care, they also are questioning whether the 190-bed home that had been fined before over its handling of infections was as vigilant as it could have been in protecting its vulnerable patients against an outbreak that had already killed thousands in China and around the world.

A team of federal and state regulators planned to visit Life Care on Saturday, a move that could lead to sanctions, including a possible takeover of its management. The team will look at the home’s practices, including infection control.

In an outbreak like this, “it’s not business as usual, so business as usual is not going to be OK,” said Dr. Mark Dworkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. “There needs to be some sort of mobilization within the facility for enhanced adherence to procedures. Infection control and visitors logging in. These things need to be translated out across the country.”

Life Care did not respond to questions from The Associated Press that were sent to an email address set up for news media inquiries. In the week since the outbreak began, the centre has issued statements saying it grieves with the families who have lost loved ones. It also has noted that visits have been halted, staffers are being screened and residents with any kind of respiratory illness have been placed in isolation.

Several family members and friends who visited residents at Life Care over the past few weeks told the AP that they didn’t notice any unusual precautions, and none said they were asked about their health or if they had visited China or any other countries struck by the virus.

Pat and Bob McCauley, who visited a friend eight times in two weeks before the outbreak, said they noticed some staff members wearing face masks during a visit on Feb. 26 that included the Mardi Gras party but didn’t think much of it. They went to a common room with a half-dozen tables and began singing along with their friend as residents in wheelchairs bunched together to get clear view of the banjo, bass and washboard players.

“As it became more crowded, we helped move patients into seats, move wheelchairs into places between tables, holding doors, adjusting tables and chairs to accommodate wheelchairs,” Pat McCauley said. “We had very close contact with numerous patients.”

Two days later, when the couple arrived for another visit, they realized the reason for the masks. A staff member told them at the door that they would have to wear ones themselves because a “respiratory virus” had spread.

They turned around and went home.

Lori Spencer, whose 81-year-old mother is at Life Care, said she also noticed the masks on a visit that same Wednesday and how packed the place was.

“The hallways were crowded with people. The place was buzzing,” she said. “All the doors to the rooms were open, and I could see there were multiple people in there. I kept thinking how people were on top of each other.”

Spencer said that firefighters had just visited the place, too, and there were student nurses as well.

A union representative for the Kirkland firefighters said Thursday that all firefighters tested so far have come back negative for the coronavirus, but they want more testing.

“We’re cooking together and eating together,” Evan Hurley said. “Trying to actually trace this all back to who’s been exposed is difficult.”

Betsy McCaughey, chairwoman of the non-profit Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, said that by the day the Mardi Gras party was held, the nursing home should have been doing more to protect its residents.

“All these nursing facilities hold parties,” she said. “The issue is: Were attendees asked ahead of time, `How are you feeling? … Have you travelled to one of the coronavirus hot spots? Has someone in your family travelled to a hot spot? Is there any illness in your family?”‘

McCaughey estimates 380,000 nursing homes residents die each year of infections, about half of them preventable. She said federal regulators are largely to blame for not holding nursing homes to the same standards as hospitals. While residents of nursing homes may need more social interaction than hospital patients, “they shouldn’t have to sacrifice their lives for it,” she said.

Exactly how the virus made its way into the nursing home remains a mystery. One theory is that someone who became infected overseas brought it to Washington state and passed it on to others. Ordinarily in nursing homes, bedridden patients have the virus brought to them by visitors or staff members who are sick.

While Life Care generally has a good rating with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, state inspectors last April found infection-control deficiencies following two flu outbreaks that affected 17 residents and staff. Life Care was fined $67,000. A follow-up inspection found that it had corrected the problems.

As of Friday, 69 residents remained at Life Care after 15 were taken to the hospital within the past 24 hours. King County Executive Dow Constantine said the state has offered to help families set up home care if they want to move their loved ones out.

Dr. Stephen C. Morris, a University of Washington School of Medicine public health specialist who was sent into the nursing home to evaluate patients Thursday, said that in the midst of this crisis, the staff there needed help.

“They need nurses who are better trained. They need doctors who are better trained,” he said.

Family members said that since the nursing home has been locked down, they have agonized over leaving their loved ones inside and have resorted to communicating with them by tablet computers, cellphones and signs held up at the windows.

Patricia Herrick, whose 89-year-old mother died Thursday, said it was difficult to know that her mother was caught in the epicenter of the outbreak, in a room so nearby but completely inaccessible.

“Knowing that she was in an environment that is dangerous and not being able to help … it was awful,” she said. She said she wants her mother tested to see if she died of the virus.

Herrick said she noticed some staffers were wearing masks three days before the Mardi Gras party visit, but she didn’t think much of it. She also said she walked right in that day without signing the visitors log. But she thinks the problem lies not with the staff of Life Care but with government health officials.

“Even at the state level, the department of health should have dictated what these facilities should do: No parties. Anyone with respiratory problems goes into isolation,” Herrick said. “This is a wake-up call. There are holes in our system.”

Condon reported from New York. AP photographer Ted Warren in Kirkland contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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