Wednesday, March 31, 2021
In latest shakeup, top Milwaukee Health Department staffer put on paid leave pending investigation
A top Milwaukee Health Department staffer was put on paid administrative leave Friday, pending an investigation.
Claire Evers, deputy commissioner of environmental health, has been with the city since July 2010 and currently makes $112,626 annually, according to the city. She was appointed to the role by former Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik on May 17, 2020.
In the position, Evers' duties have included overseeing enforcement of the city's COVID-19 health orders in addition to lead program enforcement.
Evers told the Journal Sentinel in a Facebook message that she had not been told what the potential misconduct is, adding, "I haven’t even had so much as a ‘talking to’ in my career."
Department of Employee Relations Director Makda Fessahaye said the investigation was into "potential misconduct." She said she could not provide additional details, and there is not a timeline within which the investigation will take place.
Wisconsin residents 16 and older eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting Monday
MADISON - Everyone in Wisconsin age 16 and older will be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot starting Monday.
Gov. Tony Evers made the announcement Tuesday, expanding the state's vaccine rollout to everyone in the state about four weeks earlier than planned.
The move comes as President Joe Biden urged governors to make COVID-19 vaccines available to the general public by mid-April.
Wisconsin will join six states — Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas — in expanding vaccine eligibility to all adults on Monday.
Vaccine supply is growing in Wisconsin. According to CDC data, the state got about 188,000 first doses of vaccine this week, which is nearly 45,000 more than the week before.
Supply is more limited for teenagers, however. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine authorized for individuals ages 16 and 17. No vaccines have been authorized for children younger than 16.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Mafia fugitive caught after YouTube cooking show accidentally reveals his identity: Report
Man’s love for Italian cuisine tipped off law enforcement, leads to international arrest in Santo Domingo
A mafia fugitive couldn’t take the heat, so he went to the kitchen.
But, that’s exactly how Marc Feren Claude Biart got caught after spending seven years on the run, according to Calabria News – an Italian news outlet.
Biart was hiding from national authorities for alleged drug trafficking, but was tracked down and arrested in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old man was found nearly 5,000 miles away from his hometown of Rome based on a cooking YouTube channel he launched with his wife in Boca Chica, a municipality near Santo Domingo –the Dominican Republic’s capital city.
Biart’s YouTube channel was not named, however, Calabria News described the channel as being focused on Italian cuisine.
Law enforcement officials were clued in that the YouTube channel belonged to Biart since the chef reviewed food while never revealing his face, the international report says. The body parts that were viewable revealed the mysterious chef had tattoos that matched what authorities had on record for the escaped mafia member.
Tracking down and arresting Biart was a group effort that included the Central Criminal Police Directorate, Interpol and multiple police forces from 10 countries
Biart was hiding out in a tourist resort that reportedly has a large Italian community present. Authorities told Calabria News he had been in the Dominican Republic for more than five years.
Before Biart made a home in Boca Chica, he was allegedly in Costa Rica, which is a little more than 1,800 miles away.
In 2014, the Court of Reggio Calabria subjected Biart to an order of custody in prison. He fled the country shortly after.
Italian authorities say Biart is a member of 'Ndrangheta, a prominent organized crime syndicate that reportedly operates in Calabria.
Other alleged members from the crime group have recently been busted as law enforcement agencies have convened under Interpol’s Cooperation Against 'Ndrangheta project.
Man seen with zip ties during Capitol riot, his mother get home confinement before trial
By The Associated Press
A federal judge on Monday authorized the release of a Georgia woman and her Tennessee son on charges of involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Lisa Eisenhart is accused of breaking into the Capitol with her son, Eric Munchel, who was photographed carrying flexible plastic handcuffs in the Senate chamber.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington, D.C., authorized the release of Eisenhart and Munchel to “third-party custodians” and placed them on home confinement along with other conditions. They will have their locations monitored and are banned from using the internet or contacting others involved in the Jan. 6 events.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-seen-zip-ties-during-capitol-riot-his-mother-get-n1262428
Over 1 million Wisconsin residents vaccinated as DHS signals opening COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older early
As Wisconsin passed 1 million fully vaccinated residents, state health officials said they would likely move the date that all Wisconsin adults would be eligible from May to sometime in April.
At a Milwaukee Press Club Newsmaker Lunch Hour Monday, Julie Willems Van Dijk, the deputy secretary of the state Department of Health Services, signaled that vaccine eligibility would open up to everyone 16 and older sometime in April, earlier than originally planned. She said the state would announce the date "very soon."
President Joe Biden says 90% of adults will be eligible for the vaccine by April 19. Ten states plan to open eligibility for the vaccine to all adults this week, ahead of Biden's target. Six states — Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas — expanded vaccine eligibility to all adults on Monday.
Monday, March 29, 2021
Now vaccinated, older adults emerge from COVID hibernation
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| In this Monday, March 22, 2021 file photo, two older adults socially distanced, watch a spring training exhibition baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles in Bradenton, Fla. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) |
Bill Griffin waited more than a year for this moment: Newly vaccinated, he embraced his 3-year-old granddaughter for the first time since the pandemic began.
“She came running right over. I picked her up and gave her a hug. It was amazing,” the 70-year-old said after the reunion last weekend.
Spring has arrived with sunshine and warmer weather, and many older adults who have been vaccinated, like Griffin, are emerging from COVID-19-imposed hibernation.
From shopping in person or going to the gym to bigger milestones like visiting family, the people who were once most at risk from COVID-19 are beginning to move forward with getting their lives on track. More than 47% of Americans who are 65 and older are now fully vaccinated.
Visiting grandchildren is a top priority for many older adults. In Arizona, Gailen Krug has yet to hold her first grandchild, who was born a month into the pandemic in Minneapolis. Now fully vaccinated, Krug is making plans to travel for her granddaughter’s first birthday in April.
“I can’t wait,” said Krug, whose only interactions with the girl have been over Zoom and FaceTime. “It’s very strange to not have her in my life yet.”
The excitement she feels, however, is tempered with sadness. Her daughter-in-law’s mother, who she had been looking forward to sharing grandma duties with, died of COVID-19 just hours after the baby’s birth. She contracted it at a nursing home.
Isolated by the pandemic, older adults were hard hit by loneliness caused by restrictions intended to keep people safe. Many of them sat out summer reunions, canceled vacation plans and missed family holiday gatherings in November and December.
In states with older populations, like Maine, Arizona and Florida, health officials worried about the emotional and physical toll of loneliness, posing an additional health concern on top of the virus.
But that’s changing, and more older people are reappearing in public after they were among the first group to get vaccinated.
Those who are fully vaccinated are ready to get out of Dodge without worrying they were endangering themselves amid a pandemic that has claimed more than 540,000 lives in the United States.
Read more: https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/now-vaccinated-older-adults-emerge-from-covid-hibernation/
Trump White House COVID-19 coordinator Deborah Birx says most deaths could have been avoided
Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said most coronavirus deaths in the United States were avoidable, during a CNN interview for a documentary scheduled to air Sunday.
In an excerpt from "Covid War: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out," Birx said that while many deaths in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic were likely inevitable, the lethality of later waves could have been greatly reduced if the U.S. had "mitigated earlier ... paused earlier and actually done" greater social distancing and shutdown measures.
"I look at it this way," Birx told CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta. "The first time, we have an excuse. There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially."
Sunday, March 28, 2021
1 in 6 Wisconsin residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19; deaths fall to average 3 a day
Wisconsin could reach a milestone 1 million residents fully vaccinated early next week
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| Coronavirus generic(WRDW) |
MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) – Wisconsin continues on pace to reach 1 million residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19 early next week.
The Department of Health Services reported Saturday that 978,416 people have completed their vaccinations -- whether that’s one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
That’s 29,651 more people completing their vaccinations since to Friday’s report. The state is averaging 20,433 residents getting fully vaccinated every day over the past 7 days.
Currently, 16.8% of Wisconsin’s population is fully vaccinated. That’s more than 1 in 6 people.
Data show the state usually sees a drop in vaccinations over the weekend, so that 1 million milestone will most likely be reached Monday or Tuesday.
So far, 1,674,882 Wisconsin residents had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. That’s almost 40,000 more (39,905) than vaccinators reported Friday and represents 28.8% of the population.
The 7-day average was close to a record for all COVID-19 vaccinations, including residents and non-residents. Vaccinators reported an additional 68,558 doses administered since Friday. That’s 10,000 fewer doses than Friday, but the 7-day average of 55,566 shots a day is just a couple hundred shy of Friday’s record.
Vaccination numbers for Northeast Wisconsin counties appear later in this article.
1 in 3 Wisconsin women received at least one dose of a vaccine compared to just under 1 in 4 men.
Wisconsin health officials identify one case of COVID-19 variant from Brazil
Health officials warned the new variant has unique mutations that may affect the effectiveness of antibodies, generated through a previous COVID-19 infection or through a vaccination.
The variant – called P.1 – was first reported in late January by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan after four travelers from Brazil were screened at an airport outside of Tokyo.
The variant has 17 unique mutations, including three in the virus’ spiked protein, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this month, the CDC reported 10 cases of the P.1 variant in five U.S. states: Alaska, Florida, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Maryland. The agency has designated it a "variant of concern."
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Recall Cory Mason
Racine has had enough. Excessive taxes and fees, punitive enforcement, rampant spending, unresponsive and secretive government, whitelisting residents to restrict access, bloated city government and ineffective development projects with wasted spending.
https://www.facebook.com/SaveRacine/?__cft__[0]=AZXoMLbnlJWUO-V-ucl-zXDAYM6xP-WrDpqLpfLGsPCjRcbSX65eGmLBeV_T0FSvVKqIxSgI1pKLynZKhyO6zT0PbzjO7XbyRSYomHxJdxYtolZxFwj3docrbqfGl3LP8HA3i6jrKnUGi9RAqvxD5yP2DK0Y2iCvqVksefl4ggDSiHvXrrsh_B4h9gvjOLh3KiS-qHyZAjJtfwesQunzQiOp&__tn__=R]-R
Covid-19 cases are rising. States are opening up anyway.
After several weeks at a plateau, Covid-19 cases in the United States are rising again, the clearest warning sign yet that the country could face another "avoidable" surge, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
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| © Provided by NBC News |
The uptick comes at a critical time, when Americans are exhausted and desperate for a return to normalcy, but also perhaps better equipped than at any other point in the pandemic to turn the tide, thanks to increased vaccine supply.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a media briefing that the most recent seven-day average of Covid-19 cases was about 57,000 cases per day, an increase of 7 percent from the previous week.
"We know from prior surges that if we don't control things now, there is a real potential for the epidemic curve to soar again," she said, adding that she remains "deeply concerned" about the trends.
The immediate challenge for Walensky and other public health officials is to convince Americans weary of pandemic protocols to hold on just a little longer with masks and physical distancing as vaccinations are administered at an average clip of 2.5 million per day. Still, just 14 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
But are Americans, or their elected leaders, listening?
AP’s Orwellian push to change the news
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| AP tells its reporters not to call the migrant surge at the US-Mexico border a "crisis."EPA |
President Biden’s Homeland Security secretary says migrant apprehensions are hitting a 20-year high, and record numbers of unaccompanied minors are already in federal custody — but the Associated Press is ordering its reporters to ignore reality and not call it a “crisis.”
In an internal memo from “the Standards Center,” the AP told staff, “The current event in the news — a sharp increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors — is a problem for border officials, a political challenge for Biden and a dire situation for many migrants who make the journey, but it does not fit the classic dictionary definition of a crisis.”
A “crisis,” it explained, might be a “decisive or crucial time” or “a time of, or a state of affairs involving, great danger or trouble, often one which threatens to result in unpleasant consequences.”
Read more: https://nypost.com/2021/03/26/aps-orwellian-push-to-change-the-news/
Wisconsin bars and restaurants can sell cocktails to go under bill signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers
Molly BeckPatrick Marley
MADISON - A year after the coronavirus pandemic forced customers to avoid drinking and eating in public, bars and restaurants may now start selling wine and cocktails to go.
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday signed a bill that would allow taverns and restaurants to sell wine and mixed drinks in sealed containers for curbside or in-store pickup. The law takes effect Sunday.
The new law gives the hospitality industry a new way to boost sales while the pandemic persists but also comes months after revenue losses were at their worst, just as warmer weather is pushing patios to reopen and as more of Wisconsin becomes vaccinated.
"It's taken awhile to get them to go but we're happy — it's not going to magically save a lot of businesses over the course of the last year but it's an important tool," Scott Stenger, a lobbyist for the Tavern League of Wisconsin, said. "It's the first time that we've gotten good news."
Friday, March 26, 2021
Racine man facing 200 sexual assault charges hearing pushed back, additional charges expected
A Racine man is facing hundreds of sexual assault charges and is having his preliminary hearing pushed back due to additional charges.
Shane Stanger, 46, appeared in court Thursday, March 25 in a preliminary hearing facing 200 counts of sexual assault in Racine.
Stanger’s attorney, Alexander Kostal, declined to comment.
Stanger, 46, walked into the courtroom handcuffed with a mask on, in an orange Racine County Jail jumpsuit.
Prosecutors say video obtained by law enforcement shows him sexually assaulting two women and a girl as young as 10 years old.
One of the victims found videos on a laptop showing herself being sexually assaulted by Stanger, according to a criminal complaint released Wednesday.
Stanger is the ex-boyfriend of the victim, according to prosecutors, and they had two children together, though they have not had romantic relations since 2015.
'Loophole' allowed ineligible people to get COVID-19 vaccine in Washington
Why are scammers just "turned away"? Why aren't they arrested?
EXPLAINER: North Korean missiles getting more agile, evasive
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| People watch a TV showing an image of North Korea's new guided missile during a news program at the Suseo Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday. March 26, 2021. In resuming its ballistic testing activity after a yearlong pause, North Korea has demonstrated a potentially nuclear-capable weapon that shows how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in diplomacy with the United States. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In resuming its ballistic testing activity after a yearlong pause, North Korea has demonstrated a potentially nuclear-capable weapon that shows how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in diplomacy with the United States.
The two short-range missiles the North fired into the sea this week were its first meaningful provocation since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, who on Thursday delivered a restrained response to the launches, saying “there will be responses if they choose to escalate.”
Since a provocative run in North Korean nuclear and missile tests in 2016 and 2017, much of the U.S. focus has been on North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles that pose a direct threat to the American homeland.
But experts say North Korea’s growing arsenal of shorter-range solid-fuel weapons are more destabilizing for U.S. allies South Korea and Japan. And the latest launches underscored the North’s efforts to improve its capacities for delivering nuclear strikes and overwhelming missile defense systems.
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Gym owner giving free memberships to those who don’t get vaccinated
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| FILE – In this Jan. 5, 2021, file photo, healthcare worker receives a second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine shot at Beaumont Health in Southfield, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) |
BELLMAWR, N.J. (WNCN) — In light of popular doughnut shop Krispy Kreme offering free doughnuts to those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine, one gym owner is doing the opposite.
Ian Smith, who says he is the co-owner of The Atilis Gym, located in Bellmawr, New Jersey had a different proposal — free memberships for everybody who has not been vaccinated.
Smith had this to say on Twitter:
Twitter users didn’t waste time commenting on Smith’s proposal with mixed reactions.
Some slammed Smith’s decision.
“Yeah thanks for supporting Bellmawar’s most famous killer,” one Twitter user replied.
Others were happy to see such a proposal and shot back at everyone who disagreed.
“Why all the hatred??? Everyone is welcome to have their own opinions,” another user said.
Smith says he believes in health “the real way”, which as he puts it includes exercise, a good diet, and an environment to destress.
From: https://wgntv.com/news/gym-owner-giving-free-memberships-to-those-who-dont-get-vaccinated/
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