Monday, November 11, 2019

Paging Epstein Coverup

An electronic page for “Epstein Coverup” at San Diego International Airport was made by mistake, a report said. The airport’s messaging system announced a page for “Epstein Coverup” on a screen in a terminal, according to video posted to Twitter that went viral last week. The message on the screen reads, “Airport is paging Epstein Coverup please meet your party at terminal two east by American Airlines.” A spokesperson for the airport said that the page was a mistake and precautions were “being taken to avoid such mistakes in the future”. (10 News)

WI Looks to Become Latest “Tobacco 21” State

The  latest push to discourage teen smoking has reached Wisconsin as  lawmakers consider a bill that would raise the tobacco buying age from  18 to 21. Nearly 20 states have already adopted similar measures. The  goal of Assembly Bill 422 is to prevent younger generations from  developing smoking-related health issues as they get older. Experts  agree that the most powerful statistic is that 95% of adults who smoke  start before the age of 21. The Wisconsin measure would cover all types  of tobacco products and vaping devices. The state Department of Health  Services says the number of teens who smoke cigarettes has dropped in  the last five years and is now 4.7%. But the number who use e-cigarettes  has risen from about 8% to 20% in that same time period. In addition to  the 18 states that have adjusted their purchase age upward, at least  500 cities across the country have taken similar action. The push to  raise the tobacco-buying age is seeing a new sense of urgency amid  public health concerns over the effects of vaping, especially for young  adults. However, sponsors of the Assembly bill and its Senate  counterpart acknowledge that statewide bans can be hard to implement.  And opponents of raising the age say more restrictive laws will create  an underground market, bypassing the retailers who can at least monitor  underage purchases. (Public News Service)

Record Turnout For Voter Registration In California

Record  numbers of Californians are now registered to vote, more than 20.3  million people, which is 3 million more than at this point in 2016,  according to the latest statistics from the California Secretary of  State. More than 80% of voters in the Golden State have registered,  which is the highest percentage in 67 years. The Secretary says they are  now 10 percentage points higher than the 2016 presidential election and  he predicts sky-high turnout for the 2020 presidential contest, thanks  to a number of state-level reforms, adding that “automatic voter registration and online registration have empowered millions of citizens to register to vote”.  The state will also be mailing ballots to all voters next year. Voters  can check that their registration is up to date at  VoterStatus.sos.ca.gov and first time voters can go to  RegisterToVote.ca.gov. People also can register on Election Day at any  polling place or early-vote center. California’s primary is set for  March 3, 2020. Democrats make up the largest bloc of registered voters  in California, followed by “no party preference,” with Republicans coming in third. (Recordnet)

A new CDC report has a warning about the effects of childhood trauma

Adverse  childhood experiences, or ACEs, refer to potentially traumatic events  experienced or witnessed during childhood, like violence, substance  misuse and mental health problems in the home. Though public health  experts say these events are an important upstream cause of major health  and social struggles later in life, it’s been unclear just how  substantially they impede American health overall. In the first analysis  of its kind, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention estimated the link between self-reported ACEs and 14 negative  health conditions and socioeconomic factors, using 2015-2017 survey  data for more than 144,000 adults from 25 states. They found that 60.9%  of adults reported at least one adverse childhood experience, while  15.6% reported four or more types. Such experiences were “significantly associated with poorer health outcomes, health risk behaviors, and socioeconomic challenges,”  the study says, including depression, heavy drinking, smoking, lower  educational attainment and unemployment. These experiences also are  closely tied to at least five of the top causes of death in the U.S.:  heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes and suicide,  according to the CDC’s principal deputy director. (US News)

Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water

Five  years after Michigan switched the city’s water supply to the  contaminated Flint River from Lake Huron, the lead crisis has migrated  to its schools. Neurological and behavioral problems among students are  now threatening to overwhelm the education system. The water  contamination exposed nearly 30,000 children to a neurotoxin known to  have detrimental effects on developing brains and nervous systems.  Medical experts say there is no way to prove that the lead has caused  new disabilities, and pediatricians in Flint caution against  over-diagnosing children as irreparably brain damaged. The percentage of  the city’s students who qualify for special education services has  nearly doubled, to 28 percent, from 15 percent the year the lead crisis  began, and the city’s screening center has received more than 1,300  referrals since December 2018. The results: About 70 percent of the  students evaluated have required school accommodations for issues like  attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as A.D.H.D.;  dyslexia; or mild intellectual impairment, according to the associate  director of the Neurodevelopmental Center of Excellence. (The New York Times)

Podcast about ‘Joe Exotic’ to be turned into television series

The strange story of the man known as “Joe Exotic” will be turned into a television series starring “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kate McKinnon. Universal Content Productions has teamed up with Wondery to adapt the podcast “Over My Dead Body: Joe Exotic,”  which premiered in August. A network for the series has not been  announced. The podcast takes an inside look at when Florida  big-cat-enthusiast Carole Baskin learns that “Joe Exotic,” is  breeding and using his big cats for profit. She then sets out to shut  down his dealings, inciting an ever-escalating rivalry that leads to a  murder-for-hire plot and eventual conviction of “Joe Exotic”,  whose legal name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage. Along with being a big-cat  enthusiast and running an exotic animal park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, he  was a self-proclaimed country music star and ran for president in 2016  and then governor of Oklahoma in 2018. In September 2018, he was  federally charged with conspiring to kill Carole Baskin and several  wildlife crimes. He was accused of hiring someone in November 2017 to  murder Carole Baskin in Florida and then hiring a person, who turned out  to be an undercover FBI agent, to commit the murder. He also was  accused of killing five tigers in October 2017 to make room for other  big cats, and sold and offered to sell tiger cubs. In April, a jury  found him guilty on all charges in his federal murder-for-hire trial  where decided to testify in his own defense despite a judge telling him  that he had the right to an attorney and instructed the jurors not to  hold that against him. As of November, he has not been sentenced. The  production for the “Joe Exotic” television series is in its early stages. No names have been attached for the role of “Joe Exotic.” (KOCO)

Another state considering a ban on plastic bags

The  Ohio state Senate committee held its first hearing on SB 222, which  would preempt local governments from banning or taxing single-use  plastic bags. Cuyahoga County passed such a ban that goes into effect  January 1, 2020, and a few other Ohio communities have similar  ordinances on the books. State Senator Michael Rulli sponsored the bill  and contends it will provide clarity and consistency for commerce in the  state. Sarah Damron is a chapter manager with the Surfrider Foundation,  an environmental group that advocates for clean water and healthy  beaches. She counters that Ohio should be taking action at the state  level to reduce plastic pollution, instead of taking away power from  local communities. Supporters say the fees or fines imposed for  violating plastic container bans are bad for business. A conservation  manager with the Sierra Club’s Ohio Chapter argues there’s a lot more at  stake, noting the state currently has just 39.9 years of landfill waste  capacity. “Plastic pollution is constantly getting into our rivers,” she points out. “It’s  clogging up our storm sewers. Once it gets into the river, it breaks  down into little pieces, and those pieces are consumed by fish and  eventually get into the food chain.” While eight states have banned  single-use plastic bags, Indiana, Michigan and six other states have  laws preempting local plastics regulations. (Public News Service)

Arkansas police officer suspended after dancing naked at nightclub

A  Conway, Arkansas police officer has been suspended after he was  recorded dancing naked at a Little Rock nightclub last month. The  officer was suspended without pay for 30 days and ordered to complete  remedial training. He was off-duty and appeared to be “highly intoxicated”  when he removed all his clothes at Discovery Nightclub on October 13th. The video shows the officer completely nude and dancing to “Don’t Stop Believin’”  by Journey. Surrounded by onlookers, he stumbles into a table and is grabbed by a security guard. He pushes away the guard and stumbles onto  the floor. Two security guards eventually escort the officer, still  naked, away from the crowd. In a letter, the police chief said: “Your  actions have brought discredit and embarrassment upon the Conway Police  Department and could have resulted in your arrest for Public  Intoxication,” the letter says. The letter was released under the  Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, along with cellphone video from the  nightclub. (KATV)

Interesting Veteran’s Day Facts:

• Veterans Day falls on the same day as Remembrance Day and Armistice Day in other countries.
• World War I formally ended on November 11th, at the 11th hour. It is also the 11th month.
• Originally,  when known as Armistice Day, it was meant to honor those who died in  World War I, but when it was amended in the early 1940s, it was changed  to honor all the veterans who have served in the U.S. military.
• Veterans  Day is sometimes confused with Memorial Day, however Memorial Day  honors those who died while serving in the military and Veterans Day  honors all those who have served in the U.S. military, alive and  deceased.
• Raymond  Weeks, a World War II veteran from Alabama, came up with the idea in  1945 to honor all veterans on November 11th, not just the ones who had  lost their lives in World War I.
• Raymond  Weeks was given the Presidential Citizenship Medal from Ronald Reagan  in 1982. Raymond Weeks led the celebration from 1947 until 1985 when he  died.
• In 1971, Veterans Day was moved to be the fourth Monday in October. In 1978 it went back to being November 11th.
• In 1954 the National Veterans Award was created, also in Alabama.
• Veterans Day, celebrated on November 11th, is both a state and federal holiday in the United States.
• Each year on Veterans Day there is a ceremony held in Arlington Cemetery to honor all who have died in war.
• There are approximately 24 million veterans living today.
• There were approximately 400,000 members of the United States military killed during World War II.
• On Veterans Day there are a number of parades held across the United States, as well as many speeches given.
• In  1921, on November 11th, an American soldier was buried at Arlington  Cemetery. His identity was unknown and as such, his gravesite is called  the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On November 11th a wreath is laid on  the grave during a ceremony. It is laid by the president or by a  high-ranking member of the government.
• In 2011 it was estimated that approximately 8.1% of veterans in the United States are women.
• Approximately 35% of the veterans living today served in the United States military in the Vietnam War.
• On  average, those who have served in the military in the United States,  including men and women, earn more than those who have not served.
• There is not supposed to be an apostrophe in Veterans Day. Still, some spell it Veteran’s Day or Veterans’ Day.

Monday Peacefully Rolls In With:

• Armistice Day
• Death/Duty Day
• Forget-Me-Not Day
• National Homunculus Awareness Day
• Origami Day
• Red Lipstick Day
• Veteran’s Day 
• World Orphans Day (2nd Monday)