Florida Teachers Sue, Promising Vaccines
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Viral News: As the coronavirus continues to rip through their state, Florida’s teacher unions are suing Gov. Ron DeSantis to block his order for public schools to reopen next month.
The suit accuses DeSantis of violating a Florida law requiring that schools be “safe” and “secure.” Florida is one of eight states that has had 5,000 or more coronavirus deaths. The state has averaged more than 10,000 new cases a day over the last seven days.
Some individual teachers and parents have joined the action. In a press conference DeSantis dodged responsibility, saying the order had been signed by Richard Corcoran, the state’s commissioner of education.
The unions plan to argue that no public school district in the state should reopen as scheduled next month.
Accused of downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic, President Trump said he is bringing back the daily coronavirus briefings, possibly as soon as today. “I was doing them and we had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching in the history of cable television. There’s never been anything like it,” Trump claimed.
Except for every Super Bowl.
This morning, the US has had more that 3.8 million cases of the coronavirus, an additional 58,000 in the last 24 hours, and 140,534 deaths
The Cure: According to an article published yesterday in the British medical journal The Lancet, two vaccines in development by Oxford University and the Chinese company CanSino have triggered immune responses in hundreds of people without dangerous side effects. A vaccine in development by the American company Moderna also shows promise.
Summer in the Streets: Protesters clashed with federal officers again in the streets of Portland, Oregon last night. The feds wearing combat fatigues fired teargas and smoke bombs.
President Trump is threatening to send federal agents to other cities as well. “We’re looking at Chicago, too,” he said yesterday. “We’re looking at New York. Look at what’s going on. All run by Democrats.”
With the President planning to send 150 agents to her city, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote Trump a letter saying, “What we do not need, and what will certainly make our community less safe is secret, federal agents deployed to Chicago.”
The Numbers: The real Clear Politics average of national electoral polls gives former Vice President Joe Biden an 8.6 percent lead. The July 15 Quinnipiac poll had Biden up 15 percent, which seems a little skewed. The high for Biden on July 19 was ABC News/Washington Post, up by 10.
Foxy Men: A lawsuit by former employee accuses a former Fox News host Ed Henry of rape and three others of sexual harassment.
The lawsuit was brought by Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox Business Network producer filed the rape accusation against Henry, and Cathy Areu, a journalist who appeared frequently on Fox.
Also accused of sexual harassment are Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and the nerdy media critic Howard Kurtz.
Eckhart claims that she had drinks with Henry one night soon after graduating from journalism school and went back to his room with him. The lawsuit says Henry “ripped off her clothes” and that she ultimately had sex with him, “fearing that her career would be over if she refused.”
Crime Blotter: The man who killed the son 20-year-old son of a federal judge in New Jersey and wounded her husband later killed himself, police in New Jersey say.
The man identified as Roy Hollander described himself as an “anti-feminist” lawyer who defended “men’s rights.” He had filed lawsuits against bars and night clubs offering “ladies’ nights,” claiming they violate the 14th Amendment.
Hollander evidently left behind a trove of writings on the subject. In one manifesto he said, “Things begin to change when individual men start taking out those specific persons responsible for destroying their lives before committing suicide,” he wrote.
Judge Esther Salas, who was probably the intended target, was not harmed.
The Bulletin Board: The St. Louis couple who distinguished themselves by waving guns at protesters last month has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon. Mark McCloskey had an assault rifle and his wife Patricia, a pistol. — The Tower of London is laying off some of its ceremonial guards known as “Beefeaters” because of the drop in visitors during the pandemic. They’re the ones wearing long red and gold coats and stockings. — In the cleanup of brand names after the fall of Aunt Jemima, the Trader Joe’s grocery chain is getting rid of its ethnic labels; “Trader Ming’s,” “Trader José” and “Trader Giotto’s.” — Epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci is in the bullpen to throw out the first pitch when the Washington Nationals host the New York Yankees Thursday night.
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