Latest Pandemics News
Remember the shortage of medical gowns during COVID? Feds spending $350 million for stockpile
WASHINGTON (AP) — Six U.S. companies will spend at least $350 million to manufacture medical gowns to store in the Strategic National Stockpile, years after doctors and nurses working in hospitals found themselves without the equipment while COVID-19 raged. The purchase of the...
Are digital tools a way for companies to retain hourly workers?
NEW YORK (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic and the resetting of the economy that followed it made hourly workers more aware of their value. Some experts think employers should expect to field demands for flexible hours and other workplace incentives even as the labor market weakens. ...
As theaters struggle, many independent cinemas in Los Angeles are finding their audience
LOS ANGELES (AP) — On a hot summer evening, Miles Villalon lined up outside the New Beverly Cinema, hours before showtime. The 36-year-old already had tickets to the Watergate-themed double feature of 1976's “All the President’s Men” and 1999's “Dick.” But Villalon braved...
Military recruiting rebounds after several tough years, but challenges remain
FORT JACKSON, South Carolina (AP) — After several very difficult years and a swath of new programs and enticements, the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force will all meet their recruiting goals by the end of this month and the Navy will come very close, the military services say. ...
Ex-NYC COVID adviser is fired after video reveals he attended parties during pandemic
NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City official who helped coordinate the city’s response to the pandemic was fired from his private-sector job after a recording showed him talking about attending a sex party and other private gatherings when the city was urging people to practice social...
Biden says Fed made 'declaration of progress' with interest rate cut
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates was “an important signal” that inflation has eased as he poked at Donald Trump's economic policies as a failure in the past and sure to “fail again” if revived. ...
Germany's first hobby horsing championship gallops through Frankfurt
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's first hobby horsing championship got underway in Frankfurt on Saturday, with hundreds of young riders competing in time jumping, style jumping and dressage on their wooden stick horses. Roughly 300 riders — mostly youngsters, but there are...
Clock is ticking for local governments to use billions of dollars of federal pandemic aid
From the looks of it, the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert hasn’t done too much with the $24 million it received in federal pandemic aid. The site where it plans to spend most of the money for a crime victims center remains an empty plot of dirt. And just one-quarter of its funds are...
Cuomo defends COVID-19 nursing home decisions in combative House committee hearing
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced blistering criticism in an often combative congressional subcommittee hearing Tuesday over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic during the time when the virus was spreading through nursing homes. Republicans who questioned the Democrat zeroed...
Book Review: Paula Spencer is back amid the pandemic lockdown in Roddy Doyle’s brilliant new novel
Paula Spencer is back for an encore performance in Roddy Doyle’s latest miracle of a novel, “The Women Behind the Door.” In this installment, the 66-year-old mother, grandmother, recovering alcoholic and domestic violence survivor, has weathered the first year of the Covid lockdown in...