Washington, D.C.
According to the Associated Press, the number of laid-off Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a stillelevated 881,000 last week; evidence the viral pandemic keeps forcing many businesses to cut jobs.
The latest figures, released Thursday by the Labor Department, suggest nearly 6 months after the eruption of the coronavirus, the economy is still struggling to sustain a recovery and rebuild a job market which was devastated by the recession, AP reported.
According to AP, in the previous week, more than 1 million had sought jobless aid. The government said, 13.3 million people are continuing to receive traditional jobless benefits, up from 1.7 million a year ago.
On Friday, when the government issues the jobs report for August, it’s expected to report employers added roughly 1.4 million jobs last month. This would still leave the economy about 11 million jobs short of the number it’s lost to the pandemic, AP reported.
Rochester, New York
According to the Associated Press, an African American man who had run naked through the streets of Rochester died of asphyxiation after a group of police officers put a hood over his head, then pressed his face into the pavement for 2 minutes, according to video and records released Wednesday by the man’s family.
Daniel Prude died March 30 after he was taken off life support, 7 days after the encounter with police in Rochester. His death received no public attention until Wednesday, when his family held a news conference and released police body camera video and written reports they obtained through a public records request, AP reported.
A medical examiner concluded Prude’s death was a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” The report lists excited delirium and acute intoxication by phencyclidine, or PCP, as contributing factors, according to AP.
One officer wrote they put the hood on Prude because he was spitting continuously in the direction of officers and they were concerned about coronavirus, AP reported.
According to AP, protesters gathered Wednesday outside Rochester’s Public Safety Building, which serves as police headquarters.
Providence, Rhode Island
According to the Associated Press, the federal government has told states to prepare for a COVID-19 vaccine to be ready to distribute by November 1.
In a letter to governors dated August 27, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said “in the near future” will receive permit applications from McKesson Corp., which has contracted with CDC to distribute vaccines to places including state and local health departments and hospitals, AP reported.
Redfield wrote any waivers will not compromise the safety or effectiveness of the vaccine. The Associated Press obtained the letter, which was first reported by McClatchy. “The COVID-19 vaccine landscape is evolving and uncertain, and these scenarios may evolve as more information is available,” the document reads, according to AP.
Another of the documents said limited COVID-19 vaccine doses may be available by early November and the supply will increase substantially in 2021. It also states initially available vaccines will either be approved by the Food and Drug Administration or authorized by the agency under its emergency powers, AP reported.
According to AP, the documents encourage health officials to work out now which groups to prioritize for a vaccine, identify providers who will administer vaccine, and take other steps to prepare. The planning documents were first reported by The New York Times.
New York
According to the Associated Press, a public school in Brooklyn is looking to show how classes can be moved outside to more safely facilitate in-person learning.
Teachers and parents at Public School 15 in the Red Hook neighborhood took to the street outside their campus Wednesday to demonstrate one way outdoor learning could work, AP reported.
The demonstration follows a deal Tuesday between Mayor Bill de Blasio and unions representing school staff and administrators, who had been talking about a possible strike out of concern in which the school system wasn’t ready to safely start the school year. In a compromise, the start of mixed in-person and online learning was delayed for several days, and city officials promised to test 10-20 percent of students and staff for the virus each month, according to AP.
If New York City schools open their classrooms to students as planned September 21, it will be the largest district to have pupils physically in school buildings during the pandemic, AP reported.
Phoenix
According to the Associated Press, an Arizona resident has asked a judge to bar Kanye West from appearing on the state’s November 3 ballot, accusing the hip hop artist of serving as an election spoiler and arguing a law prohibits him from running in the state as an independent presidential candidate.
West’s lawyer Wednesday reported filing nearly 58,000 signatures, more than the roughly 39,000 required for independent candidates to make the ballot, AP reported.
According to AP, lawyers for resident Rasean Clayton said in a lawsuit filed Monday the independent presidential candidates can appear on Arizona’s ballot if they aren’t registered with a recognized political party and gather enough voter signatures to nominate them. But Clayton’s lawyers said West, who paid top dollar to dozens of workers gathering petition signatures in Arizona, isn’t qualified to be on the ballot because he’s a registered Republican.
Even if West is found to have submitted enough signatures, the lawsuit said the hip hop artist’s late-in-the-game candidacy would make no difference to his chances of winning the race, AP reported.
West already has qualified to appear on the ballot in several states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee and Utah, according to AP.