Morning Reads for World Plumbing Day (March 11)

Often I post silly days, but when I realized it was World Plumbing Day, I wanted to take a moment to remind us this morning how lucky we are. It’s one of those things that we so often overlook in the United States, but it is a true miracle of the modern world.

Now the news:

Pat Conroy

• 17 Georgians have confirmed and presumed cases of COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, more testing is resulting in more cases.
• Students at Georgia State and Kennesaw State have started a change.org petition to move the campuses to online classes for the remainder of spring semester.
• As Crossover Day looms, the residents of Juliette hope the state will make Georgia Power take responsibility for the damage done to their aquifer.
• Delta has cut flights by 15% in response to a sharp decrease in bookings.
• St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are still on – for now – in Savannah.

Alice Walker

• Let the Biden Veepstakes begin!
• Both Biden and Sanders canceled their rallies in Cleveland last night due to COVID-19 concerns.
• Veterans Affairs is suspending GI Bill benefits to five universities, including the for-profit University of Phoenix and Temple University.
• A federal appeals court has ruled that House Democrats should have permission to access grand jury secrets from Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
• The Department of Defense’s audit report card is a mixed bag, according to the Truth in Accounting rankings.
• Alaskans are trying to recall the governor they elected because of a too-good-to-be-true proposal that ended up being, well, too good to be true.
• Italy is currently on lockdown, and Europe is planning a conference on how to contain COVID-19. I suggest a tele-conference.
• Putin could rule Russia until 2036 (at least).

Flannery O’Connor

• France has issued guidance to citizens that advises cocaine cannot protect against COVID-19.