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U.K. coronavirus variant spreading rapidly through United States, study finds

The coronavirus variant that shut down much of the United Kingdom is spreading rapidly across the United States, outcompeting other strains and doubling its prevalence among confirmed infections every week and a half, according to new research made public Sunday.

The report, posted on the preprint server MedRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, comes from a collaboration of many scientists and provides the first hard data to support a forecastissued last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed the variant becoming dominant in the United States by late March.

The spread of the variant, officially known as B.1.1.7, and the threat of other mutant strains of the virus, have added urgency to the effort to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible. The variant is more contagious than earlier forms of the coronavirus and may also be more lethal, although that is far less certain. Continue reading.

Five ways Trump’s impeachment differs from a court trial

When former President Trump’s second impeachment trial gets underway on Tuesday, the Senate proceedings will differ from what typically unfolds in a courtroom.

Court trials largely stick to a standard, uniform script. By contrast, the framers of the Constitution empowered the Senate to devise its own rules.

Historically, this has led to Senate trials diverging from courtroom protocol on issues like introducing evidence. The two venues also take vastly different approaches to punishment and the possibility of appeal. Continue reading.

House panel renews probe into Trump administration’s interference with covid-19 response

Top Democrat makes new allegations of political appointees muzzling scientists.

NOTE: This article is provided to read to all free of charge by The Washington Post.

The head of a House oversight panel on Monday renewed its investigation into political interference in the nation’s coronavirusresponse, releasing new allegations of meddling in scientists’ work.

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), chairman of the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, released emails from a Trump science adviser that he said showed how the administration worked to weaken guidance on who should be tested for the coronavirus. Clyburn also cited evidence that Trump appointees sought to boost access to unproven treatments for the coronavirus that were favored by the president.

The panel “is continuing these critical investigations … in order to understand what went wrong over the last year and determine what corrective steps are necessary to control the virus and save American lives,” Clyburn wrote to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and acting health and human services secretary Norris Cochran, in letters shared with The Washington Post.

Myth that Trump can’t be convicted by Senate because he’s no longer in office blown up by DC law firm head

According to the head of a high-powered law firm based in Washington D.C., Republican protestations that Donald Trump cannot be convicted in his second impeachment trial because he is no longer in office are fundamentally wrong.

With conservative boosters of the president attempting to undercut the proceedings that begin on Tuesday on the floor of the U.S. Senate by attacking the process, Chuck Cooper, the founder and chairman of Cooper & Kirk, laid that argument to rest.

On the pages of the conservative Wall Street Journal, Cooper referred to the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton to make his case. Continue reading.

Rep. Heather Edelson (HD49A) Update: February 9, 2021

Dear Neighbors,

Edina Public School Students grades K-5 are now back to in-person learning and I am hearing reports things are going well (and that several teachers have been able to access their first vaccines)! Welcome back to our teachers and students!

COVID-19 trends in Minnesota are headed in the right direction, with case numbers and positivity rates heading downward. The vaccination process also continues to improve, with distribution efficiency increasing, and the federal government increasing the supply of doses.

It’s likely there will be changes in Minnesota and nationwide in the coming weeks and months to improve vaccine distribution.

Biden inherited a USPS crisis. Here’s how Democrats want to fix it.

Party leaders have already begun discussions on major legislation — and trying to force out Louis DeJoy

The nation’s mail service is slower and more erratic than it’s been in generations, via the confluence of an abrupt reorganization and pandemic-era anomalies that has fueled demands for reform and fundamentally different ideas on how to achieve it.

On one side is Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who, with the backing of the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, is expected as soon as next week to outline a new vision for the agency, one that includes more service cuts, higher and region-specific pricing, and lower delivery expectations.

But congressional Democrats are pressing President Biden to install new board members, creating a majority bloc that could oust DeJoy, a Trump loyalist whose aggressive cost-cutting over the summer has been singled out for much of the performance decline. The fight over the agency’s future is expected to be fraught and protracted, leaving Americans with unreliable mail delivery for the foreseeable future. Continue reading.

House Transportation Committee Examines Climate Impacts on Transportation

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee examined climate impacts on transportation in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state.

“It was important for our committee to hear the science-driven data from various climate experts regarding the intersection of climate and transportation,” said Chair Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis). “We must be intentional about the action we can take now to combat the effects of climate change for future generations.”

Climate experts and advocates in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors shared presentations to the committee, including: Frank Kohlasch, Climate Director of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; Chris Clark, President, Xcel Energy Inc., Co-Chair – MnDOT Sustainable Transportation Advisory Council; Bree Halvorson, with BlueGreen Alliance; and Paul Douglas, Senior Meteorologist and founder of Praedictix.

WSJ slams ‘nutty’ Marjorie Taylor Greene affair: Endorsing Nancy Pelosi’s assassination is ‘cuckoo rhetoric’

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board says U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s endorsement of assassinating the Speaker of the House, a former U.S. President, and two former U.S. Secretaries of State is merely “nutty,” and “cuckoo rhetoric.”

“On Thursday, under pressure from all sides, Ms. Greene disavowed her past cuckoo rhetoric,” the WSJ editorial says.

“Everyone agrees Ms. Greene’s past social-media posts were nutty. But it’s a troubling precedent for the House majority party to overrule the committee assignments of the minority, based on a politician’s words before taking office,” the editorial reads.

Really? Not everyone. Most believe they are far worse than “nutty” or “cuckoo.” Continue reading.

Trump left behind a damaged government. Here’s what Biden faces as he rebuilds it.

More than 18 months after the Agriculture Department relocated two research agencies from Washington to Kansas City, Mo., prompting a major exodus from both divisions, the agencies are still struggling to regain their strength.

Even after a round of hiring in the past year, the permanent staff of the Economic Research Service is down 33 percent from where it was near the end of the Obama administration, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture workforce has declined 34 percent. According to USDA, they have 115 and 130 job vacancies, respectively.

“We lost some of the nation’s best economists and agricultural scientists in the previous administration,” USDA spokesman Matt Herrick said in an email. “It will take time for the new administration to rebuild USDA’s scientific and research agencies and restore their confidence and morale.” Continue reading.

Mental health expert explains why Trump must be convicted

The Trump presidency may be over, but Donald Trump’s dangers continue. This is because we have yet to contain the number one emergency, which is the spread of mental pathology.

Without addressing this mental health pandemic, even the Biden administration’s admirable efforts to contain the viral pandemic may meet with obstacles. Similarly, without conviction and prosecution, which is the first step to containing this mental health pandemic, hopes for “reconciliation” and “unity” may also be for naught.

Mental health professionals knew from the start that Donald Trump had the psychological makeup to become very dangerous with presidential powers. Following our 2017 assessment, I and thousands of my colleagues at the World Mental Health Coalition issued more than 300 pages of letters, petitions, and statements asserting that Donald Trump’s dangers would spread and erupt. In March 2020, we issued a “Prescription for Survival,” stating that the president’s removal through the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or resignation—or at least removal of influence—was essential to avoiding widespread unnecessary deaths. Continue reading.

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