Saturday, April 3, 2021
As COVID-19 cases rise, health officials recommend Wisconsin residents take caution with spring and summer gatherings
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services updated its website to include recommendations for both fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people, as well as guidelines for spring and summer activities and gatherings.
Recommendations for unvaccinated people remain the same, including wearing a mask, socially distancing, washing your hands, and avoiding gatherings.
If you are not fully vaccinated yet, the state's health department continues to advise against attending or hosting gatherings with people who don’t live with you and who are not fully vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated people are being asked to wear a mask and socially distance when in public, gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one other household or visiting with an unvaccinated person who is at increased risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19.
Easter will be a super-spreader event.
CBD store raided in Menomonee Falls after two small children had a nonfatal overdose, sheriff says
A CBD store in Menomonee Falls was raided and three people were arrested after two small children had a nonfatal overdose after unintentionally ingesting a CBD-related product bought from the store.
The investigation into the overdose incident led to law enforcement executing a search warrant March 30 at Superstar Buds, N88-W16733 Main St., according to the news release from the Waukesha County Sheriff Department.
In the investigation leading to the raid, authorities obtained evidence the business was selling products containing prohibited levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol or delta-9-THC, according to the news release.
The Sheriff's Department said in the news release that state law allows for the sale of CBD-related products only if the delta-9-THC levels are not more than 3%. Several of the products obtained from the store during this investigation had delta-9-THC levels of more than 20%.
Suspect who smashed into barrier at US Capitol identified as Noah Green
The driver who killed a US Capitol cop before he was gunned down by police is a Nation of Islam devotee from Indiana, according to reports and his social media.
Noah Green, 25, who may have been living in Virginia, described himself as a “Follower of Farrakhan” on his Facebook page, in reference to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Green appeared to have come on hard times from his Facebook page reviewed by The Post before his account was taken down.
“I was on the right track and everything I had planned was coming into existence. It required long hours, lots of studying, and exercise to keep me balanced while experiencing an array of concerning symptoms along the path (I believe to be side effects of drugs I was intaking unknowingly),” he wrote on March 17, signing the message Brother Noah X
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“However, the path has been thwarted, as Allah (God) has chosen me for other things. Throughout life I have set goals, attained them, set higher ones, and then been required to sacrifice those things,” he continued.
His Facebook posts were first reported by MSNBC, which read them on-air.
Read and see more: https://nypost.com/2021/04/02/suspect-who-smashed-into-barrier-at-us-capitol-identified-reports/
Friday, April 2, 2021
Dire situation in North Korea drives 'collective exit' of diplomats
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| A worker in protective gear carries a disinfectant spray can through a nearly deserted terminal at Pyongyang airport. Photograph: Jon Chol Jin/AP |
Russian diplomats fleeing North Korea have described acute shortages of medicines and other basic goods in the country, indicating a crisis fuelled by one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter posted online on Thursday, employees of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang described a “collective exit” of foreign diplomatic staff that they predicted would “unfortunately not be the last” due to unbearable conditions in the North Korean capital.
“It is possible to understand those leaving the [North] Korean capital. Hardly everyone can stand the unprecedented total restrictions [on individuals], the sharp deficit of essential goods, including medicines, the lack of any possibility to resolve health problems,” members of staff at the Russian embassy wrote.
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Wisconsin Supreme Court overturns statewide mask mandate, blocks Evers from declaring multiple emergency orders
MADISON - The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked Democratic Gov. Tony Evers from issuing any new public health emergency orders to mandate face masks without the approval of the Republican-controlled state Legislature.
In a 4-3 decision, conservative justices in the majority declared the statewide mask mandate invalid and ruled Evers exceeded his authority in issuing multiple emergency declarations over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Evers used the emergency orders to require face coverings be worn indoors statewide after lawmakers opted not to.
"The question in this case is not whether the Governor acted wisely; it is whether he acted lawfully. We conclude he did not," Justice Brian Hagedorn, writing for the conservative majority, said.
Art Howell bids farewell: Racine's first black police chief retires from the department
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Art Howell smiles for a photo inside his office on Tuesday, his next-to-last day as the Racine's chief of police. |
RACINE — When Art Howell joined the Racine Police Department, the city was entering one of its darkest times. Upon his retirement Wednesday after 37 years with the RPD, Racine has been experiencing record lows, year after year, in major crimes since Howell became chief of police.
Art Howell's father, who died in 1995, worked at Case. Howell kept a miniature Case tractor in his office to honor his dad.
Howell grew up on Davis Place, just south of Downtown Racine. As he was graduating from high school in 1980, a recession was sweeping across the Midwest. Stable industrial jobs went overseas or south of the border. Unemployment rates, especially among workers of color, shot up.
“All the jobs that the people in my neighborhood normally had,” Howell, who had worked at McDonald’s as a teenager, “they were gone.” His father was one of those who managed to maintain employment, at Case Corp.; one of the last things Howell cleaned out from his office this week was a toy Case tractor honoring his father, who died in 1995.
Hired at age 21 in 1984 by the Racine Police Department, the city was facing a crisis.
The crack cocaine epidemic arrived in the mid-1980s. It preceded what may have been the worst time in Racine’s history. Gangs, many of them coming south from Milwaukee or north from Chicago, set up shop in Racine: living expenses were lower and drugs could be sold for higher profit here, an inviting combination for vice.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
In latest shakeup, top Milwaukee Health Department staffer put on paid leave pending investigation
A top Milwaukee Health Department staffer was put on paid administrative leave Friday, pending an investigation.
Claire Evers, deputy commissioner of environmental health, has been with the city since July 2010 and currently makes $112,626 annually, according to the city. She was appointed to the role by former Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik on May 17, 2020.
In the position, Evers' duties have included overseeing enforcement of the city's COVID-19 health orders in addition to lead program enforcement.
Evers told the Journal Sentinel in a Facebook message that she had not been told what the potential misconduct is, adding, "I haven’t even had so much as a ‘talking to’ in my career."
Department of Employee Relations Director Makda Fessahaye said the investigation was into "potential misconduct." She said she could not provide additional details, and there is not a timeline within which the investigation will take place.
Wisconsin residents 16 and older eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting Monday
MADISON - Everyone in Wisconsin age 16 and older will be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot starting Monday.
Gov. Tony Evers made the announcement Tuesday, expanding the state's vaccine rollout to everyone in the state about four weeks earlier than planned.
The move comes as President Joe Biden urged governors to make COVID-19 vaccines available to the general public by mid-April.
Wisconsin will join six states — Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas — in expanding vaccine eligibility to all adults on Monday.
Vaccine supply is growing in Wisconsin. According to CDC data, the state got about 188,000 first doses of vaccine this week, which is nearly 45,000 more than the week before.
Supply is more limited for teenagers, however. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine authorized for individuals ages 16 and 17. No vaccines have been authorized for children younger than 16.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Mafia fugitive caught after YouTube cooking show accidentally reveals his identity: Report
Man’s love for Italian cuisine tipped off law enforcement, leads to international arrest in Santo Domingo
A mafia fugitive couldn’t take the heat, so he went to the kitchen.
But, that’s exactly how Marc Feren Claude Biart got caught after spending seven years on the run, according to Calabria News – an Italian news outlet.
Biart was hiding from national authorities for alleged drug trafficking, but was tracked down and arrested in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old man was found nearly 5,000 miles away from his hometown of Rome based on a cooking YouTube channel he launched with his wife in Boca Chica, a municipality near Santo Domingo –the Dominican Republic’s capital city.
Biart’s YouTube channel was not named, however, Calabria News described the channel as being focused on Italian cuisine.
Law enforcement officials were clued in that the YouTube channel belonged to Biart since the chef reviewed food while never revealing his face, the international report says. The body parts that were viewable revealed the mysterious chef had tattoos that matched what authorities had on record for the escaped mafia member.
Tracking down and arresting Biart was a group effort that included the Central Criminal Police Directorate, Interpol and multiple police forces from 10 countries
Biart was hiding out in a tourist resort that reportedly has a large Italian community present. Authorities told Calabria News he had been in the Dominican Republic for more than five years.
Before Biart made a home in Boca Chica, he was allegedly in Costa Rica, which is a little more than 1,800 miles away.
In 2014, the Court of Reggio Calabria subjected Biart to an order of custody in prison. He fled the country shortly after.
Italian authorities say Biart is a member of 'Ndrangheta, a prominent organized crime syndicate that reportedly operates in Calabria.
Other alleged members from the crime group have recently been busted as law enforcement agencies have convened under Interpol’s Cooperation Against 'Ndrangheta project.
Man seen with zip ties during Capitol riot, his mother get home confinement before trial
By The Associated Press
A federal judge on Monday authorized the release of a Georgia woman and her Tennessee son on charges of involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Lisa Eisenhart is accused of breaking into the Capitol with her son, Eric Munchel, who was photographed carrying flexible plastic handcuffs in the Senate chamber.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington, D.C., authorized the release of Eisenhart and Munchel to “third-party custodians” and placed them on home confinement along with other conditions. They will have their locations monitored and are banned from using the internet or contacting others involved in the Jan. 6 events.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-seen-zip-ties-during-capitol-riot-his-mother-get-n1262428
Over 1 million Wisconsin residents vaccinated as DHS signals opening COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older early
As Wisconsin passed 1 million fully vaccinated residents, state health officials said they would likely move the date that all Wisconsin adults would be eligible from May to sometime in April.
At a Milwaukee Press Club Newsmaker Lunch Hour Monday, Julie Willems Van Dijk, the deputy secretary of the state Department of Health Services, signaled that vaccine eligibility would open up to everyone 16 and older sometime in April, earlier than originally planned. She said the state would announce the date "very soon."
President Joe Biden says 90% of adults will be eligible for the vaccine by April 19. Ten states plan to open eligibility for the vaccine to all adults this week, ahead of Biden's target. Six states — Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas — expanded vaccine eligibility to all adults on Monday.
Monday, March 29, 2021
Now vaccinated, older adults emerge from COVID hibernation
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| In this Monday, March 22, 2021 file photo, two older adults socially distanced, watch a spring training exhibition baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles in Bradenton, Fla. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) |
Bill Griffin waited more than a year for this moment: Newly vaccinated, he embraced his 3-year-old granddaughter for the first time since the pandemic began.
“She came running right over. I picked her up and gave her a hug. It was amazing,” the 70-year-old said after the reunion last weekend.
Spring has arrived with sunshine and warmer weather, and many older adults who have been vaccinated, like Griffin, are emerging from COVID-19-imposed hibernation.
From shopping in person or going to the gym to bigger milestones like visiting family, the people who were once most at risk from COVID-19 are beginning to move forward with getting their lives on track. More than 47% of Americans who are 65 and older are now fully vaccinated.
Visiting grandchildren is a top priority for many older adults. In Arizona, Gailen Krug has yet to hold her first grandchild, who was born a month into the pandemic in Minneapolis. Now fully vaccinated, Krug is making plans to travel for her granddaughter’s first birthday in April.
“I can’t wait,” said Krug, whose only interactions with the girl have been over Zoom and FaceTime. “It’s very strange to not have her in my life yet.”
The excitement she feels, however, is tempered with sadness. Her daughter-in-law’s mother, who she had been looking forward to sharing grandma duties with, died of COVID-19 just hours after the baby’s birth. She contracted it at a nursing home.
Isolated by the pandemic, older adults were hard hit by loneliness caused by restrictions intended to keep people safe. Many of them sat out summer reunions, canceled vacation plans and missed family holiday gatherings in November and December.
In states with older populations, like Maine, Arizona and Florida, health officials worried about the emotional and physical toll of loneliness, posing an additional health concern on top of the virus.
But that’s changing, and more older people are reappearing in public after they were among the first group to get vaccinated.
Those who are fully vaccinated are ready to get out of Dodge without worrying they were endangering themselves amid a pandemic that has claimed more than 540,000 lives in the United States.
Read more: https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/now-vaccinated-older-adults-emerge-from-covid-hibernation/