Lunchtime Reads for National Noodle Day (October 6)

Good afternoon, and happy National Noodle Day! It’s also National Pasta Month, and the best way to celebrate is by eating pasta, obviously. If you want some new ideas, Food & Wine has you covered.

This week, we’ve finally be allowed to onboard the student workers we hired back in August. Don’t ask. It’s this nutty thing called “the hiring matrix” that all the campuses seem to be going to. Anyway, they’re getting my undivided attention, so that’s kept me busy for most of the morning. However, without further ado, let’s get to the news!

Pat Conroy

• Atlanta’s frontline workers will get an additional $500/month for working during the pandemic through next June. (Alternate link.)
• Georgia Democrats believe the Labor Commissioner Mark Butler’s new pilot program that would require legislators to sign confidentiality agreements before accessing information about constituents who ask for help securing benefits is a way to prevent them from criticizing the department publicly.
• A Fulton County judge has denied the emergency request from 11 parents that would toss out the school system’s mask mandate. (Alternate link.)
• The Drug Enforcement Agency has seized over 9,000 pills laced with fentanyl in the Atlanta area over the past week.
• WellStar and United Healthcare allowed their contract to end without a new agreement this past week, moving thousands of Georgians into out-of-network status for ongoing care – and the much larger price tag that goes with it.

Alice Walker

• There’s an active shooter situation in Arlington, Texas right now with multiple reported injuries.
• The U.S. is edging closer to default every day.
• President Joe Biden is committing $1 billion toward the purchase of rapid, at-home COVID tests in order to quadruple the number available by December. (Alternate link.)
• Because there were few restrictions, the AP has found the many school districts have used money intended to help them reopen during the pandemic on sports upgrades.
• Dan Scavino is a hard man to find these days, according to the January 6th Committee.
• The Department of Education is making the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program less of a maze.
• The president of the New York City police union has stepped down after the FBI raided his office and home.
• Idaho Governor Brad Little has accused his lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin, of attempting to deploy National Guard to our southern border without authorization.
• The World Health Organization has approved the first malaria vaccine. (Alternate link.)
• China continues to provoke Taiwan with military flights close to or in its airspace.
• French Catholic clergy abused more than 200,000 children over seven decades according to a new report compiled by an independent commission at the request of Church officials.
• There may be a center-left coalition emerging in Germany, leaving the currently-ruling conservatives out.

Flannery O’Connor

• A man in a ninja outfit attacked members of a U.S. Army special operations unit in the middle of the night in the California desert.