In hospitals, viruses are everywhere. masks are not.
Facing a potential wave of coronavirus infections this fall and winter, relatively few hospitals — mostly in New York, Massachusetts and California — have restored mask mandates for patients and staff members. The vast majority have not, and almost none require them for visitors. Among patients, health care workers and public health experts, opinions are divided over whether and when to institute masking mandates in hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hospitals consider putting masking in place when levels of respiratory infections rise, especially in urgent care and emergency rooms, or when treating high-risk patients.
An ambitious anti-racism center scales back
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, protests, looting and anger were boiling up in the streets of Boston. At Boston University, Black students demanded action to address campus racism. The university had a dramatic response. It announced a few days later that it had recruited Ibram X. Kendi, a professor who had spawned a movement through his book, “How to Be an Antiracist.” Kendi would head up a new Center for Antiracist Research. Now, a mere three years later, the center is being downsized. More than half of its 36 employees were abruptly told last week they were being laid off. The center’s budget is also being trimmed in half.
Arsenic preserved the animals but killed the museum
Usually, you go to the zoo to look at live animals. But at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, people also went to see the dead ones. The attraction, the Delbridge Museum of Natural History, hosted one of the most impressive taxidermy collections in the country. On Aug. 18, Sioux Falls and Great Plains Zoo officials announced that the Delbridge Museum had closed after nearly 40 years, citing an increased risk of chemical exposure to staff and visitors as the animal specimens age. At a news conference, they specified that a majority of the taxidermy mounts contained arsenic, a toxin that can cause pregnancy complications, cancer and even death.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. flirts with the Libertarian Party
For months, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he plans to continue his long-shot challenge against President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary rather than dropping out to launch a third-party bid. But lately, Kennedy’s message has seemed to shift. If Kennedy does decide to leave the party, one potential landing spot may be the Libertarian Party, which at the moment lacks a widely known candidate but has excelled at securing ballot access. In July, Kennedy met privately with Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian Party, at a conference they were both attending — a meeting that has not previously been reported.
Louisiana man convicted of attempted murder is captured after 32 years
A Louisiana man convicted of attempted murder was returned to the United States this past week after hiding in Mexico for more than 30 years, the FBI announced Wednesday. Greg Lawson, 63, of Ringgold, was convicted in 1991 for wounding Seth Garlington, then 21, in a “gunbattle” in Ringgold on April 24, 1990. Lawson, who was convicted in 1991, fled the courthouse before the jury’s guilty verdict was announced. Daniel Newell, the Louisiana district attorney prosecuting Lawson’s case, said that sentencing for the attempted murder conviction would likely begin in November, and that Lawson would be charged with an additional felony for “bail jumping.”
Tropical Storm Ophelia knocks out power and brings flooding to parts of Mid-Atlantic
Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall Saturday near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, bringing high winds that knocked out power for thousands and flooding that shut down roadways in parts of the mid-Atlantic. Parts of the North Carolina coast were experiencing tropical storm conditions as Ophelia moved north. The storm is expected to cause “considerable flash, urban and small stream flooding” from North Carolina to New Jersey, the National Hurricane Center said, adding that isolated river flooding is also possible. Ophelia is forecast to weaken by Sunday as it nears southern Maryland, with heavy rain possible from southeastern Pennsylvania to Long Island, New York.
Ukraine targets Crimea for second day in a row, Russia says
Russian-installed authorities in occupied Crimea said Ukrainian forces targeted the peninsula with another air attack Saturday, the second in two days as Ukraine takes aim at the region in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s military operations. Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city and the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, said air defenses had been activated in the area and that debris from a downed rocket fell in the bay. Local authorities issued several warnings about possible air assaults Saturday morning, urging residents to stay calm and seek shelter.
Europe made a bold pledge of ammunition for Ukraine. Now comes the hard part.
The pledge in March sounded as catchy as it was ambitious: European Union states would deliver 1 million rounds of 155 mm ammunition to Ukraine within a year. Now, at a critical moment in the war and with Ukraine running short of artillery shells to drive its counteroffensive, experts, weapons manufacturers and even some government officials are expressing growing doubts. Europe’s shrunken military sector, they say, may simply be unable to ramp up production fast enough to achieve the goal. Peter Stano, a spokesperson for the EU, maintained that the bloc was doing what it could.
Fears and chaos grow in Nagorno-Karabakh after takeover
Two days after the Azerbaijani military brushed aside Russian peacekeepers and routed a vastly outgunned group of fighters defending the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian enclave, concerns mounted about the tens of thousands of Armenians who were now stranded there under their new Azerbaijani rulers. On Friday, people in Armenia were trying to reach their relatives and friends on the other side of the border, receiving little or no response. The Armenian government has stated firmly that it will not intervene. Nor is help forthcoming from the international community or from Armenia’s traditional protector, Russia, with its 1,960 peacekeeping troops stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ancient arrow is among artifacts to emerge from Norway’s melting ice
Espen Finstad was trudging through mud in the Jotunheimen mountains of eastern Norway this month when he happened upon a wooden arrow, bound with a pointed tip made of quartzite. Complete with feathers, it was so well-preserved that it looked as if it could have been lost just recently. But Finstad, a glacial archaeologist for the county of Innlandet, knew better. By his estimate, the arrow is probably about 3,000 years old. The find, believed to have belonged to a reindeer hunter in the late Stone Age or early Bronze Age, is among thousands of artifacts and remains that have emerged from melting ice in recent years.
India’s moon lander misses wake-up call after successful mission
As the sun rose Friday over the lunar plateau where India’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover sit, the robotic explorers remained silent. The Indian Space Research Organization, India’s equivalent of NASA, said Friday that mission controllers on the ground had sent a wake-up message to Vikram. The lander, as expected, did not reply. Efforts will continue over the next few days, but this could well be the conclusion of Chandrayaan-3, India’s first successful space mission to the surface of another world. India is only the fourth country to complete an intact landing on the moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union and China.
Pope meets with French President in Marseille
Pope Francis met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday on the second day of a whirlwind trip to Marseille, France, where the pontiff reiterated his condemnation of the world’s indifference toward the deaths of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Thousands of police officers blanketed the city Saturday and blocked traffic around the Palais du Pharo, a 19th century palace overlooking the city’s old port where Macron and his wife, Brigitte, greeted Francis. The pope’s trip is not an official state visit. Macron and Francis attended the closing session of the Mediterranean Meetings, a weeklong gathering of bishops and other representatives.
By wire sources