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lucieperloff

How the 'Alpha' Coronavirus Variant Became So Powerful - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...covid-alpha-uk-variant.html

research knowledge coronavirus health immune

shared by lucieperloff on 08 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • British researchers discovered that a new variant was sweeping through their country.
  • tended to become more common in its new homes as well
  • It’s making itself more invisible,”
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • . “Any successful virus has to get beyond that first defense system. The more successful it is at doing that, the better off the virus is.”
  • A lot of researchers focused their attention on the nine mutations that alter the so-called spike protein that covers the coronavirus and allows it to invade cells
  • They found that lung cells with Alpha made drastically less interferon, a protein that switches on a host of immune defenses.
  • Alpha disables the first line of immune defense in our bodies, giving the variant more time to multiply.
  • They found that Alpha-infected cells make a lot of extra copies — some 80 times more than other versions of the virus — of a gene called Orf9b.
  • dampening the production of interferon and a full immune response. The virus, protected from attack, has better odds of making copies of itself.
  • people infected with Alpha have a more robust reaction than they would with other variants, coughing and shedding virus-laden mucus from not only their mouths, but also their noses — making Alpha even better at spreading.
  • . They may have independently evolved their own tricks for manipulating our immune system.
  • But studies on people who recover naturally from Covid-19 have shown that their immune systems learn to recognize other viral proteins, including Orf9b.
  • “It’s quite a tricky enterprise, but becoming more possible as we learn more,”
lucieperloff

On the Verge of Extinction, These Whales Are Also Shrinking - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...shrinking-whales.html

research knowledge technology extinction

shared by lucieperloff on 08 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Most of the 360 or so North Atlantic right whales alive today bear scars from entanglements in fishing gear and collisions with speeding ships and, according to a new study, they are much smaller than they should be.
  • they are much smaller than they should be.
  • suggests that human-induced stressors, primarily entanglements, are stunting the growth of North Atlantic right whales, reducing their chances of reproductive success and increasing their chances of dying.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • scientists have been monitoring the dwindling population of right whales in the North Atlantic.
  • the animals’ lengths have declined by roughly 7 percent since 1981
  • “We saw 5 and even 10-year-old whales that were about the size of 2-year-old whales,” Dr. Stewart said. In one case, an 11-year-old whale was the same size as a 1½-year-old whale.
  • Entanglement in fishing gear is an ever-present threat for the mammals and one of the primary drivers of their decline.
  • Whales who don’t drown or starve right away will often drag gear for several years.
  • “What we think is going on here is that dragging these big trailing heaps of gear is creating all this extra drag, which takes energy to pull around, and that’s energy that they would probably otherwise be devoting to growth,
  • ​Smaller right whales are less resilient to climate change as they do not have the nutritional buffer they need to adapt during lean food years,”
  • the species can hardly afford declines in its birthrate.
  • “this population has recovered from very small numbers before, so it’s not completely grim.
  • “If we all were to demand these management changes of our elected officials the situation would change dramatically.”
lucieperloff

Sharks Nearly Went Extinct 19 Million Years Ago From Mystery Event - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...sharks-extinction-oceans.html

research education extinction

shared by lucieperloff on 08 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Analysis of the fossil record shows a mysterious mass extinction that decimated the diversity of sharks in the world’s oceans, and they’ve never fully recovered.
  • these events give scientists an intimate look at how life recovers after a cataclysm
  • This extinction event transpired in the world’s oceans and decimated shark populations
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • but sharks slough off about 100 denticles for each tooth they lose, making them common in the fossil record.
  • The reddish clay, extracted from two sediment cores that had been drilled deep into the Pacific Ocean seafloor, contained fish teeth, shark denticles and other marine microfossils.
  • Nineteen million years ago, the ratio of shark denticles to fish teeth changed drastically:
  • sharks suddenly became much less common, relative to fish, during an era known as the early Miocene,
  • “We had a lot of them, and then we had almost none of them,”
  • “We wanted to know if the sharks went extinct, or if they just became less prominent.”
  • The reduction in shark diversity suggests that they experienced an extinction around that time,
  • “There were just a small fraction that survived into this post-extinction world,”
  • uggest that this was truly a “global event,”
  • Sharks never fully recovered from this incident, and they have been declining in abundance in recent decades because of overfishing and other human-caused pressures,
lucieperloff

Opinion | Why the Latest Republican Assault on L.G.B.T.Q. Rights Is Different - The New... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...anti-lgbtq-laws-us.html

opinion politics bias discrimination diversity

shared by lucieperloff on 08 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Last month, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed into law a discriminatory bill to prevent transgender people from using restrooms aligning with their gender identity at any business or place of public accommodation.
  • hese new laws are the latest in a series of unprecedented legislative assaults aimed at trans people that have swept state houses t
  • are not simply living in a state of emergency; we are living in many states of imminent danger
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Anti-equality extremists are clearly targeting transgender people again to score political points by demonizing marginalized communities and mischaracterizing movements like Black Lives Matter.
  • We need to take action now to prove the anti-trans arguments are wrong and unjust, and to draw maximum attention to what Republican leaders in these states are trying to do.
  • there simply is not a sudden population explosion of trans people, nor any sort of demand for special or new rights. This is about fairness and equal treatment.
  • which requires businesses with “formal or informal” policies of allowing transgender people to use the appropriate restroom to post offensive and humiliating signage
  • This includes laws like those in Arkansas, where legislators have banned critical, gender-affirming medical care for transgender children,
  • Active resistance is needed from administrators within the education system who are tasked with enforcing discriminatory trans sports bans, which isolate and prevent trans students from playing sports on teams consistent with their gender identity.
  • t has significant health and safety consequences, especially for trans youth.
  • So far in 2021, we are on track to exceed the number of trans and gender-nonconforming people murdered in 2020
  • extremist legislators continue advancing measures at a breakneck pace
  • Sometimes we have to make uncomfortable decisions because we are pushed to the fringes.
lucieperloff

Federal Government Preps For A Million Workers To Return To Office : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-to-the-office-ask-the-governm

politics coronavirus government

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • The nation's largest employer, the federal government, is beginning to plan for bringing many of its workers back into their offices,
  • the safe reentry of employees to the physical workplace" by July 19.
  • "It is not as easy as flipping a switch and just saying everybody back."
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Many, including TSA and Border Patrol officers, had no choice but to remain on site.
  • Neal said it's probably going to be a hybrid
  • I think ... you're probably going to see more people working remotely.
  • it is our hope that the federal government will follow the science and reopen facilities to taxpaying Americans."
  • managers have already been calling some employees back into the office on a voluntary basis.
  • We're nowhere near herd immunity. And we don't want the vulnerable populations that we serve exposed to packed lobbies where people are going to literally have to wait post-pandemic like they did pre-pandemic for hours just to turn in documents."
  • Neal said there are other concerns for managers, including employee morale.
  • "Lots of people connecting remotely probably presents far more risk of hacking than than a bunch of people connecting on a network in a government building," Neal added.
  • "It's an opportunity to fundamentally reimagine what it means to work for the federal government,
lucieperloff

Some Of Bitcoin Ransom Paid By Colonial Pipeline Recovered By U.S. Government : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...f-the-colonial-pipeline-ransom

technology economics politics

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • The government has recovered a "majority" of the millions of dollars paid in ransom to hackers behind the cyberattack that prompted last month's shutdown of Colonial Pipeline, officials announced Monday.
  • he money has been recovered by the department's recently launched Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force.
  • The ransom was paid in bitcoins by Colonial Pipeline on the same day it was demanded by DarkSide
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • investigators discovered that the criminal group and its affiliates have been digitally stalking U.S. companies and intentionally targeting victims that are "key players in our nation's critical infrastructure"
  • "The sophisticated use of technology to hold businesses and even whole cities hostage for profit is decidedly a 21st century challenge
  • "The threat of severe ransomware attacks pose a clear and present danger to your organization, to your company, to your customer, to your shareholders and to your long-term success."
lucieperloff

Model Of Red Flag Law For States Shared By Justice Department : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ws-from-the-justice-department

bias politics knowledge control

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • part of the Biden administration's ongoing effort to curb U.S. gun violence.
  • e welcome the opportunity to work with communities in the weeks and months ahead in our shared commitment to end gun violence."
  • combines two distinct approaches adopted by states where red flag laws already exist.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • gives law enforcement an immediate vehicle with which they can seek to seize a person's guns once a court has determined that the individual presents a danger to themselves or others.
  • provides for longer-term prohibition of a person's access to firearms.
  • combines the two approaches and would authorize the courts to more quickly issue a prohibition on a person's right to possess firearms
  • The department said it was not endorsing any specific implementation of an ERPO law, but the Monday guidelines were instead meant to provide a framework
  • they enable a person's loved ones to reach out to law enforcement and report dangerous behavior before a gun owner is able to endanger themselves or others.
  • the rules are too arbitrary and can be weaponized against gun owners during personal disputes.
  • "By allowing family members or law enforcement to intervene and to petition for these orders before warning signs turn into tragedy, 'extreme risk protection orders' can save lives,"
  • a proposal that would strengthen restrictions on individuals' ability to convert pistols into "short-barreled rifles,"
  • In April, Biden unveiled a series of executive actions, aimed at what he called the nation's "international embarrassment" of gun violence.
lucieperloff

Mexico's President Appears To Hold Key Majority In Elections : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-key-majority-elections-morena

bias politics election coronavirus congress

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • but fell short of a two-thirds majority as some voters boosted the struggling opposition, according to initial election results.
  • will have to rely on votes from its allies in the Workers Party and Green Party,
  • The results give the president sufficient budgetary control to continue his train and refinery-building plans and cash handout programs,
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Those would be gains for those parties, which have often appeared rudderless in the face of López Obrador's popularity.
  • López Obrador's critics had depicted the elections as a chance to stop the still-popular president from concentrating more power and weakening checks and balances.
  • he might try to subjugate courts and regulatory agencies created during Mexico's decades-long transition to full democracy.
  • Representatives of the major parties speaking at the electoral institute's general council meeting applauded the conduct of Sunday's vote amid the pandemic
  • hree dozen candidates were killed during the campaigns; almost all of the victims were running for one of the 20,000 local posts including mayors and town council up for grabs in 30 states.
  • López Obrador has raised minimum wages and strengthened government aid programs like supplementary payments to the elderly, students and training programs for youths.
  • The elections represent the first mass public events since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country over a year ago,
lucieperloff

Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenge To Men-Only Draft Registration : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...t-only-men-register-for-the-dr

discrimination sexism knowledge politics

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to consider a challenge to the men-only military draft.
  • women were not eligible for combat roles, a situation that has dramatically changed in modern times.
  • recommending that draft registration include both men and women between the ages of 18 and 26.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • a broader registration requirement will be "incorporated into the next national defense bill."
  • The organization argued that a men-only draft was outdated and unconstitutional.
  • "The sex discrimination inherent in the Military Selective Service Act is a vestige of a bygone era,"
lucieperloff

Jeff Bezos Is Going To Space (For A Few Minutes) : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ing-to-space-for-a-few-minutes

technology knowledge research transportation space

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Bezos will climb aboard a rocket made by his space exploration company Blue Origin.
  • Blue Origin's rocket is called New Shepard, and it's reusable – the idea being that reusing rockets will lower the cost of going to space and make it more accessible.
  • The flight is scheduled for July 20 — the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
lucieperloff

Kamala Harris Tells Guatemalans: Don't Come To The U.S. : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...o-migrate-to-the-united-states

coronavirus politics asylum education

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Harris said the Biden administration wants "to help Guatemalans find hope at home."
  • I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come."
  • The humanitarian challenge has created a political problem for the Biden administration.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Harris announced the formation of an anti-corruption task force,
  • She also said the administration will provide 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines
lucieperloff

Working In Sweatpants May Be Over As Companies Contemplate The Great Office Return : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...template-the-great-office-retu

coronavirus efficiency knowledge

shared by lucieperloff on 07 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • "The pandemic put them out of business,"
  • Meyer believes businesses have a civic duty to bring workers back.
  • Companies that ordered their employees to work from home in March 2020 are only now starting to bring them back into the office
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Still, some employees have opted to remain fully remote.
  • he environmental nonprofit has yet to bring anyone back to the office on a regular bas
  • "The pandemic has really had us rethink what it means to get work done, and how we get the work done,"
  • "What's been really exciting is to see folks coming back into the office and wanting to be around other people,
  • He envisions the office as a place where his employees interact not just with each other but with the public.
lucieperloff

Under Biden, Diplomacy Is an Attractive Career Again - The New York Times - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...-service-state-department.html

government politics bias prejudice diversity psychology knowledge

shared by lucieperloff on 28 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The steady erosion of traditional American diplomatic principles under the Trump administration had taken a toll, he added.
  • Their colleagues in China were mysteriously falling sick.
  • But when President Biden was elected, Mr. Luce said he was encouraged by the new president’s embrace of diplomacy, along with his nominations for senior foreign policy posts. Mr. Luce took the Foreign Service exam in February.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • And despite the rising interest, applicants have signaled the agency must tackle racism and improve diversity in the United States’ diplomatic ranks.
  • Applications to the school’s graduate programs, including its masters of science degree in foreign service, jumped 40 percent this cycle,
  • Foreign Service officers — who undergo a rigorous selection process that includes written exams, oral assessments, security checks and medical clearances — pledge to be nonpartisan as they become the machinery of foreign policymaking that political appointees rely on for expertise and continuity between administrations.
  • During Mr. Trump’s tenure, his administration installed an “America First” policy, prioritizing domestic interests over foreign policy concerns and minimizing the importance of day-to-day diplomatic work.
  • “That undercuts not only morale but also a policy process that depends on apolitical experts airing contrary views, however inconvenient they may be to the politically appointed leadership,
  • “This is a critical time in terms of America’s role in the world. We need a strong, diverse and talented pool of people from which to select our newest diplomats and aid officers.”
  • It “has been a difficult few years,” he said. “You are the face of America, and it matters.
  • In the time between Mr. Biden’s election and his inauguration, the group grew by over 2,000 members,
  • How could he promote American values abroad when they were being upended at home, he wondered.
  • “President Trump was very unusual,” Mr. Whittier said. “That’s what completely put me off of joining the Foreign Service.”
  • The Biden administration said that tackling the lack of diversity in the diplomatic corps would be a priority.
  • When she brought up issues to State Department officials, they advised her against speaking out and transferred her to Mexico City, she said.
  • she felt the “new administration brings a lot of hope to people who were marginalized in the past.”
  • “When you see more faces that look like you,” she said, “I think it definitely will bring more people to work in public service.”
lucieperloff

Suicide and Self-Harm: Bereaved Families Count the Costs of Lockdowns - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...uicide-self-harm-pandemic.html

mental health coronavirus knowledge education

shared by lucieperloff on 28 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • But as lockdowns in Britain dragged on and no job emerged, the young man grew cynical and self-conscious
  • He and his mother contracted the coronavirus in January, forcing them to quarantine in their small London apartment for over two weeks. Concerned by things he was saying, friends raised the alarm and referred him to mental health services.
  • “He just sounded so deflated,” his sister said of their last conversation, adding that he said he felt imprisoned and longed to go outside.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • “But the job market is going to be constrained, and opportunities to build your life are going to be slimmer.”
  • there is a tally that experts say is harder to track: the psychological toll of months of isolation and global suffering, which for some has proved fatal.
  • Mental health experts say prolonged symptoms of depression and anxiety may prompt risky behaviors that lead to self-harm, accidents, or even death, especially among young people.
  • the psychological fallout of the pandemic could unfold for months, or even years, public health officials say, with young people among the most affected.
  • “Mental health has become a buzzword during the pandemic, and we need to keep it that way,”
  • restrictions were hitting disadvantaged groups, including many young people, harder.
  • “It’s not just people dying in a hospital — it’s people dying inside.”
  • “They may be tempted to consume more drugs or drink more alcohol, and may have less physical activity, all of which can contribute to symptoms of depression, anxiety and poor sleep.”
  • ‘Depressed? I don’t know what depressed is, I don’t think I am. I feel bored, but I don’t feel depressed,’”
  • Mr. Remmers said his son’s death was caused by a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and drugs.
  • But the pandemic, he added, “provided a context in which things become possible, and which may have otherwise not happened.”
  • It is unclear, the organization says, whether this is a sign of more people experiencing more suicidal thoughts or symptoms of mental health issues, or if people now feel more comfortable reaching out for help.
  • “Lockdown put Lily in physical and emotional situations she would never have in normal times,”
  • “It’s OK for a young child to fall over and let their parents know that their knee hurts,” Ms. Arkwright said. “This same attitude needs to be extended to mental health.”
  • “Even the need to reach out to a help-line shows resilience,”
lucieperloff

The Agency at the Center of America's Tech Fight With China - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...partment-technology-china.html

knowledge bias government technology

shared by lucieperloff on 28 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Bureau of Industry and Security, a division of the Commerce Department, wields significant power given its role in determining the types of technology that companies can export and that foreign businesses can have access to.
  • American industry has held too much sway over the bureau.
  • putting a hard-liner at the helm could backfire and harm U.S. national security by starving American industry of revenue it needs to stay on the cutting edge of research and encouraging it to relocate offshore.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • The bureau’s powers became clear during the Trump administration, which wielded its authority aggressively, though somewhat erratically, using the agency to curb exports of advanced technology goods like semiconductors to the telecommunications company Huawei and other Chinese businesses.
  • The Biden administration is still carrying out a review of its China policies and has not indicated how it plans to use the bureau’s powers.
  • “China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system — all the rules, values, and relationships that make the world work the way we want it to,”
  • That includes how to use the Commerce Department’s powers, including whether to block more exports of American technology, whether to keep or scrap Mr. Trump’s tariffs on foreign metals, and how to set the standards for national security reviews of foreign investments.
  • They have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch because the United States are going to continue to grow and expand.”
  • Congress updated its laws governing export controls, giving the Bureau of Industry and Security more power to determine what kind of emerging technologies cannot be shared with China and other geopolitical rivals.
  • It’s that these guys have been trained for 30 years to think that exports are good for America and that’s that,” Mr. Scissors said. “So surprise, they don’t want tighter export controls.”
  • “The sense of urgency in recent years inclined our leadership to make decisions without reference to what industry thought,
  • the Biden administration is considering candidates to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security.
  • Mr. Wolf, who was previously assistant secretary at the bureau, issued the sanctions against ZTE. He has consistently argued that restrictions that are unclear and unpredictable can backfire, “harming the very interests they were designed to protect.”
  • The administration may also be considering less prominent candidates for the bureau’s three Senate-confirmed posts,
  • Whoever leads the bureau, officials at the National Security Council are likely to play a guiding role, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
lucieperloff

As Pandemic Upends Teaching, Fewer Students Want to Pursue It - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...covid-school-teaching.html

education coronavirus knowledge teaching schools

shared by lucieperloff on 28 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Kianna Ameni-Melvin’s parents used to tell her that there wasn’t much money to be made in education. But it was easy enough for her to tune them out as she enrolled in an education studies program, with her mind set on teaching high school special education.
  • “I didn’t want to start despising a career I had a passion for because of the salary,”
  • leaving teachers concerned for their health and scrambling to do their jobs effectively.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Many program leaders believe enrollment fell because of the perceived hazards posed by in-person teaching and the difficulties of remote learning, combined with longstanding frustrations over low pay compared with professions that require similar levels of education.
  • But for many students, the challenges posed by remote teaching can be just as steep.
  • After months of seeing only her roommates, moving around a classroom brimming with fourth and fifth graders was nerve-racking.
  • new anxieties were most likely scaring away some potential applicants.
  • The number of education degrees conferred by American colleges and universities dropped by 22 percent between 2006 and 2019
  • At Portland State University in Oregon, some students were not able to get classroom placements while schools were operating remotely.
  • Educators have struggled with recruitment to the profession since long before the pandemic.
  • one quarter of respondents said that they were likely to leave the profession before the end of the school year.
  • California State University in Long Beach saw enrollment climb 15 percent this year,
  • Ms. Ameni-Melvin, the Towson student, said she would continue her education program for now because she felt invested after three years there.
  • Earlier in the pandemic, as she watched her parents, both teachers, stumble through the difficulties of preparing for remote class, she wondered: Was it too late to choose law school instead?
  • Ms. Ízunza Barba said she realized then that there was no other career path that could prove as meaningful. “Seeing her make her students laugh made me realize how much a teacher can impact someone’s day,” she said. “I was like, whoa, that’s something I want to do.”
lucieperloff

Summer Camps See Rebound in Interest - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...summer-camps-covid.html

coronavirus education knowledge development

shared by lucieperloff on 28 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Most parents concluded that the only way to keep their children safe was to keep them at home.
  • “I was focused on their mental health,” Ms. Patel said. “I wanted something light and interesting to them where they would learn but not with a lot of rule following.”
  • Camp, he said, is “more kinetic and experiential,” adding that “kids have more time to be with their friends.”
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Nearly all camps made it through the last year with a combination of federal assistance, donations and bank loans.
  • Parents want their kids to have fun, given the lack of fun and isolation their kids have had.”
  • the majority of parents whose children had participated in camp before the pandemic said their children had less physical activity last summer without the structure of camp.
  • Some parents are torn between sending their children to the traditional summer camp or using the time to try to make up lost ground in school.
  • “You can have an educational summer camp and not make it like school. It can be fun, and it can be outdoors.”
  • Having tried online camps last year, some parents said they were looking forward to returning to some semblance of day and sleep-away camps that existed before the pandemic.
lucieperloff

Why Riders Abandoning Buses and Trains is a Problem for Climate Change - The New York T... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-ridership-climate-change.html

science coronavirus covid transportation

shared by lucieperloff on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • On the London Underground, Piccadilly Circus station is nearly vacant on a weekday morning, while the Delhi Metro is ferrying fewer than half of the riders it used to. In Rio, unpaid bus drivers have gone on strike. New York City subway traffic is just a third of what it was before the pandemic.
  • Public transit offers a relatively simple way for cities to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention a way to improve air quality, noise and congestion.
  • “It’s urgent to act.”
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • transportation experts are scrambling to figure out how to better adapt public transit to the needs of riders as cities begin to emerge from the pandemic.
  • In India, a company that sells secondhand cars online saw sales swell in 2020 and its own value as a company jump to $1 billion, according to news reports. Elsewhere, bike sales have grown, suggesting that people are pedaling a bit more.
  • Both London and Paris sought to use lockdowns to expand bike lanes.
  • ridership was just over half of normal in the first two months of this year.
  • Most importantly, if transit systems continue to lose passenger fare revenues, they will not be able to make the investments necessary to be efficient, safe and attractive to commuters.
  • The city transit agency, which had once projected a budget surplus for 2020, has instead been relying on government bailouts since the pandemic hit.
  • “only travel when absolutely necessary.”
  • There’s even more distress in cities where people rely in large part on private bus companies.
  • Strikes by bus drivers have made bus travel even slower and more chaotic.
  • efficient bus system is critical for Rio to not only reduce its carbon emissions but also to clean its air. “It’s not just an environmental issue, but a public health issue,” Ms. Celidonio said.
  • “Those cities that were investing, they will get out stronger,”
lucieperloff

Amazon Walks a Political Tightrope in Its Union Fight - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...amazon-union-politics.html

science government politics economics

shared by lucieperloff on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • It backs a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage. It has pledged to meet all the goals of the Paris climate agreement on reducing emissions. It has met with the administration to discuss how to help with the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
  • staying on the good side of Washington’s Democratic leaders while squashing an organizing effort that President Biden has signaled his support for.
  • Approval would be a first for Amazon workers in the United States and could energize the labor movement across the country.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • Labor leaders and liberal Democrats have seized on the union drive, saying it shows how Amazon is not as friendly to workers as the company says it is.
  • Lawmakers and regulators — not competitors — are some of its greatest threats, and it has spent significant time and money trying to keep the government away from its business.
  • I think the narrative is cooked now on their status as a monopoly, their status as an abusive employer and their status as one of the biggest spenders on lobbying in Washington, D.C.”
  • we’ve been surprised by some of the negative things we’ve seen certain members say in the press and on social media,”
  • In February, Mr. Biden appeared in a video that didn’t mention Amazon explicitly but was seen as a clear sign of support to the union.
  • We really think we are an example of what a U.S. company should be doing for its employees.”
  • They have also attacked Mr. Bezos, the richest person in the world by some measures, for his personal wealth.
  • In the final quarter of last year, Amazon paid Jeff Ricchetti $60,000, according to disclosure forms he filed with the government.
  • He has deep relationships with Mr. Biden’s inner circle, and has played in a garage band with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
  • Amazon has promoted the $15-an-hour minimum in ads in publications frequently used to reach government officials, including Politico and The New York Times. Its lobbyists have pushed for a federal law raising the wage.
  • When professors at Georgetown and New York Universities asked Americans in 2018 which institutions they had the most confidence in, only the military ranked higher than Amazon
  • That absolutely includes the Amazon workers in Alabama, just like workers in Washington State and across our country.”
  • “I often say we are the Bernie Sanders of employers, but that’s not quite right because we actually deliver a progressive workplace to our constituents,”
lucieperloff

Pfizer Begins Testing Its Vaccine in Young Children - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ldren-vaccinations-pfizer.html

science research coronavirus vaccine knowledge technology

shared by lucieperloff on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Pfizer has begun testing its Covid-19 vaccine in children under 12, a significant step in turning back the pandemic.
  • Both companies have been testing their vaccines in children 12 and older, and expect those results in the next few weeks.
  • Immunizing children will help schools to reopen as well as help to end the pandemic, said Dr. Emily Erbelding, an infectious diseases physician at the National Institutes of Health who oversees testing of Covid-19 vaccines in special populations.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • “herd immunity might be hard to achieve without children being vaccinated,” Dr. Erbelding said.
  • Each dose will be assessed first in children 5 through 11 years of age, then in children ages 2 through 4 years, and finally in the youngest group, six months to 2 years.
  • “It sounds like a good plan, and it’s exciting that another Covid-19 vaccine is moving forward with trials in children,”
  • More than 3.3 million children have tested positive for the virus, at least 13,000 have been hospitalized and at least 260 have died,
  • Other vaccines have helped to control many horrific childhood diseases that can cause long-term complications,
  • Any side effects are likely to appear soon after the shot, within the first week and certainly within the first few weeks, experts have said.
  • there’s a higher degree of confidence now in giving this vaccine to kids.”
  • The more transparent you can be, the better.”
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