Post by mhbruin on Jun 10, 2021 9:18:56 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 304 Million Shots
Half of eligible people fully vaccinated
CALIFORNIA
-----------------
No, You're Not Hallucinating. This is a Real Story
Amid growing scientific research into therapeutic uses for psychedelic drugs and a progressive push to soften punishment for drug crimes, California lawmakers are considering a bill to legalize magic mushrooms, Ecstasy and several other hallucinogenic substances.
The proposal has set off an intense debate over how far California should go to embrace novel medical treatments and destigmatize drug use without compromising public safety. While research into the potential benefits of psychedelics to treat PTSD, depression and anxiety is becoming increasingly mainstream in academic settings, the bill goes beyond medical applications to allow recreational use of psychedelics.
Senate Bill 519 would decriminalize the possession and non-commercial sharing of psychedelics by people age 21 or older. It would not permit the sale of psychedelics in government-sanctioned shops the way cannabis is allowed under state law, but sets up the framework for California to move toward regulating psychedelic drugs in the future.
-----------------
Some Good News on a Virus Causing a Pandemic
Dengue fever cases have been cut by 77% in a "groundbreaking" trial that manipulates the mosquitoes that spread it, say scientists.
They used mosquitoes infected with "miraculous" bacteria that reduce the insect's ability to spread dengue.
The trial took place in Yogyakarta city, Indonesia, and is being expanded in the hope of eradicating the virus.
The World Mosquito Programme team says it could be a solution to a virus that has gone around the world.
Few people had heard of dengue 50 years ago, but it has been a relentless slow-burning pandemic and cases have increased dramatically.
In 1970, only nine countries had faced severe dengue outbreaks, now there are up to 400 million infections a year.
-----------------
News About Another Outbreak in Indonesia
What happens when you combine the world's biggest boyband with one of the world's most popular burger chains?
Complete and utter chaos, it seems.
Or at least that was the experience of a number of Indonesian branches of McDonald's, which found themselves so swamped with demand for the newly launched BTS Meal they had to close.
Indeed, so many people ordered the meal inspired by the Korean boyband that there were fears it could cause a new Covid hotspot.
"We temporarily closed four of six McDonald's stores here in Semarang for a couple of days," Fajar Purwoto, the Indonesian city's public order agency head, said, according to news agency AFP.
"I don't want Semarang to be in the Covid-19 red zone again."
-----------------
Of Course, they are All Blue States
Eight states — all but one of them in the Northeast — have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents against Covid-19, according to data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They are: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Vermont leads the country with nearly 60% of residents fully vaccinated.
Of the 15 states with the lowest vaccination rates, Trump won all of them in 2020 with just one exception: Georgia.
But He Won Georgia. Just Ask Him.
-----------------
Goldman Wants to Know
Goldman Sachs is requiring its US employees to divulge to the company whether they've been vaccinated.
The Wall Street bank told workers in a message earlier this week that "it is mandatory that you submit your vaccination status" by Thursday at noon ET. That message was sent only to employees who had not already done so.
Goldman Sachs (GS) is not requiring proof of vaccination, although its roughly 20,000 US employees must submit the date and maker of the vaccine, a person familiar with the matter told CNN Business.
"Registering your vaccination status allows us to plan for a safer return to the office for all of our people as we continue to abide by local public health measures," read the employee message, which was previously reported on by The New York Times.
-----------------
Colorado Says "Hola"
In the past few months, Colorado has passed a series of laws aimed at supporting and protecting undocumented people after the pandemic revealed wide disparities and exacerbated inequalities in Colorado and elsewhere.
Gov. Jared Polis has signed into law measures aimed at expanding access to housing, jobs and state benefits to undocumented immigrants. Supporters say the laws will make the state a more equitable place. Opponents argue the measures will siphon money and services from other residents.
“We can’t just sit around waiting for the federal government to fix our broken immigration system," Polis said at a signing ceremony for a law eliminating the requirement that regulatory agencies verify a person’s immigration status before issuing or renewing a license, certificate or registration. “Colorado needs the contributions from everybody in our state with all different talents and skills to have good jobs and work and employ their abilities to make us all better off.”
-----------------
Why Have An Advisory Panel if You Ignore Their Advice?
Two members of a panel of outside advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have resigned in protest at the agency's decision to approve Biogen Inc's Aduhelm for treatment of Alzheimer's disease despite the committee’s recommendation against doing so.
Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. David Knopman, a panel member who had been recused from the advisors’ November meeting to review the drug because he was an investigator in clinical trials of Biogen’s drug, said he resigned on Wednesday.
"I was very disappointed at how the advisory committee input was treated by the FDA," Dr. Knopman told Reuters. "I don't wish to be put in a position like this again.”
The 11-member committee voted nearly unanimously in November that Biogen's drug should not be approved, citing inconclusive evidence that the drug was effective. Due to his recusal, Knopman did not participate in the vote.
-----------------
Who the Fork is Joe Manchin Representing? He Sure Isn't Representing the People of West Virginia
WOULD YOU VOTE FOR SEN. MANCHIN IF HE SUPPORTED VOTING AND ELECTION LEGISLATION?
MORE LIKELY 33%
LESS LIKELY 12%
FILIBUSTER
WEST VIRGINIA LIKELY VOTERS
Even Coal Workers Can See the Writing on the Wall
In exchange for job retraining, wage replacement, and preferential hiring for out-of-work coal miners, the United Mine Workers of America would support the transition away from carbon-polluting fossil fuels. It’s also calling for tax incentives to build portions of the renewable energy supply chain in coal country.
-----------------
Fighting Back in Arizona
Attorneys are preparing petitions that will be circulated to block the Arizona Legislature’s spate of voter-suppression legislation and place the bills on the 2022 ballot where they can be rejected by the voters. Further, Arizona Deserves Better, has begun hiring staff along with a fund-raising consultant.
-----------------
The Problem: You Often Don't Know if It is an Emergency Before You Get There
Insurance giant UnitedHealthcare is cracking down on emergency room visits with a new policy starting July 1 that the American Hospital Association says will jeopardize patients’ health and threaten them with financial penalties.
The American College of Emergency Physicians said it fears the change will cause patients to avoid using emergency rooms because they will be responsible for their hospital bills when UnitedHealthcare rejects them.
UnitedHealthcare this month told its network hospitals in 34 states that it will assess emergency room claims to determine if visits were indeed medical emergencies.
Claims that are determined not to be tied to emergencies will be subject to no coverage or limited coverage based on the patient’s insurance plan, according to the insurer’s notice sent to hospitals. As many as 1 in 10 claims could be rejected, said Tracey Lempner, spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based insurer.
Personal Story
My wife was in a lot of pain, and we didn't know why. After around 3 hours of uncertainty, we decided to go to the ER, just to be safe. It turns out she was suffering from sepsis. We were told that if we had waited 8 hours, she might have died.
However, it might not have been dangerous at all. There is no way to know ahead of time.
-----------------
Will It Soon Be Mead Pond?
The reservoir created by Hoover Dam, an engineering marvel that symbolized the American ascendance of the 20th Century, has sunk to its lowest level ever, underscoring the gravity of the extreme drought across the U.S. West.
Lake Mead, formed in the 1930s from the damming of the Colorado River at the Nevada-Arizona border about 30 miles (50 km) east of Las Vegas, is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is crucial to the water supply of 25 million people including in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas.
As of 11 p.m. PDT Wednesday (0600 GMT Thursday), the lake surface fell to 1,071.56 feet above sea level, dipping below the previous record low set on July 1, 2016. It has fallen 140 feet (42.7 meters) since 2000 - nearly the height of the Statue of Liberty from torch to base - exposing a bathtub ring of bleached-white embankments.
The drought that has brought Lake Mead low has gripped California, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Basin spanning Nevada, Oregon and Utah, plus the southwestern states of Arizona and New Mexico and even part of the Northern Plains.
Farmers are abandoning crops, Nevada is banning the watering of about one-third of the lawn in the Las Vegas area, and the governor of Utah is literally asking people to pray for rain.
Firefighters are facing worsening conditions this summer - after nearly 10,000 fires in California alone during the last wildfire season burned 4.2 million acres (1.7 million hectares), an area nearly as large as Kuwait.
Can Hoover Dam Still Generate Electricity?
-----------------
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told fellow Republicans he is open to a new bipartisan infrastructure plan, Republican Senator Susan Collins said on Thursday.
McConnell met late on Wednesday with Republican lawmakers who are trying to hammer out a bipartisan deal with U.S. President Joe Biden.
"We had a good meeting with Senator McConnell. He listened to the plan that we outlined and he said that he was - quote - open to it. He certainly did not commit one way or the other. But he’s in a listening mode and said that he was open to it,” Collins told Reuters.
-----------------
It's Enough to Make You Flip
A terrifying scene was captured on video in Arkansas where a state trooper deliberately bumped a pregnant woman's car, causing it to hit the median and flip over.
The officer said he performed the approved maneuver because the driver was speeding and didn't pull over. The driver, Janice Harper, said it was not safe to stop, CBS News' Jericka Duncan reports.
The video is now evidence in a lawsuit.
Harper was on her way home from the movies last July when Arkansas State Trooper Rodney Dunn tried to pull her over for going too fast.
Video from Dunn's dash camera shows within seconds of turning on his overhead lights, Harper moves into the right lane, slows down and turns on her hazards while continuing to drive.
Dunn hits Harper's car about two minutes later.
-----------------
Prices Up, Unemployment Down
U.S. consumer prices continue to climb sharply while weekly jobless claims are falling, according to two pieces of economic data released by the Department of Labor on Thursday.
The Consumer Price Index, which measures what consumers pay for everyday goods and services and is often looked at as an inflation barometer, jumped 5% over the last 12 months -- the largest increase since August 2008.
The index increased by 0.6% in May alone after rising 0.8% in April.
The latest data comes amid mounting inflation fears from economists. The index for all items has been trending upward every month this year.
The core index -- which reflects all items except the volatile food and energy indices -- jumped 0.7% in May, slightly less than the 0.9% increase seen in April. In the last 12 months, the core index rose 3.8% -- the largest 12-month increase since June 1992, according to the DOL.
While some levels of inflation are expected in the post-pandemic economy as demand rebounds, more data is needed to determine whether it is temporary or a more concerning, long-term trend.
Meanwhile, the DOL said in a separate statement that weekly unemployment insurance claims fell to their lowest levels since March 2020, with just 376,000 people filing jobless claims last week.
The weekly tally has been trending downwards in recent months, amid a widespread vaccine rollout and businesses reopening as pandemic restrictions ease.
The unemployment rate last month, however, was 5.8% -- still well above the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5% seen in Feb. 2020.
-----------------
But Cryptos are So Useful. If You Live in El Salvador. Or If You Engage in Ransomware Attacks
Elizabeth Warren called for a crackdown on "environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies" like bitcoin in order to help fight the climate crisis in a Senate Banking Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
"Bitcoin requires so much computing activity that it eats up more energy than entire countries. One of the easiest and least disruptive things we can do to fight the #ClimateCrisis is to crackdown on environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies."
-----------------
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People Fully Vaccinated | |
| Jun 9 | 1,120,083 | 172,054,276 | 140,980,110 |
| Jun 8 | 1,074,204 | 171,731,584 | 140,441,957 |
| Jun 7 | 1,131,867 | 171,310,738 | 139,748,661 |
| Jun 6 | 1,133,361 | 170,833,221 | 138,969,323 |
| Jun 5 | 1,166,993 | 170,272,150 | 138,112,702 |
| Jun 4 | 1,199,416 | 169,735,441 | 137,455,367 |
| Jun 3 | 1,215,518 | 169,090,262 | 136,644,618 |
| Jun 2 | 1,303,431 | 168,734,435 | 136,155,250 |
| Jun 1 | 1,359,049 | 168,489,729 | 135,867,425 |
| May 30 | 1,315,466 | 167,733,972 | 135,087,319 |
| May 29 | 1,394,832 | 167,157,043 | 134,418,748 |
| May 28 | 1,500,632 | 166,388,129 | 133,532,544 |
| May 27 | 1,618,194 | 165,718,717 | 132,769,894 |
| May 26 | 1,703,162 | 165,074,907 | 131,850,089 |
| May 25 | 1,750,524 | 164,378,258 | 131,078,608 |
| May 24 | 1,782,714 | 163,907,827 | 130,615,797 |
| May 23 | 1,827,882 | 163,309,414 | 130,014,175 |
| May 22 | 1,872,697 | 162,470,794 | 129,006,463 |
| May 21 | 1,879,526 | 161,278,336 | 127,778,250 |
| May 20 | 1,828,681 | 160,177,820 | 126,605,166 |
| May 19 | 1,801,333 | 159,174,963 | 125,453,423 |
| May 18 | 1,771,807 | 158,365,411 | 124,455,693 |
| May 17 | 1,830,360 | 157,827,208 | 123,828,224 |
| May 16 | 1,886,917 | 157,132,234 | 122,999,721 |
| May 15 | 1,926,448 | 156,217,367 | 121,768,268 |
| May 14 | 1,951,333 | 155,251,852 | 120,258,637 |
| May 13 | 2,088,962 | 154,624,231 | 118,987,308 |
| May 12 | 2,159,146 | 153,986,312 | 117,647,439 |
| May 11 | 2,194,787 | 153,448,316 | 116,576,359 |
| May 10 | 2,117,025 | 152,819,904 | 115,530,780 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 |
Half of eligible people fully vaccinated
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | |
| % of Total Population | 51.8% | 42.5% |
| % of Population 12+ | 61.3% | 50.3% |
| % of Population 18+ | 63.9% | 53.3% |
| % of Population 65+ | 86.5% | 75.7% |
CALIFORNIA
7-Day Average Administered | |
| Jun 9 | 178,150 |
| Jun 8 | 165,790 |
| Jun 7 | 182,811 |
| Jun 6 | 183,406 |
| Jun 5 | 179,462 |
| Jun 4 | 165,253 |
| Jun 3 | 165,225 |
| Jun 2 | 170,223 |
| Jun 1 | 179,213 |
| May 30 | 173,351 |
| May 29 | 193,204 |
| May 28 | 213,796 |
| May 27 | 230,733 |
| May 26 | 244,708 |
| May 25 | 258,249 |
| May 24 | 268,071 |
| May 23 | 276,166 |
| May 22 | 285,578 |
| May 21 | 293,987 |
| May 20 | 281,184 |
| May 19 | 278,632 |
| May 18 | 269,324 |
| May 17 | 271,943 |
| May 16 | 286,457 |
| May 15 | 279,347 |
| May 14 | 278,877 |
| May 13 | 298,328 |
| May 12 | 306,629 |
| May 11 | 309,119 |
| May 10 | 292,285 |
| Mar 1 | 214,579 |
-----------------
No, You're Not Hallucinating. This is a Real Story
Amid growing scientific research into therapeutic uses for psychedelic drugs and a progressive push to soften punishment for drug crimes, California lawmakers are considering a bill to legalize magic mushrooms, Ecstasy and several other hallucinogenic substances.
The proposal has set off an intense debate over how far California should go to embrace novel medical treatments and destigmatize drug use without compromising public safety. While research into the potential benefits of psychedelics to treat PTSD, depression and anxiety is becoming increasingly mainstream in academic settings, the bill goes beyond medical applications to allow recreational use of psychedelics.
Senate Bill 519 would decriminalize the possession and non-commercial sharing of psychedelics by people age 21 or older. It would not permit the sale of psychedelics in government-sanctioned shops the way cannabis is allowed under state law, but sets up the framework for California to move toward regulating psychedelic drugs in the future.
-----------------
Some Good News on a Virus Causing a Pandemic
Dengue fever cases have been cut by 77% in a "groundbreaking" trial that manipulates the mosquitoes that spread it, say scientists.
They used mosquitoes infected with "miraculous" bacteria that reduce the insect's ability to spread dengue.
The trial took place in Yogyakarta city, Indonesia, and is being expanded in the hope of eradicating the virus.
The World Mosquito Programme team says it could be a solution to a virus that has gone around the world.
Few people had heard of dengue 50 years ago, but it has been a relentless slow-burning pandemic and cases have increased dramatically.
In 1970, only nine countries had faced severe dengue outbreaks, now there are up to 400 million infections a year.
-----------------
News About Another Outbreak in Indonesia
What happens when you combine the world's biggest boyband with one of the world's most popular burger chains?
Complete and utter chaos, it seems.
Or at least that was the experience of a number of Indonesian branches of McDonald's, which found themselves so swamped with demand for the newly launched BTS Meal they had to close.
Indeed, so many people ordered the meal inspired by the Korean boyband that there were fears it could cause a new Covid hotspot.
"We temporarily closed four of six McDonald's stores here in Semarang for a couple of days," Fajar Purwoto, the Indonesian city's public order agency head, said, according to news agency AFP.
"I don't want Semarang to be in the Covid-19 red zone again."
-----------------
Of Course, they are All Blue States
Eight states — all but one of them in the Northeast — have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents against Covid-19, according to data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They are: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Vermont leads the country with nearly 60% of residents fully vaccinated.
Of the 15 states with the lowest vaccination rates, Trump won all of them in 2020 with just one exception: Georgia.
But He Won Georgia. Just Ask Him.
-----------------
Goldman Wants to Know
Goldman Sachs is requiring its US employees to divulge to the company whether they've been vaccinated.
The Wall Street bank told workers in a message earlier this week that "it is mandatory that you submit your vaccination status" by Thursday at noon ET. That message was sent only to employees who had not already done so.
Goldman Sachs (GS) is not requiring proof of vaccination, although its roughly 20,000 US employees must submit the date and maker of the vaccine, a person familiar with the matter told CNN Business.
"Registering your vaccination status allows us to plan for a safer return to the office for all of our people as we continue to abide by local public health measures," read the employee message, which was previously reported on by The New York Times.
-----------------
Colorado Says "Hola"
In the past few months, Colorado has passed a series of laws aimed at supporting and protecting undocumented people after the pandemic revealed wide disparities and exacerbated inequalities in Colorado and elsewhere.
Gov. Jared Polis has signed into law measures aimed at expanding access to housing, jobs and state benefits to undocumented immigrants. Supporters say the laws will make the state a more equitable place. Opponents argue the measures will siphon money and services from other residents.
“We can’t just sit around waiting for the federal government to fix our broken immigration system," Polis said at a signing ceremony for a law eliminating the requirement that regulatory agencies verify a person’s immigration status before issuing or renewing a license, certificate or registration. “Colorado needs the contributions from everybody in our state with all different talents and skills to have good jobs and work and employ their abilities to make us all better off.”
-----------------
Why Have An Advisory Panel if You Ignore Their Advice?
Two members of a panel of outside advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have resigned in protest at the agency's decision to approve Biogen Inc's Aduhelm for treatment of Alzheimer's disease despite the committee’s recommendation against doing so.
Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. David Knopman, a panel member who had been recused from the advisors’ November meeting to review the drug because he was an investigator in clinical trials of Biogen’s drug, said he resigned on Wednesday.
"I was very disappointed at how the advisory committee input was treated by the FDA," Dr. Knopman told Reuters. "I don't wish to be put in a position like this again.”
The 11-member committee voted nearly unanimously in November that Biogen's drug should not be approved, citing inconclusive evidence that the drug was effective. Due to his recusal, Knopman did not participate in the vote.
-----------------
Who the Fork is Joe Manchin Representing? He Sure Isn't Representing the People of West Virginia
WOULD YOU VOTE FOR SEN. MANCHIN IF HE SUPPORTED VOTING AND ELECTION LEGISLATION?
MORE LIKELY 33%
LESS LIKELY 12%
FILIBUSTER
WEST VIRGINIA LIKELY VOTERS
ELIMINATED 11%-----------------
REFORMED 32%
DOESN’T MATTER 8%
NO CHANGES 43%
Even Coal Workers Can See the Writing on the Wall
In exchange for job retraining, wage replacement, and preferential hiring for out-of-work coal miners, the United Mine Workers of America would support the transition away from carbon-polluting fossil fuels. It’s also calling for tax incentives to build portions of the renewable energy supply chain in coal country.
-----------------
Fighting Back in Arizona
Attorneys are preparing petitions that will be circulated to block the Arizona Legislature’s spate of voter-suppression legislation and place the bills on the 2022 ballot where they can be rejected by the voters. Further, Arizona Deserves Better, has begun hiring staff along with a fund-raising consultant.
-----------------
The Problem: You Often Don't Know if It is an Emergency Before You Get There
Insurance giant UnitedHealthcare is cracking down on emergency room visits with a new policy starting July 1 that the American Hospital Association says will jeopardize patients’ health and threaten them with financial penalties.
The American College of Emergency Physicians said it fears the change will cause patients to avoid using emergency rooms because they will be responsible for their hospital bills when UnitedHealthcare rejects them.
UnitedHealthcare this month told its network hospitals in 34 states that it will assess emergency room claims to determine if visits were indeed medical emergencies.
Claims that are determined not to be tied to emergencies will be subject to no coverage or limited coverage based on the patient’s insurance plan, according to the insurer’s notice sent to hospitals. As many as 1 in 10 claims could be rejected, said Tracey Lempner, spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based insurer.
Personal Story
My wife was in a lot of pain, and we didn't know why. After around 3 hours of uncertainty, we decided to go to the ER, just to be safe. It turns out she was suffering from sepsis. We were told that if we had waited 8 hours, she might have died.
However, it might not have been dangerous at all. There is no way to know ahead of time.
-----------------
Will It Soon Be Mead Pond?
The reservoir created by Hoover Dam, an engineering marvel that symbolized the American ascendance of the 20th Century, has sunk to its lowest level ever, underscoring the gravity of the extreme drought across the U.S. West.
Lake Mead, formed in the 1930s from the damming of the Colorado River at the Nevada-Arizona border about 30 miles (50 km) east of Las Vegas, is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is crucial to the water supply of 25 million people including in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas.
As of 11 p.m. PDT Wednesday (0600 GMT Thursday), the lake surface fell to 1,071.56 feet above sea level, dipping below the previous record low set on July 1, 2016. It has fallen 140 feet (42.7 meters) since 2000 - nearly the height of the Statue of Liberty from torch to base - exposing a bathtub ring of bleached-white embankments.
The drought that has brought Lake Mead low has gripped California, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Basin spanning Nevada, Oregon and Utah, plus the southwestern states of Arizona and New Mexico and even part of the Northern Plains.
Farmers are abandoning crops, Nevada is banning the watering of about one-third of the lawn in the Las Vegas area, and the governor of Utah is literally asking people to pray for rain.
Firefighters are facing worsening conditions this summer - after nearly 10,000 fires in California alone during the last wildfire season burned 4.2 million acres (1.7 million hectares), an area nearly as large as Kuwait.
Can Hoover Dam Still Generate Electricity?
-----------------
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told fellow Republicans he is open to a new bipartisan infrastructure plan, Republican Senator Susan Collins said on Thursday.
McConnell met late on Wednesday with Republican lawmakers who are trying to hammer out a bipartisan deal with U.S. President Joe Biden.
"We had a good meeting with Senator McConnell. He listened to the plan that we outlined and he said that he was - quote - open to it. He certainly did not commit one way or the other. But he’s in a listening mode and said that he was open to it,” Collins told Reuters.
-----------------
It's Enough to Make You Flip
A terrifying scene was captured on video in Arkansas where a state trooper deliberately bumped a pregnant woman's car, causing it to hit the median and flip over.
The officer said he performed the approved maneuver because the driver was speeding and didn't pull over. The driver, Janice Harper, said it was not safe to stop, CBS News' Jericka Duncan reports.
The video is now evidence in a lawsuit.
Harper was on her way home from the movies last July when Arkansas State Trooper Rodney Dunn tried to pull her over for going too fast.
Video from Dunn's dash camera shows within seconds of turning on his overhead lights, Harper moves into the right lane, slows down and turns on her hazards while continuing to drive.
Dunn hits Harper's car about two minutes later.
-----------------
Prices Up, Unemployment Down
U.S. consumer prices continue to climb sharply while weekly jobless claims are falling, according to two pieces of economic data released by the Department of Labor on Thursday.
The Consumer Price Index, which measures what consumers pay for everyday goods and services and is often looked at as an inflation barometer, jumped 5% over the last 12 months -- the largest increase since August 2008.
The index increased by 0.6% in May alone after rising 0.8% in April.
The latest data comes amid mounting inflation fears from economists. The index for all items has been trending upward every month this year.
The core index -- which reflects all items except the volatile food and energy indices -- jumped 0.7% in May, slightly less than the 0.9% increase seen in April. In the last 12 months, the core index rose 3.8% -- the largest 12-month increase since June 1992, according to the DOL.
While some levels of inflation are expected in the post-pandemic economy as demand rebounds, more data is needed to determine whether it is temporary or a more concerning, long-term trend.
Meanwhile, the DOL said in a separate statement that weekly unemployment insurance claims fell to their lowest levels since March 2020, with just 376,000 people filing jobless claims last week.
The weekly tally has been trending downwards in recent months, amid a widespread vaccine rollout and businesses reopening as pandemic restrictions ease.
The unemployment rate last month, however, was 5.8% -- still well above the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5% seen in Feb. 2020.
-----------------
But Cryptos are So Useful. If You Live in El Salvador. Or If You Engage in Ransomware Attacks
Elizabeth Warren called for a crackdown on "environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies" like bitcoin in order to help fight the climate crisis in a Senate Banking Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
"Bitcoin requires so much computing activity that it eats up more energy than entire countries. One of the easiest and least disruptive things we can do to fight the #ClimateCrisis is to crackdown on environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies."
-----------------
