July 10, 2021

Chicago: CTA ridership jumps more than 55 percent since start of year

Bus and rail ridership on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has more than doubled since the start of 2021 and continues to grow, according to officials, as public transit continues to play a vital role in the city and region’s reopening.

Since January, overall ridership has jumped 56 percent, to four million rides a week. Rail ridership—which saw a sharper drop during the pandemic than bus ridership—was up 94 percent in mid-June compared to January, with more than 1.6 million weekly trips.

“There is no question that the CTA service needs to support the return to all the things we used to do,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “Whether you’re getting back to the office or enjoying one of Chicago’s many summertime events, the CTA is ready when you’re ready.”

In recent months, with the city’s gradual re-opening, the CTA has seen some of its biggest gains in ridership. Since May 1, CTA ridership has jumped more than 20 percent, and in the month of June, weekday average ridership was more than 600,000, more than double the ridership at the height of the pandemic. ...........(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/press-release/21229921/chicago-transit-authority-cta-cta-ridership-jumps-more-than-55-percent-since-start-of-year

July 10, 2021

Sarasota woman forcibly removed from plane after refusing to wear mask

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Wearing a mask inside an airport is required in Florida.

A local woman found that out the hard way when police forcibly removed her from a plane at Southwest Florida International Airport on Wednesday morning.

Lee County Port Authority Police say 23-year-old Adelaide Schrowang of Sarasota, refused to wear a mask.

It gets worse. Flight attendants say Schrowang became irate and even spit on other passengers.

The captain asked the police to get her off the plane.

When she refused, they began to deboard the airplane until officers say she became even more aggressive, to the point that they had to forcibly remove her. ...........(more)

https://nbc-2.com/news/2021/07/08/sarasota-woman-forcibly-removed-from-plane-after-refusing-to-wear-mask/

July 10, 2021

Germany Shifts Focus of Vaccine Drive to the Undecided and Skeptics

(Der Spiegel) From her first look out the window of her official car, Rhineland-Palatinate Governor Malu Dreyer of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), can already see that the project is likely to be a success. The governor drives down a street in the university area of Mainz in the western German state, past a line of students stretching about 250 meters (800 feet). Dreyer learns that the first of them arrived at 6:30 a.m. to line up for a COVID-19 vaccination. "Usually, you never see students on campus this early," she says contentedly.

The visit to the make-shift vaccination center at the university has a symbolic value for the leader of Rhineland-Palatinate. She says the campaign to immunize people against COVID-19 is at a "turning point." The waiting lists at the vaccination centers are getting shorter. In some regions, doctor’s offices are already ordering less vaccine from the pharmacies than they could theoretically receive. Now, Dreyer has set about launching the next phase of the campaign. "Now we’re in the acquisition process," she explains during her visit to the university on Wednesday morning. "We want to aggressively promote getting vaccinated."

It appears that those efforts to campaign for people to get vaccinated will also be needed across Germany. Earlier this week, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s center for disease control, reported that at least 85 percent of all 12- to 59-year-olds will need to be fully vaccinated to keep the rapidly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus in check. Among people over the age of 60, the vaccination rate would need to be at least 90 percent. So far, however, only about 40 percent of people in Germany have been fully vaccinated.

The problem with the vaccination drive in Germany is no longer limited supplies. In July alone, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna plan to deliver over 4.5 million doses a week of their sought-after mRNA vaccine to Germany. Experts in Germany’s state government are largely confident that all adults will have the option of getting vaccinated this summer. The Federal Health Ministry even recently named the end of July as its ambitious goal. .............(more)

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-shifts-focus-of-vaccine-drive-to-the-undecided-and-skeptics-a-38c2b19f-a2ff-439c-8948-e026c6effdb8

July 9, 2021

People rush to stabilize malfunctioning ride at National Cherry Festival in Traverse City

(Detroit Free Press) People rushed to stabilize a malfunctioning ride Thursday night at the National Cherry festival in Traverse City, according to a report from Up North Live.

Videos shared to social media show a Magic Carpet ride in the Arnold's Amusements Midway swaying back and forth as people rush forward to hang onto the front railing of the ride. Be warned, the video features some strong language. ..............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/07/09/ride-malfunctions-national-cherry-festival/7918731002/

July 9, 2021

How Crowded Are America's National Parks? See for Yourself.

(NYT) Largely freed from domestic travel restrictions, Americans have been flocking to national parks in record numbers this spring and summer. Several parks — including Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park — have already set monthly visitation records. Many sites are gearing up for their busiest years in history.

And so, in place of serenity, many visitors have instead found packed parking lots, congested trailheads, overrun campsites and interminable lines.

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Hikers at Zion National Park, in Utah, have faced wait times of four hours to access certain trails. Visitors to Arches National Park, in the same state, are being turned away at the gate — “The park is currently full,” the Parks Service’s Twitter feed routinely announces — and asked to return at a later time.

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To capture the crowds over the Fourth of July weekend, we sent photographers to four parks: Acadia National Park in Maine; Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona; Joshua Tree National Park in California; and Yellowstone National Park, largely in Wyoming. .........(more)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/travel/crowded-national-parks.html?

July 9, 2021

Florida Man attacks Tesla Model 3

A Florida man has been recorded engaging in what appears to be a random act of aggression against a parked Tesla Model 3. Thanks to footage provided by Tesla’s Sentry Mode, the owner of the all-electric sedan has been able to report the incident to the police, which has since opened a file on the incident. Detectives are being assigned to the case as well.

Teslas are no stranger to random acts of aggression from the strangest drivers on the road. Over the years, and as features like Sentry Mode and TeslaCam became standard, Teslas and their suite of cameras have witnessed a ton of shocking incidents, from keying attacks to attempted hit and runs. One video even involved a driver shooting at a Model 3 while the all-electric sedan was on the road.

https://twitter.com/WhamBaamYT/status/1412302138894696449?s=20

The incident in Florida is one of the stranger incidents that resulted in damages to the all-electric vehicle. As could be seen in the footage, the driver of a red Volkswagen initially slammed his door hard into the all-electric sedan. The driver then aggressively struck the Model 3 with what seems to be a heavy object multiple times. According to the Tesla owner, the Model 3 substantial notable dents and scratches as a result of the attack.

What makes the attack of the Florida man strange is the apparent randomness of the entire incident. The Tesla owner did not reference any road rage prior to the attack, yet the Florida man seemed determined to damage the Model 3. Fortunately, the perpetrator also did not seem familiar with a Tesla’s features, as he committed his vandalism directly in front of the Model 3’s cameras. .................(more)

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-florida-man-attack-video/

July 9, 2021

Unvaccinated Americans are catching COVID-19 and telling doctors they're 'shocked' the virus is real

Doctors are voicing frustration as Americans continue to be hospitalized for coronavirus despite the widespread availability of a free, safe, and effective vaccines.

"It is heart-wrenching to see unvaccinated individuals come into the hospital with regret," Dr. Ryan Dare of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock told NBC News.

He told the network the hospitalizations are "nearly 100 percent preventable."

He noted treating clients who, "if they could do it all over again, would have had the vaccine in a second."

....(snip)....

Juarez reported he has patients who are "shocked" that coronavirus exists and can be fatal.

"A comment they make all the time is that they wish that they knew they were going to end up in the hospital this sick and they would have made a different choice and got the vaccine," he said. ................(more)

https://www.rawstory.com/anti-vaxxer-hospitalization/

July 8, 2021

Ann Arbor mayor proposes 20-year climate change tax

(Detroit News) Ann Arbor's mayor is seeking to battle climate change by proposing an ambitious 20-year tax increase plan to help the city transition to carbon neutrality and renewable energy.

Mayor Christopher Taylor presented the Community Climate Action Millage plan to city council members on Tuesday evening, indicating the 1-mill property tax increase plan would raise between $130 to $150 million over the life of the millage. An estimated $6.5 million would be raised in the first year.

If approved by the city council, the millage would be placed on the Ann Arbor ballot in November. The proposal seeks to follow President Joe Biden's lead on tackling climate change issues that have caused flooding, increased tornadoes, hurricanes and erratic weather patterns, Taylor said Wednesday. .............(more)

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/07/07/ann-arbors-mayor-seeks-1-mill-tax-increase-fight-climate-change/7894927002/

July 8, 2021

Bear pulls woman out of her tent, kills her in Montana

Helena, Mont. — A grizzly bear pulled a woman from her tent in a small Montana town in the middle of the night and killed her before fellow campers could use bear spray to force the bruin out of the area, wildlife officials said Wednesday.

Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico, California, was on a long-distance bicycling trip and had stopped in the western Montana town of Ovando when she was killed early Tuesday, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials as they provided more details about the attack.

Lokan was killed on the bear’s second visit to the site where she and two fellow bicyclists were camping near the post office, officials said.

The approximately 400-pound (181 kilogram) grizzly first awakened the campers about 3 a.m., officials said. They took food out of their tents, secured it and went back to sleep, they said. ................(more)

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/07/bear-pulls-woman-out-her-tent-kills-her-montana/7896555002/

July 8, 2021

Florida Man Pretends to Be Firework, Screams Noises in Middle of Night

Ahead of the weekend of the fourth of July, America’s independence day, residents of a Cape Coral canal in Florida were woken up by “fireworks", but not what you’re thinking of. On the night of June 25, Sara Warnecke could hear a man screaming very loudly at 3 am in night. When she went out, there was not much to see so she shouted telling him to shut up. To that, the man pretended to be a firework and yelled conveying that fireworks were really annoying and people should stop doing it in the middle of the night. He was caught on a security tape screaming fireworks noise across the canal in the southeastern 10th avenue of the town. In the video, a man can be heard screaming, “firecracker, firecracker, boom.” To that, Warnceck shouts, “Shut up!” Replying to her, he screamed again, using expletives, “Bottle Rocket! Yeah it’s ****** annoying, isn’t it? Quit ******* doing it in the middle of the night.”

“He seemed to be upset that people were celebrating early,” Warnecke told NBC2. When a reporter from the news channel went door-to-door in the neighbourhood asking people if they were that angry man, no one admitted and the identity of the man remains a mystery.

In the US state of Florida, fireworks are legal only on three days, New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve and US Independence Day. Americans celebrate their Independence Day by lighting up the sky with massive fireworks. According to an estimate, Americans spend about Rs 11,000 crore on fireworks each year. In India, people spend about Rs 2,000 crore on on fireworks. However, fireworks in India feature an entirely different occasion than the US — the religious festival of Diwali. However, New Year’s eve also sees fireworks in India. ..........(more)

https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/florida-man-pretends-to-be-firework-screams-noises-in-middle-of-night-3927467.html