News Roundup 08/24/2020
Scope of California Wildfires Is Staggering
Since August 15, more than 1.2 million acres have been burned in California and more than 14,000 firefighters have been scrambling to keep the issue contained, as over 100,000 people have been evacuated. A majority of the fires were caused by lightning strikes occurring throughout the state, which generated about two dozen large blazes. Over the past few days though, lightning strikes have bared down to a minimum.
As a fire commander states, “Mother Nature has helped us out quite a bit.”
For the time being, Northern California- specifically the Bay Area, has closed institutions and businesses, such as The Oakland Zoo due to bad air quality.
Source: New York Times
F.D.A. Allows Expanded Use of Plasma to Treat Coronavirus Patients
Sunday August 24, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency approval for use of antibody-rich blood plasma in order to help the currently infected and hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Although on August 19 it was stated there were holds on the approval,
“clinical trials have not proved whether plasma can help people fighting coronavirus,”
President Trump was persistent to allow the emergency approval in order to gain recognition to the Republican convention. It is unknown how effective the plasma will be towards COVID-19 patients; however on August 24, Trump gave the order to begin the process.
Source: New York Times
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering
Poor neighborhoods, usually with high population of people-of-color, tend to have less trees and more heat-trapping pavement than an average middle or high class neighborhood would in California. Due to those predicaments, there has been an average of 12,000 deaths a year. This problem began in the 1930’s, when appraisers in Richmond mapped the city and outlined every Black neighborhood in red and deemed hazardous, also known as redlining communities. There are still more ambulance calls as a result to heat exhaustion within these Zip codes. On average redlined cities tend to be 5, and at the most, 12 degrees warmer than their surrounding communities.
Source: New York Times
Republican Convention Begins
Without a virtual element to the Charlotte convention, the R.N.C kicks off with every delegate announcing their speech and statement in person. President Trump made surprise appearances as he and Pence created, what Washington Post states as, “a little confusion.”
President Trump boldly claims, “The only way they could take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. We’re going to win this election.”
He follows by stating that mail-in elections will be problematic due to rigged elections. Not only will the president’s son and his partner speak, a nurse from rural Virginia will speak about health-care plans, and a coffee shop owner in Montana will speak about their qualification under the small business loan program.
Source: Youtube
Source: The Washington Post
Source: The Guardian
The Rumor with Mail-In Voting
With the president questioning the process of main-in ballots and voting, postal services such as Fed Ex and U.S.P.S. are there for citizens to confidently vote without any second guessing. On August 14, the U.S. Postal Service sent warning notices that voters could be disenfranchised by mail-in ballots to nearly 46 states. More recently, postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that he’s suspending day-to-day operational improvements, such as cutting office hours and overtime in order for mail-in voting to run smoother than expected. After Trump’s comments about the rigged election, DeJoy promises to, “[...] avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail.”
Source:: The Week
Source: The Washington Post