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(CNN) — Macy’s is furloughing a majority of its 125,000 employees because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has sunk sales and forced it close to its stores.
We have a few of them around here, but I've never actually been in one. I suppose this is a big deal for some people; I just don't happen to be among them. I only shop about once a month, anyway - and only for restocking foods and stuff.
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Precautions put in place to slow the rise of coronavirus cases in New Orleans has inadvertently led to a rat problem for the Louisiana city. With restaurants closed save for take-out service, far less food waste is being discarded in the city's alleyways, driving the local rodent population out into the open to search for scraps.
Gosh, maybe they shouldn't have been tossing food into the alleyways in the first place. Must be a Southern tradition. Party on!
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MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — With the coronavirus quickly spreading in Washington state in early March, leaders of the Skagit Valley Chorale debated whether to go ahead with weekly rehearsal. Skagit County hadn’t reported any cases, schools and business remained open, and prohibitions on large gatherings had yet to be announced.
On March 6, Adam Burdick, the choir’s conductor, informed the 121 members in an email that amid the “stress and strain of concerns about the virus,” practice would proceed as scheduled at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church.
“I’m planning on being there this Tuesday March 10, and hoping many of you will be, too,” he wrote.
Nearly three weeks later, 45 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or ill with the symptoms, at least three have been hospitalized, and two are dead.
Sometimes, precautions just don't work. Even in the House of God. We've been here before, like in 1918:
Roughly 500 million people — or one-third of the world’s population — became infected with the virus, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which described it as an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. The virus caused at least 50 million deaths worldwide, about 675,000 in the United States.
Closer to home, the disease killed over 3,000 in Oregon, and an estimated 164 in Clatsop County, most within a four-month span.
Don't feed the birds - which are basically the only extant dinosaurs left on the planet.
They'll be fine.
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In Portland, Police Chief Jami Resch said Tuesday suicide threats or attempts are up 41 percent from this time last year and have jumped 23 percent since 10 days before a declared state of emergency, according to local Oregon news outlet KATU.
Great! Let the out-of-state Leftists that have mobbed our state do the right thing, for once.
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SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – In response to communication from the Oregon Cultural Trust, its Statewide Partners and arts and cultural organizations across the state, Gov. Kate Brown directed the agency to explore opportunities to identify relief funding to address the devastating impact the COVID-19 health crisis is having on Oregon’s arts and cultural community.
As of March 24, 423 Oregon cultural organizations had already reported financial losses to-date of $8,611,881, with data still being collected from more than 1,000 organizations (Source: Americans for the Arts). Organizations in in the Portland area alone are estimating losses of $45.8 million by the end of May (Source: Regional Arts and Cultural Council).
The loss of projected earned income, lifeblood for most cultural organizations, has already resulted in significant layoffs and furloughs, with many more to come if relief doesn’t arrive soon. Many organizations are already facing bankruptcy and permanent closure.
I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. My brother-in-law is an "actor" - and a deadbeat. His wife is a realtor. Guess who brings home the bacon.
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U.S. Northern Command has dispersed essential command and control teams to multiple hardened locations, including the famous Cheyenne Mountain bunker complex in Colorado, as well as another unspecified site, and is keeping them in isolation.
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VERMONT — During his daily virus update briefing, presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden reminded viewers that everyone who is now getting the new COVID-19 virus has never had it before. Asked how a Biden administration would respond so that Americans were protected from the virus, the presumptive nominee said he had no idea, but that “my plan would be better than Trump’s.”
Well, that settles it.
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The regional government Metro is laying off 40 percent of its employees, most of them workers at the now-shuttered Oregon Zoo, Oregon Convention Center and Expo Center. Metro currently has 1,700 employees, spokeswoman Kimberlee Ables tells WW.
Most of them do nothing but shuffle papers and hold meetings, so it's no great loss.
Now for the bad news:
The Oregon Department of Education has closed the state's online charter schools under Gov. Kate Brown's order to close public schools to halt the spread of COVID-19, according to a document obtained by WW.
Every child left behind.
Otherwise known as equity.
Interestingly:
With much of the city effectively on lockdown, Portlanders can at least take solace in this: They can now get weed and booze while staying safely in their cars.The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has temporarily altered its rules to allow curbside pickup of factory-sealed bottles of spirits. Customers can call in their orders, then have them brought out to the sidewalk by a clerk.
Maintaining that tax revenue under trying conditions, I guess.
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