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The tension between parents and American school-board members has worsened since we first reported that members of the boards were quitting en masse over "toxic" parents opposing masks, vaccine mandates and CRT.
And according to the National School Boards Association, an organization that represents school board members, the risks of violence breaking out involving a parent and a school-board member have intensified to such a degree that the organization is asking the federal government to start providing security to board members and teachers to protect them from "terrorist" parents.
The organization made its demands in a letter to President Biden, signed by NSBA President Viola Garcia and Interim Executive Director and CEO Chip Slaven. They called on Biden to personally use his executive authority to mobilize the FBI and other federal agents to guard school officials Read More
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Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said Friday they’ve developed a drug that reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by around 50% for patients with mild or moderate cases of Covid.
The companies plan to seek emergency authorization for the antiviral Covid treatment after the medicine showed “compelling results” in clinical trials.
The drug, molnupiravir, is administered orally and works by inhibiting the replication of the coronavirus inside the body.
An interim analysis of a phase 3 study found that 7.3% of patients treated with molnupiravir were hospitalized within 29 days. Of the patients who received a placebo, 14.1% were hospitalized or died by day 29. No deaths were reported in patients who were given molnupiravir within the 29-day period, while eight deaths were reported in placebo-treated patients. Read More
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The future of abortion rights is in the hands of a conservative Supreme Court that is beginning a new term Monday that also includes major cases on gun rights and religion.
The court’s credibility with the public also could be on the line, especially if a divided court were to overrule the landmark Roe v. Wade decision from 1973 that established a woman’s right to an abortion nationwide.
The justices are returning to the courtroom after an 18-month absence caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the possible retirement of 83-year-old liberal Justice Stephen Breyer also looms.
It’s the first full term with the court in its current alignment.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the last of former President Donald Trump’s three high-court appointees, is part of a six-justice conservative majority. Barrett was nominated and confirmed last year amid the pandemic, little more than a month after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Read More
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The pandemic jobs deficit isn’t just a big city thing, but it’s starting to look as if it may soon be mostly a big city thing https://t.co/GG2RyC4RUL
— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) October 2, 2021
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New York police were investigating after a statue honoring George Floyd in Union Square, New York, was defaced with paint on October 3. Media citing police said surveillance video showed a man with a black backpack riding a skateboard up to the statue and splashing the face with gray paint. Nearby busts of late Congressman John Lewis and Breonna Taylor, a Louisville, Kentucky, woman shot and killed by police in 2020, did not appear to be damaged. All three sculptures were opened to the public on October 1. Lindsay Eshelman, co-founder of Confront Art, the organisation behind the installation, told Storyful she ran to the statue as soon as she heard the news. “The beautiful thing was that I got there and 5 strangers who were so upset had already gone to the store and bought supplies on their own and were ready to volunteer to clean. This statue was defaced by one, but rebuilt by the community. “This continues to bring light to our mission that art is a conversation catalyst, a place for public discourse, and through these acts we can hopefully overcome hate and find unity for the future.” Floyd’s murder in May last year by a police officer in Minneapolis sparked a wide-spread protest movement against police brutality and racial injustice. Read More
The recently-unveiled sculpture of George Floyd in Manhattan's Union Square has been vandalized with paint for the second time. https://t.co/9mgtulvyKz
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 3, 2021
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