April 23, 2021

Michigan court: Up North bar can be sued for failing to report racist attack

LANSING — A Cheboygan County bar can be sued for not calling the police after one of its patrons called a Black man the ‘N’ word and punched him unconscious outside the bar's entrance, the Michigan Court of Appeals said in an opinion released Friday.

Edward James Tyson, who suffered brain damage as a result of the 2015 attack, sued David Clarence Dawkins, who was convicted of aggravated assault in connection with the incident, and Unthank LLC, doing businesses as a bar called B.S. & Co. in Wolverine, in the far north of Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

A Cheboygan County Circuit Court judge dismissed the bar from the lawsuit, saying it had no civil liability.

But now, a three-judge appeals court panel has ruled otherwise. ............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/04/23/bar-cheboygan-bs-co-wolverine-racist-michigan/7349361002/

April 23, 2021

Three reasons public transit requires robust investment after historic COVID-19 relief funding

OP-ED: Three reasons public transit requires robust investment after historic COVID-19 relief funding
Though the answers to significant questions remain outstanding, such as how demographics, economics, technology and politics will shape the future of transit, one certainty remains – it’s needed.

Bennett E. Resnik


Over the past year, a broad range of industries, highly vulnerable to the consequences of a global public health crisis, were harshly affected by the aftershock of such an unparalleled event. Many of these industries received swift, significant and consistent support from the federal government, including public transit. While public transit was a fortunate recipient of considerable federal funding, it still requires considerable investment in the form of Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations, surface transportation reauthorization and a comprehensive infrastructure package.

The Federal Transit Administration, by way of Congress, will ultimately distribute approximately $69.5 billion in emergency supplemental funding to public transit agencies across the United States. This funding was included throughout three COVID-19 relief bills; the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided $25 billion; the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) provided $14 billion; and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provided $30.5 billion. This funding was and remains critical to ensure the survival of public transit and safeguard a transportation service upon which so many essential workers and small businesses rely.

According to an economic analysis conducted by EBP US, Inc. and issued by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), “nationally, transit ridership in 2020 dropped by 79 percent compared to 2019 levels at the start of the pandemic.” Though the loss in ridership and resulting fare revenue is hard enough, the situation is exacerbated by ongoing losses in tax revenue and decreases in state funding.

While there are various justifications for further robust investment in our nation’s public transit systems, three stand out as top motivations for the federal government’s continued partnership; the pervasive State of Good Repair backlog, the unknown restoration of ridership levels and future service expansion to ensure sufficient, accessible and reliable service throughout the community and region. ............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/blog/21219707/oped-three-reasons-public-transit-requires-robust-investment-after-historic-covid19-relief-funding

April 23, 2021

Judges are being shown 'grisly' videos of MAGA mob dragging Capitol cops that have yet to be seen by

Judges are being shown 'grisly' videos of MAGA mob dragging Capitol cops that have yet to be seen by public


One of the most serious cases of violence against Capitol Police officers during the January 6th MAGA riots has flown mostly under the radar -- and it reportedly involves "grisly" footage that has never been seen by the public or the media.

CNN reports that body camera videos from officers who were beaten and dragged by Trump supporters during the riots at the United States Capitol building are being used by prosecutors to argue that at least five accused rioters should not be released ahead of their trials.

"In several court hearings in recent weeks, prosecutors have rolled out as at least four video clips, with most taken from the police officers' body camera footage, to convince judges... of the severity of the danger," reports CNN. "As each of the defendants have been processed, some of the videos have been shown multiple times, to different judges, or to highlight the actions of each defendant." ...........(more)

https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-videos/

April 23, 2021

Humana health plan overcharged Medicare by nearly $200 million, federal audit finds

(Salon) AHumana Inc. health plan for seniors in Florida improperly collected nearly $200 million in 2015 by overstating how sick some patients were, according to a new federal audit, which seeks to claw back the money.

The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's recommendation to repay, if finalized, would be "by far the largest" audit penalty ever imposed on a Medicare Advantage company, said Christopher Bresette, an HHS assistant regional inspector general.

"This (money) needs to come back to the federal government," he said in an interview.

Humana sharply disputed the findings of the audit, which was set for public release Tuesday. A spokesperson for the company said Humana will work with Medicare officials "to resolve this review," and noted the recommendations "do not represent final determinations, and Humana will have the right to appeal."

Medicare Advantage, a fast-growing private alternative to original Medicare, has enrolled more than 26 million people, according to America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group. Humana, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the largest of these insurers, with about 4 million members. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/23/humana-health-plan-overcharged-medicare-by-nearly-200-million-federal-audit-finds_partner/

April 23, 2021

Montreal: North America's newest Metro train -- Alstom Metropolis

April 23, 2021

So Publix has Large Reptile shopping hours now?

For many Floridians, the sight of a wandering alligator doesn't even warrant a second glance. But for folks around the rest of the country, the idea of spotting one of these reptilian beasts on a morning stroll is enough to send shivers down one's spine.

According to Fox 13, Luke Vidal was in a Publix parking lot in North Fort Myers, Florida around 6:45 a.m. on Friday when he spotted a lone, wandering gator. He recorded a video of the scene and later posted it to Facebook, where it garnered thousands of reactions and comments.

In the video, the alligator walks slowly and steadily through the abandoned parking lot. The creature is clearly quite large: as it crawls, its massive tail can be seen dragging along the pavement. It appears to mind its own business, unaware that Vidal is filming, and continues on its walk towards a Burger King location in the background. ..............(more)

https://www.newsweek.com/florida-man-films-alligators-early-morning-stroll-publix-parking-lot-1585790

April 23, 2021

Ronna Romney McDaniel? ROFL.

Michigan native and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has said she is weighing a 2022 election challenge to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Politico reported Thursday.

McDaniel said she was considering stepping down from her post and running for governor Wednesday at a closed-door meeting of RNC members in Dallas, Politico said, quoting unnamed sources. .............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/04/22/ronna-mcdaniel-michigan-governor-race-election-gretchen-whitmer/7336121002/

April 22, 2021

Michigan's COVID-19 case rate appears to have peaked as surge slows

(Detroit Free Press) Michigan's coronavirus case rate has begun to fall, dropping 12.5% over the last week, suggesting the state's third surge — the worst in the U.S. — may be waning.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that the seven-day average of new cases in Michigan fell from 551.8 per 100,000 people on April 14 to 483 per 100,000 Wednesday.

"It's pretty early in the dip to say it's going to be sustained," said Ryan Malosh, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, "but it does look like we have peaked." ...........(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/04/21/covid-19-case-rate-peaked-surge-slows/7317445002/

April 22, 2021

A Different Kind of Supreme Court Reform Is Already Happening

A Different Kind of Supreme Court Reform Is Already Happening
The left is finally paying attention to the court, and it might be having an impact.

BY DAHLIA LITHWICK


(Slate) Progressives desperately need massive structural court reform and they need it now. This is not a theoretical problem. Donald Trump’s takeover of the federal bench, coupled with conservative lower court judges emboldened to work quickly without need for any existing legal precedent, plus a looming clock ticking down to 2022 and the potential loss of Democratic control of the Senate, means that anyone interested in meaningful voting rights, LGBTQ rights, worker protections, the environment, or racial justice understands that unless big reforms come on short timelines even bold Biden initiatives do not survive the decade. It’s no wonder progressive court reformers were maddened both by Biden’s commission to study the court—which will take six months to report on legal questions some of its members have already been studying for decades—and again by last week’s legislative effort to expand the court, which was strangled on arrival by Nancy Pelosi the same day it was introduced. One need not be a master of history or parliamentary procedure to understand that the window for fixing a dangerously activist and unrepresentative Supreme Court is closing quickly.

It’s not surprising that many of those who best understand the need for court reform best are the ones most frustrated by these halting baby steps. As Elie Mystal, my colleague Mark Joseph Stern, and Ian Millhiser all note, it sure feels like the people tasked with taking structural court reform seriously are doing the very opposite. But putting aside the pros and cons of swift and decisive court expansion, the persistent fury that the Biden Administration isn’t taking the onrushing tyranny of the Trump judiciary seriously may be missing one crucial factor: Court reform doesn’t come exclusively from changing the size and structure of the bench. It can also come informally, from the people exerting pressure on the current justices—and there’s good evidence that’s already happening.

Among the many unexplained mysteries of the current Supreme Court term, perhaps the greatest is the mystery of the court’s failures to take up major gun rights appeals, or a long-simmering 15-week Mississippi abortion ban that might be the perfect vehicle for a challenge to Roe v Wade. The conservative justices, who have—to be sure—tacked quickly and radically rightward on the court’s effervescent religious freedom docket, do so under cover of its shadow docket. But as Ariane de Vogue reported recently at CNN, the conservative legal movement that spent buckets of money and capital to seat Amy Coney Barrett is already feeling “disappointed and a little despondent” about her. The newest Justice is looking “timid” to them, and failing to take the bold actions they demanded. Among some conservative court-watchers the frustration is palpable about both the Mississippi abortion case and gun challenges, as was her refusal to join Justices Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch, in accepting a challenge to the presidential election results; an outcome that has left Trump furious with the court. As de Vogue writes, Barrett’s refusal to tack hard right in her early months at the court raises the possibility, at least according to one unnamed conservative source, that “the court would end up in a 3-3-3 lineup in some cases with the liberals on one side, and Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Barrett in the middle and Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas on the far right.”

This fractionally more moderate bump at the center of the current court has proved maddening for conservative legal movement because it also contains the Chief Justice, John Roberts, who was a reliable fifth vote for business and against regulation, to curb voting rights, to expand religious liberty, to diminish reproductive and LGBTQ rights, and otherwise put into effect the Reagan/Bush conservative judicial wish list. And yet Roberts’ defections—they would say betrayals—in recent years, have piled up, first on challenges to the Affordable Care Act but more recently in June Medical, a seminal abortion challenge from last term. Roberts is not on board in the growing series of cases setting aside state COVID measures in favor of religious challengers. With the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg this fall and the addition of Amy Coney Barrett soon after, Roberts went from being the essential fulcrum on a court split between 4 liberal and 4 very conservative jurists, to a choice between being the 6th conservative on a far-right court, or a dissenter. After years spent quietly steering the court, to the right, with incremental, sometimes invisible moves, with an eye toward protecting institutional prerogatives, the master of the long game ran out of track. ...........(more)

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/scotus-court-reform-already-happening.html

April 21, 2021

Gen Z and Millennials Are the Next Vaccine Challenge

(Bloomberg) As the days grow longer, there’s a palpable feeling of hope in the air — at least in the more fortunate western countries. Thanks in part to vaccines, Covid-19 deaths are dropping in the U.K. and the U.S., enabling parts of normal life to resume. But, as we’re well aware, it’s not over yet. If we want to have a shot at halting transmission, everybody needs their jabs.

Governments around the world desperately need to close the yawning vaccine gap between rich and poor nations. But as wealthy nations begin offering vaccinations to younger cohorts, they may hit a challenge closer to home.

While Brits have proven overwhelmingly open to getting inoculated against Covid, vaccine uptake could drop to as low as 75% among younger age groups from 95% for those over 70, according to scenarios by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. That corresponds with what polls have shown during the pandemic: Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to be hesitant about getting vaccinated than their elders.

....(snip)....

Lockdowns hit young adults hard. They were more likely to lose their job or get furloughed. Many have suffered from the mental health impacts of having to put their lives on hold. So any hesitancy toward vaccines, given their promise of a path to normality, might seem surprising.

But younger people just aren’t as scared of the virus. They’re less likely to end up in the hospital and, while Long Covid is a worry, they may have recovered from a mild infection or seen friends shake it off. It’s therefore harder for them to ignore concerns about side effects, unlike older adults whose risk analysis will skew the opposite way. ...........(more)

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-21/covid-vaccines-gen-z-and-millennials-are-the-next-challenge-for-u-s-and-u-k