August 4, 2021 11:09 AM
Morning-ish Reads for Single Working Women’s Day (August 4)
Hello! How’s your workday going? I’m currently displaced due to a construction project, but I’ll see my office again in a couple of weeks, hopefully…
It’s also National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so here’s my favorite recipe. I also like this one a lot, too.
And now, let’s get to the news.
Pat Conroy
- The state Inspector General has found that the Georgia Department of Transportation did nothing wrong when it changed a road design to financially benefit one of its board members. (Alternate link.)
- Athens is the third major city in Georgia to reimpose a mask mandate.
- There are fake $100 bills circulating in Rabun County.
- Georgia Democrats are rallying with other state legislators in D.C. in support of voting rights.
- While the state has reduced its welfare rolls, significantly more Georgians have needed food assistance since the beginning of the pandemic. (Alternate link.)
Alice Walker
- The Centers for Disease Control has extended its eviction moratorium.
- The United States will begin offering COVID vaccines to migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexican border. (Alternate link.)
- Florida broke its previous record for patients hospitalized for COVID last week.
- President Joe Biden has joined the chorus of voices calling for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign.
- Missouri Governor Mike Parson has pardoned the couple who pointed guns at passing Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
- The five Miami Beach police officers caught on video beating a black man at a hotel will face criminal charges.
- Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a judge to block the release of his tax returns to Congress. (Alternate link.)
- Extreme weather due to climate change is now hitting wealthier countries.
- The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack on a military official’s home in Kabul. (Alternate link.)
- Protests over the forced cremation of a 9 year-old Dalit girl – an alleged sexual assault victim – have entered a fourth day in Delhi.
- The AP has a good explainer on the conditions that prompted the Olympic athlete from Belarus to defect to Austria.
- Americans will have to quarantine for a week regardless of vaccination status when traveling to Israel. (Alternate link.)
Flannery O’Connor
- Sixteen people on their way to a wedding were killed by lightning in Bangladesh.
About Author
Holly Croft
Holly is an archivist at one of Georgia's institutions of higher learning. In a past life, she was a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill. She cares a lot about records management, open records laws, and privacy laws. Political persuasion? It's complicated. What's not complicated is that she's proudly equal parts Bulldog and Tar Heel.
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After reading the DOT story you might wonder why the Inspector General decided Boswell had not acted inappropriately, since their report doesn’t say, or even why the IG spent time and resources investigating an office outside the executive branch they are charged to investigate.
It’s not hard to imagine that Boswell called Kemp and asked for some cover, and Kemp came through.
Further detail from Lee Becker.
http://www.oconeecountyobservations.org/2021/08/georgia-office-of-inspector-general.html
Yes. I feel like this is when the Board of Regents sent someone down from Atlanta to investigate whether or not we’re top heavy with six VPs for 7,000 students, and they concluded we were not. Of course we are. However, sending a person you can guarantee will find the “right” conclusion is very useful when you don’t want to be held responsible for what would have been the actual right conclusion.
At the least Boswell’s actions look questionable, whatever his motives. I don’t blame him for wanting to turn a profit, and I’ve been around too long to be shocked when someone like Kemp puts his thumb on the scales to benefit a colleague or donor. If Kemp had expressed confidence in how his dear friend Jamie had comported himself, I wouldn’t blink, but he shouldn’t involve state time and money.
What should we know about this coming fall and winter?
Coronaviruses typically have a seasonal predominance where we see more cases in the winter. Couple that with the fact that the country has started to reopen — there’s less adherence with masking and people are getting together again — and we’re contending with variants, and we’ll likely see a resurgence in COVID-19 this fall. It’s also probable that we’ll experience a more typical influenza season.
We’ve already started to see an increase in respiratory viruses now, including RSV, which is unusual during the summer months. That emphasizes the fact that these viruses don’t just go away. They’re out there, and when there’s an opening, they are going to take advantage and cause disease.
Although I don’t think we’re going to see the level of hospitalizations and deaths that we saw last December and January from COVID-19, it’s still a concern. Even if we see 20% of what we saw last year, along with a more typical influenza season, it could make for tough times in hospitals and clinics across the country.
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/featured-topic/covid-19-q-and-a-2021-flu-season-beyond
Looks like it will stay rough for the next 6 months. Flu as well as coronavirus? Anyone who gets a fever will be going to urgent care or the ER.