Month: August 2021

Slate: “Sen. Rand Paul disclosed Wednesday that his wife purchased as much as $15,000 in stock in Gilead Sciences, the maker of the antiviral drug known as remdesivir that is used to treat COVID-19. She bought the stock on Feb. 26, 2020, before the World Health Organization had declared the coronavirus a pandemic. That means the…

Political Wire: “San Antonio Express-News: “The all-Republican Texas Supreme Court on Sunday temporarily revived Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on local mask mandates, thwarting attempts by officials in Dallas and Bexar counties to implement COVID-19 restrictions as virus patients strain hospitals.” “The justices granted Abbott’s request for an emergency stay that blocks lower court decisions allowing…

Bearing Drift: “Virginia’s election campaign became the latest entry into the Fall-Plans-Delta-Variant meme collage last week, courtesy of Governor Ralph Northam, who imposed a statewide mask mandate for all K-12 schools (NBC12) Gov. Ralph Northam announced a public health emergency order on Thursday to require universal masking in all Virginia K-12 schools. “That requires all…

Clarion Ledger: “A community in rural east central Mississippi is overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, two weeks after it hosted the Neshoba County Fair that brought thousands of people who lived in cabins, attended shoulder-to-shoulder outdoor concerts and horseraces and listened to political speeches — including one by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who decried federal guidance…

MS Free Press: ““Hospitals and healthcare workers need you to help us,” Neshoba General Hospital CEO Lee McCall tweeted desperately at Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves yesterday as COVID-19 continued to overwhelm the state’s least vaccinated county. “Where are you?” The answer, Arizona’s governor inadvertently revealed, was that the Mississippi governor was once again out of state. He…

TX Tribune: “Texas hospitals are on the brink of catastrophe, close to being completely overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, leaders of some of the state’s largest hospitals told state lawmakers Tuesday. Official after official used their strongest descriptions to get the point across to legislators: Hospitalizations are rising too fast for them to keep up with,…

NY Times: “For four years, Mr. Graham, a man who had once called Mr. Trump “a race-baiting, xenophobic bigot,” exemplified the accommodations that so many Republicans made to the precedent-breaking president, only more vividly, volubly and candidly. But Mr. Graham’s reaffirmed devotion has come to represent something more remarkable: his party’s headlong march into the…

AP: “Two top campaign officials working to elect North Carolina Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cheri Beasley have decided to leave the campaign. Beasley’s campaign manager, Katie Gladstone, will remain on staff for the next couple weeks as her team transitions to a new leader. Margaret Nelson, Beasley’s finance director, left in July. The campaign confirmed the departures…

TX Observer: “When Kidus Girma moved from Ethiopia to Dallas as a child, his family settled in Vickery Meadow. The neighborhood is home to a working-class immigrant and refugee enclave. Like many urban areas, Dallas’ population is deeply segregated by race and class. Its green spaces are segregated too: Research shows that they tend to…

AL Political Reporter: “Voting rights activist and former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams has endorsed Birmingham incumbent Mayor Randall Woodfin in his upcoming bid for re-election, citing Woodfin’s “leadership, courage, vision and record” in her announcement Monday. “Randall Woodfin is a committed leader who believes in justice and opportunity for all. He understands that…