Author Archives: henrykotula

Jobless claims remain high

Posted on by • Posted in Coronavirus, Crisis, Crisis Management, Economic Crisis, Economic Recovery, Economic Stimulus, Employer-Based Health Insurance, Health Insurance Coverage Adequacy, Job, Job Loss, Job Market, Job Search, Job Security, Pandemic, Underinsured, Unemployment, Unemployment Insurance, Uninsured • Leave a comment
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/23/jobless-claims-trump-stimulus/?wpmk=1&wpisrc=al_economy__alert-economy&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNWI2M2EzNDJhZGU0ZTI3Nzk1NTBjYTFiIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvMjAyMC8xMi8yMy9qb2JsZXNzLWNsYWltcy10cnVtcC1zdGltdWx1cy8_d3Btaz0xJndwaXNyYz1hbF9lY29ub215X19hbGVydC1lY29ub215JnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9YWxlcnQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUmbG9jYXRpb249YWxlcnQifQ.Vdzf2pv6vKfpJWB9cEzB7Do4lm-WjiJI-g1lAhSFEUg

An estimated 803,000 people applied for unemployment aid for the first time last week, the Labor Department said Wednesday, showing the economy’s persistent weakness as new drama swirls over Washington’s response to the crisis. The figure was a slight decrease from the previous week but still much higher than normal.

The new Labor Department data show how weak the economy is, particularly the labor market. The surge in new coronavirus cases and deaths in the past few months has cooled the partial economic recovery from the summer.

Retail sales have weakened, and hiring has slowed markedly. The travel and tourism industries have not recovered much of the business lost since March, and thousands of companies — particularly restaurants and bars — have closed. U.S. household spending slipped in November, marking the first drop since April.

After months of stop-and-start negotiations, the bipartisan stimulus package finally offered some hope for households and businesses fighting to make it through the winter.

If Trump does not sign the bill, up to 14 million Americans would lose unemployment aid after Christmas. An eviction moratorium will expire at the end of the year, and $25 billion in emergency rental assistance will not get out the door. Billions of dollars for nutrition assistance, aid for small businesses, child care, transportation services and more will be in jeopardy, and the government will shut down on Dec. 29.

Trump did not play much of a role in the economic relief talks that resulted in Congress passing the $900 billion stimulus package. In the video Trump posted Tuesday night, his main complaint was that he wanted the $600 stimulus checks in the package to be increased to $2,000. This would add $370 billion to the measure.

Democrats quickly rallied around Trump’s demand, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to try to hold a vote on it as soon as Thursday. But it could be virtually impossible to pass such a measure through Congress with unanimous support, leaving the entire bill’s future uncertain.

The stimulus package would extend unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, beginning as soon as Dec. 27 and run at least through mid-March. The measure also would extend Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — which targets part-time and gig workers who did not qualify for state unemployment insurance benefits — for 11 weeks.

Wednesday’s data showed nearly 400,000 new claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

Darkest days ahead

Posted on by • Posted in Coronavirus, Crisis, Crisis Management, Economic Crisis, Economic Recovery, Economic Stimulus, Expectations, Pandemic, State of the Union • Leave a comment
https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pm-7eb4469e-b299-43e9-a6e7-26c9b3438fbc.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

Rare words from an incoming president: “Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us,” President-elect Biden warned this afternoon during remarks in Wilmington.

Why it matters: Biden is promising to tell America the truth, which includes the reality of many more horrific months, no matter who is in charge.

  • If we’re lucky, vaccinations will provide enough herd immunity to allow some normality by this summer or fall.

Another blunt reality: Most of the benefits in the $900 billion coronavirus rescue package expire months before America has any hope of being back to normal.

  • The $300 boost for unemployment benefits expires in March.
  • The new $284 billion round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is meant to last 3 months.
  • There’s no new funding earmarked for state and local governments.

The other side: There’s funding for schools and childcare and mass transit and vaccination distribution, which helps bail out the above from those obligations.

  • The entertainment sector got $15 billion, helping out theaters and museums and live entertainment venues.
  • $600 checks will start showing up next week for individuals making under $75,000 (phases out for incomes above that), with an extra $600 per child.

The bottom line: Georgia’s Jan. 5 Senate runoffs could be the difference between a big stimulus under Biden, or more trouble for parts of the U.S. hospitality sector.

2 men shot up a California strip club with an AK-47 after refusing to wear masks, authorities say. Now they face life in prison.

Posted on by • Posted in Coronavirus, Gun Violence, Mental Health, Pandemic, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Public Health, Public Safety • Leave a comment

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/22/california-shooting-mask-stripclub-ak47/?fbclid=IwAR0N7ndu2quPQlB4N61ZT6FEyyS6roIJsk9SI9-I_KH-bogHzEGsWyfHHtc

Economics of the AK-47 | Global Risk Insights

When a group of friends rebuffed multiple demands to wear masks inside the Sahara Theater in Anaheim, they were kicked out of the strip club in the early-morning hours of Halloween for not following the state’s coronavirus restrictions.

The men returned to the gentleman’s club in their Honda sedan shortly thereafter, but they were not looking to reenter and keep the party going. Instead of masks, they brought with them an AK-47 to shoot at the outside of the establishment, according to authorities, firing 15 rounds from the car and hospitalizing three people with gunshot wounds.

Nearly two months later, the Anaheim residents were arrested in what police described to The Washington Post as the most extreme anti-mask incident in the city to date.

On Monday, Edgar Nava-Ayala, 34, and Daniel Juvenal Ocampo, 22, were charged with three felony counts of attempted murder with premeditation and deliberation, three felony counts of assault with an assault weapon, and one felony count of shooting into an occupied building. A third man, Juan Jose Acosta-Soto, 20, was charged with three felony counts of assault with an assault weapon and one felony count of shooting into an occupied building.

All three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

If convicted on all charges, Nava-Ayala and Ocampo face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Acosta-Soto faces a maximum prison sentence of more than 17 years.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Shane Carringer told The Post that the men were arrested Thursday, adding that the city avoided a near-tragedy with the dozens of people inside the club at the time of the Halloween shooting.

“It is nothing short of a miracle that no one was killed,” Carringer said. “There were over 30 people in there and these guys are suspected of indiscriminately firing at innocent bystanders with a high-powered rifle.”

The strip club shooting is just one example in a long line of mask disputes that have led to gunfire since the start of the pandemic. In May, a Family Dollar security guard in Flint, Mich., was killed after telling a customer that her child had to wear a mask to enter the store. That same month, a maskless San Antonio man who was denied entry on a bus proceeded to shoot and critically injure a passenger who had confronted him for not wearing a face covering, authorities said. In August, a Pennsylvania man was charged after allegedly opening fire outside a cigar shop that had asked him to wear a mask.

The district attorney’s office said Nava-Ayala and Ocampo were “escorted out of the club because they refused to wear face coverings.” When the three men came back in their car at about 1:35 a.m. on Oct. 31, police say Nava-Ayala ripped off 15 rounds from an AK-47 into the Sahara Theater.

Three people — two employees and a customer — were hospitalized and suffered minor to moderate injuries to their upper body that were not life-threatening. A fourth person was wounded, but refused medical attention, Carringer said.

In California, gentlemen’s clubs like the Sahara Theater are allowed to operate if they provide food, which would classify them as a restaurant instead of a bar or live entertainment venue.

A manager with the club declined to comment to The Post, saying, “All the info is out there.”

Carringer said Anaheim police had worked “nonstop” for about six weeks as part of the investigation to track down the three men, arresting them in different locations Thursday. None of them had a significant previous record before the shooting, he said.

“In Anaheim, this is as close as we’ve gotten to a mass shooting,” Carringer said.

Nava-Ayala, Ocampo and Acosta-Soto are being held at the Orange County Jail on $5 million bail each. Their attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment early Tuesday.

Antarctica reports first COVID-19 cases

Posted on by • Posted in Asymptomatic Transmission, Coronavirus, Out of Network, Pandemic • Leave a comment

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/531265-antarctica-reports-first-covid-19-cases?fbclid=IwAR2lWU629fcLVgJo9X5GRsILn39Y9Hxx-yoh30L2lV1khhvS0aTEs2T713s

Three dozen people at a Chilean army base in Antarctica have reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus, marking the first time a case has been recorded on the continent.

Base General Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme is one of 13 active Chilean army stations in Antarctica, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation noted.

Sky News reports that of the 36 who tested positive, 26 are members of the Chilean military while the rest are maintenance workers.

Though there are few people in Antarctica, the implications of the coronavirus diagnoses could be significant. The number of people in Antarctica fluctuates widely throughout the year depending on the season, Sky News notes, with around 1,000 in the winter and about 5,000 in the summer.

“The detection of cases of COVID-19 in Antarctica will impact upon a range of areas, from planning and logistics of human activity on the continent through to high-level decision-making back home,” Hanne Nielsen of the the University of Tasmania told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“The presence of COVID-19 in Antarctica also has implications for local wildlife, with the threat of humans transmitting the virus to other species,” Nielsen added.

Chile’s government announced on Sunday that doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine could begin being administered as early as next week. The vaccine was reportedly approved by Chile’s health regulators last Wednesday.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said the first doses would be limited to health care workers, as many governments have done, with the goal of sending out 20,000 doses by the end of the month.