OSHA investigating Florence cafe serving customers indoors - KEZI TV

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FLORENCE, Ore. -- Another Lane County restaurant is the subject of an Oregon Occupational Safety and Health investigation after the restaurant reopened for indoor dining, despite a ban instituted by Governor Kate Brown.

On Thursday morning, less than a dozen people were seated for breakfast inside Little Brown Hen Cafe on Highway 101 in Florence.

Under Brown's framework for extreme risk counties like Lane County, indoor dining is banned, and outdoor dining is limited to 50 people.

In an emailed statement, owner Stacey Brown Wilson said she was faced with a difficult decision.

“It was either open and try to salvage my business and my employees lively hood or close the doors permanently,” Wilson wrote. “We are simply trying to survive. For those who presume I don’t care about my community they couldn’t be more mistaken.”

Wilson called the decision “difficult” and said her actions are not intended to make a statement about the state or governor’s authority, but said she is exercising a constitutional right to run a business.

Reaction to the news among Florence residents was mixed, with some applauding the move and others calling it irresponsible.

“At some point the restaurants are going to have to open up. I don’t know how they can stay in business. It’s been almost a year since we’ve limited their ability to run businesses,” said Betty Ann Blachowicz, a Florence resident.

On Thursday, Brown released a statement in response to defiance of her orders.

“If businesses reopen too early and instead create new spikes in COVID-19 cases, the actions of a few business owners could set entire communities back and keep them in the Extreme Risk category for even longer” Brown said.

Brown reminded businesses that she has instructed OSHA and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to enforce her orders through citations, fines and red warning notices.

A spokesman for OSHA confirmed the agency has received multiple, recent complaints regarding the cafe and an investigation is underway.

“I think it’s irresponsible to put other people at risk and give them a potentially fatal disease,” said Mark Immel, Florence resident. “I think it’s a really bad idea. I can certainly understand peoples economic woes in this time but you know so many of us have to just had to pivot and do business a different way.”

Florence Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bettina Hannigan said businesses have been backed into a corner and are feeling desperate.

“I think there’s a lot of desperation. There’s a lot of unfairness going on. Some people can reopen. Some people can’t. Right now, I understand some of our counties south of us have opened, so our people here in Florence who want to eat, instead of eating here locally they’re going to drive down to Coos Bay and eat in Coos Bay. How fair is that?” Hannigan said.

A request for comment from the Florence Police Department and Lane County Sheriff's Office was not immediately returned.

Read the cafe’s full statement below:

"This is not a decision I made lightly. I didn't open my restaurant as a statement, or to be in defiance of Governor Brown's "mandate". I am simply exercising my Constitutional right to run my business. I have spent the last nine months complying. It was a difficult decision to re-open. It was either open and try to salvage my business and my employees lively hood or close the doors permanently. We follow strict safety protocols, and have the utmost respect for our customers health and well being. We are simply trying to survive. For those who presume I don’t care about my community they couldn’t be more mistaken we have always supported our community in numerous ways and will continue to do so. Covid is real we are not denying that and of course we do not want it to spread in our community. We are even being more diligent than we previously were to help prove that Covid doesn’t spread only in restaurants in the hopes that many more will be able to open safely."

Stacey Brown Wilson, Owner of Little Brown Hen Cafe

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Here are the top performing stocks in the S&P 500 for 2020 - CNBC

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

NYSE

The S&P 500 finished 2020 with a gain of 16.26% for the year and closed at a record high on Thursday, a remarkable performance after a drastic selloff in February and March.

Some of the names in the broad market index had particularly strong years, with six stocks gaining more than 100%.

Top S&P 500 stocks of 2020

Ticker	Company	2020 Price Return
TSLA	Tesla	743.1%
ETSY	Etsy	301.6%
NVDA	Nvidia	121.9%
PYPL	PayPal	116.5%
LB	L Brands	105.5%
ALB	Albermarle Corp.	102.1%
AMD	Advanced Micro Devices	99.8%
FCX	Freeport-McMoRan	98.6%

The S&P 500's climb would have been even more dramatic if the top two names on the list had started the year in the index. Both electric vehicle maker Tesla and e-commerce company Etsy were added to the S&P 500 during the final four months of the year.

Those stocks also represent two of the major themes in the market this year, as stocks tied to green energy had strong years, as did those like Etsy that were well-equipped for a stay-at-home world.

The top-eight performers also includes two semiconductor stocks in Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. It was a strong year for the sector broadly, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index rising 51%, outpacing even the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite.

The S&P 500 is a market-weighted group of large cap stocks in the U.S. and is the benchmark that many professional investors measure themselves against. Many popular exchange traded funds and mutual are compared to the S&P 500, with more than $11 trillion tied to or benchmarked against the index as of December 2019, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The constituents in the index are often shuffled throughout the year by a committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. The organization announced on Wednesday that Enphase Energy would join the index on Jan. 7, replacing Tiffany & Co., which is being acquired by LVMH.

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Here’s how Houston-area hospital systems plan to distribute the coronavirus vaccine - KPRC Click2Houston

HOUSTON – With the first shipments of coronavirus vaccines arriving this month in Houston, hospitals have been able to begin vaccinating thousands of eligible recipients in Phase 1A and Phase 1B of Texas’ guidance for COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Here’s a look at how Houston-area hospital systems plan to distribute the approved vaccines.

Baylor College of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine is currently focused on vaccinating Phase 1A frontline health care workers, in compliance with Texas’ guidelines for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to its website, Baylor College of Medicine said it will only be a matter of days until it expands its distribution of the vaccine to high-risk patients.

Once more doses of the vaccine become available, Baylor College of Medicine will work quickly to vaccinate those eligible.

HCA Healthcare

As of Dec. 30, HCA Healthcare is only administering the vaccine to frontline caregivers and staff, in accordance with state and federal prioritization guidelines, its website states.

Houston Methodist

Houston Methodist began administering the vaccine on Dec. 15.

As of Dec. 30, the hospital system has vaccinated more than 20,000 people.

According to its website, Houston Methodist will begin notifying eligible patients to schedule their vaccine in the following order:

1. Patients age 75 or older.
2. Patients age 65 to 74.
3. Patients younger than age 65 who have at least one Class 1 condition, or at least two Class 2 conditions.

Class 1 conditions include: cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiac conditions (congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy), obesity (BMI 30+), pregnancy, sickle cell disease, smoking, solid organ transplant, Type I or II diabetes mellitus

Class 2 conditions include: asthma, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, use of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive agents

MD Anderson

MD Anderson announced plans to allocate its first shipment of vaccines for use with frontline health care workers caring for highly immune-compromised patients and those with increased risk of occupational exposure, according to its website.

Memorial Hermann

In compliance with Texas’ guidance for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, Memorial Hermann is prioritizing vaccine distribution to persons in Phase 1A and Phase 1B.

“Memorial Hermann is currently offering the vaccine by invitation only to established, active Memorial Hermann Medical Group patients 65 years of age and older,” its website states.

As soon as the vaccine is more widely available, Memorial Hermann plans to offer it to its patients and members of the community.

St. Luke’s Health

St. Luke’s Health facilities expect to receive more doses of the vaccine every week and are preparing to distribute them in phases as they become available.

According to its website, vaccine distribution plans are determined by the FDA, CDC, and state and local health departments.

St. Luke’s expects vaccines may be more widely available by spring or summer 2021.

University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB Health) System

On Dec. 30, UTMB Health announced plans to expand its employee vaccination program to high-risk individuals.

According to its website, UTMB will provide the vaccine to patients residing in the communities it serves once priority groups defined by state and federal authorities have been vaccinated.

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How Does the Coronavirus Variant Spread? Here’s What Scientists Know - The New York Times

Contagiousness is the hallmark of the mutated virus surfacing in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries.

A more contagious form of the coronavirus has begun circulating in the United States.

In Britain, where it was first identified, the new variant became the predominant form of the coronavirus in just three months, accelerating that nation’s surge and filling its hospitals. It may do the same in the United States, exacerbating an unrelenting rise in deaths and overwhelming the already strained health care system, experts warned.

A variant that spreads more easily also means that people will need to religiously adhere to precautions like social distancing, mask-wearing, hand hygiene and improved ventilation — unwelcome news to many Americans already chafing against restrictions.

“The bottom line is that anything we do to reduce transmission will reduce transmission of any variants, including this one,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist affiliated with Georgetown University. But “it may mean that the more targeted measures that are not like a full lockdown won’t be as effective.”

What does it mean for this variant to be more transmissible? What makes this variant more contagious than previous iterations of the virus? And why should we worry about a variant that spreads more easily but does not seem to make anyone sicker?

We asked experts to weigh in on the evolving research into this new version of the coronavirus.

The new variant seems to spread more easily between people.

Many variants of the coronavirus have cropped up since the pandemic began. But all evidence so far suggests that the new mutant, called B.1.1.7, is more transmissible than previous forms. It first surfaced in September in Britain, but already accounts for more than 60 percent of new cases in London and neighboring areas.

The new variant seems to infect more people than earlier versions of the coronavirus, even when the environments are the same. It’s not clear what gives the variant this advantage, although there are indications that it may infect cells more efficiently.

It’s also difficult to say exactly how much more transmissible the new variant may be, because scientists have not yet done the kind of lab experiments that are required. Most of the conclusions have been drawn from epidemiological observations, and “there’s so many possible biases in all the available data,” cautioned Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a scientific adviser to the British government.

Scientists initially estimated that the new variant was 70 percent more transmissible, but a recent modeling study pegged that number at 56 percent. Once researchers sift through all the data, it’s possible that the variant will turn out to be just 10 to 20 percent more transmissible, said Trevor Bedford, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Even so, Dr. Bedford said, it is likely to catch on rapidly and become the predominant form in the United States by March. Scientists like Dr. Bedford are tracking all the known variants closely to detect any further changes that might alter their behavior.

Apart from greater transmissibility, the variant behaves like earlier versions.

The new mutant virus may spread more easily, but in every other way it seems little different than its predecessors.

So far, at least, the variant does not seem to make people any sicker or lead to more deaths. Still, there is cause for concern: A variant that is more transmissible will increase the death toll simply because it will spread faster and infect more people.

“In that sense, it’s just a numbers game,” Dr. Rasmussen said. The effect will be amplified “in places like the U.S. and the U.K., where the health care system is really at its breaking point.”

The routes of transmission — by large and small droplets, and tiny aerosolized particles adrift in crowded indoor spaces — have not changed. That means masks, limiting time with others and improving ventilation in indoor spaces will all help contain the variant’s spread, as these measures do with other variants of the virus.

“By minimizing your exposure to any virus, you’re going to reduce your risk of getting infected, and that’s going to reduce transmission over all,” Dr. Rasmussen said.

A drive-through Covid testing site at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday.Mario Tama/Getty Images

Infection with the new variant may increase the amount of virus in the body.

Some preliminary evidence from Britain suggests that people infected with the new variant tend to carry greater amounts of the virus in their noses and throats than those infected with previous versions.

“We’re talking in the range between 10-fold greater and 10,000-fold greater,” said Michael Kidd, a clinical virologist at Public Health England and a clinical adviser to the British government who has studied the phenomenon.

There are other explanations for the finding — Dr. Kidd and his colleagues did not have access to information about when in their illness people were tested, for example, which could affect their so-called viral loads.

Still, the finding does offer one possible explanation for why the new variant spreads more easily. The more virus that infected people harbor in their noses and throats, the more they expel into the air and onto surfaces when they breathe, talk, sing, cough or sneeze.

As a result, situations that expose people to the virus carry a greater chance of seeding new infections. Some new data indicate that people infected with the new variant spread the virus to more of their contacts.

With previous versions of the virus, contact tracing suggested that about 10 percent of people who have close contact with an infected person — within six feet for at least 15 minutes — inhaled enough virus to become infected.

“With the variant, we might expect 15 percent of those,” Dr. Bedford said. “Currently risky activities become more risky.”

Scientists are still learning how the mutations have changed the virus.

The variant has 23 mutations, compared with the version that erupted in Wuhan, China, a year ago. But 17 of those mutations appeared suddenly, after the virus diverged from its most recent ancestor.

Each infected person is a crucible, offering opportunities for the virus to mutate as it multiplies. With more than 83 million people infected worldwide, the coronavirus is amassing mutations faster than scientists expected at the start of the pandemic.

The vast majority of mutations provide no advantage to the virus and die out. But mutations that improve the virus’ fitness or transmissibility have a greater chance to catch on.

At least one of the 17 new mutations in the variant contributes to its greater contagiousness. The mechanism is not yet known. Some data suggest that the new variant may bind more tightly to a protein on the surface of human cells, allowing it to more readily infect them.

It’s possible that the variant blooms in an infected person’s nose and throat, but not in the lungs, for example — which may explain why patients spread it more easily but do not develop illnesses more severe than those caused by earlier versions of the virus. Some influenza viruses behave similarly, experts noted.

“We need to look at this evidence as preliminary and accumulating,” Dr. Cevik said of the growing data on the new variant.

Still, the research so far suggests an urgent need to cut down on transmission of the variant, she added: “We need to be much more careful over all, and look at the gaps in our mitigation measures.”

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Here are the Post's 15 most read stories on new restaurants and eateries in 2020 - Shawnee Mission Post

Despite the stress, anxiety and slew of “bad news” this year, dozens of businesses have opened in Johnson County in 2020.

We curated a list of the most read stories the Shawnee Mission Post published on new businesses that opened and — no surprise here — they were all restaurants and eateries.

Here are the 15 most read stories we published on new restaurants. This is not a comprehensive list of all restaurants that opened in our coverage area, so if we missed one, please email us at stories@shawneemissionpost.com so we can include it.

Seafood Island, 75th and Nieman

Opened: Tuesday, June 30

Known for: Cajun-style cuisine and live entertainment

Location: 10810 W. 75th St., Shawnee (the site of a former Ryan’s Buffet restaurant)

Website: https://www.seafoodislandkc.com/

Fun quote: “The Gulf-side flavors may be different from what we have here in the middle of the States. That’s why I wanted to bring in Midwestern tastes.” – Eric Lin, co-owner

Read more: Cajun-style restaurant Seafood Island opens at 75th and Nieman in Shawnee

Wandering Vine at the Castle, Shawnee

Opened: Friday, Nov. 27

Known for: 9 wine flights, American West menu

Location: 12401 Johnson Drive in the historic Caenen Castle

Website: https://www.wanderingvine.com/

Fun quote: “We feel like this building is part of the community, and we want to make sure that it’s always here and part of the community.” – Carla Dyer, co-owner

Read more: Historic Caenen Castle in Shawnee reopens as a restaurant, farm winery outlet

Juan Jose’s Taqueria, Millcreek shopping center in Shawnee

Opened: Friday, Nov. 20

Known for: Al pastor and barbacoa, authentic Mexican tacos

Location: 13220 W. 62nd Terrace (near Incredible Pizza Company)

Website: http://www.juanjoses.com/

Fun quote: “Sometimes, taco shops have half-and-half, like half American and half Mexican or Tex-Mex. This is not, not at all.” – Chas Tulipana, general manager

Read more: New taco shop opens in Shawnee promising to serve up ‘authentic’ Mexican food

Smoketown Bar-B-Q, Overland Park

Opened: Thursday, Sept. 17

Known for: Burnt ends and the Smoketown Throwdown signature sandwich

Location: 7702 Shawnee Mission Parkway (site of the former teriyaki bowl restaurant Maui Express)

Website: https://www.smoketownbbqkc.com/

Fun quote: “We’re not the new guys, we’re just on a new adventure.” – Terri Barnhart, co-owner

Read more: ‘Not the new guys’: Barbecue restaurant heads to northern Overland Park, replaces Maui Express on Shawnee Mission Parkway

Duck Donuts, Leawood Plaza Shopping Center

Opened: Saturday, Dec. 12

Known for: Doughnuts and coffee (obviously!)

Location: 12130 State Line Road, Leawood

Website: https://www.duckdonuts.com/location/leawood-kansas-city-ks-leawood-plaza/

Fun quote: “We could not be more thankful for our time in the Ranch Mart shopping center and for the support we received from our friends and neighbors there. But now we look forward to reopening in Leawood Plaza with new menu items such as delicious milkshakes, in a bright, airy space that allows us to expand and better serve our guests.” – Ryan McNeil, co-franchisee

Read more: Duck Donuts franchise relocates to Leawood Plaza and opens Dec. 12 with expanded menu

Viona’s Italian Bistro, downtown Overland Park

Opened: Friday, Feb. 7

Known for: Lasagna and seafood

Location: 7933 Marty St.

Website: https://www.vionasitalianbistro.com/

Fun quote: “We got lucky, and I guess we have to thank the community because there’s a lot of folks during that lockdown who supported us even more. We had people ordering pretty much every other day because they wanted to make sure we stay here and don’t go anywhere.” – Benny Morina, co-owner

Read more: Italian-American couple opens Viona’s Italian Bistro in downtown Overland Park

Drastic Measures, downtown Shawnee

Opened: Monday, June 22

Known for: 14 signature drinks, cozy atmosphere

Location: 5817 Nieman Road (site of the former Mercy & Truth Medical Missions clinic)

Website: https://www.drasticbar.com/

Fun quote: “It’s a great little neighborhood. There’s some cool stuff popping up, so we’re excited to be a complement so we’re not directly competing with anybody.” – Jill Cockson, co-founder

Read more: Drastic Measures cocktail bar opens in downtown Shawnee

McLain’s Market, downtown Shawnee

Opened: Friday, June 12

Known for: Fresh-baked goods, breakfast and lunch items

Location: 5833 Nieman Road (the former space of OK Garage)

Website: https://www.mclainskc.com/shawnee

Fun quote: “We’re excited to be a part of this community; it is also exciting to see that other things are happening at the same time. It kind of solidifies the location choice, besides the people that have dropped by in the neighborhoods around here.” – Jeff Hirleman, co-owner

Read more: McLain’s Market slated to open downtown Shawnee restaurant on Friday

Summer Salt Ice Cream Shop, Corinth Square

Opened: Friday, June 5

Known for: Ice cream sandwiches, cookie dough ice cream, cookies and cream ice cream

Location: 4051 Somerset Drive, Prairie Village (the site of the former Mely’s Yogurt & Ice Cream)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Summer-Salt-Ice-Cream-Company-108932464199339/

Fun quote: “[Mely] was serving kids 35 years ago who are now adults and bring their kids back, [keeping] that tradition going in the same location is pretty cool — not many businesses last 35 years.” – Curtis Thurston, owner

Read more: Summer Salt Ice Cream Co. to open in former Mely’s Yogurt & Ice Cream space at Corinth Square

Red Door Grill, Sonoma Plaza

Opened: Tuesday, Dec. 8

Known for: Woodfired Wings, scratch kitchen menu

Location: 15918 W. 88th St., just east of I-435 near Lenexa City Center

Website: https://reddoorgrill.com/

Fun quote: “While it’s definitely a unique time to be opening a new restaurant, we are excited to be part of this vibrant and growing area in Lenexa.” – Gary Zancanelli, owner and founder

Read more: New restaurant opening at Sonoma Plaza in Lenexa

La Fuente Mexican Street Food, Regency Park Shopping Center

Opened: Thursday, April 23

Known for: Burritos and street tacos

Location: 9222 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park (the site of a former Pei Wei Asian Diner and Billy Sims BBQ)

Website: https://www.lafuenteop.com/

Fun quote: “We’re going to have some new platters that I don’t see anybody have here. Kansas City is known for ribs because of barbecue, and in Mexico we have Mexican rib tacos…I’m really excited to do this new concept and to add our new platters, like barbacoa. Everybody loves ribs up here, and barbecue. I’m pretty sure they will like it.” – Eduardo Garcia, co-owner

Read more: New restaurant La Fuente Mexican Street Food coming soon to Overland Park shopping center

Mr Brews Taphouse, near downtown Overland Park

Opened: Tuesday, May 26

Known for: Signature burgers, craft beer

Location: 8021 Metcalf Ave.

Website: https://overlandpark.mrbrewstaphouse.com/

Fun quote: “…we had to get the doors open and get some income, because bills were still coming in. It felt good to open; it’s a long process and not easy.” – Jonathan Langford, franchisee

Read more: ‘We had to get the doors open’ — New restaurant launches in downtown Overland Park despite pandemic

Harley’s Hideaway, bar and grill in Shawnee

Opened: Thursday, Oct. 8

Known for: Caribbean and Cajun flavors, burgers and chicken

Location: 12200 Johnson Drive (former site of Game Changers Sports Bar, and Margarita’s)

Website: http://harleyskc.com/

Fun quote: “We’ve gotten a lot of neighborhood people just popping in to check us out, see what we’re about, what we have going on. I think it’s cool, because that’s our whole concept was to be a neighborhood bar, a go-to place to be able to get live entertainment and have a good time. I feel like we’ve been pretty well received for being in the middle of a pandemic.” – Jessica Christman, co-owner/manager

Read more: Harley’s Hideaway bar and grill opens near Johnson and Quivira in Shawnee

The Market at Meadowbrook, Prairie Village

Opened: sometime in April

Known for: Coffee and fresh-made pastries

Location: 4901 Meadowbrook Parkway

Website: https://themarketkc.com/

Fun quote: “While this day is very different from what we imagined it would be, in light of the current COVID-19 situation, we feel we can be a resource to the neighborhood and our valued customers.” – Patrick and Joanne Quillec

Read more: The Market at Meadowbrook opens during COVID-19, Verbena opening date to be determined

Cedar Street Toffee, Prairie Village

Opened: Thursday, Oct. 22

Known for: Almond toffee with semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate toffee with nuts

Location: 4521 W. 90th St.

Website: https://cedarstreettoffee.com/

Fun quote: “It fills my heart. It’s such a beautiful thing for people just to smile and find some joy, we all need that right now.” – Teresa Spiess, toffee maker and owner

Read more: Toffee company that started with a homemade recipe in OP kitchen opens shop in Prairie Village

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Vintage Cafe in Cloverdale temporarily closes after worker tests positive for COVID-19 - Montgomery Advertiser

Lansing-area judge issues retraining order against U.P. café defying state order - MLive.com

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INGHAM COUNTY, MI – A restraining order has been issued against an Upper Peninsula café that has refused to shutdown amid the COVD-19 pandemic.

Ingham County Judge Wanda Stokes issued the order against Café Rosetta of Calumet on Thursday because it has continued to operate without a valid food service establishment license.

The café is one of a handful of Michigan restaurants that have continued to defy an order from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services prohibiting gatherings for indoor dining in the state.

Café Rosetta had already received a cease-and-desist order and summary suspension order from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).

RELATED: More illegally-open bars, restaurants get liquor licenses suspended

“We’re pleased that Judge Stokes has ruled in the state’s favor, not only for the health of our residents, but also for the sake of the industry as a whole,” said MDARD Director Gary McDowell.

“Epidemic orders issued by the state are meant to be temporary, but they only work if everybody follows the same rules. There are thousands of Michigan restaurants, bars, and businesses trying to do right by their communities and fellow business owners, but their sacrifices must not be undermined because others ignore the law and make up their own rulebook during a pandemic.”

The state said Café Rosetta’s continued operation creates an imminent or substantial endangerment to public health and summarily suspended the operation’s food establishment license on Dec. 2.

A Dec. 10 hearing found that MDARD’s summary suspension of Café Rosetta’s license should be continued. When Café Rosetta continued to offer indoor dining after this ruling, MDARD submitted a motion for a temporary restraining order to the 30th Judicial Circuit in Ingham County.

The café's owner, Amy Heikkinen, has since appeared on the Sean Hannity radio show to discuss the business.

“There’s no pausing at this point ten months into it,” she separately told WLUC-TV in the Upper Peninsula on Dec. 18. “If we did close at that point, or only offer take-out, our business would be destroyed.”

The temporary restraining order reaffirms the decisions and actions of the state regarding Café Rosetta’s operations, state officials said in a news release.

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Here are the 2020 stories that drew the largest audiences online - Alaska Public Media News

Guardsmen prepare to remove Bus 142 in June 2020. (Alaska National Guard Public Affairs)

Our site had millions of readers over the last year. Much of that audience was drawn by reporting which helped readers navigate changes to public life that came with the pandemic, as well as unique stories about Alaska life and politics. Our most-read stories bring back stand-out events from a year full of tumultuous news.

Here are the ten stories that drew the largest audiences

1. Helicopter removes ‘Into the Wild’ bus that lured Alaska travelers to their deaths

“An Army National Guard heavy-lift helicopter has removed the old Fairbanks city bus from the spot near Denali National Park where it once housed Christopher McCandless, the subject of the popular nonfiction book ‘Into the Wild.'”

2. Rescuers found lost Nunam Iqua children in a hole in the snow, huddled around the youngest child

“Snowmaching along the Black River, Simon scanned the white landscape for any minute detail, like he’s been trained to do. A hundred yards away, on the highest snowdrift, he saw something he said was suspicious.”

Kids on the basketball court in Nunam Iqua. (Korie Hickel)

3. Alaska Senator Murkowski said Friday she would not vote for a justice ahead of Inauguration Day

“Shortly before the announcement that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in an interview that if she was presented with a vacancy on the court, she would not vote to confirm a nominee before the election.”

(In a reversal, Murkowski did vote to confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Oct. 26, 2020.)

4. Business bruised by COVID-19? SBA may have a $10,000 grant for you. 

“The Small Business Administration says it’s ready to make immediate “loan advances” of up to $10,000 to companies hurt by the coronavirus. But you don’t have to be a traditional company, and this is a “loan” you won’t have to pay back.”

Scandies Rose (KMXT)

5. When the Scandies Rose sunk west of Kodiak, he survived. Now he’s grappling with losing his crewmates.

“Dean Gribble describes it as a “whirlwind” — everything that happened between 10 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2019, when the crew hit the mayday button, and 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day, when he and Lawler were rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard swimmer.”

6. Alaska US Senate race: Gross trails Sullivan but says math is in his favor

“U.S. Senate candidate Al Gross is far behind in the votes counted so far, but his campaign claims he can still beat Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.”

(Gross eventually conceded to Sen. Sullivan, who won his second term with around 54% of the vote, compared to Gross’ 41%.)

7. Here’s why Alaska is the slowest in the nation when it comes to vote counting

“Questions, confusion and speculation about Alaska’s vote-counting process have erupted as state officials wait to count more than 100,000 absentee and other ballots until next week — long after other U.S. states count the vast majority of their votes.”

Volunteers and organizers with the Alaska Civic Engagement State (AKCES) Table gather on Election Day 2020 in Mountain View to remind residents to vote. AKCES is a nonpartisan group with 75 volunteers that have been showing up at the polls to support voter education and safety. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)

8. State Senate approves $1,000 stimulus checks

“The Alaska Senate passed the state budget on Monday, including a $1,000 economic stimulus payment to everyone who received a permanent fund dividend last year.”

9. Fairbanks is now considered Alaska’s coronavirus ‘hot spot’

“Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, explained at a Monday evening press conference that calling Fairbanks a hot spot is about more than just the numbers. It’s based on things like the rate of infection among people who have not recently traveled or been in close contact with someone known to be infected, also known as community transmission, as well as where the disease is spreading in the city.”

10. The state has revised its two-week quarantine requirement. Here’s what we know about the changes.

“For more than two months, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration required people traveling to Alaska from out of state to quarantine for two weeks once they got here. But, that changed Saturday, June 6.”

A traveler off of a flight from Seattle makes his way through a COVID-19 screening line at Juneau International Airport on June 26, 2020. (Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)

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Judge issues retraining order against Café Rosetta - WLUC

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LANSING, Mich. (WLUC) - A Calumet café received a restraining order from a downstate judge Thursday.

Ingham County Judge Wanda Stokes has issued a temporary restraining order against Café Rosetta of Calumet for continuing to operate without a valid food service establishment license.

Judge Stokes’s order comes after Café Rosetta disregarded an epidemic order from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which included protections against the spread of COVID-19 such as a temporary prohibition on gatherings for indoor dining in the state, and a cease-and-desist order and summary suspension order issued by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).

Following an administrative hearing on MDARD’s summary suspension order earlier this month, an impartial Administrative Law Judge determined that the continued operation of Café Rosetta posed an imminent threat to the public health, safety, and welfare.

“We’re pleased that Judge Stokes has ruled in the state’s favor, not only for the health of our residents, but also for the sake of the industry as a whole,” said MDARD Director Gary McDowell. “Epidemic orders issued by the state are meant to be temporary, but they only work if everybody follows the same rules. There are thousands of Michigan restaurants, bars, and businesses trying to do right by their communities and fellow business owners, but their sacrifices must not be undermined because others ignore the law and make up their own rulebook during a pandemic.”

On December 2, after MDHHS issued its epidemic order, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development—the state agency with authority to implement and enforce Michigan’s Food Law—determined that Café Rosetta’s continued operation created an imminent or substantial endangerment to public health and summarily suspended the operation’s food establishment license.

After a December 10 hearing, an impartial Administrative Law Judge found that MDARD’s summary suspension of Café Rosetta’s license should be continued. Despite the Administrative Law Judge’s decision and order—and despite Café Rosetta not having a valid food license—Café Rosetta has continued operating in violation of Michigan’s Food Law, MCL 289.1101 et seq.

In an interview with TV6 from Dec. 18, Café Rosetta owner, Amy Heikkinen said “There’s no pausing at this point ten months into it. If we did close at that point, or only offer take-out, our business would be destroyed.”

When Café Rosetta continued to offer indoor dining after the Dec. 10 ruling, MDARD submitted a motion for a temporary restraining order to the 30th Judicial Circuit in Ingham County.

The temporary restraining order reaffirms the decisions and actions of the state regarding Café Rosetta’s operations.

Read more stories about Café Rosetta:

• New court motion asks for Cafe’ Rosetta to be shut down (Dec. 29)
• Coffee shop owner defies MDHHS order, continues indoor dining (Dec. 18)

Related Documents:

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Why Coronavirus Vaccine Distribution is Taking Longer Than Expected - The New York Times

Health officials and hospitals are struggling with a lack of resources. Holiday staffing and saving doses for nursing homes are also contributing to delays.

In Florida, less than one-quarter of delivered coronavirus vaccines have been used, even as older people sat in lawn chairs all night waiting for their shots. In Puerto Rico, last week’s vaccine shipments did not arrive until the workers who would have administered them had left for the Christmas holiday. In California, doctors are worried about whether there will be enough hospital staff members to both administer vaccines and tend to the swelling number of Covid-19 patients.

These sorts of logistical problems in clinics across the country have put the campaign to vaccinate the United States against Covid-19 far behind schedule in its third week, raising fears about how quickly the country will be able to tame the epidemic.

Federal officials said as recently as this month that their goal was to have 20 million people get their first shot by the end of this year. More than 14 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had been sent out across the United States, federal officials said on Wednesday. But, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 2.8 million people have received their first dose, though that number may be somewhat low because of lags in reporting.

States vary widely in how many of the doses they’ve received have been given out. South Dakota leads the country with more than 48 percent of its doses given, followed by West Virginia, at 38 percent. By contrast, Kansas has given out less than 11 percent of its doses, and Georgia, less than 14 percent.

Compounding the challenges, federal officials say they do not fully understand the cause of the delays. But state health officials and hospital leaders throughout the country pointed to several factors. States have held back doses to be given out to their nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities, an effort that is just gearing up and expected to take several months. Across the country, just 8 percent of the doses distributed for use in these facilities have been administered, with two million yet to be given.

The holiday season has meant that people are off work and clinics have reduced hours, slowing the pace of vaccine administration. In Florida, for example, the demand for the vaccines dipped over the Christmas holiday and is expected to dip again over New Year’s, Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Wednesday.

People lined up to be vaccinated at the East County Regional Library in Lehigh Acres, Fla., on Tuesday.Octavio Jones for The New York Times

And critically, public health experts say, federal officials have left many of the details of the final stage of the vaccine distribution process, such as scheduling and staffing, to overstretched local health officials and hospitals.

“We’ve taken the people with the least amount of resources and capacity and asked them to do the hardest part of the vaccination — which is actually getting the vaccines administered into people’s arms,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health.

Federal and state officials have denied they are to blame for the slow rollout. Officials behind Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to fast-track vaccines, have said that their job was to ensure that vaccines are made available and get shipped out to the states. President Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday that it was “up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government.”

“Ultimately, the buck seems to stop with no one,” Dr. Jha said.

These problems are especially worrisome now that a new, more contagious variant, first spotted in Britain and overwhelming hospitals there, has arrived in the U.S. Officials in two states, Colorado and California, say they have discovered cases of the new variant, and none of the patients had recently traveled, suggesting the variant is already spreading in American communities.

The $900 billion relief package that Mr. Trump signed into law on Sunday will bring some relief to struggling state and local health departments. The bill sets aside more than $8 billion for vaccine distribution, on top of the $340 million that the C.D.C. sent out to the states in installments in September and earlier this month.

Hospital workers vaccinated staff members at the Ashford Hospital in San Juan, P.R., earlier this month. Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

That infusion of money is welcome, if late, said Dr. Bob Wachter, a professor and chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “Why did that take until now when we knew we were going to have this problem two months ago?”

The task of administering thousands of vaccines is daunting for health departments that have already been overburdened by responding to the pandemic. In Montgomery County, Maryland, the local health department has recruited extra staff to help manage vaccine distribution, said Travis Gayles, the county health officer.

“While we’re trying to roll out vaccinations, we’re also continuing the pandemic response by supporting testing, contact tracing, disease control and all of those other aspects of the Covid response,” Dr. Gayles said.

Complicating matters, the county health department gets just a few days of notice each week of the timing of its vaccine shipments. When the latest batch arrived, Dr. Gayles’s team scrambled to contact people eligible for the vaccine and to set up clinics to give out the doses as fast as possible.

Over all, Maryland has given nearly 17 percent of its vaccine doses. In a Wednesday appearance on CBS, Gov. Larry Hogan attributed the slow process to challenges across the board — from the federal government not sending as many doses as initially predicted, to the lack of logistical and financial support for local health departments.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and top state health officials say vaccines are available in the state but are not being distributed quickly enough to deal with a critical surge of Covid-19 cases that is pushing hospital capacity to the breaking point.

“A significant portion of vaccines distributed across Texas might be sitting on hospital shelves as opposed to being given to vulnerable Texans,” the governor tweeted Tuesday.

A Covid-19 patient in the I.C.U. at Sharp Chula Medical Center in Chula Vista, Calif.Mario Tama/Getty Images

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday encouraged people to be “humble” in the face of such a complicated task and said that the pace of vaccination would accelerate. California has administered 20 percent of the doses it’s received.

Hesitancy among people offered the vaccine may also be slowing the rollout. Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio said in a news conference on Wednesday that roughly 60 percent of nursing home staff members offered the vaccine in the state had declined it. In Florida, some hospital workers offered the vaccine declined it, and those doses are now designated for other vulnerable groups like health care workers in the community and the elderly, but that rollout has not quite begun, said Justin Senior, chief executive officer for the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, a hospital consortium.

There are bright spots. Some states and hospitals are finding ways to speedily administer the vaccines they have received. West Virginia said on Wednesday that it had finished giving the first round of vaccine doses to willing residents and workers at all of the state’s 214 long-term-care facilities — putting the state far ahead of most other states that began vaccinating at these facilities under a federal program with CVS and Walgreens.

In Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which employs some 20,000 people at several facilities, was vaccinating about 800 people a day, said Dr. Jeff Smith, Cedars-Sinai’s chief operating officer. He said Cedars-Sinai expected to vaccinate all of its staff members who have opted for the vaccine within a couple of weeks.

But other communities are falling short of that rapid clip. Dr. Smith said the medical community is worried about staffing shortages when hospitals have to both administer vaccines and treat Covid-19 patients.

In a news conference on Wednesday, Operation Warp Speed officials said they expected the pace of the rollout to accelerate significantly once pharmacies begin offering vaccines in their stores. The federal government has reached agreements with a number of pharmacy chains — including Costco, Walmart, and CVS — to administer vaccines once they become more widely available. So far, 40,000 pharmacy locations have enrolled in that program.

A health worker at the Rocky Mountain Regional V.A. Medical Center waited to receive a vaccination in Aurora, Colo.Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Most vaccines administered across the country to date have been given to health care workers at hospitals and clinics, and to older adults at nursing homes. Gen. Gustave F. Perna, the logistics lead of Operation Warp Speed, on Wednesday described them as “two very difficult, challenging groups” to immunize.

But public health officials warned that reaching these initial groups, who are largely being vaccinated where they live or work, is a relatively easy task. “This is the part where we’re supposed to know where people are,” said Dr. Saad B. Omer, the director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.

It may be more difficult, public health officials say, to vaccinate the next wave of people, which will most likely include many more older Americans as well as younger people with health problems and frontline workers. Among the fresh challenges: How will these people be scheduled for their vaccination appointments? How will they provide documentation that they have a medical condition or a job that makes them eligible to get vaccinated? And how will pharmacies ensure that people show up, and that they can do so safely?

“In the next phase,” said Dr. Jha of Brown University, “we’re going to hit the same wall, where all of a sudden we’re going to have to scramble to start figuring it out.”

Lucy Tompkins and David Montgomery contributed reporting.

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